Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #321 - Top 10: Sets Designed

Episode Date: April 8, 2016

Mark begins a new series of Top 10 Lists by talking about his favorite sets that he designed.

I'm pulling up in my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today I'm going to start a brand new ongoing series that I call Top Ten. Not the most original name, but the idea is from time to time I'm going to make top ten lists and then I'm going to explain to them in the podcast. So I decided for my first top 10 list, I'm going to do the top 10 sets I've ever led. People ask me all the time,

so at this point, I have designed 19 sets that have come out and a whole bunch more that have not come out. I've either led the design or co-led the design of 19 sets.

So I'm only going to stick to the ones that have been released. I've actually made going to stick to the ones that have been released. I've actually made a lot more than the ones that have been released. I have a whole bunch coming up. But I'm not going to talk about ones that I don't know yet. Okay, so let's talk. And the reason I'm starting with this topic is people ask me all the time what my favorite set that I've ever

led is. And so, something I've thought a lot about. I get asked the question a lot. And one of the things I've thought a lot about. I get asked the question a lot. And one of the things I've got to be... I mean, one of these days I'll probably do top ten of things of all times, top sets of all time. That requires a lot more thought on my part. So I haven't made that list yet.

So we're going to start with top ten sets I designed as far as... Well, all the top ten are my opinion. So my first caveat on these top tens is, it's my opinion. It's what I think. You know, whatever, you can agree or disagree with me. Top 10, my opinion.

Okay, so we're going to start today. So first, let me run through the 19 sets I've done, so you know the sets that are in contention for my top 10. Okay, first off is Tempest. That's the first set. So these are in the order that I led them. So I did Tempest, then I did Urza's Destiny, then I did Unglued, then I did Odyssey, then I did Mirrodin, then I did Ravnica. Is Ravnica next? No. Then I did, let's see. Make sure I have this correct. After Mirrodin, I did Fifth Dawn.

And then I did Ravnica. Hold on a second. Sorry. Sometimes I get distracted by cars since I'm driving. So let me... One second to not get in a car accident. Driving safety is my priority on my drive to work. Even as much...

I want to drive you exciting content. I want to do so with no accidents. And so far, I have zero accidents in my drive to work, in 300 drives to work. So, okay, anyway. After Fifth Dawn is Ravnica. After Ravnica is Future Sight. After Future Sight, I did Shadmoor, and then I did Eventide.

After that, I did Zendikar, and then I did Scars of Mirrodin, and then I did Innishrod, and then I did Dark Ascension, and then I did Gatecrash, and then I did Theros, and then I did Khans of Tarkir,

and then I did Battle for Zendikar. I have sets upcoming like the fall set which I'm really excited for but not out yet so cannot count. I will say this fall set is in my top ten

if I count it. But I cannot count it that you guys have not seen it. Okay. So at number ten Scars of Mirrodin. A very controversial set

that I've done. The reason it's my number 10 is two of my favorite mechanics I've ever made are in the set. I really like Infect. I really like Proliferate. Infect, obviously, is one of the reasons the set's so controversial. Some people love Infect, some do not. I was a huge fan of Poison back in the day,

and it took me 14 years to get Poison back in the game of Magic. So Scars of Mirrodin was a personal, like, I had this goal, something I wanted, and I worked really hard, and it took me years and years. I did a whole podcast on Poison. I think I did a whole podcast on Poison. Or I did a podcast on Scars of Mirrodin, at least, where I talked about all the ways I tried

to get poison in first. Let me double check that if I didn't do that I will eventually do one on poison if I haven't but anyway so scars and myrmidon the finished product is not it's one of those sets where development changed some stuff that I really liked proliferate was a little lower

in rarity so it mattered more in limited I had a couple other themes that were built in to make you crisscross the conflict. I feel that some of the stuff Development did made it like you're really playing one side or really playing the other side. And I had weaved a lot of more subtle themes between the two,

so in Limited and in Draft, you could sort of interconnect things a little more. So, the reason it's number 10 and not lower down is some of the execution I was not, from design to development, some things changed that I'm not super happy about there. But, I do like the set.

