Mudhole

Worst Card Design

What is the worst designed card, that you designed?

Mudhole is the card I designed that seems to get picked on the most.

Mudhole

EMA Preview Guess

Your Eternal Masters preview is DEFINITELY going to be Mudhole

I did design Muddle all by myself. : )

Eternal Eternal Masters Mudhole Spoilers

Mudhole Design Intent

What was the thought behind the design of Mudhole?

I was trying to hose Threshold. No, really.

Mudhole Threshold

Unpopular Cards Created

Are there any cards that you can think of that you've personally designed and have saw print that the fans just didn't like for whatever reason?

I’ve made some pretty unpopular cards over the years: Carnival of Souls and Mudhole are two of my most hated.

Card Printing Carnival of Souls Mudhole

Card Design Extremes

You hold the auspicious title of the designer of the most broken card (Tinker) and the least broken (Mudhole?). Would you say you also hold the titles for the best and worst designed cards?

Tinker isn’t the most broken card. It’s the most broken I designed. And there are cards less broken than Mudhole. Best and worst designs are very subjective.

Mudhole

Laughably Bad Designs

What's the most laughably bad card you've ever designed?

I get more grief for Mudhole and Carnival of Souls than any other designs.

Carnival of Souls Mudhole

Tinker vs Mudhole

On the topic of mistakes, do you consider Tinker (a hilariously broken card) more of a mistake than Mudhole (the exact opposite)?

In general, I feel broken cards have a much bigger impact than bad ones. The former warp the game and the latter just aren’t played.

Mudhole

Signing Mudhole Cards

Has anyone ever asked you to sign a copy of Mudhole?

Yes. I’ve signed *a lot* of Magic cards.

Mudhole

Mudhole Reception

Was Mudhole initially received worse than One With Nothing?

No, but I didn’t make One With Nothing. That was a Brian Tinsman creation.

Mudhole One with Nothing

Mudhole's Concept

What was the idea behind Mudhole anyway?

The set enabled threshold through discard often by discarding unneeded lands. Mudhole was trying to be a card that punished that strategy. Yeah, not my best work. : )

Discard Lands Mudhole Threshold

Carnival of Souls

I saw you say Carnival of Souls was a failure of design. If it makes you feel better it's a card in my 5c casual deck alongside Young Pyromancer, Lingering Souls, Skullclamp, Cabal Therapy, Blood Artist, Thoughtseize, Dismember, Gush, Fastbond, and others like Ponder and Brainstorm.

A lot of people spoke up professing their fondness for Carnival of Souls. Mudhole, not so much.

Art Blood Blood Artist Brainstorm Cabal Therapy Carnival of Souls Casual Play Dismember Fastbond Lingering Souls Mudhole Skullclamp Thoughtseize Young Pyromancer

Biggest Design Flop

What card you designed was the biggest flop?

Either Carnival of Souls or Mudhole.

Carnival of Souls Mudhole

Worst Designed Card

What card that you designed that saw print do you think is the worst designed?

Mudhole turned pretty bad. : )

Card Printing Mudhole

Card Purpose Defense

"Every card has a purpose although not necessarily for every player." i have bad news, maro, cards like moonlace, razor boomerang, and mudhole have one purpose: to fill in for better cards in your deck. or to become inside jokes in our game group.

And yet when I picked on Mudhole as being a really bad card (talking about some of the worst cards I’d designed power wise), I had numerous Question Marks explain how they used it in decks. Our Magic Online data shows that every and I mean every card gets played.

Humor Mark Rosewater Moonlace Mudhole Question Marks Razor Boomerang

Mudhole Critique

You stated that Mudhole was one of the worst cards you have ever designed. I have only been playing for 4 years. Why was it so bad?

It just has a *very* limited use.

Limited Mudhole

Worst Designed Card

Whats the worst card you have made?

I’ve made a lot of bad cards. I guess the bad card I’m most famous for making is Mudhole from Odyssey.

Mudhole Odyssey

Future Mechanics Caution

MaRo! I come from the future with a warning! Don't do Mechanic X in 2020's Large Set! It will warp Legacy and Modern so much that Mudhole and Storm Crow dominate them respectively!

Bah, person from the future. We won’t make that mistake.

Keyword Abilities Legacy Mark Rosewater Mechanics Modern Mudhole Storm Crow

Worst Cards

So, what are some worse cards than Viashino Skeleton? :)

Sorrow’s Path, Wood Elemental, Mudhole to name a few.

Elemental Mudhole Skeleton Viashino Viashino Skeleton Wood Elemental

Famously Bad Cards

IS the reasoning behind notoriously bad cards (eg. one with nothing) something you could cover in your column? I know you've mentioned mudhole being an attempt to handle threshold before, but I'd like to know what thinking lead to some of the other famously-bad cards that have seen print.

How about an article all about One with Nothing (called “One With One With Nothing”): http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr179

Card Printing Mudhole One with Nothing Threshold

Purpose of Mudhole

What exactly was Mudhole meant to do?

It was meant as a threshold hoser. Early playtest had players discarding lands to effects to get to threshold. It sounded reasonable at the time.

Lands Mudhole Playtesting Threshold