Theros Beyond Death

Bloomburrow and Interest in Magic

Bloomburrow looks great, but I won't be buying it. There isn't enough of Bloomburrow to get me interested in Magic as a whole again. I have been sitting out regular releases since Theros Beyond Death. Too much jumping around.

I’m curious. Are you still playing Magic?

Bloomburrow Theros Beyond Death

Feedback on Theros Beyond Death

Theros Beyond Death is not being fairly evaluated. It was released weeks before the COVID pandemic, and a lot of players were upset that we never received a proper story for Elspeth and the gods. That does not mean the set was not well received or would have sold better under more ideal circumstances. Theros should be at minimum a 3 in my opinion.

We are more likely to return to a 4 than not return.

God Story / Lore Theros Theros Beyond Death

Theros Rating on Rabiah Scale

Why is Theros a 4 now on the Rabiah scale? It was always a 3 from all the other times you shared the Rabiah scale.

Theros Beyond Death didn’t to quite as well as we’d hoped.

Rabiah Scale Theros Theros Beyond Death

Set Release Order

Hey Mark, if y'all decide to change a set's release order, does it keep its codename? Like, let's say at the last minute it was decided that Wrestling should come out in the fall of 2024 and Volleyball in the winter for whatever reason. Would Volleyball still be the Space Opera set, and they'd release out of alphabetical order? Or would Lorwyn 2 be re-codenamed Volleyball and vice versa?

No. Theros Beyond Death was Cricket. It got moved up a slot and became Baseball. The reason for the alphabetization is so every one at Wizards can keep track of the order of premier sets.

Lorwyn Premier Sets Premier Sets Theros Beyond Death

Theros Beyond Death Titans

theros beyond death gave us two titans (uro and kroxa) and the d&d book for theros named two more (phlage and skotha). the saga 'binding of the titans' depicts klothys binding four titans, which seems to match the number we know of. was there ever a point where theros beyond death contained all four?

There was not to my knowledge.

Dungeons & Dragons Sagas Theros Theros Beyond Death

Backdrop vs. Rebuild Sets

I heard Neon Dynasty wasn't confirmed to be on Kamigawa at the beginning (even though you wanted to.)Does it make NEO a backdrop set as well? If not, what makes a return set (such as THB, ZNR, DMU, BRO, ONE, and WOE) a "non-backdrop set"?

NEO is more a rebuild than a backdrop set. THB, ZNR, DMU, ONE, and WOE all keep the same mechanical core. BRO is the closest to a backdrop set in that Dominaria was more a setting than a mechanical core. The odd part is Brothers’ War mechanical core was copied from Antiquities which was set on Dominaria.

Backdrop Set Backdrop Sets Dominaria Dominaria United Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty The Brothers' War Theros Beyond Death Wilds of Eldraine Zendikar Rising

Eldraine's Phyrexian Hints

What were the subtle hints about the Phyrexian arc that were contained within the Eldraine set itself? Your answer before asking this mentioned only something which happened in the Theros Beyond Death set.

My original statement, that prompted the question, talked about the Throne of Eldraine “year”, so I was giving an example based on that. Throne of Eldraine itself re-introduced Rowan and Will that would later play a larger role in Strixhaven.

Phyrexian Theros Beyond Death Throne of Eldraine Throne of Eldraine

Set Code Humor

I like the recent funny set codes such as BRO, MOM, and WOE. It makes me wonder if Theros Beyond Death could have been "TBD".

We specifically avoided that because we thought it would be more confusing than funny.

Humor The Brothers' War Theros Beyond Death Wilds of Eldraine

Heroic Mechanic Absence

Why hasn't heroic in theros beyond death

On a return, we can only do so many returning mechanics, because we need to leave room for new things. We decided devotion and constellation were more important to include.

Constellation Heroic Mechanics Theros Beyond Death

Phyrexian Arc Build-Up

Where was there any "subtle build-up" of the Phyrexian arc in any set between New Phyrexia and Kaldheim, except for a brief mention of the Sylex in Dominaria (2018)?

The planar bridge in the Bolas Arc, Elspeth’s nightmare in Theros Beyond Death, Pretty much every appearance of Karn. It was subtle, it wasn’t non-existent.

Dominaria Elspeth's Nightmare Kaldheim New Phyrexia Nightmare Nightmares Phyrexians Planar Bridge Theros Beyond Death

Calculating the 100th Set

Hey Mark, I did the math for the 100th set.
Counting Alpha but no core sets: PoloCounting Alpha, core sets, but not unlimited: Throne of EldraineCounting Alpha, core sets, and unlimited: Core Set 2020 Excluding Alpha and core sets: QuiltingExcluding Alpha, including core sets: Throne of EldraineExcluding Alpha, including core sets, excluding unlimited: Theros Beyond Death

Thanks for doing this.

