Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast: Recent Episodes
Mark Rosewater
Join Magic: The Gathering Head Designer Mark Rosewater as he shares stories, insights, and more while driving to work. Listen and learn more about how Magic is made!
In this podcast, I talk about the meaning and philosophy of "inclusion over exclusion" from a game design standpoint.
In this podcast, I talk about Wilds of Eldraine vision design with guest Chris Mooney, lead vision designer for the set.
This is another podcast in my three-color series. In this episode, I talk about red-green-white.
In this podcast, I talk about my trip to the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con and my history with the San Diego Comic-Con.
In this podcast, I talk all about mechanical bends and breaks in relation to the color pie.
Today's podcast marks my last Drive to Work where I drive into our offices at The Landmark. In this episode, I talk all about the history of our Wizards of the Coast offices.
In this podcast, I talk about being inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame (i.e., the Tabletop Gaming Hall of Fame).
In this podcast, I talk about the concept of "mapping" and how we use it to design Magic sets.
In this podcast, I talk to Glenn Jones, set design lead for The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™, about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™.
In this podcast, I talk about the biggest design mistakes made by less experienced designers.
In this podcast, I start talking about three-color combinations in Magic, with today's episode focused on green-white-blue.
In this podcast, I talk all about Phyrexia and the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
This is the second in my series of interviews with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I interview Jules Robins about red.
In this podcast, I sit down with Megan Smith, the representative for green in the Council of Colors to talk all about green.
I've covered almost every aspect of designing a new set but haven't talked about how our budget impacts design. Today's podcast is all about designing under a budget.
In today's podcast, I talk about the seventeen noncreature artifact tokens from across Magic's history.
In this podcast, I talk about how we design activations that require a color not found in the mana cost of the card.
In this episode, I talk about the history of bonus sheets from Time Spiral to The Brother's War.
I sit down with Yoni Skolnik, the lead set designer of The Brothers' War, to talk through its design.
I do a lot of interviews on my podcast, so this podcast is all about what it takes to interview people and offers some tips on how to do it well.
In this podcast, I'm joined by Ari Zirulnik again (he oversaw names and flavor text for Unfinity) so that he and I can give more off-the-cuff canon material about the characters from Unfinity.
In this podcast, I walk through all the various things that have to be done when doing a top-down design.
Part of my job involves talking in front of large crowds. In this podcast, I talk about what that's like and offer tips on how to do it well.
Magic constantly changes and evolves, which means that we as designers must keep changing how we approach design. This podcast talks about the challenges of making Magic in a world where the most popular tabletop formats are larger.
In this podcast, I sit down with Rules Manager Jesse Dunks to talk about choosing acorn and Eternal Unfinity cards.
In this podcast, I sit down with The Brothers' War Lead Art Director Taylor Ingvarsson to talk about the world building and art for the set.
At Magic 30, I did an hour-long panel sharing personal stories about 30 different pictures I'd chosen from 30 years in Magic. In this podcast, I go over why I chose those 30 pictures and stories to share.
At Magic 30, I did an hour-long panel sharing personal stories about 30 different pictures I'd chosen from 30 years in Magic. In this podcast, I go over why I chose those 30 pictures and stories to share.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ari Nieh, the lead vision designer of The Brothers' War, to talk about the set's vision design.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ari Nieh, the lead vision designer of The Brothers' War, to talk about the set's vision design.
Unfinity is the first time I ran a Set Design team. This podcast talks about what I learned about set design from the experience.
I travelled to Victoria, Canada to participate in the Unfinity Pre-Prerelease with Loading Ready Run. In this podcast, I tell the story of my trip.
I sit down with Graham Stark and Kathleen De Vere to talk about writing names and flavor text for Unfinity.
I sit down with Ari Zirulnik to talk about overseeing the names and flavor text creation in Unfinity.
I sit down with Ari Zirulnik to talk about overseeing the names and flavor text creation in Unfinity.
I sit down with Annie Sardelis to talk about what card concepting is and how she did the card concepting for various cards in Unfinity.
Chris Mooney was my strong second on Unfinity from the first day of exploratory design to the last day of set design. We sit down to talk about the stories of several card designs.
Chris Mooney was my strong second on Unfinity from the first day of exploratory design to the last day of set design. We sit down to talk about the stories of several card designs.
Only one person has been an Alpha playtester, Head Designer and Brand Manager for Magic Joel Mick. I sit down with Joel in this podcast to talk about his time with the game.
Only one person has been an Alpha playtester, Head Designer and Brand Manager for Magic Joel Mick. I sit down with Joel in this podcast to talk about his time with the game.
In this podcast, I sit down with Erik Lauer and Ian Duke, the co-lead set designers of Dominaria United, to talk about the expansion's set design.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ethan Fleischer, the lead vision designer of Dominaria United, to talk about the set's vision design.
You all learn about new Magic sets one at a time, but that's not how they're made. This podcast will illustrate what it's like to make many products all at once.
In this podcast, I talk about designing cards that are meant to inspire players to build decks around them.
