First Pick

Revisiting Older Sets

Blown away by your willingness to answer so many questions, so here's one: What's an old set that you wish you could take another crack at, and why is it Fallen Empires?

Unhinged is actually my first pick. Eventide is my second.

Eventide First Pick

Mishra Meld Pair

Thought you might be interested in hearing this: I head judged a 300+ player Limited tournament at Dreamhack Atlanta last month, and in the Top 8, one player's first pick was half of the Mishra meld pair, and his second pick was the other half. I don't remember if he ever got the chance to meld them, but he made it to the finals.

Cool!

First Pick Limited Meld Mishra

Phoebe Design Insight

Can I get some birthday trivia on my first pack, first pick, first draft, Phoebe, Head of SNEAK? If you already gave away all of your Phoebe trivia during the Unstable DTWs, will you tell us your favorite version of what SNEAK stands for? Thanks Maro, love the blog!

Phoebe was originally called Shadowy Leader and we were thinking of playing into the spy trope of the leader you don’t know much about, but the joke didn’t play well, so we changed it. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Blogatog / Tumblr First Pick Humor Limited Mark Rosewater Spy Unstable

First Pick Draft

If you open First Pick in your first draft pack do you have to take it?

Only if you’re drafting ironically.

First Pick Limited

Tribal Themes in Colors

My observation has been that tribal themes only go in two colors in any given set. Why not splash a card or two into other colors? Like a black werewolf on innistrad or a blue dwarf on kaladesh? (No, there aren't any.) Is it a space issue? Cuz one splashable card for a tribal deck that shows off a different aspect of the tribe seems really cool.

Having just a handful of cards for a supported creature type can cause problems because players to believe the theme is more supported in a color than it actually is. For example, players first pick a card planning to go into that color only to find it was never viable.

Black Blue Colors Creatures Dwarf First Pick Innistrad Kaladesh Kindred / Typal Werewolf

Thanksgiving Food Choice

In the spirit of your TftP comic for Thanksgiving, what was your P1P1 (plate 1, pick 1) this year?

I usually first pick white meat from the turkey.

First Pick Food Pop Culture Spirit Tales from the Pit White

Tribal Preference Question

If MaRo were asked to play tribal somethingoranother with a group, and he were to have first pick on Faerie, Elf, Vampire, Zombie, or Goblin, which tribe would he choose and why?

First, why are you asking me questions in the third person? : ) The answer is obviously Zombies.

Elf Faerie First Pick Goblin Kindred / Typal Mark Rosewater Vampire Zombie

Historical Design Team

If you could make a design team out of famous historical characters, who would you pick and why?

First pick, Leonardo Da Vinci.

First Pick Leonardo da Vinci

Magic TV Show Dream

Assuming unlimited budget, do you think a tv show about Magic would be a good thing? What kind of show(s) would you hope to see?

I would love to see an animated television show about Magic. If I had first pick of any media property, that’s what I would choose. It would be aimed at adults but accessible to teens.

A Good Thing First Pick Pop Culture

Benalish Hero Power Level

Isn't Benalish Hero the oldest creature that's too powerful to reprint? Even if 100% of players woke up tomorrow understanding Banding... W 1/1 Banding is a windmill slam first pick, right?

The issue is card power not confusion. Benalish Hero isn’t too powerful to reprint.

Banding Benalish Hero Card Printing Creatures First Pick Power Level Reprints

YMTC First Round Concerns

Do you worry that after such a partisan first round, half of the audience for YMTC is going to be unsatisfied with the result?

I’m hoping people get invested and feel compelled to follow along even if their first pick isn’t chosen.

First Pick

Thatchers Revolt Playability

Is Thatchers Revolt even playable?

In limited, very much so. There are R&D members that will first pick it.

First Pick Limited Revolt