Was Apes of Rath one of yours?

Absolutely. About thirty seconds after we decided on naming the plane Rath, I said, “I’m making an Apes of Rath.”

Hey MaRo ! [Non-native speaker here] Why does it seem like "Apes of Rath" is supposed to be a pun? Am I missing something here?

It’s a pun of Grapes of Wrath, a famous book by American author John Steinbeck.

Did you write the flavor text for Apes of Rath?

I named it but I don’t think the flavor text is mine.

Mark... Why don't we see your love of puns more often? I would love having more puns on my magic cards!

Because I no longer have anything to do with card naming. When I did you got things like Apes of Rath and Squee’s Toy. : )

You mentioned that you were sad that we can't go back to Rath; being partially sad because you designed it... So, can we get some trivia about Rath?

The name Rath came from the design name for Death Pits of Rath (which made it to print). When Michael Ryan and I were trying to name the plane, we thought back to that card, which had a name we really liked, and said, “Why don’t we just call it Rath?” Two seconds later, I followed up with, “We have to make a card called Apes of Rath.” Volrath, the villain of the Tempest story, by the way, got his name because he was Vuel (his birth name) of Rath.

How would I go about getting a card signed by you? (It's an Atog...)

Send it along with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Mark Rosewater c/o Wizards of the Coast 1600 Lind Ave. SW Renton, WA 98057 For those that have read this fifty times before, a new Magic factoid for you: The name of the card Furnace of Rath predates the plane being called Rath. We liked the name of the card and said, “Let’s just call it Rath.” To which I replied immediately thereafter, “We have to have a card called Apes of Rath.”

Re Alliances playtest names: So, I take it "Apes of Rath" was not your first time monkeying with bad primate puns?

About thirty seconds after the name Rath was finalized for the plane, I said “We have to do a card called Apes of Rath.”