Card Printing

Term for Paw Print Modals

Is there an R&D term we can use to refer to the paw print modal cards?

We don’t currently have term for it, at least that I know of.

Card Printing Game Design

Eldrazi Card and Colourless Devotion

Could an eldrazi card care about devotion to colourless?

We don’t tend to print many cards with colorless costs, and when we do we use less colorless mana symbols, so affinity for colorless isn’t set up well.

Affinity Card Printing Colorless Eldrazis Mana

Maximum Number of 'Paws'

Do think five is the maximum number of "paws" you will print or is seven a possibility in the future?

I think more are possible. It depends on the “paw” economy.

Card Printing

Season Paw Print Limitations

Do you think mechanic for the seasons being paw prints limits their future use? As in, if pawprints are a smash hit and people adore this mechanic, don’t you think that being a PAWPRINT limits the ability the mechanic to return? It has pretty strict flavor

We can do similar cards with different symbols

Card Printing Flavor Mechanics Smash

Set Progress Timeline

Out of all the sets you’re working on right now, which is the farthest along in the timeline? Alternatively, what’s the distance between vision design and release date?

Cairo is the in-universe Magic set that is the farthest out. It’s in vision design. I start exploratory design on a Universes Beyond set in August. The end of vision design to print is two to three years. In-universe Magic sets are closer to release than Universe Beyond ones when they come out of vision design.

Card Printing Exploratory Design Universes Beyond Vision Design

Avacyn Birthday Trivia

I would like to invoke the rite of birthday trivia to request something about my favorite character, Avacyn!

From time to time we have what we call “brain to print” cards where a cards gets to print in the exact form it was designed. Avacyn, Angel of Hope was one such card. I made it in early vision design, and it never changed (I think they tried different mana costs, but ended back at where I started).Happy Birthday!

Angels Birthday Blogatog / Tumblr Card Printing Mana Vision Design Avacyn, Angel of Hope

Possibilities for Mood Swings

you mention 'mood swings' quite often, and you clearly have a lot of faith that it is a good game despite not being able to get it to production. have you considered doing a kickstarter for it? is that something that you would be allowed to do given your position at wotc? with your game design notoriety and dream-infiltrating levels of popularity it would seem like a pretty viable route to take.

I don’t think Kickstarter is currently a viable option, but I haven’t given up the fight. My plan is to get it to print someday.For those unaware, Mood Swings is my mass market TCG that I’ve been trying to get made for twenty-six years.

Card Printing Fight / Bite Game Design Mass Market Mood Swings Wizards of the Coast

Thoughts on Animal Megabatch

I just want to say that I agree with you that animal megabatch would have been endlessly charming. I love it so much. But I understand the problem with creating a list that needs updating forever like that. It makes sense to get cut. But it also rocks! This is why un-sets are so important and should be more accepted by the community lol.

I think vision design’s job is to push design boundaries, and not all of them will make it to print. I personally found the idea of animal decks super charming.

Card Printing Un-sets Vision Design

Xerex's Storytelling Potential

The fact that Xerex is beyond comprehension could be an asset for storytelling. That’s the kind of place that’s ideal for an escape story or a story about finding an important objective that’s hidden there. As far as mechanics go, that’s a bit tougher. I could see it overlapping with the flavor of the Eldrazi.

It could work in print where the player can imagine the setting. It has a lot more problems when we have to draw art showing what it looks like.

Art Card Printing Eldrazis Escape Flavor Mechanics Story / Lore

Defining 'Animal' in Card Print

If Animal had seen print, would there have been reminder text along the lines of "A creature type that lives or has lived on Earth as a real life animal is an animal", or would it just have been left up to the players to figure out / put in release notes and such to look up?

It would have had reminder text that defines it. Here’s the stab at it in the handoff document: “Animal includes any creature type that exists, or has existed, as a real non-human animal on Earth.”

Card Printing Creatures

Approach to Color-breaking Cards

Hey Mark! I'm wondering, why do you allow yourself to reprint color-breaking cards? It gives players, especially newer players, the wrong idea about the color pie. Instead of reprinting Chaos Warp, why not either (A) print a different, non-breaking card that achieves whatever it is Chaos Warp achieves for red, or (B) change the color pie so Chaos Warp isn't a break?

