Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #282 - Most Asked Questions

Episode Date: November 25, 2015

Mark talks about the questions he gets asked the most and the answers he chooses to give.

I'm pulling my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, today, so one of the things that happens to me a lot is I get interviewed. A lot. One of the side effects of my job is that I do lots and lots of interviews. Some of the interviews are what we call mass press, which are the larger media, and some are what we call core press, which are websites and things dedicated to magic that are more knowledgeable. So when I get interviewed by mass, it's more general questions. I get interviewed by core, it's more specific questions. But in general, what I find is there are questions I get asked again and again and again. So today, I've done this most asked questions. So I'm going to talk about some of the questions I get all the

time, and I'm going to give you insight into the answers I normally give, and then I'll give some behind-the-scenes answers that I don't necessarily give. So I'm giving you a behind-the-scenes of interviewing Mauro today. Okay, so the most popular question I get. Can you guess? What is the number one question I get? The question that I get more than any other might surprise you. So the number one question I get is, what is your favorite color of magic? I get that asked all the time.

And the interesting thing is, I get asked that by both math and core. Because once they understand there's colors of magic, there's just this assumption that I must have a favorite. So, here's my plan today. I'll give you the answer I always give, my public answer, and then I'll give you the behind-the-scenes answer. So, if you ever listen to me interview, the first answer will be usually what you'll hear me say. And the second is, okay, I'll give you some behind-the-scenes sort of dirt on my answer. Okay, so, first question is, what answer do I normally get? So, if someone asks my favorite color, the joke I always start with is that, you know,

my general answer is I like all the colors. That's the answer that I give. And I say, you know, look, part of my job of, you know, being a designer is understanding all the colors. And, you know, that I can't, in order to be a good designer, I have to really love each of the colors, you know. And so I talk about how, like, that I can't, one of the big problems when you first start designing is that you tend to lean toward the things that you naturally like. And that what you learn over time is that part of being a good designer is embracing everything.

That I have to embrace all different kinds of the game and all different ways to play the game. And I can't just design the magic I want. I need to design the magic everybody wants. So because there's people out there that love each of the colors, I have to learn each of the colors. And so I have, over time, found a way to love each of the colors

so that I can sort of design for them and do cool things. Okay, that is a completely true answer. My answers are always true. But the interesting thing for me is, in fact, I do have appreciation for each of the colors. There's something fun that each of the colors does that I really get behind. I'm past the point where when I build a deck, I necessarily lean towards certain colors. Um, that said, that said, um, it is interesting that when I am left to my own devices, I will go towards certain color combinations.

So, like, for example, if I'm playing Limited, I more often will find myself playing, like, Black Green or Green Blue. Like, it's funny, because when you talk about, like, my favorite guild, I tend to say, is it? But my favorite guild to play was actually Golgari and Simic. So that's interesting there. I do, in fact, like all the different colors, and I find ways to embrace them all. But even I, I've started to, like, one of the big things about being a game designer

is understanding your prejudices, because you will lean towards your prejudices. If you like a certain style of play, you're more likely to make cards like that. For example, and maybe people who follow me know this, like I love cloning things. I love doubling things.

There's just things I personally like that just are fun for me. And yeah, I make sure to make those cards, but I have to make sure like, you have to understand where your things lie so that you understand that. But anyway, my most favorite color, like I said, the true answer is

I try to embrace all the colors, and I actually do find a way to love them all. But when I actually play Magic, there are certain color combinations. I tend to be a Johnny, or I am a Johnny, and so I like color combinations that lend themselves a little bit more toward weird combinations.

And I find that Simic and Golgari are the two usually allow me to do more fun things like that. And so I lean a little bit toward vagina color combinations. Interesting red-blue, which is what I actually identify with color-wise. We'll get to that in a second. So I get asked, what's my favorite color? So the next question I get asked, this is by core, usually, is, what colors do I identify with? What colors am I?

