Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #351 - Replies with Rachel #1

Episode Date: July 22, 2016

Mark's mailbag podcast with his daughter, Rachel.

I'm pouring on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so for a long time I've done a series called Mailbag with Matt, where when Matt Cavada carpools with me, I get questions from all of you, and I need somebody to help me because someone has to read the questions to me. But Matt's not here, but Rachel's here! Hooray! So we're doing what we're going to call this Replies with Rachel. I like it. There's an art thing going on here. Okay, well we've got to be alliterative. Okay, so here's here. Hooray. So we're doing what we're going to call this Replies with Rachel. I like it. There's an art thing going on here.

Okay. Well, we've got to be alliterative. Okay, so here's what's going to work. I asked you guys, I went on Twitter and asked people for questions. I printed up a bunch of questions for Rachel. There's like four pages of questions. Rachel can ask me any questions she wants in any order. She has total control of what questions she asks, and then I will answer whatever question she asks.

That is how this works. Okay, so Rachel, pick the first question. Okay, and then I will answer whatever question she asks. That, that is how this works. Okay, so Rachel, pick the first question. Okay, and I'll start off by apologizing in advance. Like any substitute teacher, I apologize for anything I pronounce wrong. Oh, okay. Any names, anything I pronounce wrong. Okay. So first question, Nick at URZAS Roommates asks, what has been your favorite episode You're as U-R-Z-A-S roommate.

Ask, what has been your favorite episode of Drive to Work so far, or one you most recommend? Well, there's two categories of Drive to Work. There's ones I've enjoyed doing most, and the ones that I think were the best end product. Probably the one I'm happiest with. I did a series of 10 Things Every Game Needs, which was a 10-part series. I really think that turned out good. So if you're into game design at all, I think that's really good.

The personal ones I really enjoy is I had, Rachel and I did one, and I did one with my mom and one with my dad. The ones where you got to meet members of my family, I thought that was a lot of fun. I also, I did a series where I talked about the different years each year, what Magic did. I think that series is pretty good. So anyway, those are my highlights, I did a series where I talked about the different years each year, what Magic did. I think that series is pretty good. So, anyway, those are my highlights, I guess. Okay, so the next question.

Josh Trembles at Ice with an extra E, skier, asks, what was your favorite set to design? What was my favorite set to design? Which of my children do I love the most? They were all fun to design. Which of my children do I love the most? They were all fun to design. I will say this. Designing Time Spiral Block was a lot of fun because it was us making

all these in-jokes about magic. I think it was too complex and I think it alienated a lot of our audience. But we all got the jokes and I know the franchise audience that got the jokes really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun to make, just because it was like, we kept saying, oh, could you

cross this with that? You know, if you have killer bees and you have bee sting, you know, could you have killer bee sting? You know, stuff like that. I was sad that we never got to make the ghost pirate ship, but anyway, I guess Time Spiral was probably the one. I just, Time Spiral Block, I had lots and lots of fun with Time Spiral Block. Okay, so the next question is from Wobbles at Wobbles.

Asks, do you ever play test games with your family? Okay, Rachel, do I ever play test games with my family? Not that I'm aware of, no. I've play tested a few of my personal games, but not really. I don't think, you played one game with mom, I remember. Well, your mom and I play Mood Swings all the time. Yeah, I know that. And I have played, we haven't played a lot. You guys have actually, I don't even remember, back when I did Mark My Words, you guys played that. What was that game about, though? That's a Scattergoy's Light game where you take turns covering letters

on the alphabet. Oh, I think I remember that one. Yeah, it was a lot younger. That was a while ago. Anyway, mostly no. Every Friday night, we have game night. I do make sure my kids play a lot of games, but not my games, usually other people's games. Okay, so we're back with another question from Wobbles. What is the most unique, unique in parentheses quotes, thing about you as a parent? What's the most unique thing about me as a parent? Yeah, unique is a little, in quotes. How am I different from other parents? I don't know.

Rachel, how am I different from other parents? Do you have any idea? Having no other... I don't know. I mean, you're a geek, but like, a lot of other parents can be, so I don't really know. Trying to think. I mean, the one thing that my

kids get a kick out of is, like I said, I'm a big fish in a little pond. So I have this little bit of celebrity I get. And so from time to time, like, we'll go out somewhere and someone will recognize me. And you guys seem to get a big kick out of that. So that happens. Especially when they, like, freak out. Like, one time we went to, like, a game place.

It was, like, Card Castle or something. I went there and the guy that asked was like, oh my God, it's Mark Rosewater. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, it's Mark Rosewater,

it's Mark Rosewater. And we just start bursting in the laughter because he's like stuttering and freaking out so much that it's just hilarious because to us, you're our dad and to our mom,

you're our husband. So it's like, we see you all the time. And so like to other people, it's probably the same thing I said before, it's celebrities and like their kids and parents and stuff.

Yeah. No, it's yeah. And I haven't went to the blue moon. We'll be out in the middle of public somewhere, but that's the most similar thing you do. It's like the sort of like the white dad thing. Once you wear jorts,

like you wear jorts, you wear jorts, it's a G shorts. I'll advise you not to wear. That's not unique. I will continue on my jorts. Similar jorts and the socks with sandals and sometimes grilling. Combine all three of that together, you get the average American white dad.