I do love the Phyrexians. They're my favorite villains. I do really enjoy Poison, obviously. I had a blast drafting Scars of Mirrodin. I forced Poison every time I played, but I got really good at it. And it turns out that if you're really dedicated to playing Poison,

and you'll take whatever you need to to play Poison, you can make pretty good Poison decks. So anyway, at number 10, Scars of Mirrodin. Number 9, Urza's Destiny. Okay, so for those that don't know, they're trivia. Urza's Destiny is the only expansion, I'm not counting Alpha here, but the only expansion that was designed

by a design team of one, which was me. I did this all by myself. I was really proud of it. There are a lot of broken cards in Urza's Destiny. There are a lot of broken cards in Ursa's Destiny because there are a lot of broken cards in Ursa's Sinus Block, but I do not blame the design on that. My joke is if I knew development wouldn't change my costs, I might have spent more time on some of my costs.

But anyway, I was really proud of Ursa's Destiny because it was a very creative set. There's a lot of deck archetypes that came out of that. In fact, one of the things I was proudest of is a year later, after I had done the set, I looked at Standard to sort of see all the different archetypes that were in Standard. And there were like 10 different archetypes built around 10 different cards in Ursa's Destiny. That there was, there's a lot of just cool cards you can do neat things with. Now, okay, a lot of them are broken you can do neat things with. Now, okay,

a lot of them are broken, but once again, I do not blame design. I was really, really happy, though. It's just, it's a very innovative set that does a lot of cool, neat things.

And so I, I appreciate that. I appreciate, and I did it by myself. That's another thing that, like, you know, it's a set that introduces flickering,

which is one of my favorite abilities. In my version, it was a vertical cycle that got turned into one card, but it just, I don't know, it did a lot of fun things. I don't know, the thing that is fun when I look back on Earth is Destiny is the individual card creation. It's one

of my best sets for just, I mean, and one of the reasons also is, I'm the only one, you know, I was the design team, is it's just chock full of really, like, cool inventive cards that you can just do neat things and build decks around and anyway, it's just, it's a fun, it's a fun fun. It's a fun set. Broken, but

a fun set. Although I've been told by Eric Lauer, the least broken set in Urza Saga Block. Which is quite the feat. been told by Eric Lauer, the least broken set in Urza Saga block, which is quite the feat. It's a low bar to clear, as they say. Okay, next. Number eight. Khans of

Tarkir. So, as those who have listened to me talk about Khans of Tarkir, it didn't start out as a wedge set. It started out as a time travel set. Well, actually it started out as a neat drafting set well actually it started out as a neat drafting thing where we were going to have the middle set draft

it was large, small, large and the middle set was going to draft with both the first large set and the second large set but the two large sets would never be drafted together from there we got time travel from there we ended up figuring out we were doing sort of Asian spiral world with

wedge in it. Anyway, I really enjoyed how Cons came out. There was a lot going on, and we juggled a lot of things. And I was really happy with the mechanics. I was really happy with sort of the interaction of them. I'm happy we got Morph back. I'm really a big fan of Morph. I was happy.

I love time travel stories, so I was really happy that we were happy. I love time travel stories, so I was really happy that we were able to do a time travel story. It's just one of those sets that had a lot going on that I was really proud of all the things that were into it.

It had a lot of moving pieces, and I mean, I think it played real well. I mean, obviously, Eric Lauer was the lead developer. He did a great job. But that's the other thing to remember is that a lot of these,

I'm kind of talking about my favorite thing about the design. In each case, look, the developers who helped turn this into reality did a lot to help make the set. I was a little frustrated by some of the things that got chopped out in Sky's Mirror development, but still, I mean, they did a lot of work to make Poison work and make a lot of things

that were in that set work. And in the case of Concert Tarkir, Eric did really good. I mean, Concert Tarkir Limited is really awesome, and I think Eric had a lot to help that, and his team, his whole development team. Okay, number seven, Future Sight. Some people might be surprised to see Future Sight on my list. And so Future Sight did a lot of things wrong. The whole block, Timesboro block, was really fun to design and was really, really beloved by the enfranchised community

and was just way, way, way too much for the average Magic player. Future Sight is that times ten. Future Sight is the most dense set I've probably ever designed. But I will say this. It is my arthouse film. It is a film that, if you like the craft of design, the set is filled. For example, the set is filled with a whole bunch of cards, the time shift of cards, cards from the future, a whole series of cards that hinted at things we might one day do, but have never done. That was really hard. It is really hard to make a set full of cards of things we haven't done, but might do. And there's a lot of really, I was very happy.