So, especially in the core, people know that I'm very tied to the color pie. So people are always interested in knowing philosophically, you know, what am I? So, the answer there is the individual color I most identify with personally is red

I'm very passionate I make decisions very intuitively I follow my emotions quite a bit I'm definitely if anything one of my problems in life is I am not good at not talking when I'm not supposed to be I am not good at not sharing things when I'm not supposed to be. I am not good at not sharing things when I'm not supposed to be sharing things. I just have a very passionate sort of,

I mean, if you follow me, if you watch me, I passionately live life. I embrace life. I tend to follow my heart. I have a very red core. Okay, so red is probably the color of the five I identify myself with. Let's pull back a bit. Once you have two color combinations, I'm is it. I'm red-blue. I have a very intellectual side. I have a very emotional side. You mix them together, you get creativity. I'm pretty creative.

I definitely have a lot of passion. I like information. I crave knowing things. One of my big things, especially as a kid, but even true now, is I have always loved reading nonfiction. Not just nonfiction books, like books about facts. As a kid, for example, I used to read trivia books. Just books of, I'm going to be a book of nothing but trivia.

I would just read it. I'm the kind of kid who would read encyclopedias. I just love information, and I always like stockpiling information. That's the blue part of me. is. I just love information, and I always like stockpiling information. That's the blue part of me. And the blue and the red part is definitely, I have this love of experimentation. I have this love of inventing things. I mean, more creative things, I guess, than physical things. But I'm a very is-it sensibility. Okay, let's pull out one more. The next color I'm most associated with would be white. I'm Jeskai when you get to the three color combinations.

I definitely have an orderly part to me. I like organization. My organization to people who don't understand it may not seem like organization, but I'm actually very organized. The story I tell is my best friend came to visit me in college and my

clothes weren't in a heap on the floor. My dirty clothes were like, you know, I didn't have a hamper or anything. So I just had a pile where my dirty clothes went. And he asked about something, and I reached in the pile and pulled out the thing he was asking about. Like, even though I had a pile of clothes, I knew exactly where in the pile

was the thing I needed to find. That is the kind of nature I'm at, in that on the outside, sometimes my organization might seem a bit messy, but I know where everything is. I also have a lot of, there is within me the sense of wanting to try to do good, and a larger

sense of purpose, and so next level auditing is white, so red, blue, white. When you get to four color combinations, I think the next color is black. I definitely have my selfish side. I definitely have a side that's trying to do, you know, you guys have seen my ego. I have a side that's very focused on me.

And I think the color that I'm least, what color am I least associated with, I would say green. Not that I can't relate to green or understand green. It's just a part of my personality I'm not I'm not the person that sort of becomes one with my surroundings all that much I mean not that I don't have some appreciation of

the nurture or the nature in the nature versus nurture I do I actually believe a lot that nature influences a lot of things so I'm a big believer in the lot that nature influences a lot of things. So I'm a big believer in the power of nature. I'm just probably a little less someone who acts in that regard. So anyway, for those that ask,

red, then blue, then white, then black, then green, as far as what colors I actually relate to. Okay, the next question I get asked a lot is, what's the favorite card you've ever designed? So the jokey answer I always give is, so you're asking me which one of my children I love the most? So the answer I always give when people ask me that is I say Morrow, which for those who don't know is a card in Mirage that I'm, so the story behind Morrow, I did a podcast on this, so I'll give a real brief version, is we had a whole, it was in development in Mirage. So the story behind Marowith, I did a podcast on this, so I'll give a brief version,

is we had a hole, it was in development in Mirage, but this was before I did design, I was a developer, but I was still designing cars. And there was a hole, and I said, ooh, I have a card I made

that I made long before I came to Wizards. And Bill Rose, who was writing down the cards, liked it, and he just put M-A-R-O on the card because when he would type in the local server for mailing things within our office, he had learned the shortest number of letters he had to hit to get each unique person, and M-A-R-O were the letters he had to hit to

get my name. So he put it down. The creative people thought that he meant for it to be called Marrow. Maybe they understood it was referenced to me. I don't know. They liked the name and left it, or they left it alone. And the card became called Morrow. So Morrow is two green green for a star star creature who is equal, power and toughness equal to the number of cards in your hand.

So the idea is it gets grow bigger if you hold on to cards or you can draw cards or something. It's a fun card, obviously. The reason it's my favorite card, I mean, I do think it's a very good elegant design. It is one of... I'm very proud of the design. The reason it's my favorite

is not that. The reason it's my favorite is that it allowed me to become part of the game I love. I mean, it's named after me. In fact, the inspiration for the Invitational Prize came from Morrow. You know how cool it was having a card in the game of Magic that was my card named after me?

