I want to second the person saying plot is a slam dunk mechanic. Suspend is my favorite mechanic, and plot has a lot of the same feel with the added flexibility and decision making, while being a lot easier for people to track. A+++, I hope we see it very regularly

Success breeds repetition.

Hi Mark, I just wanted to shout out the team for the great plot mechanic. My favorite (non-deciduous) mechanic long been suspend - I love the flavor of “pay now, get later.” Plot feels like a (really fun!) way to do some of that without the logistical issues of suspend. High fives to the team!

High fives to be applied.

I forgot to do birthday trivia for almost three weeks D: so I guess I should ask about suspend!

Suspend was one of the greatest deltas between how much I thought players would like it versus how much they did. It shows the importance of how easy something is to execute. Suspend was simple in concept, but a lot of work in actual practice.

Hello Mark. I redeemed my coveted birthday rite several days ago, but it seems to have gotten caught up in the shuffle. I figured I wouldn't submit it on my birthday, which was the 6th, because a lot was going on then in Magic. My query was for any interesting tidbit about my favorite card in the game, Malefic Scythe from M21, and, provided you had nothing about it, instead the card that got me into the game, Errant Ephemeron from Time Spiral. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

When we first designed suspend creatures, we started with familiar vanilla and French vanilla ones. Errant Ephemeron was Air Elemental, and one of the first ones we designed. Happy Belated Birthday!

If/when: Suspend and Time travel in a standard set.

If. Suspend isn’t super popular and has a bunch of structural needs.

As someone who is not a fan of UB in general and against mechanically unique UB cards, I must say that I'm impressed by Doctor Who cards; you can really see how much love and effort was put into it and it's always lovely to hear people gush/explain things they're passionate about. And hopefully it'll also spark some more love for time-shenanigans mechanics like suspend and cute self-recursive cards like Heaven Sent.

There really are lots of designs that would never happen if not for a Universes Beyond inspiration.

MARK! I'm the blogatog from a few weeks ago who sent the ask about loving Suspend but hating Doctor Who. I saw Gandalf of the Secret Fire this morning and I am in LOVE and have already brewed a commander deck for him. Please extend my thanks to the design team for the Lord of the Rings scene boxes!!!

Will do.

In playtesting, did you find that the Saga-Creatures from NEO did not have the same "fighting human nature" issue as suspend creatures, where players assumed since they'd been waiting for several turns that the creature would have haste?

They originally could attack when they transformed, but it caused play design issues and was changed.

Hi Mark. I know every product isn't for everyone, and I'm trying really hard to be delicate and kind and not ruin the Doctor Who decks for fans. I really, REALLY don't like Doctor Who, for a mix of reasons both about the show and about my personal life, so I was planning to completely check out of this product, no problem. But the previews start and there's a suspend deck. Suspend is my favorite mechanic in Magic, and it's really lacked a way to make it viable in Commander. Now the game prints a deck all about it... But themed after a show I (I am trying to be delicate) really dislike. So my choices are to play cards that make me unhappy to engage with a mechanic I love, or lose out on the chance to build a deck I would otherwise enjoy playing. This is shaking my support of Universes Beyond and now I see why people don't like the idea. Can you please pass along that Universes Beyond comes with the chance to push fans out of products because of the IPs chosen, and to really strongly consider making in-universe versions of key cards from UB commander decks and draftable sets? Thanks for everything you do.

Here’s another way to approach this. I don’t know if a suspend Commander deck would exist if not for the flavor of Doctor Who. The concept came about because we were trying to capture the feel of the show in deck form.That’s one of the big boons for Magic of Universes Beyond. It pushes us to mechanical places we might not have gotten to otherwise. The Timey Wimey deck, for example, is a very odd deck. I really don’t think we would have stumbled upon it otherwise.

Hi markI noticed one effect popping up more and more as of late, the wordy "exile that card, you may cast that card as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell"Has it ever come up to possibly make this effect a keyword, like suspend or phased out?

We’ve talked about it, but it’s still used infrequently in the larger scope of things.