That's like the internet thing. But the question was, what's unique about me? Now how am I like others? No, that's one of the few things I feel like others. I think the most unique thing about me probably is the fact that I have a little bit of celebrity means every once in a while we'll be out somewhere and people will come up and approach me. And like I said, my kids seem to. And the fact you're able to like ask questions and I guess people will like reply really

fast. Like the, the, um, monkey butler flying carpet thing that you talked about. Oh yeah. So what will happen, this will happen. This is unique. Is we'll have an argument in my family. Like one day we were. At Outback Steakhouse. Yeah. we were at Outback Steakhouse.

Yeah, we were at Outback Steakhouse, and they had this little video game you could play, and you were answering questions, and you were trying to pick what most people would say. And the question was, would you rather have a flying carpet or a monkey butler? And so there was a big argument, and I said a flying carpet would win, and there was a big argument. And I said, okay, let's settle this. So I got on my Twitter, and I asked, what would you you like? And you know, 24 hours later, 3,000 people chimed in and agreed with me that the flying carpet would rank higher than the monkey butler. But anyway, not a lot of parents have the ability to say, let's ask 3,000 random

people, not random, but let's ask 3,000 people what they think about this. So, okay, what's the next question? It's good to settle arguments. Oh, look at this. We got traffic. You guys might get extra questions today. Okay. It's a lot of traffic. Okay, so from Arklegger, at Arklegger,

if there is one person you could have lunch with from any era, who would it be and why? If there's one person I could have lunch with from any era.

Is this like a magic thing? Like any magic era? No, no, no. What he means is if I take any famous person throughout all of history, and my assumption is I can communicate with them. That's nice. Who would I have lunch with?

So someone that I think I'd be fascinated to have lunch with is Shakespeare. That'd be cool. I think Shakespeare would be pretty cool. Assuming we could communicate. That'd be good. Every time I read Shakespeare for Victorian era, I always have to look up online because I never quite know what Shakespeare says. Right.

Well, the funny thing is, people think of Shakespeare as being very fancy, and they don't realize that in his day, he was anything but fancy. Like, he was a playwright that wrote to the lowest common denominator. So anyway, it's... Anyway, I...

I've done a little bit of research on Shakespeare. I find Shakespeare very interesting. I would love to... I'll pick Shakespeare. Who would you like? You could talk to any person throughout history. Who would I like? For lunch. Who would you like to... Well, I'm just trying to think of research on Shakespeare. I find Shakespeare very interesting. I would love to... I will pick Shakespeare. Who would you like? You could talk to any person throughout history for lunch. Who would you like to...

Well, I'm just trying to think of another thing. How did Shakespeare die? He died of disease. I mean, he was... He got sick and died, I think. I'm trying to think. Any era. Hmm.

Anybody. Who would you want to talk to? I mean, they could be alive today, by the way. They don't have to be a dead person. I know, I know, I know. I mean, it's kind of cool. He's like, Fall the way. They don't have to, they don't have to be a dead person. I know, I know, I know. But I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of cool.

He's like, Fall Out Boy, let's have lunch with Fall Out Boy. Yes. That'd be very obvious. I'm trying to think of an actual. So if Fall Out Boy is listening, my daughter would love

to have lunch with you guys. Yes, that is. I don't think they're Magic's fans, but just in a slim, tiny case they are. Just a slim, tiny thing. No, but yes, any bands I enjoy

is the Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, Toronto Violence. My company, we're almost already broken up. I'm is the Fall of Boy, Panic at the Disco, Toronto Violets. My comic book is already broken up. I'm sad. Okay. I'm trying to think era. You can talk to anybody.

No, no, no, no, no. I'm trying to think of, like, a good, like, era point. A good era? Just, like, a good era. I don't know. I feel, like, Greek would be, like, really cool. Okay, Ancient Greece? Who in Ancient Greece would you like to talk to? I don't know.

I remember one time I did, like, a skit about, like, Socrates and Plato and... I think Socrates is a fascinating doctor. No, because what I remember about the skit was... Because I remember Socrates, I think he died because he drank a poison. They're like, you drink this poison and walk around until your legs are numb and you can't walk anymore. Well, I mean, he was forced to drink the poison. I know, but I remember doing a play about this and then I was like, Plato? And then there was Yook...

Yook-something. And it's like this guy like Plato goes to and instead of hugging because the guy was like so awkward with him, we just high-fived and that's all I remember

about this kid. So I feel like... I feel like Socrates would be a good idea. Nah, you want to talk to him before you drink the hemlock, but Socrates would be fascinating. Socrates would be fascinating.

I think that'd be cool. But then again, like, I don't know because every time I read, like, really, it's like language stuff and just barriers. But I feel like if it I don't know, because every time I read, like, really, it's like language stuff, which is barriers. But I feel like if it's like modern day English.

The question assumes you could talk to them, obviously. If it was more like modern day English and like my kind of language. Let's assume there's a translator or whatever. You can talk to them. Yeah, sure. Okay. Okay. So next question.

Okay. Oberon at Oberon underscore MTG asks, what's one thing I can do to better balance work and family? To better balance work and family. See, I have you do the questions. I'm not giving family questions. Yeah. I make the questions here. Right.