Really, really cool. Becoming part of the game you love. It really was the inspiration for making the Invitational card. I've had numerous people who've won the Invitational card actually share the same kind of thing with me. Just becoming part of the game is really cool. Now, Morrow is not pictured. I'm not the picture of Morrow. People have joked that I am, but I'm not. Anyway, there's a whole podcast on Morrow

if you want to learn all about Morrow. Okay, other cards that sometimes I will say are my favorite cards are depending on... That's my favorite emotional card. My favorite card I probably just made as a card is probably Doubling Season. That's from Ravnica. It's a card that just says, whenever you make tokens

or counters, double them. That's a card I made for me. I just, I love doubling things. I love combinations. It was just a fun card that you could do all sorts of crazy things with. It was a selfish design in the sense that it was just something I knew

I would love to play with. I was really, really happy how many other people loved to play with it. That card has gone on to be a very beloved card. So it was nice that I made something that was so kind of... I mean, when I say it was a selfish design, what I mean is I have to design lots of cards for lots of different players, as I mentioned earlier. Part of my job is I have to understand what different people like because I can't just make cards I like. That would be a problem um and it's often when designers start that they tend to make the thing they like but you have to learn how to make things you don't like that other people like but that doesn't mean you don't get to make stuff you like just because you have to make stuff

other people like doesn't mean you don't get to make anything you like so when I say a selfish design is hey from time to time you make a card they go oh I just love this card you know what look one of the fun things about making magic is I get to make the cards I always wanted to make. You know, a lot of people play magic, they go, oh, it wouldn't be awesome if. Well, when you had this job, wouldn't it be awesome if is yes, and it would be awesome, and you've made it. So Dublin Season is one of my favorites designed personally as a, like, kind of card I like, and I'm happy that I designed it. Another card I'll mention when people ask me, I have a bunch of card I like, and I'm happy that I designed it. Another card I'll mention when people ask me, I have a bunch of

answers just to change it up. I'll say Mindslaver. So Mindslaver was a card I originally tried to get into Tempest. It's an artifact that lets you take control of your opponent's turn. That ability we've now done, you know, it's the ultimate on Sorin. I mean, we've now done that ability on other cards,

but it was the first of its kind. It was supposed to be the Helm of Vorath, the Helm of Vorath, originally, in Tempest. It had a bunch of problems. We didn't know how to template it.

We were worried about, because you have to say you can't, you can't mana burn yourself, because at the time, mana burn existed. Anyway, I couldn't convince people to make it, and so it got put aside.

But then when I was doing Mirrodin, I remembered it, and I'm like, oh, this is, because I was looking for awesome artifacts from Mirrodin. I'm like, this was an awesome artifact. So I tried it again, different rules manager, I managed to get it through that time. The cards got even cleaner, because mana burn went away, because the card basically would say, hey, you can't mana burn yourself, and now it's like, I don't have to say that anymore because you can't. The reason I love the card is that it makes great stories. Like, it's the kind of thing where, okay, so I, you know, I Mind Slave my opponent.

And, you know, it creates these neat puzzles. I obviously have known for a long time for doing Magic of the Puzzling, where you're stuck mid-game. It's like, solve this puzzle. And a lot of Mindslaver is essentially this big puzzle. It's like, okay, I have a turn to mess up my opponent.

How badly can I mess him up? And it is just fun. All the creative ways that people have come up with messing up their opponent and just finding neat ways to do things. It makes a puzzle moment. It makes an event.

The one mistake on the card is it should have exiled itself. The recursiveness of it is the danger. So that's my one if I had to do it over again. Other cards I'll name of my favorite, sometimes I'll say, look at me in the DCI. That's another card that's a very personal card. So not only did I design the card and name the card and write the flavor text for the card, but I also did the art of personal card. So not only did I design the card and name the card and write the flavor text for the card,

but I also did the art of the card. And there's only, I believe, two people in existence that have named, done the name, done the design for the card, done the flavor text, and done the art,

which is me and Jesper Mierfors. Jesper was the lead designer for The Dark. And I believe Elves of Deep Shadow, he did that for us. So, anyway, so far, there's two of us. Matt Cavada, by the way, has designed cards, illustrated cards, named cards, and done flavor text for cards. So he's done all

four components, but not all on the same card, I don't believe. So, anyway, other cards that I'll name as my favorite card, and there's a bunch of different ones. Sometimes, I've mentioned, anyway, other cards that I'll name as my favorite card, I mean, there's a bunch of different ones. Sometimes I've mentioned, like, Stoffy Eric's Daughter or Noren the Wary. Those are sort of fun cards in Time's Proud that I was proud of.