I've briefly told listeners how I came to work for Wizards, but this podcast goes a bit more in depth into how it happened.
In this podcast, I go through the history of playtest cards from Richard's first playtest through modern day.
In this podcast, I talk about my latest trip to San Diego Comic-Con, including discussing the many things I talked about in my Magic panel.
My eldest daughter Rachel and I again went to New York City to attend a convention about Broadway, so I again made a podcast about it.
When we make a new mechanic, how do we figure out how many cards can be made with the new mechanic? This concept is called mechanical depth, and in this podcast, I explain how we figure it out and the ramifications it has on design.
This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I look back at sets I led (or co-led) to talk about the design lessons I learned. Today's podcast is on Zendikar Rising.
I sit down with Tom Jenkot and Sarah Wassell to talk about the making of Booster Fun variants (all the cool alternate-art cards and special card frames that we do in a set).
In this podcast, I give my feedback on Spice8Rack's video about the history and influence of the Un- sets. You can watch that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYYjjrG-hCo
This podcast is part three of a three-part series on the design of Return to Ravnica block. In this episode, I talk about the design of Dragon's Maze.
This podcast is part two of a three-part series on the design of Return to Ravnica block. In this episode, I talk about the design of Gatecrash.
This podcast is part one of a three-part series on the design of Return to Ravnica block. I start by talking about the design of Return to Ravnica.
This podcast talks about what being deciduous means for mechanics and then goes through the list of all the deciduous mechanics.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of basic lands and how their evolution over time influenced the rest of Magic.
I sit down with Designer Gavin Verhey to talk about the design of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate's Commander decks.
For this podcast, I walk through all the different issues that have to be addressed when designing a new mechanic from early exploratory design all the way through the end of the design.
For this podcast, I look at how the creative components (name, art, flavor text, card concept) are made from start to finish in the making of a Magic set.
I sit down with Designer Corey Bowen to talk about the set design of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.
I sit down with designer Glenn Jones top talk about the vision design of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.
This is the second of a three-part series looking at the design of original Mirrodin block.
This is the third of a three-part series looking at the design of original Mirrodin block.
This is the first of a three-part series looking at the design of original Mirrodin block.
I talk with Editor Gregg Luben about the challenges of editing a Magic set. In particular, we talk about his editing of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
A carpenter has his hammer and drill. What are the most important tools for a Magic designer and how are they used to solve the essential challenges of making a trading card game?
I sit down with Chris Mooney, lead set designer of the Streets of New Capenna Commander decks, to talk about their design.
In this podcast, I talk about the many types of restrictions R&D uses on spells and abilities, and why they're important for the game.
I sit down with Jules Robins, lead set designer of Streets of New Capenna, to talk about the design of the set.
I sit down with Creative Team Member Emily Teng to talk about worldbuilding and the making of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
In this podcast, I talk about the lovable Myr creature type. I discuss how they came to be and run through the design of every Myr card.
I sit down with Senior Director of Game Design Brady Bell to talk about what it takes to put together a Magic design team.
In this podcast, I talk about my history with Magic trivia and how to make your own Magic trivia.
In this podcast, I sit down with Andrew Brown to discuss the design of Zendikar Rising.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I explore what I learned during the making of sets for which I led or co-led design.
When Unglued was first concepted, the idea behind it was that we could design cards for non-tournament play. What exactly does that mean, and what does it entail? In this podcast, I explore the parameters of non-tournament design.
I sit down with Designer and Rules Manager Jess Dunks to talk about the challenges of managing the rules and dealing with me as head designer.
I sit down with Designer Ethan Fleischer to talk about the design of Oath of the Gatewatch.
One of the cool perks of my job is that I've had a lot of opportunity to travel to other countries. The country I've visited the most is Japan. In this podcast, I share three stories from three different visits to the Land of the Rising Sun.
In this podcast, I talk about using different card frames as a design tool and get into the history of card frames that changed for mechanical reasons.
I sit down with Designer Matt Place to talk about the creation of New World Order, something he and I created many years ago to tackle a big problem the game was having.
This podcast is about my latest Nuts & Bolts article on initial ideation. In it, I explain how one starts designing a Magic set around an idea.
I sit down with Senior Copywriter Ari Zirulnik to talk about what exactly Magic copywriting is. He and I also lightly touch on writing the names and flavor text for Unfinity.
In this podcast, I explain the history of watermarks, talk about the various ways we use them, and explain why we can't mechanically care about them outside of Un- sets.
I sit down with Designer Gavin Verhey to discuss the making of his Good Morning Magic videos.
This is a podcast version of my article where I talk about the challenges of designing Magic when it's a different game to different players.
I sit down with designer Chris Mooney to talk about how the Council of Colors works, and he and I talk a bit about white, as he's the white representative on the council.
I walk through the history of the God creature type and share stories about how we designed the different incarnations of them.
There's no one in R&D that's a bigger fan of Kamigawa than Daniel Holt. He worked on more Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty teams than any other person at Wizards, so I sat down with him to talk about how we made sure Kamigawa was well represented in the set.