I think the big thing that I would say is that priority setting is really important of saying, of knowing what you're doing when and making sure that when you have family time, you're spending it on family and not on work. And that is a famous saying that, you know, at the, at the end of your days, when you're lying on your deathbed, no one's going to say, oh, I wish I worked a little more. So, you know, not, not that you shouldn't, work's important. I obviously spend a lot of time on my work but make sure you prioritize

spending time with your family and also like trips and stuff because like you go on like a few like very important big trips per year

because like when you were with mom or whatever like before you had all of us well I used to go on a lot of trips smaller trips

yeah so you had a whole bunch of smaller trips but now it's like you just go on like the bigger trips and even when you did go on like

big trips like we went to Disneyland to speak like instead of like all this money like you brought us on a vacation and that was really cool right well i mean one of the things it's a mix yeah i mean i used to do a lot of travel for work and then once the kids came along i cut way way back i only traveled like twice a year now where i mean like when i first when laura and i first got together i was traveling you know 14 times a year or something, so. Okay. Okay, next question. Okay, I'll put in a magic one.

Okay, who, a magic question. I'm sorry, these are family questions, okay? Okay. I like hearing all this. Logan Ambinder at Logan Ambs asks, how have innovations in everyday technology impacted the way magic is designed as opposed to 20 years ago and a little things? Okay, so how i mean i think you're welcome logan i think the biggest you're welcome i think the biggest change so when

richard first made the idea of magic he really had this idea that the only way to explore the game would be through playing the game and the idea would be like when i go to play a new player oh i'll experience things I've never experienced before. And I think the reason he thought that is the Internet really was in its infancy. And the idea that information, like, the existence of the Internet has changed how information is spread. And I believe that's fundamentally changed how the game has functioned. And that when the game began, the idea was that the game was the only center by which you'd learn things. And now with the way communication works, that is not.

And so we've adapted to the Internet, meaning I think when the game began, it was trying to be something different, and it's changed over time to say, okay, people are going to share information. How do you make use of that? How do you make the game involve in that, make that part of the game? And so I think a lot of the community building

and a lot of the stuff that we've worked with in Magic has been us sort of leaning into the technology. I mean, for example, I do a podcast. That, you know, that didn't exist.

When Magic first started, when I first started at Wizards, for example, there was no such thing as podcasting, really. But podcasting is a popular means by which to communicate with people. Okay, I started a podcast. And I think we've done a lot to embrace

social media and to try to interact with our audience in a way... When do you get... When do you start a podcast and when do you first get an Instagram and a Twitter? When did it all start up? What happened essentially is the first social media I did... well, I used to do stuff

way back on the Usenet, which you have no idea what I'm talking about, but way back when the internet was like a bulletin board. Do you know what bulletin boards are? No. No. Well, the way you want to communicate was you had to go to a place to communicate that where it was all text. Oh, like a chat room?

Kind of like a very slow chat room. I'm trying here. I'm reaching. There wasn't, it wasn't instantaneous, but like I would post something and anybody could see what I posted, then they could post something. And so that's where we started. So Facebook. Well.

Like a slower Facebook. Pre-Facebook, yes. Pre-Facebook. And then when social media started up, like, we used to... I used to get a lot of email. There was a period of time where, like, I would... We'd have a magazine,

and I'd write stuff in the magazine that people would write to me. We had a magazine way back when, yes, called The Duelist. That's one of the first things I did. Why'd they end the magazine? Or is it still going? Why'd we end the magazine?

Because magazines are not as efficient as websites, basically. Ah, that makes sense. Like a blog. You had some blogs. Well, I eventually started a blog. See, when I started Wizards, when I started Wizards,

none of the stuff you're talking about existed. But along the way, yes, I have a blog. Yes, I started writing an internet column. You tried doing a vine. How many vines have you made? I've only made, I think I have three vines, only two of which are even magic related. Oh, and Snapchat.

Start a Snapchat. Do you know what Oh, and Snapchat. Start a Snapchat. Do you know what a Snapchat is? I know a Snapchat. Right now, I am on Twitter, Tumblr, Google Plus, and Instagram. There's always a new social media platform. Yeah. So anyway. I've got to stay updated here. I've looked at some others.

I might do Snapchat. I mean, I've got to figure out. Do you think Snapchat's my next way to go? Using Snapchat's probably your way to go. So. I mean, I gotta figure out. You think Snapchat's my next way to go? Using Snapchat's probably your way to go. I went on Instagram. Instagram's a good one, yeah. There's a lot of rights. What's the next question? Okay, we have MagmaPriest at EdBurt37 has two questions. The first one is, what individual card are you proud of?

What individual card am I proud of? There's a lot of answers I could give. I'm proud of a lot of cards. Uh, I think the one that I will say is Doubling Season, which I made in an original Ravnica. Um, it's just a card that I sort of, I, the funny thing about Doubling Season was I didn't make Doubling Season for anybody but myself, really. It's the kind of card that I really, really liked. But the funny thing is, like, it turns out the thing I really wanted to make for myself, a lot of people wanted. And so I'm kind of proud of sort of how that card's evolved and just become this really beloved card.

Prove it! Okay, my second answer is Mindslaver. I was very proud of Mindslaver. It took me forever to get it made. I tried to make it in Tempest and it didn't actually get made to Mirrodin.