I mean, there's a point in time where I would say Duplicity, which is this weird card in Tempest, although that card was, looking back, it was just horribly weak. Like, I was very proud of it at the time, and I think it was the sort of card that we kind of didn't push enough, so the card just is useless, even though it's kind of a neat idea. Okay, next question is, what is the best part of my job? And then that's always followed by, and what's the worst part of your job? So the best part of my job, I think the best part of my job is that I'm a creative person that likes creative challenges. And I really appreciate, I mean, I've done this job for 20 years, and I'm not sick of it.

It's constantly changing. It is a job that constantly challenges me. You know, one of the things they talk about is to stay mentally fit, that you need to sort of constantly do mental exercises and things. And I'm like, I don't need to do that. I do that every day. You know, every day at work, I'm doing a puzzle. You know, every day at work, I'm mentally challenging myself.

And right now, especially, we have so many balls in the air. I mean, literally, I'm working on, I don't know, eight blocks at once or something crazy. There's so many different things going on. I'm just thinking about all these different things and how they interconnect. I really, really enjoy the creative challenge of my job. Other things I really enjoy, I get to work with an amazing group of people. Magic's a my job. Other things I really enjoy, I get to work with an amazing group of people.

Magic's a collaborative job. You know, magic is not a singular artistic endeavor. I'm working with a team of people. And that one of the things that's a lot of fun is everybody who works in R&D, when they were a kid, was like the smartest one in the room. And to get in a room where everybody was the smartest one in the room, where you're in a room where everybody was the smartest one in the room, where you're not the smartest in the room, it really, it's pretty cool. It is pretty cool to be, to just work with, like, amazingly, amazingly smart people

who really, who all love what they do, all love magic and all care. You get a lot, we get arguments, and there's definitely a lot of heated debates and things, but it is fun to work with a group of people that are all really talented and really passionate and just really smart and know what they're doing. Um, it is, it is cool. Uh, I've had a lot of jobs and nothing is quite like this job.

Uh, just working with the caliber of people I get to work with every day is, is awesome. Um, other parts of my job I really love is I love magic. I mean, I really, really, I'm a gamer. I've been a gamer since I was little. I own hundreds of games. Magic is my favorite game, bar none. I really feel like I owe a debt of gratitude to magic. The game has done awesome things for me. Not only do I love it as a game, and I do, but it has been very good for me. It has given me my dream job.

I met my wife at work. I've traveled the world. I get to be a celebrity. I mean, all sorts of really cool, fun things. And so Magic has brought all that for me. I feel like I owe a lot to Magic. Another part of my job that I really enjoy is that I get to make magic. And that magic gets so many people. It brings so much happiness to people.

You know, one of the things I really love is magic creates communities and makes happiness and helps people. I've had so many wonderful discussions with parents or teachers of just kids who've learned to read through the game or socially bonded through the game or just come out of their shell or just all these wonderful positive things that I've seen magic do and I've heard about magic do. And the fact that I get to be one of the people that helps make that happen, that's really fulfilling. What is the worst part of my job? What's the hardest part of my job? Well, the answer I always give is that I have to do awesome things that I know the audience really, really love, and then I have to not talk about them for years. That is really hard.

But I will say, that's the answer I always give. The honest truth, though, I mean, it is hard. The one thing is, over time, as I've done it more and more, like after 20 years of holding in secrets, it's still tough, but I'm more used to it. I think probably the real hardest thing about my job is that I care so much about what I do that when things don't go my way, because it's collaborative,

you know, I don't have complete say on everything. And there are times when I really, really, really, really care about something. I'm passionate about what I do. I care about what I do. And there are times where I don't get to do what I want to do, where I think what's right for the game. There's not a majority opinion. And that is really hard. The other thing is one of my jobs as being the head designer and lead designer of sets is I have to go do new things we've never done before. And whenever you try to do new things, somebody's like, you can't do that. You shouldn't do that.

