Hello Mr Rosewater,
Un-rules question for you:Modular Monstrosity has the ability, "Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you have five seconds to choose a keyword you haven't chosen for a card named Modular Monstrosity today that's been printed on a creature card."There is also a ruling that reads, "If the keyword has a modifier, such as a mana cost or a number, you must choose a modifier that’s been printed."
My question is, can you choose a keyword that has been printed on a creature with a modifier that's only been printed on a noncreature card. Cumulative Upkeep has appeared on many creatures so is a valid keyword. Can I name "Cumulative Upkeep-Add {R}" which has only been seen on the noncreature Braids of Fire?
Thank you in advance

You have to choose a mechanic and a modifier that’s appeared on a creature.

Hats off to whoever designed Arcbound Condor, I liked that in MH2 we had Modular focused around Boros, and now the one Modular card in MH3 is in Black! Also, crazy artifact payoff that I haven't seen anyone talk about. Love the card <3

High fives shall be applied.

Would "fixed" Modular come from Artifact Creatures first, and then be able to be put onto any creature when the original creature dies? Or would it be any type of creature?

I assume any type of creature.

If you liked the name Modular, would there be a possibility to make that the new mechanic and errata the old ones to have something like "Modular for Artifact Creatures"

It’s an option.

The buffet allegory is I think a good one but I think it supports the proposition that WotC should be printing UW versions of cards for people like the cube builder. I'm a vegetarian which means the selection of things I can eat at a buffet is routinely restricted. But some buffets separate meats out of dishes to make them more modular, which allows me to eat the maximum variety without touching meat. And those are the buffets that best include me, the ones at which I feel welcome.

We do make some Universe Within cards, and I’m sure we’ll make more, but it’s simply not feasible, from both a business standpoint and a logistical standpoint, to make Universe Within cards for every Universe Beyond card.

Sometimes a mechanic is for more than limited play. Energy was a whole mechanic that seemed highly pushed for competitive tournament play so much so that several of the strongest energy cards were banned and energy was still a decent choice in standard. I think the more parasitic a set mechanic is the more it is for constructed. Infect was like this too. Mechanics like blitz do not care how many you play in a deck. You do not get rewards for playing only blitz cards in your deck.

The word you mean is “linear” not “parasitic”. Parasitic only plays with cards from the set it is in. Linear means the cards pushes you play cards of a similar theme/mechanic. Linear cards more push you towards play mechanic themes in constructed. “Modular” cards, the opposite of linear, allow you to play them easier as one-ofs.

Hi Mark, in a recent response to a question about Legendary creatures restrictions, you said not all restrictions are good. To that I would say, just because you don't like the restriction, doesn't mean its bad. Same goes for hybrid mana in commander.

I think a lot of people misunderstand my issue with hybrid in Commander. One of the important roles for a game designer is to make tools to enable the players to enjoy the game. Those tools are given certain functions to guide the players towards the optimal play patterns. That’s what we call “design intent”.Now, we design lots of Magic cards and players do all sorts of things with them, often in ways we hadn’t thought of. That’s great. Magic is a modular game and a lot of the fun of it is finding ways to do novel things.My issue with hybrid is it’s the one thing in the Commander format (and the only thing in any majorly played format) that goes against the design intent. Hybrid was specifically made so that any deck playing that color can play it. A monowhite deck is supposed to be able to run any white hybrid card. You want a card that has to go in both colors? We have that, it’s traditional multicolor cards.The problem with going against design intent is that the cards then don’t work in the way they’re intended which impacts play experience and can cause confusion as game pieces aren’t working consistently across formats. From a game design intent, it’s frustrating.For example, let’s say someone made a new format called Bubble. The way Bubble works is players can only play cards on their own turn. Yes, instants technically work as you can cast them on your turn, but something is lost from their design intent. There would be cards that we designed that wouldn’t get played as we designed them.That’s my issue. I’m the Head Designer of Magic. It’s my job to be the defender of “Can we please not change the design intent of the cards?” That doesn’t mean anything is changing. It’s just me venting. Yes, I don’t like the restriction, but for a very good reason.

Since there will be less commons with play boosters will each common will generally more powerful or slot into more decks? This also seems like a thing since there will be more rares first the commons to deal with.

Commons will be more generally useful. This means “sideboardable” effects will either be part of more modular effects or will get moved to uncommon.

Based on your most recent post. Do you think Magic can be over inclusive? Is adding too much ever going to dilute the magic identity? Does magic even have an identity if it becomea too inclusive?

Magic, unlike most other games, is a modular game where you choose what pieces to play with. There’s not many other games with 25,000 pieces. : )What makes Magic Magic is tied to its core elements, the color pie, the card types, the card elements. Those are the things that wind through all 25,000 pieces.

Could Modular be reworked so that new cards can be different, while still maintaining synergy with old Modular cards? Like how Amass became Amass {Type}, I would prefer it being Modular {Restriction} so that Zabaz and Arcbound Overseer would apply to the new version too instead of getting a new keyword that's just Modular-But-Different.

I’m not sure there’s an easy fix to do that.