But the idea of taking over someone else's turn I thought was really cool. Okay, those are my two answers. Double Season and Mindslaver. And that repeats the second question

which is, what question slash questions are you tired of answering? That one. No, just kidding. That one. That exact question.

When I get interviewed, people, ironically... Like basic questions? The funny thing is, he asked the card question. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So one of the most common questions people ask me is, what is my favorite card and what is my favorite color? In fact, I'm sure later on someone will ask me what their favorite color is.

In fact, the priests just contradict themselves. I mean... Maybe. Those are just the priests just, like, contradict themselves. I mean... Maybe. Those are just the questions I get asked all the time. Yeah, so there is another question from Travis DeHarsh at T underscore DeHarsh1, which is my favorite colorless card. Which, if you want to answer that just to, like, get it out there... What's my favorite colorless card? Colorless card.

I don't know if it's a basic question or not. We'll get to that in a second. Let me finish up this first one. So, I don't mind any questions. The questions I get most, there's questions I get asked all the time. Like, what's my favorite color is a tricky one because I like all the colors.

There's no really color I like more than other colors. There's colors I, you know, ethos-wise connect more to. I'm more blue-red. Black's kind of fun just because black is just death. And when you're fighting, you're like, yes, just evil. I mean, it's fun. I like making black hearts.

That's what the older kids did. We just, like, on the Techie Kids to Work we just made this really gigantic evil zombie griffin because we all just wanted death and destruction. Yeah, well, the younger kids

made a giant dragon, but... I don't think that matches up with zombie griffin, though. Like, maybe a griffin, but not a zombie griffin. Correct. No, they made a big blue dragon. You guys made a black griffin.

But anyway, yes, the interesting thing is you guys both made giant flying creatures that had lots of value and were real expensive. Kids just want destruction. Kids want big creatures. Yes. Okay. Anyway, so I think the questions I'm most bored of are the ones I get asked all the time.

And I think the number one question is, what's your favorite color? That's the one I'll pick. Okay. Okay, next. What's your favorite colorless card? Again, from current to future. What's my favorite colorless card? one I'll pick. Okay. Okay, next. What's your favorite colorless card? Again, from What's my favorite colorless card? Um, now the question is, do they mean anything that's

colorless, or do they mean a true, like a, what we call true colorless? Anything that's colorless, my favorite card. I don't even know how to find it here. Um, I mean, like, there's a lot of artifacts that I like a lot. Um, uh, like, there's a card I made in, um, Unblood called Giant Fan that I always just... I mean, we made it in original Mirrodin. I forget the name of it. What is Giant Fan? Giant Fan, it just moves counters from cards to other cards,

and whatever the new card is becomes those kind of counters. It's just a super-giant-y card that I like. As far as true colorless, I don't know. I like the Titans. I think that um original Ember Cool is pretty

cool pretty Ember Cool so I'll choose uh Ember Cool and Giant Fan those are my answers okay

final answer okay go ahead okay so David Kuder K-U-D-E-R at Da Kuder

asks I had a professor define engineering as research meets economics. Does economics factor in design of magic? Oh, yes, all the time. I mean, one of the things to be aware of is we're a trading card game. We have rarities. Like, you know, I talk all the time about Asfan.

Is it sort of like what people are like willing to pay or willing to like find or something with that no i mean what what one of the things for example with rarities is certain cards show up in packs more than other cards yeah and one of the things about doing design is it matters whether something is common or uncommon or rare mythic right like it matters and so you know the there's a lot of factors in how we make magic and what our business model is. Like, how we produce the game is forever entwined with what the game is and how we make the game. There's a very interlinked. What's been, like, the most rare card?

I thought it was, like, the Black Lotus or something. Well, I mean, the rarest—we've made cards for special purposes that only exist in small number. And there's, like, things that were misprints. Like there's a, we had a set, we tried to do a printing of a set, which we codenamed Edgar, that we decided we didn't want to put it out. And we, so we didn't put it out. But a little tiny bit of like 40 boxes got out. And one of our misprints in it was a blue hurricane.

Well, that means there's really, really few of these blue hurricanes. So that's a really value, a rare, rare card. It's very sought after. You named blue hurricanes. So that's a really rare card. It's very sought after. You named this an Edgar? Edgar was a code name. Oh. Okay, next question. Okay.

I'll take a look at some more questions. Alright, I think I'm going to go with Ben Spring, that I am Ben Summers. Okay. Ask, what is your favorite card game with a classic 52 card deck? I play a lot of these games. Okay, my favorite. I know a lot. I have a tie.