That is wrong. That'll break the game. And that it is tiring at times to have to carry the ball and be the person that's trying to innovate when other people, who it is their job to question, it is their job to be skeptical. That is what I've signed up for. But sometimes you get beaten down a little bit. Sometimes it's just like, can you just have some faith that I know what I'm doing and

not fight me on everything? That can be very hard. So that is definitely one of the tricky things. I think other hard things about my job. It is always, it's mentally taxing. So one of the things I always say is your greatest strengths, your greatest weakness is your greatest strength pushed too far. The thing I love about magic is that it is a great creative challenge for me.

But the thing I hate most about magic on the flip side is also it's taxing. You know, my wife makes fun of me. Like, I always come home and, how was your day? Wow, it was a really busy day. And she's like, you always say it was a busy day. And I'm like, it always was a busy day, you know. I am redlining a lot. I am cognitively pushing my brain to the limits.

And while that's great, I love that I'm challenging myself, it is also tiring. You know, there's times I I love that I'm challenging myself, it is also tiring. There's times I come home and I'm like, I don't want to think, except I have three kids, and so I have to do homework and help them with stuff. I don't get to come home and relax. I come home and have work to do.

So at times it's very tiring. So my job can be tiring. Okay, my next question is, how would you describe magic to someone who's never played? This is one of the most popular questions I get for mass interviews. Usually the core doesn't ask me this

because they know, their audience knows how to play magic. The answer I give, so if you ever heard me give that, I literally have a verbatim answer I give. So the answer I give is I say, so I'll give my answer mode, is, so Magic is what's known as a trading card game. So for example, if you've ever seen something like baseball cards, Magic is just like that. You have a pack of cards,

you open them up, and they're all different cards that do different things. So trading cards normally are baseballs or movies or different things. Well, Magic is a trading card game, meaning those cards are pieces to a game. But the unique thing about it is each pack is different. You don't know what you're going to open up. So, for example, when you sit down and play a game of Monopoly, for example, it's a certain board. No matter whose Monopoly game it is, whether it's yours or your friend's, and you sit down, it's always the same thing.

There's 40 squares. They're always the same 40 squares. But with Magic, when you sit down at the board, if you will, it's different. It's not always the same 40 squares. But with Magic, when you sit down at the board, if you will, it's different. It's not always the same 40 squares. Each player gets to pick and choose what 60 cards they play with. So what that means is that the game is always different, because you're bringing half the pieces, and your opponent will bring half the pieces, and so what you bring will change, and what your opponent brings is a complete surprise. So when you're playing, you know, for example, when you play Monopoly, you always have four railroads.

Well, maybe, you know, in Magic, you could have eight railroads or no railroads. Maybe Boardwalk's the most expensive place. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's third most expensive. Maybe it doesn't exist. You know, it's a constant changing thing. So the reason when I do that is

I first always frame it in part of what trading cards are, because most people understand trading cards, and then I frame it as a game. I've chosen Monopoly because I realize in Monopoly everyone seems to know Monopoly. Also, hey, it's a Hasbro game. Little Hasbro plug. But, so I always try to give context and make people understand what makes magic

different. And the thing that, to me, that makes magic the most different is this idea that it's customizable how the game, what you bring to the game. That's the thing that I find people to be most interested when I talk about how to describe the game. Sometimes I will get into the context of the game

where I'll talk about, okay, you're both wizards, and you're having a magical duel, and that your cards represent elements of the duel. Maybe you're calling magical creatures to come help you. Maybe you're using wondrous artifacts. Maybe you're using sorceries and special spells like

throwing lightning bolts at your opponent. And then each opponent has a point total, what we call a life total, of 20 points. And the game is a strategic game where you're trying to knock your opponent down from 20 down to zero. So the next part is I'll try to sort of talk about the framing of what the context And the game is a strategic game where you're trying to knock your opponent down from 20 down to zero. So the next part is I'll try to sort of talk about the framing

of what the context of the game. I don't use Planeswalker usually right off the bat just because I'm trying to use words people know. In general, when I'm playing for a mass audience, I try to use as many words people understand and then sometimes I use words to give context. Sometimes people will ask me about color.