The problem is players want access to the cards. The compromise was to not add them to formats that they aren’t legal in. That’s why color pie breaks won’t get reprinted in premier sets (not counting bonus sheets that don’t change card legality).

Bend / Break Bonus Sheets Card Printing Color Pie Format Legality Premier Sets Red Reprints Chaos Warp

Absent Hedgehogs in Bloomburrow

Hi Mark, first off thank you and the team for the amazing Bloomburrow set. Just wanted to ask, is there a reason why you did not include any hedgehogs in it despite having tons of other critters not in the main tribes (weasels, foxes, moles, hamsters, etc)?

We included a lot of one-of creatures, and I believe we designed a hedgehog, but it didn’t make it to print. I’m not sure why, but it probably has to do with the individual card design.

Appreciation Bloomburrow Card Printing Creatures Foxes Hamsters Moles

Question on Reprinting Sets

Re: “we’ve promised to not straight reprint old sets.”When you say this, do you mean that you won’t print a set with the exact same set list as an existing set? Or do you just mean that you won’t print cards that are indistinguishable from existing versions? That is to say, if you made a hypothetical “return to ravnica redux” where everything was the exact same with no changes, except all the cards had a little planeswalker stamp in the corner like the list or mystery booster, would that be fair game?

It means we won’t reprint a set with the exact same cards, frame/text upgraded or not.

Boosters Card Frames Card Printing Planeswalkers Reprints Return to Ravnica

Reprinting Old Sets

The next set to go to the printers has mysteriously dissapeared. The file, the art assets, everything. Wizards has decided to reprint an old set in its entirety to replace the missing set and it will be standard legal - the call is yours to make. Which old set has another go at standard legality?

Something has gone horribly wrong if the call is mine to make. Also, we’ve promised to not straight reprint old sets. I assume, if we absolutely had to, we’d print something that didn’t cause big issues when it first came out.

Art Card Printing Reprints Standard

Booster Pack Collation Details

With pack coalation, Is it possible to have a specific card slot in a booster be for a card that creates a token and then have the corresponding token in the token slot?

No. The majority of our printers can’t guarantee card A and Card B are in the same booster 100% of the time.

Boosters Card Printing Tokens

Fox Tribal in Bloomburrow

Hey mark! Newer magic fan who is absolutely in love with bloomburrow, genuinely my favorite set, and several of my long-time magic player friends favorite set as well. I have to ask though: bloomburrow seems like a perfect set to print the capacity for more fox-tribal support, which doesn't really exist much despite, from my admittedly very limited research, seeming like a thing community members would like. Is there any specific reason as to why fox tribal isn't a thing, and doesn't seem to be on the shortlist for ideas?

There are a lot of animals and only so much space in the set for animals to focus on.

Bloomburrow Card Printing Foxes Kindred / Typal Limited The short list

On Potential Planeswalker Commanders

Would WOTC ever want to print a Planeswalker into Standard that had "this planeswalker can be your Commander"? Or is that strictly off the table?

Unlikely.

Card Printing Commander Planeswalkers Standard Wizards of the Coast

On Paw Print Symbols

I think the paw print symbols are cool design but why did you choose to make them something so flavorfully linked to one specific plane

Future cards with the mechanic can use whatever symbol they like, something matching that set.

Card Printing Mechanics

Season of Weaving Reprint Possibilities

Hey Mark, following up on my last question regarding Season of Weaving, as I don't think I was very clear with how I worded it -- Will the existence of the paw print markers exclude specifically Season of Weaving itself from being reprinted in future sets that aren't using those same paw print markers? Or could the same exact card with the same exact name be reprinted in say, some sort of steampunk set, with gear icons instead of paw prints?

I’m not sure. It doesn’t change the functionality of the card, but it’s something we’ve never done.

Card Printing Reprints Season of Weaving

Future Use of Paw Print Symbol

Re: Season of WeavingIs the use of the paw print symbol just flavor sugar that can be updated to whatever in order to thematically match any set? Or is it baked in, in that any future printing of this card will require the paw print to be used, thus making it a difficult mechanic to slot into most sets?

We could make similar cards with new symbols if we wished.

Card Printing Flavor Mechanics Pawprint Symbols Season of Weaving