Regarding the Aardvark ask, they are African animals. Bloomburrow seems to be a Noeth American style biome (based on the raccoons and Opossums). I don’t think it would be a good fit for Bloomburrow 2. But it would be a GREAT fit for Zhalfir.

The biome does impact what animals we can use.

I’d like to say thank you for not making the bats in Bloomburrow vampires. Or at least not making vampirism their main thing in the lore. Vampire bats are cool but overdone considering only 3 out of over 1,400 bat species drink blood (and those 3 species of vampire bay are only found in Central America and South America.)

In Bloomburrow, the Bats are the clergy.

Hi mark. There were a few people who had commented on the technology and aesthetic of Duskmourne and how it feels too close to the present, referencing planes like Capenna or Neo-kamigawa as other examples of modernity in Magic’s fantasy setting. Because I am the main character and my opinion is the most important one, I thought I’d give my two cents on the topic.Although kamigawa and capenna are obviously more “modern” than a plane like innistrad, they still don’t feel like “now”. By definition, sci-fi is not modern. Although Neon kamigawa doesn’t feel like high fantasy, it doesn’t feel “modern” to me either, it’s too far in the future. In the opposite direction, Capenna feels too far in the past to feel “modern”. Yeah, arc spitter is a Tommy gun and the treasure token is a martini glass, but it still doesn’t feel like the present. My grandpa wasn’t even born until after the end of prohibition. Time period Capenna is based on was literally a century ago. Sure the aesthetic isn’t as far back in history as the aesthetic of a knight in shining armor, but it’s still far enough back that it feels like “another time”, at least to me. I think the reason those two planes pass the vibe check is because they feel different enough from modern day. TV’s have existed since the late 1920’s, so it would have been historically accurate if the plane themed around 1920s America had TVs. but that still *feeeeeels* wrong. The vibes are off. Yeah sci fi japan would probably have cell phones or something, but that just feels wrong. In other words, fantasy (to me) isn’t about looking like lord of the rings, it’s about NOT looking like everyday life.This is where Duskmourne comes in. I wasn’t alive in the 70’s or 80’s. Heck, I’m so young that my parents hadn’t even met until after homelands came out. But the 70’s and 80’s feels like modern day. Screaming nemesis and cursed recording have TVs in their art. The booster fun frame looks like it would be on a ghostbusters poster. I feel like I saw my baby cousin wearing the exact same outfit as Toby just the other day. The term “fear of missing out” is just such a modern day thing, even if that concept isn’t new. I’m withholding my judgement until I see the whole set, but based on what we’ve seen so far, I (somewhat) agree with the sentiment a lot of Duskmourne feels too “real”. I’m sure more detail will be given closer to release, but I would be really interested in learning the whole process of how y’all built this world, even more interested than I would be with any other plane.

We’re trying something new. Some people seem to like it, some don’t. Time will show whether it was overall a good idea. I will say we need time to better gauge it. There are a lot of very popular Magic things that had an initial negative opinion.

Hi Mark. What are examples of some parts of the Strixhaven set that didn't particularly resonate with non-American audiences? I'm not American and I found Strixhaven to be particularly resonant, but I'm curious to see what other people think.

Why don’t I let the non-Americans answer that?

It seems that you underestimated how unfamiliar non-Americans would be with the source material for Strixhaven, and overestimated how unfamiliar non-Americans would be with the source material for Thunder Junction (Westerns are pretty popular internationally). You've had cultural consultants in the past for sets embracing other cultures. Have you considered having similar ones for "This feels like an America-centric theme. What do other countries know/think about the topic?"

I think you misunderstood the point in my article today. The issue wasn’t people in other countries wouldn’t know the western genre (although it can vary quite a bit depending on the region), but that the genre comes with a lot of subtext in other countries because of how tied it is to American imperialism. And yes, that is something we sought outside help with.

You've said before that WotC was caught by surprised a little at how Strixhaven wasn't as resonant as expected, because the US college experience doesn't align as much with the rest of the world as assumed. Did this affect OTJ's development much, given that "Western" is even more a very explicitly American genre?

It’s why the set has a strong villains theme as that theme is a bit more universal.

Hi Mark!Can I get a “maybe” that the card for Captain America will be red, white, and blue?

Maybe. : )

I can see white & red as colors for Captain America (Steve Rogers specifically, but I think most who've held the mantle as well), but would blue be tertiary for him (or any of the others)? I kinda doubt it, but hope it might be, for obvious reasons.

I could see blue being Steve Roger’s third color. He was adapted by technology.

Everybody has been talking (correctly!) about how great the LCI Planeswalker's Guide is, but I wanted to mention how much I enjoyed your Drive to Work with Ovidio Cartagena. I could really hear the emotion in his voice as he talked about how he was able to work Latin American culture and history into the set, and it was really quite affecting.

The reason I had him on was because he was so passionate about it and I wanted people to hear him talk about the set.

Even tho I'm very happy with the dive into deeper mesoamerican culture inspired lore. I'm extremely dissapointed by the inclusion of Incan lore into the mix. It feels like it was all meshed together "because they're latam, they're the same/similar" and I was hoping for a South American inspired plane in the future. Feels like mixing chinese and japanese cultures "cuz they're asian", and I couldn't feel less forgotten as a South American myself. Any chances of getting a proper South American inspired plane anytime?

It is on the “short” list.