It's my birthday today. What are the chances of seeing {C/P} or {S/P} as part of a cost?

Both require two qualities to exist in the set (outside of something like a Modern Masters), so the barrier to clear is high.

Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2 introduced 100s of new Magic cards. They were very successful and well received sets even though they didn't introduce any new mechanical keywords or abilities. If or when, a new premier Magic set that doesn't introduce new mechanical keywords or abilities?

Those sets chose to access all of the existing mechanics rather than create new mechanics. Premier sets don’t have that choice, so we tend to include something new in each one. Premier sets still have access to plenty of repeated mechanics. Also, premiere sets have world building to do, that sets like Modern Horizons and Modern Masters don’t have to worry about, that makes having access to new mechanics that we can custom to the world important to have.

In recent bundles, land packs have come in paper packs instead of the usual plastic packs, and I'm all for having less plastic waste. Modern Masters 2015 tried paper box-packs, which had issues, but it seems like these new paper packs would work well as a replacement for the traditional plastic/metal hybrid packs the average booster comes in. Can we expect to see a set soon that tries using these paper packs for boosters?

We are working towards being more ecology-minded in our packaging.

Have you ever thought about just straight up reprinting older sets? I still feel like most supplemental sets going back to abs including the original Modern Masters could do with having a couple more print runs in circulation. Both for limited and eternal formats.

The issue is we’ve made promises about printings. Part of being a collectible is having definitional time frames for when a particular product is going to be made. Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t remaster things or revisit worlds, but straight up reprinting old sets is off the table.

How much does R&D worry about power creep in Modern, where the stronger the format gets the harder it will be for new Standard cards to impact it?

It’s one of the big reasons for Modern Masters.

As to multiple sets having the same theme; it was a nice test and I enjoyed it, but I’d appreciate a year or at least a few sets with returning mechanics only. Every set having a new unique twist gets tiring after a while, and we’ve had it going for a while. Idk if others agree, but when I hear a mechanic has “a lot of untapped potential” I get excited.

Modern Masters sets are the sets with only returning mechanics. Premier sets can have a bunch of returns mechanics, but we like to always have something new.

I'm curious about design times. What are the longest and shortest amounts of time WotC has worked on a set, from initial brainstorming meetings until final locked-in cards to be sent to the printer? I assume this could vary some, especially with different types of products ranging from Standard-legal to Modern Masters to Commander precons, etc.

Modern Horixons was about the fastest we can go with a randomized booster product at about an 18 month window. The longest was Unstable that took seven years from start to print.

Is a modern masters 2 set likely?

We’ve already made a modern masters 2. It came out a few years back.

Hey Mark, On your message to start today, you said Modern Masters instead of Modern Horizons. You might want to fix that...

Fixed. Thanks.

Blue excelling at many low as-fan things vs. other colors excelling at a few high as-fan things means blue's splashy (set-selling) MEMORABLE cards get to be more varied and unique. Ex. All Modern Masters mythics: U: Keiga, Snapcaster Mage, Temporal Manipulation, Tezzeret the Seeker, Vendilion Clique. 5 radically different effects, 2 blue-exclusive. Vs. R: Bonfire of the Damned, Comet storm, Kiki-Jiki, Past in Flames, Ryusei; 3/5 are damage boardwipes, the other 2 could be bends in U. See issue?

I’ve talked plenty about how Snapcaster is pushing more towards red and Vendilion Click is a black card masquerading as a blue card (aka a heavy bend). Things are more balanced than they seem.