The rarity questions were ones that a lot of people missed so it seems like a great chance for you to explain the thought processes behind rarity shifting cards, as it would mean even WOTC got the rarity wrong the first time. Could you go into detail on the rarity shifts for some cards, such as Chalice of the Void or Aether Vial, so future potential designers know how to correctly apply rarities to cards?

In two weeks, I have a column all about rarities where I go into the topic in detail.

The AE ligature was errata'd to the individual letters, and this is reflected in the card text on Gatherer. However, the card NAMES, aside from new cards and recent reprints like Aether Vial, all still use the ligature in Gatherer even though their card text doesn't anymore. Is there a reason for this?

It just hasn’t been updated yet.

It's my birthday today (my second here on blogatog!) Is there any trivia on my favorite card, Aether Vial? If not how about Sliver Queen?

Here’s a trivia question.What Weatherlight crew member interacts in the story with the Sliver Queen?Karn. She’s guarding the Legacy artifacts. Karn convinces her that the Legacy artifacts are to him what the slivers are to her and she lets him take them.Happy Birthday!

If each player started each game with an Aether Vial in play, would that make the game better or worse? A lot of people feel that the common occurrence of land flood/short is a major game design flaw.

I will say this until I’m blue in the face and history has shown that few will listen. The mana system including the mana flooding and mana screw is one of the three most important parts of Magic as a game (along with the concept of the trading card game and the color wheel). I call the three the Golden Trifecta - as those were the three great advances Richard Garfield created when he made Magic.