Hi Mark, you recently said the new card Quick Study, which is instant-speed Divination, is a positive development, yet it is also an example of power creep. In 2013 you posted, “Trading card games need either rotations or banned lists (probably both) or power creep will eventually kill the game.” Then, in your 2022 State of Design you shared how you are, “now designing [for an] "eternal world," where the core of Magic play involves the full history of the game.” These two statements feel at odds with each other.Would you please share if/how your thoughts on power creep have evolved since moving to an eternal world? Was there any notable debate over the power of Quick Study during set design?

Alpha had Ancestral Recall. I wouldn’t call Quick Study power creep. : )On a more serious note, there’s some give and take on basic effects. We can slightly tweak something without actual power creep.

As other colors' card draw has improved, has the rate for Divination been reconsidered at all? Can blue get this for two pips in eternal formats?

Raising the floor does not require raising the ceiling.

Silver border question: If I have a Split Screen in play and an effect tells me to draw more than one card (eg Divination), can I choose a different library for each draw?

If it’s one effect, you have to choose a single library.

RE: '“Players don’t splash a second color for this effect” is not an argument for putting it in the first color.' I agree, but that wasn't the argument that was made. You said you were worried that White card draw might make weenie decks too powerful, and my argument is that we have evidence it probably won't. It's just a statement about power level, not the color pie as a whole. I hope I'm not misinterpreting you or seeming aggressive, but it felt to me like your answer was a bit in bad faith.

You seem to misunderstand the cost of splashing a second color in an aggressive monocolor deck. It’s very high. White weenie’s biggest vulnerability is it runs out of gas. A white Divination would be a huge boost to a white weenie deck.

Just out of curiosity, since black gets card draw in exchange for life and white can gain life, could Divination be printed as a gold card for (1)WB? My gut says no, but maybe you could help me find out why?

Just because the component pieces are all in flavor doesn’t mean the combination is. Green can do flash, deathtouch and “enter the battlefield” fight (for now at least), but put them all together and you get Murder which green can’t do.

Mark, would you say a divination for 2 mana (UU, perhaps) is possible, or would be too powerful even in a supplemental set?

Not a play designer, but my gut is it’s too good.

Why does Lightning Bolt say deal "3" damage, but Divination say draw "two" cards? Why the difference between the numeral vs. spelling it out?

Because early on it was decided that damage would be templates as a number where numbers of items would not.

When you say you have lost the fight for "target player" on Divination, does that also go for cards at higher rarities?

I lost getting it to be the default.

Can green get card draw on a card that only targets creatures? Like say Giant growth + Divination

It has to do more than just target a creature.

In regards to names for cards, you said "It’s one of our most limited resources. Note we are careful about when we use a simple name." Then why do you keep wasting names on functional reprints? Why not reprint Searing Spear instead of wasting the name Lightning Strike? Why not reprint Inspiration instead of making Weave Fate? I can understand for something like Counsel of the Soratami becoming Divination due to it being plane-specific, but why do these re-names if names are so valuable?

Usually when we use a good name on a card that’s similar, one of two this is going on. One, we slightly changed the card mechanically and that’s what we want to be reprinting in the future (example: Weave Fate) or two, it’s a general enough effect that we know we’ll use often, so we make a slightly different creative take to allow us some choice to adapt to the world it in future reprints (example: Lightning Strike).