Huge thanks for reading the selection from Cunningham I agree that player desire needs to be part of design The 3 psychographics might be the most important design factor since the golden trifecta But it seems recently that Mtg has veered too much towards "give the players what they want" and the question 'how does this make the game better?' doesn't get asked enough I saw an ask for UB play doh, your response was 'do people want it?' not 'how does this improve MtG?' I know that's subjective

I, as well as all of R&D, are constantly asking “is this good for the game”. There are plenty of things the players want that aren’t necessarily good for the game. If we listened to the players every card would cost 1 less and could be cast whenever you could cast an instant. : )A great example of this is “once per turn” restrictions. Players generally dislike them (at least when it’s written out), but they make the game play better. Knowing what players want is a useful tool, but we’re but no means beholden to it when it gets in the way of good game design.

Mark, thank you. I've read your articles about the psychographics and i recognized that i'm a timmy, power gamer. So, i decide to fully embrace my destiny, i built up Karn Tron in modern yesterday. Wahoo, this is FUN. Thank you for helping me understand why i play magic and what i want my deck to make me feel. Karn rules ! Well, Eldrazi rule too !

One of the reasons I’ve been very vocal about the psychographics (well, other than being transparent in how we do things) is to let players understand that they play for different reasons and that it’s okay. Make Magic the game you want it to be. That’s one of its greatest strengths.