I will say either Gin Rummy or Cribbage. The reason both of those, I had long games that I would play. Like my roommate in college, a guy guy named Tony Tony and I used to play cribbage all the time and so he taught me how to play and I have a lot of fond memories

for example we used to keep an ongoing score and so I mean we played for years and so he taught me I loved cribbage and then I had another friend

that I used to play gin and rummy with I taught Rachel gin and rummy I never taught you if I taught you cribbage I don't think I taught you cribbage you haven't taught me cribbageppage, but I do remember you did teach me Jim Rummy, and then I played that

with my partner in science class in 8th grade, and the teacher was like, as long as you keep your grades up, you can keep playing cards in class. We're both good babies, so. Well, that's good. Okay. I think we won that round. Yes, but yeah, there's a lot of games. I mean, Richard Garfield loved teaching people

all sorts of new card games. So there's a popular game we played in R&D for a while called Skip Gooba, which is a game with like more rules than you could possibly imagine. And then whoever lost the game, there wasn't a winner, it was just a loser. The loser had to make a goat noise. That's what happened when you lost. Okay, that's weird. Okay. There's a lot of different card games. You have Blackjack, which is a very simple card game

if you want to use someone. So is Garbage. There's also a game called Slap, Slap Your Dips and Rats Screw, Slap Sandwich, which is a fun game, but if you have really... You have to have fast hands.

And long nails kind of helps, but also that's very difficult because you're trying to slap down the deck. And there's been a lot of injuries playing that game so far. I didn't know there was a card game in which long nails would help you. So that's good. Yeah, because you have to slap it down. So, I mean, it's difficult.

And a good trick for anyone listening, if anyone ever asks you to play 52-card pickup, refuse them. Say no. They will throw the deck of cards at you. It's a trick. It's a trap. Okay. Don't play 52-card pickup.

Next question. Last rule. Okay. Let's a trick. It's a trap. Okay. Don't blue 52 card pick up. Next question. Last rule. Okay. Let's see. Ryan Sainio S-A-I-N-I-O Copyright. Okay. Ryan Sainio asks,

What trope do you wish you could have fit into either Innistrad block? Um, let's see. Uh, we did a lot of cards, like, I mean, we fit a lot in. So Innistrad was got the core. So we were doing a lot of horror archetypes. Um, I don't know. Uh, I'm trying to think of what we didn't do that we wanted to do.

Um, we had joked around with trying to do something that was more slasher filmy, like, you know, like a Freddy or a... Like Freddy Krueger? Like Freddy Krueger. Like Freddy Krueger. Or like Jason from Friday the 13th.

Yeah, I was going to say that. Sort of like a... Sort of a faceless slasher. We ended up not doing that. Like Slenderman. Sort of. It ended up being a little too modern for it,

but we experimented with a lot of different, like we literally at one point went through horror films and like, what are all the tropes from horror films?

Tiny dolls. But we did Creepy Dolls. Twins. Really creepy twins. Yeah, we did, well, there's twins in Shadows of Innistrad had twins,

so we did a lot of the tropes. But like creepy twins like in unison. They were creepy, yeah. They were creepy. They were creepy. Theyistrad had twins. We've had a lot of jokes. But like creepy twins in unison. They were creepy. They're identical creepy twins. Okay, next question. Okay, this is Brian Dale at

JTempkin asks, will magic ever change the card back? What is the card? The back of the magic card has never changed. But a lot has changed since when the game first began.

We've since changed the logo. The logo's now yellow, now blue. You know, there's all sorts of things about the back of the card that aren't true anymore. Oh, when they say, oh, I thought they really changed the card back, as in, like, change it from, like, the new one to the original. They meant, like, the actual back of the card. We've never the new one to the original. They melted the actual back of the card.

We've never changed the back of the card. Someone says you can never update the back of the card. That's a big debate in R&D. There are a few people. Mark Lowe is probably being the biggest cheerleader of changing the back. But there's a few people that really, really feel like, look, this is the biggest sort of, this is the most in people's faces. Like, why don't we have the correct things? Why do we have an old, outdated, um, uh, logo when we have a much better, newer logo? Um, but anyway,

so far, the majority of R&Ds felt like the consistency of the back is the most important thing. So we haven't changed it. Um, on Magic Online, the back is different. All the cards have the same back, but have the updated back, not the old back, if you ever noticed. Anyway, it's a fight we have. I currently don't see us changing the back, but, you know, over the years, maybe if we slowly change, enough people change opinion, but right now, no, I don't see us changing the back. Okay. Casey Lowe at Snowdew said, it sounds like the original

Innistar was your baby. How did it feel to not be the lead on the sequel? Well, be aware, I did the original Ravnica, and I was not the lead

for Return to Ravnica, although I did co-lead Gatecrash. It's part of working with the team that, you know, we're going to go back and revisit worlds,

and I'm not going to do every one, and so, I mean, Mark Gottlieb was the one who led the design. I trust Mark Gottlieb. You know, he and I worked together a long, long time. I had faith in him and I was also, I was on the design team. It wasn't like I wasn't anywhere near there. So not only am I head designer and I was, I was on the design team. So, I mean, I, I kept an eye on it. I made sure that my baby wasn't taken care of. So, it's kind of like

with the babysitter, like the nanny, but you're still kind of watching through the window. I left it with the babysitter, but I did a thorough investigation to make sure it was a good babysitter.

Okay, next question. I like the name here. I'm trying to figure how to pronounce it. Lylantia. L-Y-L-A-N-T-H-I-A. Sunseeker at Lylantia. Asks, what is your favorite non-human fantasy race?

What is my favorite non-human fantasy race? Yes. So I assume that by non-human, they mean non-humanoid, I think. Like fairy, troll sort of stuff. It's kind of like humans, but not like humans. Yeah, I think. Like, like, fairy, troll sort of stuff that's, like, kind of, like, human, like, not, like, human. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not,

I mean, I don't know whether they mean anything but humans or anything but humanoid things. I think there's nothing that's, like, not, like, a human.

