Are we going to see more mechanics for groupings of creature types like outlaws in the future? Like maybe fighters (Knights, soldiers, warriors, archers) or critters (rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, etc) or undead (zombies skeletons vampires spirits)? Where does it sit on the storm scale?

There will be more batching. We do want to be careful how often and how intuitive the groupings are.

Hello, Mark! Do you think it's possible we'll ever see a non-Acorn card "create" something other than a token? If not, do you think we'd ever see the word "token" implied, so as to save space on the card? For example, "Create a Treasure," or "Create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature."

I’m skeptical we’ll stop labeling tokens. I don’t know if we’ll ever make another noncard component, but we might.

Do you remember what the first card you made that got printed was

It was three cards in Alliances: Gustha’s Scepter, Library of Lat-Nam, and Soldier of Fortune. I also named Force of Will. I didn’t like the name it had, knew it was going to be the hot card from the set, and said it needed a better name. The person in charge of the name said, “Come up with a better name and we’ll change it,” so I did.

Is there an internal reference somewhere with what you're "going for" with creature types? I'm thinking of a designer asking "should this be a Warrior or Soldier token?" When neither type has specific mechanical relevancy in that product. Even without a mechanical throughline, different creature types can evoke different things about the setting or about the action depicted by the card.

Creature types, when not mechanically relevant, are determined by the creative team and are driven by what the creature is flavorfully.

Just a minor feedback note. I don't find soldiers evocative or engaging as a creature type, especially when compared to knights or warriors. I understand that soldiers have been more supported in the past, but I hoped magic was moving away from them. Nothing against soldier fans, of course.

We make a lot of sets. We can support a lot of creature types. Soldiers definitely have their fans.

Joining in on the UB requestsDiscworld, maybe an Unset, maybe not, I’m just throwing it out thereGuilty Gear, the fighting game, would be more than just legendary fighters, Guilty Gear 2: Overture has plenty of minions, soldiers, knights etc. to use. (I’m currently designing my own custom set on Guilty Gear)Small Warhammer 40k package with things for Horde, Planescape, Archenemy etc?Blizzard Entertainment’s Heroes of the Storm, why not one Blizzard IP but their own crossover game! Includes many fan favourite characters and as a MOBA it as minions and things.DnD Planescape? I just want Eberron honestly.Avatar the Last Airbender.

Thanks.

I'm sure this isn't helped by the extra year added on to standard, but UW has 4 kindred synergies its trying to support currently within standard (spirits, soldiers, knights, detectives). It feels like soldiers and knights could have at least mentioned each other to help cross set synergy out, as right now, these decks are very much locked into their own sets when looking for support. Has it shown to be a problem per your data? If so do you have ideas on what could be done different?

There are no Kindred cards in Standard, but my guess is you’re talking about typal themes. The philosophy is the set that cares makes the typal cards that mechanically matter and then other sets will make more creatures that share the type. We will batch on occasion, but only if both types are relevant in the set the card is in. (Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty had Ninjas and Rogues in it, for example.) We will mechanically return to more popular creature types over time, but that usually isn’t relevant for Standard.

"Why don’t tokens have color indicators? My best guess is they don’t technically need them." They kind of do. I keep running into the problem with the Gnome Soldiers being White, but everyone believing they're Colorless due to the token being borderless.

I wasn’t saying it wouldn’t help for game play purposes. I was saying the rules don’t require it.

Hi Mark! Next time you talk about typal draft archetypes on your podcast, could you talk about the creatures that dont get the type that matters? The berserkers in KTK that could have been warriors, the soldiers in ELD etc.

If every creature is the relevant type, we might as well just say “creature”. The reason typal is interesting for design is that it makes players evaluate cards differently.

Why are citizen tokens stronger than soldier tokens?

They aren’t, except when involved in a planet-wide celebration, and then they’re just so excited. : )