Like, I did a dual-end cycle of allied dual-end in which each one in the cycle was from a different cycle we've never done. We did the Pax, which was, we took a riff on, one of my team members, a guy named Paul Sotisandi, made a series of cards, actually he made them for Planar Cadastral. They got moved to a future site. Based on Super Haste from Unhinged, on Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug,

a card that you didn't pay for until the turn after you played it. And he made a series of packs. I like the packs. I like... There's just a lot going on. I love the mix-and-match cards, which are... We took different mechanics

from all over Magic's history, figured out which ones worked well together, and then combined them. The set, from a design standpoint, is a very elegant thing. Like I said, it's my art house picture.

If you appreciate design, if you are the Melvin of Melvin-ness, like, there's so much cool, subtle design there. And we hinted at the future of Magic, and a lot of it is coming true. You know, I did a lot of, like, where might we go? And a lot of it was damn correct. It was really correct.

Sorry for my harsh language there, but it was very correct. And so I'm proud of Future Sight. It's not a set I need to make again. Not a set I should make again. Uh, at least not as a normal expansion. Maybe, maybe someday as a supplement, maybe. Um, but it was, I'm proud of it. It was, it was very well designed. I'm, uh, I mean, it made a lot of mistakes.

Um, the thing I talk about Future Sight is, I think at the time before Future Sight came out, there were 56 named keyboard mechanics. And I think something like 48 appeared in the printed product. And I think I turned in 52. Development took some out. So it was...

I am proud of it in that there's a lot of really cool things. If you can appreciate all the stuff that's in there, there are a lot of really neat cards. It's way, way, way too complex,

but it was... I do think for the task at hand, I guess when I look at FutureSight, I'm like, I think I asked myself to do the wrong thing. Or I did something that isn't something I would do again, but I was very proud of the

quality of the design that got done, given what I was asked to do, I think I did do again. But I was very proud of the quality of the design that got done given what I was asked to do. I think I did very well. I'm not sure I should have done that. I mean, it just was way, way too complex. But it was cool and intricate. And if you've never looked at Future Sight, Future Sight is,

it is very well crafted. I'm very proud. But that is number six. Or enough that it's number seven. Number six. Mirrodin, the artifact world, the artifact plane. So Mirrodin was the sixth set I think I did. The thing that was fun about Mirrodin for me

was the idea of really sort of committing to making a block all about artifacts and making a world all about artifacts. And I was very involved. It's one of the few worlds I was very about artifacts and making a world all about artifacts. And I was very involved. It's one of the few worlds I was very involved in the making of the world. I mean, I was there more for the highline beginnings. The creative team did a lot of work after my sort of initial ideas. But it's just a world where I definitely sort of was one of the people started sort of pointing us in that direction.

world where I definitely sort of was one of the people started sort of pointing us in that direction um and Mirrodin has a lot of cool mechanics in it uh it's got equipment in it which became a staple of magic uh it has affinity was broken although I think it was a cool mechanic it has um uh what's it called the one one, it has imprint, which I was very proud of. I thought it was a very innovative mechanic, although the design space is narrower than

I thought originally. And then, what's the last one? Entwine, Entwine. Interesting thing, by the way, is all four mechanics was named in design

and all four names stayed to the finished product. That doesn't happen very often where you have four keywords that all make it to the finished product but the name design named't happen very often where you have four keywords that all make it to the finished product with the name design named them.

Anyway, it was a fun set. I love artifacts. I really like, I mean, okay, the set was a little overpowered, obviously. That's not why it's in my top. I do think there's a lot of fun designs in it. I liked the mechanics. I liked the interplay.

I liked the theme. I just think it was a fun design that did a lot of cool things. For people that often ask my greatest regret, I originally had a theme in Mirrodin that had colors in their artifacts. I did a lot more colored artifact activations and stuff to sort of keep the artifacts off each other.