So, I mean, just, like, it could be looking like a human. Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, I... You can answer both, you know. I mean, the two races

that I personally have the most attachment to are zombies and oozes for some reason. What are oozes? Oozes are like green slimes or like the blob. So kind of like the guys from like Ghostbusters or something. An ooze basically is, imagine a giant jello mold that eat things. You mean the blob? Yeah, like the blob. The blob's an ooze. Anyway, and usually oozes eat things that get bigger. That's what, like the blob. The blob's a ooze. Anyway, and usually oozes

eat things that get bigger. That's what, like, the blob is an ooze. Yeah. Somebody's not like oozes, I don't know why, but... It looks fun. It's kind of like

it has no mind. I mean, goblins are fun. I like goblins. I like, um... I think gorgons, I like gorgons. Like, Medusa's like gorgons. I like, I don't know,

there's lots of fantasy things that are fun. Okay, so we have... Okay, thanks. Let's see. All right, so Multiculture Shane at XCulture Shane asks, how do you interact with the story writers in the early stage of a set, and how do you deal with story and character weeks?

Okay, so the way it works is the very first thing that happens is they do what's called exploratory world building. So before I even start any of my design, they spend a little bit of time figuring out... Well, actually, I go back before that. When we do planning of future sets, I and Aaron Forsyth,

who's the head of... the director of Magic R&D, senior director Jeremy Jarvis who oversees all the creative team some of the story people like Jenna and Doug

a bunch of us will go away and we'll sort of figure out the beats of what we want of the larger sort of story arc and we'll sort of

break down the larger things then once we come to agreement there then when we begin there's exploratory world building so like for example like exploratory world building. So like, for example, like,

exploratory world building would be like, we know we're doing Shadows of Industrad, and we have a loose, loose idea of what it is, but they'll map out what the major story things they want to do. Then they come to me, and I start exploratory design, and then we go back and forth between us. So a lot of trying to do this early design

is working with the creative team. Usually exploratory design has a creative team member on it. And then my design team has a creative team member on it. And so there's a lot of give and take and back and forth to make sure that we're matching what they're trying to do. Usually the story of the plot, the pivotal events, if you will, happen after those are cemented usually after a handover design. Sometimes they are, sometimes they're not. If they're done by the time I need to do them, I do them. But a lot of times those are done in development. But anyway, the answer is a lot of back and forth.

Okay. Now you have Jeremy Bort at B-O-R-D-T at Sliverthorne. That's Sliverthorne for a second. What set-flash plane has gotten the worst feedback in the last 10 years? Okay, the last 10 years. Well, ever since we started doing research, like market research, the world that did the worst, and it did the worst by a significant margin was Kamigawa.

Kamigawa did really poorly on our market research. When did that happen? That might be more than 10 years ago, though. I mean, Kamigawa is like... How many years ago is it? It's... I think it might be slightly more than 10 years. Of recent

sets, Lorwyn tested poorly, which I know saddens a lot of people because Lorwyn has a lot of fans, but Lorwyn tested... Oh, the last 10 years, I guess Lorwyn or Kamigawa. Kamigawa, if it's within 10 years, but I don't think it is. So Lorwyn, I know it's within 10 years.

So Kamigawa and Lorwyn are the lowest testing, and Kamigawa tested worse than Lorwyn. Okay, so Neuromancer at Duckyvera asks when can we expect you to revisit an already revisited plane ah so when are we going to go back well I mean

Dominaria we've revisited multiple times but beyond Dominaria well we've revisited Ravnica now Mirrodin and Innistrad a second time multiple times, but beyond Dominaria. Well, we've revisited Ravnica now, Mirrodin, and Innistrad a second time. Oh, and Zendikar. I assume we will go back to some of those things I just

mentioned. What's the question? How soon? What's the question exactly? I've got to look back and try to find the next question. Wait, was the question about how soon? When can we expect you try to find the next question. Was the question about house? When can we expect you to revisit?

Oh yeah, when can we expect? I believe we will do a third visit or a second revisit. It'll happen in the not too distant future

is my guess. I mean, it'll happen in the next five years is my guess. Five to seven years is my guess. I like seven years is my guess. I like this question.

It gets very dark and meaty and stuff. Brooke Gardner dash Durbin at the BG underscore D asks, do you think about what could kill magic?

Is there a list somewhere in R&D potentials? What's on it? Dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun. If you open the safe inside, here are the things that could actually kill magic.

I think the biggest danger to magic is actually complexity. I believe that one of the things that R&D has to work all the time is, because we have a game that keeps evolving and moving on, there's so much desire to just keep adding things to it. And that

one of the things, I always talk about this, that Magic's greatest weakness is what I call barrier to entry, which is the person who doesn't know how to play knows nothing. And the harder the game gets, the harder it is to get new players to learn. So obviously we've done a lot in the last 10 years, like New World Order and trying to get new intro products. And we've been doing a lot of things, like Magic Duels, and a lot of different things to try to help make it easier for new people to learn how to play.