I have a whole spiel about how I do the colors. That's another thing I talk a lot about. Usually I don't get the colors unless someone in the mass interview sort of asks me about that, or we somehow get into the colors, and then I'll describe the colors. The interesting thing is in person when I'm meeting somebody, and I'm trying

to get them interested in the game of Magic, I often will start talking about the colors. But what I've found is when you're trying to introduce somebody to the game and you can get a sense of what they're interested in the game of Magic, I often will start talking about the colors. But what I've found is when you're trying to introduce somebody to the game and you can get a sense of what they're interested in, that's a more personal conversation. So colors work a little better one-on-one than they work in an interview. But usually when people ask me about the game and how I describe it, a lot of it is just giving simple context and giving people things to connect to. One of the things I always talk about is when you want someone to understand something, you need

to connect it to things that they know. That's why metaphors are very valuable when describing things. And that you can't describe something that people don't understand. You need to connect it to them. And that's why Monopoly tends to be my go-to. Okay, next question that I get asked a lot. This is by Mass.

And I get asked this one more than you think. So what do your parents think of you making games for a living? And the answer I always give is, my parents love it. They think it's great. My dad is a long-time gamer. He taught me my love of games. And so I think I had the

job my dad would have always loved to have had. My dad was, I mean, he's retired now, but my dad was a dentist. But I think my dad, I mean, not that he didn't enjoy being a dentist, but I think that dentistry wasn't his passion. Gaming was his passion. So I think if my dad could have somehow been a game designer, he would have loved to do that.

That he really, my dad really, really, I mean he still loves games. That's where my love of games came from. My mom was a psychologist. She's also retired now, she also was very creative, loved writing. I think the fact that my job is super creative is something she really likes and really enjoys. Both my parents, I've had podcasts with my parents in the car,

so, I mean, obviously, you can hear them from their own, they're both very proud of what I do, so what do my parents think? Very, very proud. Both my parents, I joked with them in the car. Both my parents, especially my mom, loves interacting with people who play magic and letting

them know that I'm their son. People get all excited when they find out. So anyway, my parents have earned it. Very, very good for my parents. Okay. Is playing games for a job fun? Or what's it like playing games for a job? And normally what I have to say is it's fun, although be aware that I'm not playing the funnest version of the game. The line I always give is I play a lot of really bad games of magic so the audience doesn't have to. What that means is, yes, there's a lot of play. Well, A, there's a lot of not playtesting, there's a lot of meetings, and a lot, there's a lot of grunt work that goes into making a game, there's a lot of organization, a lot of that stuff. But, yes, there's a lot of playtesting.

The thing I always try to explain to people is, I enjoy games, and it is fun, and I do enjoy the playtesting, and yes, hey, one of the reasons my job is a fun job is I do get to play games in my job. But the caveat is I'm not playing the best games of Magic. In fact, some of my playtesting is the worst games of Magic. Now, that's enjoyable for me in the sense that I love... People always ask me what my favorite format is. My favorite format is... My line is design playtests. I love

design playtests. I love trying to figure out what's working and not working. And so even when we have a disastrously bad playtest, I'm excited by that because I learn a lot about it. So even playtests where things go poorly, I'm still enjoying it because I'm learning a lot. And the act of discovery, like I said, blew in me. I really like cracking down and learning and figuring things out. And so it is fun for me to really sort of embrace and understand and figure out what is making a playtest work or not work. And the worst playtest is not a playtest

where things are horribly wrong. Things going horribly wrong is actually a really good playtest. Things going horribly well is a good playtest. Things going okay is the worst playtest. Like, is anything bad? Eh, nothing's really bad. Is anything great? Eh, nothing's, nothing,

like, it's sort of like, it's good enough that you don't want to change it, but bad enough that it's not exciting you, which isn't a bad place to be. I mean, that really means you need to change things, but it's, or actually, probably the worst is slightly better than that, where it's good, but not great. Like, it's good enough that you don't want to change it. I guess if the worst is slightly better than that. It's good, but not great. Like, it's good enough that you don't want to change it.