And I was asked to remove it by Bill Rose, who was the lead designer at the time. I did. I wish I hadn't. I think a lot of the reason that the block became so broken was that it deviated too much from the color wheel. So I'm sad that I didn't fight more about that change. But in general, I thought Mirrored... I don't know. I like Mirrored.

I think Mirrored is a fun set. Number five, Zendikar. So one of the things that I'm proud about Zendikar is it was a block that nobody really had faith in. The fact that I could go from a point of having a world in which almost no one believed in it to where we go back to the world, right? It was so popular, like we're going back there. And, and I, I'm very proud, I really like how it came out, um, I like the land focus, I like the adventure world theme, um, I, Landfall is one of my favorite mechanics that I've, I've helped come up with, um, you know, it, it, uh, and it just did, I don't know, I think it was a set

that sort of, and it was one of the sets, in fact, I'm starting, some of my early sets weren't necessarily popular. Mirrodin was the best selling set of all time for many, many years. Zendikar at the time was the best selling set. It was a very popular set. Obviously, both Mirrodin and Zendikar we went back to.

So anyway, I liked it. It was designed, I mean, obviously with all these there's issues. A little fast and limited, you know. But I don't know, it was fun. It was a fun world. It had a lot of cool tropes to it. I liked the designs, I liked the mechanics.

So anyway, Zendikar, my number five choice. Okay, number four. Ravnica. So another very popular world that we went back to. Of all the worlds we've returned to, I had the honor of making the original version of all those sets, with the exception of Dominaria, obviously. We had Dominaria and went back to Dominaria before I even started at Wizards.

So I can't take any Dominarian credit. That's all Richard, but Dominarian's pretty cool. But of the recent returns, I did the original Worlds. Anyway, so Ravnica was me. The thing I'm proudest about Ravnica, and Ravnica was a very successful set. By our metrics, Ravnica is one of the, if not the most popular world we've created. I really like working closely with Brady Darmuth and coming up with the guilds. I mean, I guess I really pushed the ten-color pairs. Brady came up with the idea of the guilds, and then I embraced the guilds.

I guess I gotta give Brady credit for coming up with the idea of the guilds, and then I embraced the guilds. I guess Brady, I gotta give Brady credit for coming up with the guilds. I came up with the elements that got him to the guilds, and then I embraced the guilds whole hog. I'm very proud of the commitment of the 4-3-3, of four guilds, three guilds on the block. That was something no one expected, and it was something that, at the the time there was some resistance to but everybody eventually came around and it proved to be just a really, really cool set

and a cool block. Sometimes with these sets, like Ravnica, I didn't do any other sets of Ravnica. I just led Ravnica. So in some way, Ravnica represents

the whole block to me although I did obviously the first set. People might say, why is it not number one? Why is Ravnica number four? I love the structure. I love the guilds.

I feel my mechanics. Convoke was an awesome mechanic. And while Dredge was overpowered, I was proud of Dredge. Radiance, which is the boss mechanic in the end, I wasn't super happy with. And Transmute, which is the Boris mechanic in the end I wasn't super happy with and Transmute, which was the Dimir Transmute, I guess, was okay for the day it kind of does some stuff we wouldn't do now

it creates a little bit of a repetitive game state Radiance, to me, in retrospect just didn't feel super Boris-y so, I mean, there are individual choices I made like I said, the reason it's not number one is there's some sets that just, I don't know, mean more to me. Mean more to me, uh, also on an emotional level. Be aware, this top ten list is super emotional.

Like, these are, like, my kids. Like, we should have kids feeling better, you know what I'm saying? So, I'm, I'm picking, choosing things that all care for me. And even if, if Seth didn't make my top ten list, um, that doesn't mean I don't care about them. Like, Shadowmore almost, almost made this list. I really like, it's one of my favorite sets to draft. I'm a big fan of Shadowmoor. There's a lot of cool stuff in Shadowmoor.

I like Wither. I like Persist. I mean, it's one of those things that didn't make my top 10, just barely missed out. But, you know, there are a lot of sets that aren't in the top 10 that I have strong feels for. And even, by the way, the sets in which I think are some of my worst sets, if you talk about like my Eventides or my Odysseys, things in which, wow, I made some big mistakes on them, they were great learning sets. I really got better at

magic for sort of making those mistakes. So even the sets that I think are my least good designs are things in which I learned a lot from. Anyway, so Ravnica is at number four. I want to ask you guys about Ravnica. There's a lot of individual card designs that I was very proud that I and my team made. I think the set...

