Conspiracy

Old Frame Hybrid Explanation

Why does Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy have a gold ‘97 frame instead of a hybrid ‘97 frame like Deathrite Shaman?

Hybrid didn’t exist at the time of the old frame, so there is debate of what old frame are we supposed to use. Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy takes a old fashioned sensibility choosing a frame that existed at the time that would have been the most likely frame that would have been used if hybrid existed. Remember in ‘97, all multicolor cards had the same gold frame without any pinlines or hints at what the colors of the card were.Deathrite Shaman applies a modern sensibility choosing to make a new frame that mimics what a modern hybrid frame would look like as an old frame. It comes down to what is the purpose of the old style frames, to capture how it would have been done at the time or mimic what we do now, but with an older aesthetic. Different players want different things.

Card Frames Colors Deathrite Shaman Foil Foils Hybrid Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy Modern Shaman

Jumpstart Box Misinterpretation

I took time out of my day to give you some notes on your product about Jumpstart boxes having 18 packs, and you called me a conspiracy theorist. You have a habit of exaggerating your critics' points so you can shoot down the straw men. Besides which, how can a company's internal decision even be a conspiracy? A conspiracy requires multiple parties. And it was such a minor complaint. All you had to say was "I see your point" and I'd move on. Instead you chose to insult me and double my grar. Why?

It wasn’t my intention to insult you. I sincerely apologize for doing so. I was just trying to make the point that most reasons behind non-game design decisions are tied to mundane production and business concerns.

Conspiracy Theorist Shoot Down Time Out

Next Villain: Fblthp?

Not asking for a legit reply, asking for your most crackpot conspiracy theorist magic story nerd take possible. Next villian after Phyrexians?

Fblthp.

Conspiracy Theorist Phyrexian Story / Lore

Fiora's Standard Set Potential

Is there anything about Fiora that makes it unfit to be a plane for a standard set? To me it looks like a great plane overall that works especially well for conspiracy products, but could work perfectly fine for a standard set as well.

It doesn’t have much of a mechanical identity, Standard-legal setwise. I agree the flavor is cool.

Conspiracy Flavor Premier Sets Standard

Novelty Draft Sets

If we're talking about 2020 wish lists, any chance of another novelty draft set? I really liked Conspiracy 2 and was sad that I missed Battlebond.

We have Commander Legends coming later this year.

Battlebond Commander Commander Legends Conspiracy Legendary Creatures Limited

Return Order Prediction

Which is most likely to return first: Battlebond, Conspiracy, or Modern Horizons?

I would put them in the order of how well they performed (as deemed by sales and market research): Modern Horizons, Battlebond, Conspiracy.

Battlebond Conspiracy Modern Modern Horizons

Planeswalker Timing

From the outside looking in, it seems like the time from Kaya's appearance in Conspiracy Two to her role in Ravnica is two years, while the time between when Estrid was developed for Commander 2018 versus Theros Beyond Death was just under two years. Does that help explain why sometimes we see planeswalkers seeded for future sets, versus when players perceived missed opportunities--you all just didn't know they existed yet?

We knew Estrid existed at the time we made Theros Beyond Death. She wasn’t a good story fit.

Commander Commander 2018 Conspiracy Planeswalkers Story / Lore Theros

Perception of White's Strength

maro so why do you hate white, because it comes to life that was white, it's more to black, the black demigod comes to life than white, green makes a "White Human Soldier token"

One of the side effects of social media, is the proliferation of narrative reinforcement. Yes, white has been a little weak recently. Magic ebbs and flows. Colors go up and down in power level. White isn’t fundamentally flawed, nor does R&D hate white. Yes, there are some specific issues connected to Commander as some of white’s strengths don’t translate well to the format, and R&D is working on that issue, but that’s irrelevant to tournament formats. As a rule of thumb, if you can change numbers and make a color playable, it’s not a color pie issue, but a power level one.Why does the black demigod gain life? Because black can sacrifice resources to gain life. Most often it’s sacrificing creatures on the battlefield, but in a graveyard set where the graveyard has equity, it’s a proper resource to care about it.Why is a green card making a white creature token? Because we only get so many creature tokens, and that existing token was already in white.There’s no great conspiracy. : )

Black Color Pie Colors Commander Conspiracy Creatures Demigod Green Human Lifegain Mark Rosewater Power Level Rules Sacrifice Soldier The Graveyard Tokens White

Rarity Adjustment for Limited

"Gary’s uncommon for his return to help balance limited." This is now at least the second common from Theros to be pushed up to uncommon for Limited (the first being Nessian Asp in a Conspiracy set, a card notorious in Theros Limited). Does R&D consider an excess of cards at inappropriate rarities to be one of the problems with Theros Limited, a format which is far from beloved?