I guess if it's eh, you change it. It's good enough that it's good, I'm enjoying it, but it's not great. That's a hard place. Like, I don't want to change good, but I want great. And it's like, oh, do I have to lose good to get great? That's tricky. Next thing I get asked a lot,

especially in core, is what is the favorite set I've done and that's another one I also will use the line of which of my children do I love the best so I have a couple different answers I give I think my straight up answer is Innistrad I think Innistrad is probably the

as far as the sets that ended up the best now be aware there's a lot of people that are involved in a set. So whether a set turns out good or not, the design is only one component of that. So the fact that Innistrad turned out to be the best set doesn't necessarily mean it was the best design, although I was very proud of the design.

It means that I turned over a design that was able to be developed and creative, and all the pieces were able to do amazing work with it. I'm very proud of the design. Industrials is a great design. Is it my best design? I don't know. There's other designs that are really strong,

but it's the one I'll name in that it turned out the best. Other things I will name as my favorite design, Tempest will come up sometime. It's just my first design. I mean, you always remember your first. I mean, it was a very, very emotional time. I got hired as a developer, not a designer. I had to prove I could do it.

I really took a giant gamble. Like, if Tempest had turned out badly, I might have never gotten the chance to do all the design that I've done. So, I mean, it really was me sort of with the ultimate task. And normally, you don't start out. Your first job leading design,

I'm sorry, your first job designing on a design team is not leading a design, normally. I did a little out of order there. And so, I bit off a lot for my very first design task. But, it turned out really well. People really responded well to it. I also was very involved in the story at the time. So, on every axis, I was very involved in Tempest,

and it was a very personal set for me. So it was a set where I had a huge amount of not just the mechanics of it, but also the creative. And so anyway, very proud of Tempest. Another set that I'll name as my favorite is Unglued. I was given a really weird challenge, which was make a group of cards with the only limitation of they can't be played in tournaments.

They have a different board and it being silver. But what does that mean? I wasn't told to make a funny set. I wasn't told to make what it ended up being. That was me doing it. And on some level,

it's the set that I most shaped to my own... I clearly have had a lot of impact on design, but it's the one set where most shaped to my own, you know, I had the most, like, I clearly have had a lot of impact on design, but it's, I don't know, it's the one set where, like, I was kind of given the challenge, and I made it into not just a single set, but a thing. Like, the fact that people are constantly asking me

for a third unset makes me proud. It's like I did something, I've made something, I've made a little sub-brand of magic that there's an audience that it really, really speaks to. And so, um, Unblued is another set that I will name. Um, another line I will give sometimes is the last design I did, you know, that I'm always constantly working. Like, one of the things is that you're always improving upon what you did before, that you're, I'm striving to always be a better designer than I was in my last design. So one of my answers is,

hopefully my best design is the last design I did because I've learned the most from it. And my best design will be the next set I do. That'll be the next best design I've ever done. I'm always striving to always one-up myself and do better. And I believe as I get new technologies, you know, from a pure, I don't know, objective standpoint,

I believe I get better and better because I'm just learning what I'm doing. And so, I think, you know, designs I've done late have been stronger than designs early, only because I knew more. I mean, the early designs were impressive. They were impressive for what I knew and what Magic knew at the time.

You know, I felt like I've been at the cutting edge of pushing Magic design. I've been very proud of that. But anyway, as far as favorite sets. Okay, what is my biggest mistake? People love asking me that one. What is my biggest mistake? That is a tricky one. I mean, realistically, probably my two biggest mistakes have been my involvement with Urza Saga

and Mirrodin because those are the two things that came closest to killing the game as far as just getting disastrously out of control and I don't have the biggest mistakes the mistake is tricky probably the one I think I label is

in Mirrodin, when I made Mirrodin, I had a very strong color component in it. There was a lot of color activations and stuff and when I turned

the set in, it was a little too busy and Bill made me, he was the head designer at the time, made me take out the stuff and I knew, I knew,

I knew we needed it but I didn't understand why. It's one of the things I did instinctually but I didn't quite, I hadn't,, I knew we needed it, but I didn't understand why. It's one of the things I did instinctually, but I didn't quite, I hadn't, I hadn't intellectualized it yet, so I didn't know why I wanted it, so I couldn't defend it to Bill,

so we took it out. And I think it mirrored into the closest I've ever come, in which a component I made almost killed the game. And the thing that really frustrates me is, I on some level understood it and actually built in the framework to protect it, and then I didn't understand it enough, so I didn't protect it.