I think we found nice... Like, once we figured out we were doing ten two-color pairs, Brady came up with the guilds. I think we did a really good job of mechanically marrying what the guilds were philosophically to what they did gameplay-wise on the most part.

Anyway, like I said, Ravnica was... Probably Ravnica was... I mean, it... Obviously, Magic keeps getting more popular, so when you go up sales, but just, if we had a metric of sort of favorite within the time frame, sort of like, you know, adjusted, you know how they do movies where they adjust the interest rates,

it's like sort of, you know, the dollar in the day, like, government always wins when you adjust for inflation. I think Ravnica probably wins when you adjust for inflation. You adjust for inflation of sort of how sets sell. Ravnica is probably the most popular set we've ever done. Probably. I mean, we're coming up on another one that's super popular. But anyway, I like Ravnica.

Number three, Unglued. And Unset makes it. Unhinged, I made some major mistakes on, so that's not in my top ten. I'm really proud in general, though, of the Unsets. So Unhenged was an interesting thing where I was... I did a podcast on Unhenged, but not only did I make the set, but I made the concept. I was given a very... I was given the idea of silver-bordered set that we can't do things we would normally do. That's all I was given as a parameter.

The idea of having the humor part of it, the parody aspects of it, a lot of how I executed. Unsets are really, really hard to do, for those that are unaware. That one of the major roles

of making a silver Border set is not doing things we do in Black Border. Well, that's hard to do. There's a lot of things we can do in Black Border, and there's not tons that's off-limits to Black Border. We have to start making Silver Border. Not only do you have to make things that we can't do

in Black Border, but we have to make things that are fun, that are neat, that are cool cards. I guess there's things we canboarder, but we have to make things that are fun, that are neat, that are cool cards. You know, I guess there's things we can't do, but they're not fun. I find fun things that we can't do. The other thing I'm really proud of Unglued is I think of the unsets as really being experimental design, blue sky design, because things that might seem crazy in the moment, things that might seem like we'd never do that, we've gone on to do.

And it's almost quaint looking at Unglued and Unhinged for like, oh, why is this card silver-bordered? You know, it's like, well, in the day, we couldn't do that. And now I look back and I'm like, oh, wow, maybe, you know, like, as time goes by, we start embracing, we start going farther and farther out accepting what we're willing to do,

the more I start looking at silver border territory. And so, and Unglued just had a lot of really awesome designs I'm super proud of. Just things from like, you know,

I and my team really just made classic cards. There are a lot of classic cards in Unglued. There are some real classic cards in Unhinged too, like I said. Unhinged isn't on this list because, A, Unglued made There are some real classic cards in Unhinged, too. Like I said, Unhinged isn't on this list because

A, Unglued made the mold, right? Unglued was the one that created the whole idea of an unset. And Unhinged had gotcha and a few other mistakes that sort of tainted a little bit for me. So that's why that doesn't make the top ten. But Unglued at number three, it's a fun set and it's hard to get your hands on these days. But if you've ever played Silverboard of Sands

or at least go on Gather and look at Unglued and look at Unhinged. There's a lot of fun things. I like that set. Okay. Number 2. My second favorite set of all time. Tempest. So this is the first set I ever did. You never forget your first.

I'm very, very proud of Tempest you don't it is not familiar it's not a common occurrence these days to say hey this is the very first set first time you've ever been on a design team why don't you lead this but that's how I got introduced to Magic

I was like I think I can do this I want to lead a team first design I ever did was I led it and I was really happy not only did I lead the team I also it. And I was really... Now that I lead the team, I also was in charge of the story at the time with Mike Ryan. So I was all in on Tempest. I was doing the story. I had

a major role in the names and flavor text. I was influencing card concepting because we did the story. Working with Pete Venters who did all the card concepting. I obviously ran a team. There's a lot of fun stuff

that comes out of this set. And not only that, there are so many, like, not only did we make mechanics for Tempest, the Tempest design made mechanics, like, the following year was Urza Saga.