Core Set 2020 Theros Beyond Death Throne of Eldraine Throne of Eldraine

Paper Magic Appreciation

Since the pandemic I haven't played a lot of paper Magic and what I have played has all been commander, including a draft of Baldur's Gate, and almost all of that has had friends in my game. Today was the first time i played 1v1 Magic and interacted with a bunch of people I never met before since Theros Beyond Death. Just getting out and doing this was an absolute blast and the set was a TON of fun. Thank you to you and the team for everything you do and hi fives for everyone.

High fives shall be applied.

Appreciation Baldur's Gate Commander Draft Formats Gates High Fives Theros Beyond Death

UN Mechanics in Commander

Me and my friends love the occasional UN game. We even have a left over box of Unstable we are drafting this weekend. We look forward to drafting the new set. The problem for us is that while we do like the occasional UN game I do not want every game to be an UN game. Cards like Space Beleren and sticker cards make us nervous that every time I sit down for a game of commander at an LGS we might have to Deal with Un mechanics that would never exist in a normal game of magic.I know normal is relative but hopefully I have articulated my point well enough. You said stickers could exist but it never really felt like they should outside of an UN environment. They for sure would not exist in standard or modern. Now I am the jerk for wanting to opt out of UN commander games when the mechanics are more goofy than how I often want to play magic.

Stickers function a lot like counters, but I get how it’s pushing in a new direction. Why is Jace too “goofy”. He’s inspired by Raging River, and card that’s been in Magic from its start that’s playable in Commander. Theros Beyond Death almost had the stygian mechanic which would divide the battlefield in two and that’s a premier set.I’m honestly asking, because I don’t understand why you feel it’s so over the line.

Commander Game Stores Mechanics Modern Premier Sets Raging River Space Beleren Standard Stickers Theros Beyond Death Un-sets

Design Evolution

What's the set that changed the most from vision design to play design? I guess that's only counting sets since the new development system started.

Theros Beyond Death.

Play Design Theros Beyond Death Vision Design

Special Basics in Packs

Will y’all ever go back to having the special basics in EVERY draft pack, like Amonkhet block, the assorted Zendikar sets, or THB did? I know amonkhet was prior to the booster fun era, but THB and ZNR were both sets with booster fun.

Unfinity does.

Amonkhet Basics Boosters Draft Formats Theros Beyond Death Zendikar Zendikar Rising

Baseball aka Theros Trivia

Hi Mark! It’s my birthday today and I’m going to the Red Sox game. Can I get some trivia about baseball aka Theros Beyond Death?

When we started exploratory Baseball was going to be a second Throne of Eldraine set. The original plan was the first set was going to focus on the civilized part of Eldraine and it the second set would be focused on the woods. In the story, Rowan and Will were going to venture into the woods to find their father, the king. Mid-exploratory design, the decision was reached to keep Eldraine to just one set. When that happened, I pitched pulling forward our return to Theros which was going to be Cricket. I handed off the design to Ethan Fleischer who was going to lead Cricket (and thus return to Theros), so I had time to figure out what Cricket was going to be. We had already planned for Theros’ return to involve the underworld, as we knew Elspeth’s escape was the story we wanted to tell. One of the major mechanics made in vision design to reflect the underworld was stygian (referencing the river of the dead, Styx) where the battlefield was divided in two by the river and players had to decide which side of the river each creature was. Stygian ended up causing major play design and digital issues and got pulled in set design and replaced with escape. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Creatures Escape Ethan Fleischer Mechanics Play Design Red Set Design Story / Lore Theros Theros Beyond Death Throne of Eldraine Throne of Eldraine Vision Design

Printing Stygian Mechanic from Theros

What are the chances of some version of the stygian mechanic from Theros Beyond Death design seeing print? Was it more of a 'we're not sure if this mechanic can work' or 'we'll come back to this later in the right set'?

It had a number of problems that would have to be overcome, so I’ll call it unlikely.

Card Printing Mechanics Theros Theros Beyond Death

RGB Minotaur Appearance

FYI RG Minotaur was in THB Warden of the Chained

FYI

Gruul (R/G) Minotaur Theros Beyond Death Warden of the Chained

Enchantment Creatures Debate Revisited

In your drive to work podcasts you mention "the ship has sailed" on making vanilla enchantment creatures. In THB there was a couple of vanilla/French vanilla enchantment creatures. Has the ship come back to port, and what does that mean for making elementals/illusion/etc. default enchantments?

I will continue to fight the fight on simple vanilla enchantment creatures, but there is a contingency that feels enchantments have to feel like enchantments and thus want an enchantment-like effect. I feel that the state of being an enchantment and thus being affects by things that effect enchantments is good enough (it’s how artifacts work).

Artifacts Creatures Drive to Work Elemental Enchantments Fight / Bite France French Vanilla Illusion Theros Beyond Death Vanilla

Preference for Borderless Lands

Out of curiosity, out of all the borderless, full art lands Magic has released so far what is your favorite? If you have one. My personal favorites are THB in foil and the Unglued lands.

I really have a soft spot for the Unstable lands. It took my well over a decade to make borderless basic lands (they originally were going to be in Unhinged until I got outvoted), and they turned out so awesome.

Art Foils Lands Mark's Favorites Mark's Favorites Theros Beyond Death