Greetings MaRo, big fan, love this game you're a big part in making, and I especially love your enthusiasm for it! It's truly infectious, and your passion clearly shows.

Anyway, as the Officially-Unoffical Un-Rules Manager, I had a question if you have the time. My play group is going to be running an Un-commander night soon where un-cards are totally legal and where we each get to pick a legendary creature, planeswalker, or The Grand Calcutron from an un-set and use that as our commander. I, in the spirit of someone who loves Magic history, am going with Richard Garfield, Ph.D.. Going to do some random number generator table to just increase the randomness, to try to not keep the deck super duper busted and, most importantly, to ensure my turns don't take forever because of decision paralysis. However, this leads me to a few questions about how certain mechanics work when I control Richard Garfield, Ph.D.:

1. Flashback (or really any "cast from the graveyard" effects/abilities, but flashback is the main one). If I have, say, Think Twice in the graveyard and I pay the flashback cost, am I limited to playing it as any card that costs 1U that also has flashback, or can I play it as any card that costs 1U? I'm assuming the former, but wanted to double-check on this point.

2. Alternate casting costs, like delve or madness. I assume that, if I am choosing the pay the alternate cost, it is already too late for me to play a particular card as a different card instead? For example, if I exile 7 cards from the graveyard to delve Treasure Cruise, I can't cast it as Scornful Egotist, right?

3. Suspend, and this is the one I am the least sure about so if you only have time for one rules question (I know you're incredibly incredibly busy making this game we all love, so I completely understand if that's the case), I would love an answer to this. If I have a card suspended and the last time counter comes off allowing me to cast the card, can I cast it as a different card of the same mana cost? For example, if I have Riftwing Cloudskate on suspend and I remove the last time counter, could I cast it as, say, Slime Monster? Also, for this question, does it at all matter if I suspended Cloudskate before or after I cast Richard Garfield, Ph.D.?

Thank you in advance for your help and for your time, and I am really looking forward to all that Magic has to offer! Can I shill for a second for a plane based around the Klondike Gold Rush with Western elements?

1. To use flashback, you must treat the card as a card with the same mana cost, and then pay the flashback costs that actually appears on the card that you are “copying”. 2. Yes, it is too late. Once you start paying additional costs, you’re locked into it being that spell.3. Suspend works similarly to flashback. You can “copy” any spell with the same mana cost and then pay the suspend cost that appears on that “copy”.

"We design each set to be balanced unto itself." But you had made cards that were unbalanced on older formats that were fine on std/limited, see treasure cruise and dig trough time, cant you make that with other colors? or is this one of those things only blue is allowed to do?

We have made broken cards in all the colors. Our most recent mistake is black/green hybrid.

[Counterspell was passed over in Modern Horizons because of its strength in Modern. It’s clearly thus too strong for Standard.] That's not always true though, right? Treasure Cruise was too strong for Modern (and Legacy), but fine for Standard.

You’re correct, but usually only for cards that care about aspects that are easier to achieve in older formats. Having access to two blue mana is very achievable in Standard.

Would you say that Treasure Cruise was a mistake? Not necessarily by its self, but the power it had in more eternal formats like Vintage & Modern

We have banned and restricted lists to handle cards okay in Standard but problematic in Vintage or Legacy. We won’t not print a card because it’s overpowered just in older formats.

RE: Lotus Petal is definitely too strong in Modern and also too strong in Standard. - We've already proved via Treasure Cruise that Modern's metagame has a completely different scale when it comes to "too strong". Is it possible that a card like Lotus Petal isn't that bad for Standard?

No, it’s too good for Standard. You are way underestimating it if you think it isn’t.

Why wastes don't have a land type? Increasing domain's potential is something that will (not) affect older formats. You were brave enough to give us Treasure cruise and all.

It wasn’t a power level issue. It was us not wanting to change large swaths of the rules for something that would seldom matter.

Treasure Cruise and Dig through Time demonstrated that you don't limit yourself by eternal formats. Why aren't supplemental cards like Dack Fayden treated the same way, meaning being legal in Modern unless banned?

Because making supplemental products legal in Modern would require additional development and we are tight on resources as it is.

Today is my birthday, and birthday questions seem popular here, so I was wondering if I could get some trivia on my favorite card that's come out in years, Treasure Cruise (rest in peace)

We seem to adore putting cost reduction mechanics on cards which match old broken cards with the idea that there is the hope of replicating the old card if the conditions are right. Luckily, it’s never burned us. : ) Happy Birthday!

Are there plans to release a jumbo-sized copy of Treasure Cruise in honor of Gavin's survival and return?

: )

I know R&D doesn't have the time to playtest older formats, and that you don't feel as bad banning there than in Standard, but how do you feel about having to ban and restrict Treasure Cruise everywhere after just one set?

We never enjoy banning cards but, on the flip side, we don’t want to avoid making cards which are fair in Standard.