Hi Mark! In the planeswalker's guide, there is a really cool description for the "Glitch Ghosts" that explains why they appear they way they do and it makes no mention of tech at all. In my opinion, that snippet of world-building is in-line with some of my favorites of other planes you've made. It gives a reason why the ghosts have the same aesthetic as modern horror tropes, but recontextualizes it as a form of magical phenomena. It's really really stellar. I love it. Please give a high five to whoever came up with that. But, when I see that Duskmourn also contains random TVs and computer screens, it cheapens that explanation. Why come up with a magical explanation for the Glitch Ghosts at all, if you were then just going to include the other technology anyway? Why not just have the description of the Glitch Ghosts be something derivative like "these are ghosts made by corrupted/possessed tech"? It's way more boring, but now that's all I'm going to be able to associate with them. I guess my complaint is that by including more mundane objects and technology in Duskmourn, it makes the actual magic and worldbuilding of the plane feel less magical to me.

Magic started square in the heart of high fantasy. Over the last thirty plus years, we’ve tested where we can extend the feeling of the game, and the feeling of worlds where magic plays a role. I don’t think magic has to be tied to the past and there are a lot of cool properties that combine modern day elements with magic. Any time we try something new, perhaps this is the change that’s a bit too far (we do know we’re pushing boundaries here), but what we’ve learned this many years in is that Magic is at its best when it embraces all different kinds of aesthetics. When it shows people that magic can encompass a whole slew of different types of worlds.Yes, Duskmourn is different, but different is kind of where Magic excels.

I've listened to your Drive to Work on ONE. I was surprised to hear you didn't mention the problems of proliferate and corrupted in this set (for limited). Proliferate requires to have a poison counter, which is more likely as the starting player. Corrupted was more likely to achieve as the starting player, resulting in a snowballing effect. Indeed, ONE had a big OTP advantage. I know you prefer to promote attacking, but sometimes that does cause the defending player to have little comeback tools.

I haven’t seen any data that going first in Phyrexia: All Will Be One has a higher win rate than other premier limited format.

I understand that MH3 wants to reference famous cards (and that's great!) but I'm getting a bit tired of the "Old card/character but corrupted" trope (referring to the Eldrazi versions). Maybe it's because we just had DMU, ONE *and* MOM do it just last year, or maybe I've played Magic for too long and I still remember SOM and SOI blocks doing that as well. What's the general opinion on this kind of cards?

They’re very popular.

For your top 20 (non-evergreen) mechanics I noticed none were from this decade. What would you say is the best new mechanic from this decade so far?

Note that I would pick the mechanic that started a trend. Foretell is an awesome more recent mechanic, but Morph is the first to use face down as a resource, so I chose that for the talk.Amass, while not technically from this decade, is only five years old. Mechanics I really like from this decade include: alliance, backup, collect evidence, connive, corrupted, decayed, enlist, escape, foretell, incubate, learn/lesson, magecraft, mutate (although it has its complexity issues), party, prototype, reconfigure, role tokens, and shield counters.

Couldn't have corrupted, instead of an ability word , be a variant on the existing term "is poisoned?" For example, instead of a card saying "Corrupted- This spell costs 2 less to cast if an opponent has three or more poison counters." Couldn't it have said "This spell costs 2 less to cast if an opponent is corrupted. (They are corrupted if they have three or more poison counters.)

That would have been a viable way to template it. Usually if we can avoid a keyword by using an ability word, we do.

Why was corrupted made an ability word instead of a keyword? For example why was the seedcore given it's current wording rather than "Target 1/1 creature gets +2/+1 until end of turn. Activate only if an opponent is corrupted. (A player is corrupted if they have three or more poison counters.)"

Usually the difference between a keyword and an ability word is the former replaces an exact string of text that has to be the same on every card.

How well did it go for ONE to have players/decks mix poison and regular damage? Anecdotally, corrupt played very well and toxic creatures weren't as parasitic because they still lowered life, but for me —and I heard a lot of this— poison kills were rare even if you were trying, because most creatures had a toxic value of half their power or lower, so at most you got to ten poison counters at the same time as damage. Do you have data on this? Is Wizards happy with those how it turned out?

The data from the players said they mostly enjoyed it.

Hi Maro. I think Magic has a tendency to revisit old characters but make them corrupted, monstrous or transformed in a negative manner. This happens often as part of the main plot (e.g., Emrakul, Phyrexia), but also in secondary storylines (e.g., Odric, Anax). It can get a bit tiring, to be honest. May I suggest more of the opposite, where old characters get healed, purified or transformed in a positive manner?

We do it on occasion. It’s just less compelling. It’s why the same is true for pop culture in general.

Why is Corruption of Towashi NOT a "Phyrexian Enchantment"? Could you elaborate on the current R&D position on Tribal cards?

We no longer use Tribal in premier sets. We haven’t for over a decade.

Has there ever been discussion of a set for alternate story timelines, like Planar Chaos but for the story instead of the mechanics? Like what if Gix had corrupted Urza instead of Mishra, what if Ugin didn't help imprison the Eldrazi and Sorin and Nahiri tried to kill them instead, what if the Blackblade actually was able to kill Bolas during War of the Spark, etc.?

It’s a frequent ask on Blogatog. What “what if” scenario would you most like to see on a card?