To be French vanilla, you have to have no rules text other than keyword abilities, so Tarmogoyf is not French vanilla.But it’s mechanicaly identical to a card with no abilities and the stat line “the number of card types among cards in all graveyards/the number of card types among cards in all graveyards” which would technically be vanilla science it only has stats.

Only having stats is not the same as not having rules text. 2/2 is just simpler than */*.

Hi Mark,TLDR: love the change to "kindred" on French cards.I want to say that, as a French mainly playing with English cards, I wasn't really thinking anything much of the change from tribal to kindred, mainly because I didn't know the word kindred before, but I just saw a card using the new template in French "[cardtype] de clan: __" (literally: [cardtype] of (the) clan __) instead of "[cardtype] tribal" (it was also the word "tribal" in French) and I think it has so much more flavor of the card being part of the group instead of just being like the group.

I’m glad you like the change.

Hello Mark! As a geographer I'm excited about the theme of the future codenames. Are you planning to match codenames to themes of sets, for example a Scandinavian city for a return to Kaldheim or a city in India for a Kaladesh set? If not, are you wary of potential insensitivities? I know such coincidences are not very likely to happen, but for example codenaming an African-themed set after a French city could feel inappropriate.

The codenames were all chosen before we knew the mechanical themes of the sets, so there is no purposeful connection.

I excluded vanilla / french vanilla creatures because they tend to not have a good shot at being playable in Constructed. Including those, with the same "new cards since 2013" filter: 541 Vampires and Zombies, 314 Elves, 172 Goblins, 133 Merfolk. Less of a difference than I thought there would be. Many fans of the tribe feel let down with most new set releases as we don't see cards we can get excited about. e.g. Emry is a constructed powerhouse in ELD and there's nothing like her in WOE.

There have been vanilla and French vanilla creatures played in competitive tournament decks, and many non-vanillas that weren’t. I’m not sure it’s a great dividing line.

Could we ever see a French Vanilla planeswalker? i.e. all their loyalty abilities are just keywords (ex. investigate, proliferate, populate, etc)

Is there a reason to do this other than to say we did?

Would you say that cards like Odric and Urborg Scavengers qualify as French Vanilla Matters??

No, they’re anti-synergistic with vanilla creatures.

Regarding the creatures with no abilities being done away with in place of creatures with only keyword abilities, have you considered lumping those creatures in a category like historic? i.e. reminder text like (Vanilla creatures are creatures with no abilities except for keyword abilities)

French vanilla are creatures with only keywords. Vanilla means no rules text.

Hi Mark,I've been seeing some pockets of the online community being rather focused on making snide remarks about you, in particular, about what people see as design mistakes. Honestly, I think a lot of it, even if the criticisms have valid points, are just needlessly mean spirited and not trying to come from a place of good faith criticism. I think part of that is people focusing on the more obvious mistakes but not knowing the things you've spearheaded that have been perceived widely as great changes for the game. What would you say are some of the biggest changes for the game that have been as close to universally accepted as good that you played a significant part in having made happen? Because I think people would be surprised about what they love that you helped make happen.

Some of the things which are popular that I had a major hand in:Bonus SheetsChangelingColored ArtifactsConstellationCreature Types as a Set ThemeCursesDevotionDouble-Faced CardsEnchantment CreaturesEnergyEquipmentFaction SetsFlashFlashbackFocus on Top-Down DesignHybrid ManaImprintKeywording of Deathtouch, Lifelink, Reach, and “dies”LandfallMorphMuch of R&D Lingo (”French Vanilla”, “Lenticular”, etc.)Planeswalkers (the card type)Player Psychographics (Timmy/Tammy, Johnny/Jenny, Spike)Poison ReturningPopulateProliferateProwessRace/Class RaidReusing of Named Nonevergreen Keyword MechanicsSagasSplit CardsSquirrelsVehiclesThe Weatherlight Saga

I was curious about the origin of “blue ribbon” after the previous ask. According to Wikipedia, it was originally a specific prize called “blue riband.” In the United States the term was altered to “blue ribbon,” but other English speaking countries still use the other term.The French “cordon bleu,” which translates to “blue riband/ribbon,” is also a symbol of high quality, based on an old French knightly order. For the askers, it has become customary in a lot of contests in the US, such as agricultural competitions, art competitions, and such, for the highest prize to be a blue ribbon attached onto the winning entry.

FYI

Hi Mark, maybe I'm a little late to ask this with all the Double Masters 2022 spoilers now, but was CLB only printed in english because CMR didn't do well in other languages?

You have been misinformed. Here are all the products for #MTGCLB and all the languages it’s available in:Set boosters - Languages available: English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, SpanishDraft boosters - Languages available: English, Chinese Simplified, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, SpanishCollector boosters - Languages available: English, German, French, JapaneseCommander decks - Languages available: English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, SpanishBundles - Languages available: English, German, French