Gary being at common was a mistake.

Conspiracy Game Design Limited Nessian Asp Theros Uncommons

Future Sets Request

Happy holidays Mark! In the next year, I would like to see new editions of some of my favorite supplemental sets, such as Planechase or Conspiracy. I'd also love to see interesting new commander designs, but there is no question about that happening. Thanks again for everything you do!

I’d love to hear from others about what you want the future to bring.

Commander Conspiracy Planechase

Supplemental Sets Planes

"We do have three slots a year to visit planes." - Sort of... you've got more opportunities via supplemental products though, right? Some of them have plane-specific themes, like Conspiracy and Battlebond. Does anything prevent a supplemental set tied to some popular existing plane X, if you don't plan to do another standard set on X in the near future?

It’s not off the table.

Battlebond Conspiracy Planes Premier Sets Standard

Supplemental Set Success

Successful supplemental sets increases the chance of doing more of them, like Unsets, Plane Chase, Conspiracy, and especially Commander. Does that include MLP, or is that a different situation? It'd be great to eventually get more of those

We have a set number which should all sell, so it’s tricky to determine success. But yes, players liking something increases us doing it again.

Commander Conspiracy Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

White's Card Draw History

As a matter of trivia, symmetrical draw actually isn't 100% new for white. There are two very old "Truce" cards, one from Portal and one from Homelands, that cause each player to draw two cards or forego drawing to gain life. There's also a monowhite Parley card from Conspiracy which does, strictly speaking, cause each player to draw a card.

The two cards you’re taking about are pre-color pie monitoring. Parley is just an example of slight bends when we cycle mechanics through all five colors. Happily Ever After is the first time we’ve made a conscious decision to make this ability part of white.

Birthday Card Draw Color Pie Colors Conspiracy Happily Ever After Homelands Lifegain Mechanics Parley Portal White

Fiora in Non-Conspiracy

What are the chances of seeing Fiora in a non-Conspiracy set?

There’s a chance.

Conspiracy

Collector Boosters Inquiry

Hi Mark! As a collector, I’m very excited to see what you did with the new Collector Boosters. Are you expecting to produce collector booster for special sets as well (like conspiracy/battlebond/masters etc.)?

Let’s see how Throne of Eldraine collector boosters do.

Battlebond Collector Boosters Conspiracy Throne of Eldraine

Top Supplementals

What's your top 10 supplemental products today?

Today? 1) Un-sets2) Modern Horizons3) Planechase 4) Battlebond5) Archenemy 6) Conspiracy sets7) Modern Masters sets8) Commander Decks9) Duel Decks10) Signature Spellbook

Archenemy Battlebond Commander Conspiracy Duel Decks Modern Modern Horizons Modern Masters Planechase Spellbook Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Conspiracy Card Influence

Did the card Conspiracy, featuring Mercadian goblins in the art, have any impact on the design of the set Conspiracy?

No.

Art Conspiracy Goblin

Set Name Cards

Re: Cards with the same name as sets in general, the full list is: Apocalypse, Cold Snap (sort of), Conflux, Conspiracy, Future Sight, Hour of Devastation, Mirrodin Besieged, Morningtide, Onslaught, Planar Chaos, Prophecy, Time Spiral, Visions, Torment and Weatherlight. I know the Time Spiral block ones were named on purpose and I assume Conflux, Mirrodin Besieged and Hour of Devastation were deliberate too. Do you know if any others were?

The rule of thumb is if the set came first, we were did it on purpose. And yes, Time Spiral block was on purpose.

Apocalypse Cold Snap Conflux Conspiracy Future Sight Hour of Devastation Mirrodin Morningtide Onslaught Planar Chaos Prophecy Rules Time Spiral Torment Visions Weatherlight

Future of Energy Mechanic

Hey Mark, what do you think is more likely? Energy returning in a standard set, or Energy returning in a supplemental product such as a future commander deck (or even a conspiracy/battlebond type set)

That all depends on whether or not we return to Kaladesh.

Battlebond Commander Conspiracy Kaladesh Premier Sets Standard

Kamigawa Return Possibility

So it's fairly unlikely that we'll ever see a return to Kamigawa in Standard but could it be a possible setting for a supplemental product like Battlebond or Conspiracy?

There a numerous ways we could see Kamigawa again.

Battlebond Conspiracy Kamigawa Standard