Set Design

Proudest Set Design

out of all the sets that you have designed, which one are you the most proud of?

Which child do I love the most? : )Original Innistrad is probably my best design.

Humor Innistrad Set Design

Bloomburrow's Box Buying Rarity

Hi, mark. Bloomburrow’s buy-a-box is only obtainable as a buy a box. Is this a 1-off thing?

I don’t think so, but more a hunch than knowledge. Buy-a-box designs aren’t something I interact with much. (They happen in set design.)

Rarity Set Design

Card Balancing and Playtesting

So, how do you balance cards before you release them? Do you playtest them?Were there any cards that you thought of and realized they were too powerful to be printed?

There’s an entire team named play design (which I am not on) that balances the cards, working in conjunction with the set design team. There is a *lot* of playtesting.

Play Design Playtesting Set Design

Bloomburrow's Equipment Situation

Did Bloomburrow ever have more Equipment that it does right now? Between Blacksmith's Talent and the Valiant mechanic, I'd imagine it would be easier to drop a few more Equipment in the set for increased synergy.

The set had a lot to fit in. There’s a good chance set design tried a larger as-fan of equipment at some point.

As-fan Bloomburrow Equipment Mechanics Set Design Valiant Blacksmith's Talent

Calamity Beasts Design Talk

Was there any discussion on having a light Elemental typal theme to support playing multiple Calamity Beasts?

Not that I’m aware of, but the adding of Elemental happened in set design.

Beasts Calamity Beasts Elementals Kindred / Typal Set Design

Difference in Set Design

Is there a difference in design philosophy between fall sets (the “base” of a standard year) and spring sets (in standard for the least time, so can be riskier)? Enough difference for a podcast topic?

There is a difference, but I’m not sure 30 minutes worth.

Drive to Work Set Design Standard

Changing Set Design Skeletons

listening to one of the recent limited resources (hi marshall and lsv!) where they discuss the set skeleton. i agree with them that the skeleton has made a huge improvement on the baseline for sets but also that it sometimes feels a bit obvious. i'm curious if you think you will ever develop alternative skeletons that are also proven to work but lend a different feeling? i could see a world where you start a set and decide to use the "tricky skeleton" or the "stompy skeleton" over the basic one.

All skeletons shift as the set evolves, so there is difference set to set. Larger picture, the consistency is about having familiarity for both the audience, so it feels like a Magic set, and for us, as it allows us to better use experience to balance things. I’m not worried that the most hardcore enfranchised can see some of the structure.

Experienced / Enfranchised Players Limited Set Design Skeletons

Scry and Surveil Together

How do you feel about having scry and surveil in the same set? I feel like I mix them up at least once per draft

I, and many other R&D members, prefer them not to be in the same set, but some set design leads disagree.

Draft Formats Scry Set Design Surveil

Abbreviation of Design Stages

I've got a very specific questions. "Exploratory Design", "Vision Design", "Set Design", "Play Design" are all two words and sound like the kind of thing that could be abbreviated. I can imagine you guys talk about "Exploratory" or "Vision" just like that... but how do you abbreviate "Set Design" or "Play Design"? Do you always say the full name?

We will say “set” and “play”, although more often the former than the latter.

Exploratory Design Play Design Set Design Vision Design

Lost Caverns Set Development

Hi, Mark. I just wanted to say that I find it astounding that Lost Caverns being set on Ixalan was a late decision, as one of the reasons it drew me into Magic was how interesting I found the factions of the plane, and how well I saw them represented in the cards. I suppose it just goes to show how much a set can change in Play Design, huh?

It changed in early set design, just after vision design handed the file off.

Factions Ixalan Play Design Set Design Vision Design

Unreleased Mechanics

can you give us any information on mechanics that were in any set design but didnt make it to the final design? i.e[any mechanic that was tested for golgari for ravnica city of guilds etc]

I occasionally talk about mechanics we tried, but didn’t use, much more than I did say ten years ago.

Golgari (B/G) Mechanics Set Design Two Color

Difficulty with Mono-Color Set Design

What is the hardest part of designing a set focused on mono color?

Making limited work.

Colors Limited Monocolor Set Design

Batching in Set Design

You have to give me a name when you batch things.

Apologies, I was thinking "Deity/Deities". Spirits were included as a more common type for the group but also have ties to the grouping through Kamigawa's Kami

Okay. Batches happen when there is a set for them that really wants them and we think the audience would enjoy the flavor of the batch. It’s also something we don’t do all that often.

Batches Flavor Set Design Spirit

Unexpected Reach Granting Reason

what was the reasoning behind giving Lion Umbra reach? reach doesn't seem very lion-eywas it originally a different animal?were other abilties too powerful/too weak?

Late in set design we sometimes realize we don’t have enough defense for flying. As the art’s commissioned at that point, and we don’t make flyers that the art doesn’t clearly communicate flying, our choices for answers are limited. Reach is one of the tools we use, and sometimes we have to do the best we can finding cards that make some amount of sense. I don’t know whether that’s true of this card, but it’s a reason things that don’t seem like a slam dunk for reach sometimes get reach.

Art Flying Limited Lion Umbra Power Level Set Design

Playtesting and Card Art

Hey Mark, you mentioned in an earlier question that you did a Ziplining draft this last week. I've always been curious at what point in playtesting that the card art and the flavour text starts to roll in. Are the cards you were drafting with just paper and rules text at this point in the process?

Names get tweaked along the way. The more top-down the set, the more the real names happen earlier, especially in Universe Beyond sets. Flavor text doesn’t happen until the tail end of set design, so we don’t play with it often.Art gets started early in set design, but there are usually several waves. Our playtest cards pull art as it exists, so playtests have sketches and eventually full art. Late set design playtests usually have most the art.

Art Draft Formats Flavor Flavor Text Playtesting Rules Set Design Top Down

Cryptic Insight into Current Project

Hey Mark, how's your week been coming along? Can you please share something cryptic about what you've been working on this week?

I did a Ziplining draft this week and was very happy to see set design embracing, and improving upon, the cool stuff vision design did.

Draft Formats Set Design Vision Design

Recurring Nightmare Reprint Query

Your article today mentions Set Design tried putting a straight Recurring Nightmare reprint into Modern, then removed it when it playtested too strong... Recurring Nightmare is on the Reserved List, which your article didn't mention. Did it not come up until after the playtests?

It’s possible they put it in and then remembered they couldn’t. I just know it was in the file for a short blip. Maybe they were getting a sense of it knowing they’d tweak it later.

Card Printing Making Magic Modern Nightmare Nightmare Power Level Recurring Nightmare Reprints Set Design The Reserved List

Set Design Method Perception

Hi Mark, previously you've said that if R&D does their job well, players shouldn't be able to tell if a set was built from top-down or bottom-up. I think I recall a Reddit discussion where most players said they actually can tell. Wanna do a poll here?

I want to ask a few questions, so I’ll do them on the main site.

Bottom Up Game Design Set Design Top Down

Powerful Sagas in Design

Speaking purely about power level, do you think the strength of Fable of the Mirror Breaker has made set design more wary about sagas?

No. We have powerful cards in many card supertypes, types and subtypes. It doesn’t make wary about designing that supertype, type or subtype.

Power Level Sagas Sagas Set Design Subtype Supertype

Current Set Design Projects

Hi Mark. Which set(s) are you currently working on?

I’m currently on the vision design teams for Berlin and Cairo, neither of which I’m leading. Exploratory design for a Universes Beyond set I’m leading vision design for starts soon.

Exploratory Design Set Design Universes Beyond Vision Design