You mentioned that you think of powercreep in Magic as a matter of newer sets being more powerful than older sets. When I think of powercreep in Magic, I tend to think of individual cards being more powerful than older cards.For example, when Savannah Lions was first printed, it was a rare, since having a vanilla 2/1 for 1 mana value with no downside was considered good (I assume). Nowadays, there are seven 2/1s for 1 mana in standard alone, most of them are uncommons, and they all have abilities that aren't downsides. (That list is: Ascendant Packleader, Cheeky House-Mouse, Cult Conscript, Embereth Veteran, Falkenrath Pit Fighter, Hotshot Mechanic, and Recruitment Officer.) Furthermore, Savannah Lion's recent reprint in Dominaria Remastered puts it at a common, meaning that its relative power over Magic's lifetime has seemingly decreased.Is this idea of powercreep something that comes up during your design process, and if so, how does it get addressed?

The power level of creatures in Alpha was pretty weak. There is not, for example, a single Alpha creature we couldn’t reprint today for power level reasons. In contrast, there are a lot of noncreature cards we couldn’t reprint today for power level reasons.We have made a lot of creature cards. Many of them are below the top tier of what we can print. Making a card better than an existing card is not power creep. Making creatures above the top line of what’s acceptable is.

Hi! First time asking, long time reader. : ) Today is my brother's birthday, as well as yours (happy birthday!)... as well my nephew's, who was born just a few hours ago! Do you have any trivia on lions in Magic (my nephew' name is Léo) or on fatherhood? : )

The very first lion was Savannah Lions in Alpha. To show how far the creature curve has changed, it was made rare because a one drop 2/1 wasn’t something you were supposed to see often. : )Happy Birthday to everyone!

Elite Vanguard is a functional reprint of Savannah Lions. Kytheon, Hero of Akros, isn't a functional reprint of Elite Vanguard.

Correct.

Apart from the keywords that one has access to and the other does not (eg haste), how do Red and White differ mechanically in their approach to small, aggressive creatures? For example, for all that Red is supposed to be the colour with the highest overall power/toughness ratio, there has never been a Red Savannah Lions; why is that?

White’s creatures at one and two drop generally are more powerful than Red’s.

Could you imagine an alternate universe where Savannah Lions were on the reserve list?

I can. I’m very imaginative.

Can you ask the team making M15 if they can reprint Savannah Lions at uncommon in order to help out Common/Uncommon cubes?

We do not choose rarity to help out particular formats. We choose what is correct for the set in question.

just a matter of time before you figure out how to do vanilla creatures at rare. but you did figure this out sir, in alpha. Savannah Lions.

We’ve done vanillas at rare in the past. The question was about the future. We’ll do fine there as well.

Why is "cat" so often a white creature type? Cats are anything but orderly! Historical precendence in Savannah Lions? Is this cognitive dissonance why cats (or specifically Leonin) can't be white's iconic small race?

We can’t just give every animal to green because all animals are wild. We’ve worked very hard to carve out space in each color for different animals. I think cats have fallen to white because they have a social structure where the pack works together and cares for one another. We’ve played up this aspect to make cats more white.

What does it take for a vanilla creature to be printed at Rare?

It’s happen numerous times. Alpha had Savannah Lions (2/1). Morningtide had Indomitable Ancients (2/10). Feel free to post any others you come up with.