So I guess it's a mistake that I feel the most worse about, which is, wow, the game, a horrible thing happened to the game. I could have prevented it. In fact, I had the means to prevent it. I didn't understand it, and because of my lack of understanding, the game went through a really painful time that, I mean, I mean, not that magic ever, I mean, there's been a couple pinch points in magic history, but one of the points where a lot of people left the game, and I feel like, wow, I dropped the ball. If I just could have understood quicker what I was doing, if I could understand why I did it, I feel like I could have prevented a lot of misery. And that, to me, is my biggest mistake.

That's the one that kind of haunts me. Like, it was right in front of me. I just could have figured out why I wanted it. Like, I feel like my instinct got it, and I just, my intellectual side didn't get it. So that's a mistake I actually, honestly, I feel is my biggest mistake. There's other things I'll talk about. I was the one that pushed for all legendary creatures and champions. I think that my biggest mistake. There's other things I'll talk about. I was the one that pushed for all legendary creatures and champions. I think that was a mistake.

I'm the one that pushed for the shift in creature types between Lorwyn and Shadowmourne. I think in retrospect that was a mistake. I've made a bunch of mistakes. I've definitely... I was the one who pushed for race and class between Lorwyn and Mourningtide. That was a mistake. There's a bunch of mistakes. I've made... I was the one who pushed for race and class

between Lorwyn and Morningtide. That was a mistake. There's a bunch of mistakes. I've made plenty of mistakes. I've written some articles on it, but for those that think that I don't make mistakes, I make mistakes all the time. I try to learn from my mistakes and get better from them,

but I've made plenty of mistakes. Okay, the final... I'm almost to work. The final question I get all the time is what can you tell me about Magic's future? Okay, the final... I'm almost to work. The final question I get all the time is, what can you tell me about Magic's future? Which is funny, because no matter who interviews me,

and it doesn't matter if it's math, if it's core, they always want me to tell them something, like, tell me something that the audience doesn't know. Actually, I... Well, I think the core of it's the same, is whoever's interviewing wants people to read their interview

and wants to help teach, have the audience learn something they didn't know, and they all realize the valuable information of unknown things. And so I am asked all the time to give away future information. In fact, one of the things I've learned is how to give cutesy answers where I answer the question, but I'm not actually giving away future information or I'm giving away future information that is that sounds like it means something but in the end I'm not really giving away information

a lot of times one of my tricks is I will talk about how I feel about the set that's upcoming like for example you know let's say the next set is something that i'm just really proud of you know my answer is always one of how proud i am and i really think the players are really going to like it and i'm very passionate about how players will feel and what happens is people are like when i'm excited about something people are excited you know one of the things i've learned is and you see this in my video interviews and stuff and that that people respond well to passion. I'm excited, and I definitely don't hide that, because when people can tell that I'm really excited

about something, it makes them excited about something. Like, one of the things I talk about is part of my job when I worked in Hollywood was, you have to pitch, you have to go in and pitch your ideas. And I took classes in pitching, but the thing they teach you, the number one most important thing about pitching, is enthusiasm for your own idea.

Nothing makes your idea sound better than you being excited about your idea. Luckily, I'm red. I'm excited. I love what I do. I have to wait for two, three years to talk about it. So I'm always excited to talk about things when I can. And so I usually, when I get asked about the future,

I try to get people excited by when I get asked about the future, I try to get people excited by my passion and excitement for the future because I can't give details, usually. Normally, if I'm giving away details, like, it's all up front

that I want to give them the detail. So usually they know that, you know, like, sometimes we're giving them a card or something. They know up front

that's what we're doing. If I'm giving them a card or something, then we'll talk about the card I've given them. That's using the kind of questions. So anyway, guys, these are my most asked questions. So hopefully, I don't know, today, I try different things.

I hope you guys like today's podcast. A little insight into the kind of answers I give and then why. But anyway, I'm now in my parking space. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. But instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. Oh, and I had a little trophy today, so a little extra content for you.

See you guys next time.