Both mechanics for Urza Saga, which is cycling and Echo, came out of Tempest Design. In fact, there was a period of time where there was a card made in, like, for, like, six or seven years. Every set around it, like, the set before it, which was Weatherlight, including all the sets after it for a number of years, had cards from Tempest Design in it, and often mechanics from Tempest Design. So it was super influential. And it was the first time I'd ever done a design.

It's like, you know, because one of the things was when I was hired, I wasn't hired as a designer. I was hired as a developer. And I had to prove that I could do design. I just proved that I should be thought of as a designer and not a developer. And this was the one where I said, okay, give me my shot. And if I'd failed here, I might never have been a designer. I might never have had that chance again. And so, like I said, it was a huge hit. It was back in the day. And it was just a personal triumph for

me. This was me proving I could do it. This was me making the step to say, hey, hey, hey, I could be a designer. Okay, number one. It's probably not a mystery if you listen to what I said before. My number one favorite set, I think, is Innistrad. And the reason I pick Innistrad is it's probably just as an artist. If I had to look at all the things I've done,

it's the set in which I, like, it's, not that I can't find flaws in it, but it's the closest thing to a perfect design that I've done. Meaning it's the closest where I'm like, wow, I am happy with the vast majority of choices I made. I was really happy with how it came out. Obviously, Eric Lauro led the development.

He did awesome work, came in as team. My industry design team was awesome. You know, Jenna Helland and Graham Hopkins and Richard Garfield and Tom Lapilli. And is that it? That might have been it. I forgot the last person. I apologize. It was a really good design team.

It was an amazing development team. It just, it was something that I had spent years trying to make. I had to convince them to do a Gothic Horror set. So, I mean, there was some personal triumph of, like, finally getting it made. Originally, it wasn't going to get made. Then it was going to be a single, one of the large set in the spring. Then finally they made it into a fall set. And it just, it's just hitting on every cylinder.

I mean, it is one of the most flavorful. It's the first real top-down design I did. It just has so many individual one-of-a-cards I'm proud of. It is just like oozing with flavor. The mechanics, I mean, obviously, I'm very proud of double-faced cards. I mean, Tom Lapilli made a suggestion based on Duel Masters

and I really, I we were trying to figure out how to make werewolves and I figured out it was the right thing to do. I had to fight for double-faced cards. There was another thing really that there were people dead set against and it was anyway, I'm very proud of double-faced cards. The Mormon, I'm very proud of Double Face cards, um, the Morbid Mechanic I'm very

proud of, um, yeah, Flashback, I am proud of Flashback, I made an Odyssey originally, but I'm, I'm proud of Flashback, although I brought it back, it wasn't made here, um, uh, even Curses, and a lot of other smaller themes in the set I liked, um, it just was a fun set hitting on all, all cylinders, like, like, when I look at my designs, I mean, everything on this list, everything I've done, there's something I'm really proud of on every set I've ever done. Even Tide, even Odyssey, even sets that really had all sorts of problems, there's things about them I'm really proud of. Odyssey did Flashback as a little side note. I see this flashback as a little side note. But most sets I can look at,

there's a lot have a, all of them have some flaws. Some of them have gaping flaws. And this drives the one set where if you said to me, okay, you can go and do this over again, I wouldn't change very much. There's little tiny things I'd change. But I would change very little.

It is the closest between what I envisioned and what got printed, where it really is the vision that I had brought to life. And once again, super hard work. I mean, everybody was on their A game. My design team was on the A game. Development team was on their A game. Creative team was on their A game. Everybody.

Editing, digital, everybody. Everybody was on their A game. That Creative team was on their A-game. Everybody. Editing, digital, everybody. Everybody was on their A-game. That it just was a set that sort of sings. And I really think right now, Ravaging and Innistrad seem to be fighting for people's favorites. Those are both really, really popular sets in popular worlds.