But I actually think that's the most dangerous thing to Magic, is complexity. I think Magic's greatest weakness is Nerf. Is what? Nerf. Nerf mode. Rachel's joking that we're the number two largest brand in Hasbro, and the number one largest brand is Nerf. Nerf. Nerf! So, we're coming

for you, Nerf! So, okay. We like joking about that in our family. The sad thing is my son loves Nerf, so I'm helping out Nerf. Okay, go ahead. Okay, um, this is Jeskai,

J-E-S-K-A-I, Angel at Jeskai Angel. Jeskai is from Magic, it's a Magic thing. So Jeskai Angel at... At Jeskai Angel asks, How has the flavor of Shadows Over Innistrad done in market research compared to the original Innistrad? Done very well. Basically what we did is we said, okay, we're going back to Gothic horror world, but we're going to shift up the kind of, like, we're doing a little more

cosmic horror than traditional gothic horror, but the audience loves it. So, you know, the recent question talked about, like, are you going to go back to worlds for a third time? I can't tell you when we're going back to Innistrad for a third time, but I guarantee you we will eventually go back to Innistrad.

Innistrad and Ravnica have both proven to be really, really popular worlds. I do think we'll go back to Indestrad. Indestrad and Ravnica have both proven to be really, really popular worlds. I do think we'll go back to Zendikar. I think someday we'll get back to Dominaria. There are plenty of places we will visit more than twice. Go ahead. Okay.

FallenStyle, and in is in parentheses, at Sam Biggs Boy Hero asks, are there any people at Wizards who don't play Magic that you wish that they did? Well, one of the things about Wizards which is interesting is most people really try to learn Magic. Anybody who works on Magic, there's a big push to try to make sure

that everybody plays Magic to some extent. Now, there's a big difference between you kind of technically know how to play versus you really enjoy playing. Although our employee pre-releases, each time, we keep breaking records for how many employees show up at the employee pre-release. Back in the day, when I go back to when I first started at Magic, you know, very few people outside of R&D were Magic players,

and that is so not true anymore. Every section of the company really has people that are very much into playing Magic. That is one of the big changes. Are there people who don't play that should play? A handful. But there's nobody I can name by name. All the people I can think of that really need to play do know how to play. All right.

Niche, Grayson, I don't know if it's Nick or Niche, N-I-C-K. It's in three parentheses. N-I-C-K is Nick. Yeah, Nick, Grayson, itK. It's in big parentheses. N-I-C-K is Nick. Yeah, Nick Grayson. It's in like three parentheses. Okay. At W-U-B-R-G asks, based on all your social media engagements,

what type of thing do Magic players seem to most want to share with you? Um, okay, well, I interact with a lot of players. Um, I think a couple things. I mean, A, I interact with a lot of players. I think a couple things. I mean, A, players love to share sort of like cool things they did while playing or cool things they've done while building their deck.

So there's a lot of like, I did a neat thing with magic, let me tell you. But the other big thing I get a lot of are people in which magic really had a profound effect on them in some way, an impact on their life. And I get all sorts of letters from people that are just really had a profound effect on them in some way, an impact on their life. And I get all sorts of letters from people that are just talking about what magic means to them, which means a lot to me because, you know, one of the things that's nice, one of the perks of doing what I do is I get to hear from the people who use what I make. Not everybody who makes things gets to hear from their consumer base, and I do.

And that's really cool. So I think the biggest thing, people really like to share how magic affects them, both things they do within the game and things they do outside the game. So that's my answer. All right. So Caitlin Gigante, G-I-G-A-N-T, I hope I pronounced that right, at Silicary asks, which head-to-head round surprised you the most? Okay, so head-to-head is the thing I do on Twitter

where I have people vote on categories. Oh, yeah. The ones that have actually been the most surprising have been the planeswalker ones that, uh, there have been more upsets

with the planeswalker ones than there have been with anything else. Um, what I've discovered is whenever I have people vote on things that are mechanical, they tend to lean toward the more powerful thing like if i do a card head by head the more powerful card most of the time will win um but when i go with characters

it's a little more like what characters people like it's a little less about the cars a little more about like the characters themselves so uh there's been some more upsets with characters i think that's yeah and then the, there have been some more upsets with characters. I think that's, yeah, and then the character ones have been the most surprising to me. Okay, Tommy G at Panda Manana, it's a long thing. Okay. Is there a trick to designing simple cards that feel really good to cast without making them grossly overpowered? Um, yeah, one of the things that people ask me is,

what's the hardest thing to make in Magic? And the answer is simple commons. People always think, like, the hard, complicated rares are the hard thing to make. No, not really. What's hard to make is a really nice, simple, elegant card that, like, does something that's neat and interesting, but it's easy to understand.

And one of the things you're proudest of is when you make a nice, clean, simple, elegant card as a designer, you feel so good about yourself. Are there any tricks? The trick I will say is when you're trying to make common cards, have it do one thing. Figure out what you want it to do and have it do one thing. And something that is relevant and clear and clean and will impact what you're doing. Something that is relevant and clear and clean and will impact what you're doing.

