I seem to always find lots and lots of discourse about block sets. Two sides of the same argument every time.
Side 1 says something like:"I hate all these random sets, I miss block sets."
To which, Side 2 says; "Well block sets never sold as well at the end, players attention span's are better suited for one and done blocks."
My problem with this response is that it essentially ignores the initial statement. Rather than clarifying what they mean, they assume and answer.
Personally, I miss block sets, but ONLY from a story perspective.
Basically, do sets exactly the same as you're doing now. Draft is better now than blocks were, standard with Foundations sounds fantastic. The only thing I'd like to see is a set of setup, and a set of payoff.
MKM was a set based on a murder mystery with the big twist ending basically included in the release, as an example. It could've benefitted from a real, but delayed, payoff. Set up the consequences for each suspect, then reveal and give different consequences that were hinted at in other ways. Bam. Improved.
The last time we visited New Phyrexia, it was a block, I remember ubiquitous speculation over how the story would wrap up. There were factions events at local game stores, branded posters and packs for the factions at play, etc. I had a friend get the New Phyrexian emblem tattooed on themselves. The story felt *Important* and so much less divorced from magic than it does today.
Usually, in my experience, when someone asks for blocks, they're asking for the story to matter. There are lots of mechanically interesting card games out there, and mechanics are only part of what makes magic, magic!
All I would ask is that writers get the opportunity to do setups and payoffs with magic's evolving story with multiple sers, and that story related sets have *some* play synergies. They don't need to share mechanical themes just to share story themes, but it would be a nice little florish if they had mechanical synchronisets,
Hell, a REALLY good idea (in my opinion) would be to do these sets in a different order than the old method. Modern fantasy novels swap POV characters and follow different stories. Why not set up multiple stories in a row, then start to alternate resolving an older, established plot line, and then starting a new one or swapping to another established one. This really gives players time to get interested and speculate (and making the story FEEL present will likely also boost novels and comics numbers, etc., if you need a monetary reasoning.)
What do you think Mark?

We already do a lot of what you’re asking. Each Magic “year” does have a larger connected story, often with different POV characters.

Based on answers lately, there are a lot of recent movies/TV shows you've seen with your limited free time that you've enjoyed. Are there any that you've just not cared for much, either for not meeting expectations or being just plain bad?

I’d rather talk about stuff I enjoyed. I watch stuff I don’t enjoy.

So the whole Love Song of Night and Day exists, huh? Next you’ll be telling us that someone wrote all the volumes of Sarpadian Empires too. 😁

I’ve been working on it in my spare time. : )

Before my birthday is over, I would love to invoke my right of trivia!Anything about my favorite part of Magic's world, the Love Song of Night and Day? Or if not, Mirage in general? (I fell in love with Magic when I found my parents' old collection of Mirage and 4th Edition, making me probably the youngest grumpy old magic player to ever shake their fist at these new confangled planeswalker cards)

The Love Song of Night and Day was a poem written by Jenny Scott when she was an editor on Magic. Pieces of it were used on flavor text in Mirage block. I would later read the poem at a wedding at a Magic Grand Prix. We would also eventually making a Saga that referenced it.Happy Birthday!

Hi Mark! Could you please elaborate on what a "musical world" is? Are we talking Fantasia where the magic just happens to be music themed like instruments as weapons, Hamilton where it uses musical stage tropes, Coachella i.e. a plane-wide concert but fantasy and with different music genres (or something else)?

As with any world idea, there are a lot of possible executions. The core idea is the resonance of the set revolves around music.

Is it true that a small child once handed you a Coke, and you threw a Lava Axe at him?

If it was in a comic, it must be true.

Is it fair to say Moana starts out mono-blue, faces a green conflict, and then becomes simic by the end of the film? Her primary motivation initially is to satisfy her curiosity about the world outside her island, and she's frustrated by how content and focused on tradition her people are. Eventually she resolves the film's conflict by realizing who she really is, connecting with her ancestors, and restoring a natural order that Maui had previously disturbed.

That sounds like an accurate description.

You're a big fan of comics. Are you a fan of Hellboy?

I’ve read a bunch of Hellboy.

I wonder if my issue over Duskmourne is from a slightly different angle to most? I don’t mind Magic expanding what fits in universe. But I’m finding massive dissonance from the modern things only existing as the Horror setting. Most multiverse inhabitants won’t know what a TV is, so it is odd having twisted TVs without other grounding context! Horror is often found in twisting the commonplace, so here it only works from an external perspective.

Kaladesh, Kamigawa, and New Capenna all have modern things and aren’t horror settings.

Hi, Mark.Not sure if I can quite explain this, but I'll try.Straight urban fantasy isn't terribly interesting to me, at least as a magic setting, especially if we're distinguishing it from "masquerade" as the other asker put it (i.e., magic's existence is a secret). I think that's because urban fantasy describes a setting that's exactly like the real, modern world, and the only difference is that there's magic. In other words, "magic and magic users exist" is the whole hook, what the burden of appealing to the consumer of that media falls onto. But, like . . . "magic and magic users exist" is the ENTIRE game! It doesn't feel like it does enough to differentiate itself from the rest of the multiverse.So, I think an urban fantasy setting needs to do one of three things: have a strong, unique hook beyond just "it's a modern world with magic"; be more focused, like how Duskmourn isn't just "80s fantasy" but "80s horror film"; or be combined with another concept, like how Ixalan is both "pirate world" AND "Mesoamerican world".Sorry if I rambled a bit there, but tldr: I for one would need a more detailed pitch than just "It's the urban fantasy plane/set!" to be remotely interested in it.

As with any world, there would be more details woven into it. I was just asking people’s thoughts on urban fantasy as a larger category.