As I record this, we are on the cusp. By the time you've heard this, probably you'll know a little bit more of Shadows of Innistrad. Right now, you guys don't know it yet, so I'm not talking about it. But by the time you hear this, in six weeks to two months,

yeah, you'll probably know a lot more. But anyway, Innistrad is my top pick. Just because I'm... I mean, like I said, it's hard to weigh this list because part of it is aesthetic as a designer. How good a design was it? Part of it is how, I don't know,

just emotional factors that have nothing to do with anything. It's funny that some of the sets that are near the highest are ones I fought the hardest for. I had a fight to even make Innistrad. I had a fight for Tempest to prove that I could do it and let me do it. I had a fight for even make Innistrad. I had to fight for Tempest to prove that I could do it and let me do it. I had to fight for Zendikar. There's sets here where I really,

you know, Ravnik or something where just the 433 block model was not really accepted at first. A lot of the sets at the top, there's an element of me really like being passionate and making good choices

and fighting for them. Part of it is just kind of the place in history that some of these are really stand and mean something. I don't know. There's lots of reasons I picked them, but... Okay, let me recap because I'm almost to work. So my recap of my personal top 10

sets I ever designed. At number 10, Scars of Mirrodin. It had infect and poison. It had proliferate. It had all sorts of fun Phyrexian goodness and even had a nice nod to Mirren we did a little nostalgia and you got to see

a little bit more of Mirren number 9, Urza's Destiny, the set I did by myself it is just chock full of really cool designs little broken, but chock full of neat build around me designs cars that inspire whole decks. Number eight,

Khans of Tarkir. A lot of balls in the air. I finally got to tell the time travel story that I'd wanted to tell. I got to do a wedge set. I got to bring back Morph. I got to do all sorts of cool things with lots of different mechanics. One of which probably even made it to Evergreen.

Number seven, Future Sight. My arthouse film. The design that I'm proud of the detail work. I'm proud of it is too complex, but okay, if you like complex designs, it is a thing of beauty. It's chock full of

future shifted cards and mix and match cards and also cards hinting at the future and hinting at playing around with the theme of the future. A lot of fun. Number six, Mirrodin, the Metal World. One of the sets that I had a hand in creating.

And it's just a fun set. I introduced equipment to the world. It had Entwine and Imprint and then Affinity. I like Affinity. Affinity's a little broken. Mechanic-wise, it was a cool mechanic. A little broken, though. Number five is Zendikar.

Land world. I said I'd fight really hard to get made. It introduced landfall, which I really love, and had a lot of neat land mechanics and a land theme. It had an adventure world theme. It had a lot of top-down designs. It had traps. And it had quests. And it had allies. And just a lot of top-down designs. It had traps. And it had quests. And it had allies.

And just a lot of really cool things that I was proud of. Number four was Ravnica. The introduction of the guilds and embracing of the guild model. And the first sort of multicolor set that I led. And it really set the bar for future worlds and future designs. And like I said, sort of adjusted for inflation, possibly the most popular set of all time. Number three, Unglued.

That's where I invented a brand new kind of magic set and really had fun and showed off my comedy chops and got to make some sets that really said, hey, hey, hey, magic is fun. Yeah, yeah, it's skill testing and it's fun. It's good in tournaments, but it's also just a fun, wacky game and you can laugh at yourself

and you can have a good time with your friends. Number two was Tempest, first set I ever designed. Also the set I did the story for and was super involved in. The set where I proved that I should be a designer and obviously was successful, was very successful.

It introduced flashback and it had all sorts of mechanics that weren't even introduced in the set that we designed. And number one, Innistrad. Probably the best set thus far, although of things released. The best set I've ever made. It is chock full of really cool things.

Like I said, it's everybody on their A-game making a set that I think, at least right now, is what most people pick as their favorite set of all time. It's just a really beloved set that was just hitting on,

hitting everything correctly. It was just, everybody was on their A-game and delivered an awesome set. So anyway, that is my first Top 10 podcast. Um,

uh, TV bit of traffic today. Uh, anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I, I'm planning to do more Top 10 podcasts.

Not all of them will be about my stuff. I will, I will actually do some Top 10 judging other people's stuff. But I thought for my first time through, um, I started,

uh, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, first time through, I started, I looked in first and talked about my favorite sets. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that. There will be future top tens coming. Not necessarily right away. It'll be an ongoing thing I do on occasion. But anyway, I'm in my parking space. So we all know what that means.

It means it's the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time.