The best common cards with any one set are, here's a neat, clean, simple idea that I can't normally do that only makes sense in this set, but has a lot of value in this set. That's some of the cleanest comments. It's very relevant to what this set is doing. Okay, so SeanNeil at Neil underscore down underscore before underscore doing. Okay, so Sean Neal at neal underscore down underscore before underscore me, which I enjoy that name, so props to you, Sean Neal. Is there a storm scale equivalent for creature types? Where would squirrels be on

the scale? Yeah, people, ever since they made the storm scale, so the storm scale talks about how likely a mechanic should come back to a standard legal set. People keep wanting to make other scales, like people want to make a plane scale and a creature type scale. What would squirrels be on the set? I'm kind of interested. Well, what

happened is the creative team just doesn't really want to do they feel the squirrels are a little too silly, and so they don't do them in blackboarded magic. I disagree with that. I think there's a place for squirrels. In your opinion. In my opinion, I'm pro-squirrel.

I'm very pro-squirrel. To be fair to the creative team, they do a lot of whimsical, fun, cute things. It's not like they don't do that. Whatever, from a line they've drawn, squirrels is on the other side of a line. The reason I don't do a creature-type scale is it's really more outside my realm, so I don't do like a creature type scale is only like it's really more

outside my realm so um I haven't done that although squirrels I mean if there was such a scale it might be the squirrel scale because I think squirrels are 10

they don't seem to want to do squirrels okay Shivam B this is S-H-I-V-A-M Shivam

B-H-A-T-T I think it's bot. I think the H is silent. Okay, I'm trying here. At ElectroToll, ask, what is your least favorite mechanic? The mechanic that I believe was the biggest waste of ink is probably the mechanic called bands with others. So the magic was started. Richard made a mechanic called banding, which was a very cool mechanic,

but complex. We had to get rid of it because no one understood how to play it. Almost no one understood how to play it. In Legends, they made a riff off it called Bands with Others. So it took a mechanic

that was already complicated, and it added nothing of value to it. It is really a waste of a mechanic. I like banding. I think banding is too complicated. But at least banding, when you understood it, did do interesting things. Bands with other is a complete waste.

Okay. So bands with other is my answer. All right. John Wells at JYLE129 asks, What was the biggest lesson you learned from Theros Block? My biggest lesson of Theros Block? Um, I think the biggest lesson you learned from Theros block? My biggest lesson of Theros block? I think the biggest lesson is we had never really done an Enchantment Matters block

and I wanted to use Enchantments as part of Theros and I think that I was a little naive in assuming that I could say to players look, I know you want an Enchantment Matters block, but this block isn't... Yeah, yeah, it's going to have enchantments, but it's not going to be Enchantment Matters. I just...

Sometimes when you do something, the player so badly wants something that you have to sort of hold back from using it until you've done the first thing. Yeah, that was a big lesson of Theros's. I really felt like, yeah, I know you want us to do this, but that doesn't fit what we're... It wasn't an enchantment block as much as it was a Greek mythology block.

But I don't know. I overestimated the audience's willingness to go, well, this is what I want, but I'll settle for something different. We were not able to overcome that. We did put an Enchantment Matters thing at the end of the set, so the block had some of that, but not enough, not soon enough. Okay, next.

Okay. S-Q-U-O-I-B-S M-C-B-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I-B-S S-Q-U-O-I Boy Boys and the Boys as Dr. Schmobels that's a tricky name isn't it trickier to put more emphasis on storytelling

while reducing blocks to two sets beginning, middle, and end not more sensible? yeah my answer to that is if you look at theater it's very very common theater to do two act plays where you have one act you have an intermission and you have a second act

guess what? two act plays still have an intermission, and you have a second act. Guess what? Two-act plays still have three acts in them as far as story structure-wise. There's three components to them. Just because you break your story into something other than three doesn't mean there aren't three acts to the story. So yes, I understand now we're telling them in two pieces rather than three,

but it is not as if storytelling throughout time has not told stories in chunks of two. You still have 3X structure built within it. You're still telling the same kind of story. So, no, it's not a problem. In fact, I think us telling stories quicker is better for us. You know, I think drawing our story for a whole year is not as compelling as telling it in half a year and then being able to move on and do the next story. So I actually think our shift to the two-block model has increased and helped our storytelling,

not made it worse. So we have one last quick question before we end, so thank you to everyone who gave in questions. Okay, what's the last question? Wes Lowe at You Lost, Y-E-W-L-A-S, asks, What's the interesting thing about working at Wizards that most people don't know? What's the interesting thing about working at Wizards that most people don't know? What's the interesting thing about working at Wizards that most people don't know? I think the people. I mean, one of the things is I get to work with really cool people that are, like,

for example, I think growing up, you always try to find the people you want to hang with and be friends with. And, like, the fact that the people that I would want to hang with are the people I work with every day is really cool. I mean, especially in R&D, they're a really smart group. I'm not even just talking about R&D though. It's just a really cool group of people. Like one of my favorite things about Wizards is

how much fun it is to work with the people I work with. That's the same thing at my school. It's kind of like this whole thing of like we're all weird and so it's like we don't fit anywhere, but that's the entire reason why we belong together. Okay, but anyway, so we had a little extra drive today because of the traffic so I hope you guys got an extra thing.

So thank you, Rachel, for our first ever replies with Rachel. You're welcome. But anyway, we're now at Rachel's school which means this is the end of my drive to work.

So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. And for me to go to school. I'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye.