Is the Ubiquitous Token of a plane something we should expect from visit to visit? Like, how Capenna has its gw citizens, Innistrad has black decayed zombies, LTR had orc armies [applicable to some silmarillion-based visit, I guess]I was looking at the Fish tokens in Bloomburrow and Mercenaries in otj and wondering if those were also more Worldbuilding statements or not.

It’s a mechanical tool that adds flavor, and something we definitely use when shaping a set.

are the seasonal basics of Bloomborrow a reference to Extremely Slow Zombie? :)

I think Mishra’s Factory beat Extremely Slow Zombie by many years. : )

Are Rabbits the new Zombies? Relatively harmless in small numbers, but those numbers do not stay small, and you are soon faced with an implacable horde of carrot eaters?

The Rabbit archetype in Bloomburrow is good at overrunning you with Rabbits.

If or when: a plane where the usual creature types are shuffled around a bit, but still fit their new colors? Ex. goblins on this plane are more civilized and selfless than average and are in White, merfolk swim in lava and live in volcanoes and are Red, undeath is seen as a natural part of the cycle of life thus zombies and animated skeletons are in Green, etc.

Designing for the eternal world, especially Commander, complicates this. Because we’re trying hard to connect with themes of the past, it becomes hard to add new cards to a theme, but specifically put them in a different color(s) than they originally appeared in. We do like to stretch creature types to new colors, but usually associated with a color that has some history to it.

as a long-time player i'd like to voice my support for the cephalid style creature type errata. cephalids are still cephalids flavorfully, but mechanically having them grouped with existing octopodes has upside. having the word octopus on the type line also helps new players understand what the word cephalid means (octopus person), which i think is a boon to their brand. zombies are very popular and encompassing mummies, ghouls, nim, and skaabs is a positive for those varied creative executions.

I agree having Cephalids and normal Octopuses working together will be long term positive for the game.

Since you were designing for Tempest, maybe you know. Why is Gravedigger a Zombie?

I like Zombies and thought it would be good in a Zombie deck.

"if/when: batching for "undead" creatures (zombies, skeletons, vampires, ghouls etc.)?" "If, but I could see it working in the right set." What are the chances that the next Innistrad set has vampires, zombies and werewolves batched as "monsters" or a similar term? (See for example Victim of Night.)

The batch doesn’t want to be too high a percentage of the set.

Hi Mark, since you aren't doing abilities linked to types (the old "Walls can't attack" rule), what do you think about types linked to abilities? (things like Embalm & Eternalize granting the Zombie type or a rule saying "Mutated creatures are Mutants")

I’m not against the concept, but it has a pretty high bar to clear.

Some Magic-inspired stories, all about bonding with my son, who is now 7-and-a-half: I don’t remember what I did first to get him interested in Magic, but it was probably playing with my friend Max, who taught me and my now-wife how to play - but I know Duels of the Planeswalkers on Xbox 360 helped get my son into the game with the effects and music but especially archenemy variant and a Nicol Bolas final match.In the years since then, he and I occasionally get to talking about his favorite creature types and characters, and after quite some time, we have slowly narrowed down his choices to 4: Spiders, Zombies with Liliana, Nicol Bolas, and Niv-Mizzet. Not surprisingly, two of Magic’s most common dragons in that list. I don’t know what it is with dragons but I’m glad WotC had realized their appeal so they’re prominently there for my son to enjoy, and with quite a few options so he may get a Nicol Bols dragon deck that’s much different than any dragon deck I have tried to make myselfThanks to War of the Spark, I finally created a Horde Magic deck and he loved hearing about the storyline of Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation leading up to the actual WAR set, as I explained those stories using key cards before we started the game, to establish the setting. Coincidentally, it was my son with his Gideon that ultimately dealt the final blow - no need to sacrifice himself the way it played out in our match! My son will still reference this game and it’s nearly been a year.Also since that time I learned that the classic Planeswalker webcomics had been bundled as graphic novels, so I got those and our nighttime routine for a bit was to read about Garruk’s corruption by Liliana and that build up to Rise of the Eldrazi and Mirrodin Besieged; coincidentally we finished as March of the Machine previews were going on, and my villain-loving son is now waiting for me to build a Phyrexian horde so he can battle Elesh Norn. We look forward to many more years with the game, and especially learning what comes next for some of our favorite still-active villains: Ashiok, Oko, and Tezzeret!

Thanks for sharing.

I'd question the "no flavor difference btwn tokens and cards". To me, most tokens feel like extras in a movie. Some citizens, some goblins, some zombies, even a sea monster. There are exceptions like legendary/named tokens of course (often sidekicks), but in general tokens feel a bit more "generic" than cards. P.s.: I love tokens, this is not an attack on them - just vibes.

I’ve had this conversation with the creative team many times. If a Bear and a token Bear are both in front of you, there’s no way to tell them apart with the naked eye. It’s just two Bears.