I sit down with Designer Corey Bowen to talk about the design of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander decks and Set Booster cards.
I sit down with Designer Dave Humpherys to discuss the set design of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
In this podcast, I take a look at all the named mechanics from the Champions of Kamigawa block.
I sit down with Designer Melissa DeTora to talk about the new casual play design group she's leading.
In this podcast, I sit down with Designer Brian Tinsman to talk about the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
I had an in-person playtest at Wizards to attend, so I'm actually driving to work after twenty-plus months (I'm not in the office full time yet, so there'll be a bunch more at-home podcasts). During my drive, I share the lessons I learned from designing Throne of Eldraine.
I go through all the guild mechanics from original Ravnica block and Return to Ravnica block to discuss what chance each has in returning to a premier set.
I sit down with Producer Mark Heggen to talk about the creation of the Secret Lair product line.
I sit down with Designer Chris Mooney, and we talk about the design of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, especially some of the top-down card designs for Vampires and weddings.
In this podcast, I go over all the set sizes of the main sets over the years, explaining why they were the size they were.
In this podcast, I sit down with R&D member Ethan Fleischer to talk about the design of Amonkhet.
This is part two of a two-part series where I go over the various changes to the color pie as outlined in the 2021 Mechanical Color Pie article.
I recently posted an update to my Mechanical Color Pie article. This is part one of a two-part series where I talk about the changes.
I sit down with Designer Yoni Skolnik, and we talk about the design of Strixhaven: School of Mages.
There are eighteen cards in Magic that start (in English) with the letter X. I talk about them all in this podcast.
I sit down with Designer Matt Place, and we compare our Top 10 lists of the most influential Magic sets.
In this podcast, I talk all about World Enchantments (originally called "Enchant Worlds").
This is another podcast in my Zombie series where I talk about the history of Zombie card design. It includes many card-by-card design stories of individual Zombie cards.
I sit down with Designer Henry Stern to talk about the design of Portal Three Kingdoms.
In this podcast, I look back at the history of Zombies and share some card-by-card design stories of some of the earliest Zombies.
I sit down with Designer Ian Duke to talk about the design of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.
I sit down with Designer Corey Bowen to talk about how the Commander decks for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt were created.
I went to Los Angeles to shoot the video announcing the products of 2022. This podcast tells the story of my trip.
I sit down with former Editor (and now Game Designer) Glenn Jones to talk about the editing of Unstable.
In this podcast, I continue talking about the history of the Equipment subtype and share some card-by-card design stories.
I sit down with Art Director Taylor Ingvarsson to talk about the art design of Strixhaven.
In this podcast, I start talking about the history of the Equipment subtype and share some card-by-card design stories.
I sit down with former R&D member Devin Low to talk about the design of Shards of Alara.
From time to time, I sit down and answer reader questions with my eldest daughter Rachel.
In this podcast, I talk about what a vanity card is and walk through all the ones, that I could remember, in Magic.
I sit down with Designer Jules Robins to talk about the design of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
In this podcast, I talk about what the term "parasitism" means in Magic design and then look at the mechanics in Standard and talk about how parasitic they are.
This podcast talks about one of my favorite formats, including its origin, which digs into the early days of the Los Angeles Magic scene.
This podcast is part three of a three-part series where I discuss every Planeswalker ever made into a planeswalker card.
I sit down with former R&D member Mark Globus to talk about the making of the original Modern Horizons.
This podcast is part two of a two-part series where I sit down with Michael Ryan to talk about creating the story for Tempest and integrating it with the set.
This podcast is part one of a two-part series where I sit down with Michael Ryan to talk about creating the story for Tempest and integrating it with the set.
This podcast is part two of a three-part podcast walking through every Planeswalker that's ever gotten a card.
This podcast is part one of a three-part podcast walking through every Planeswalker that's ever gotten a card.
I sit down with Creative team member Doug Beyer to talk about the creation of War of the Spark.
This podcast is the final of a three-part series where I discuss the design of every card in Unglued.
I sit down with Dave Humpherys, set design lead for Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, and talk about the design of the set.
This podcast is part two of a three-part series where I discuss the design of every card in Unglued.
I sit down with Magic editor Matt Tabak to talk about the creation of Unsanctioned, the Un- box set.
This podcast is part one of a three-part series where I discuss the design of every card in Unglued.
One of the very first podcasts I did was on Magic codenames. Well, enough time has gone by that I had 30 more minutes of codenames to talk about. I explain how we named them and share some stories.
I sit down with former Magic designer Tyler Bielman to talk about the design of original Mirrodin.
This podcast is another in my "Twenty Years, Twenty Podcasts" series (which has become more and more misnamed as I've done more of them) that walks through each year of Magic in detail. In this podcast, I talk about the year 2016 in Magic.
I sit down with former Magic designer Tom LaPille to talk about the design of Dark Ascension.
I asked my Twitter followers to ask me questions about which of two things were more likely in Magic's future. In this podcast, I answer a whole bunch of these questions.
I sit down with former Magic designer Matt Place to talk about the design of original Zendikar.
In this podcast, I share some more card-by-card design stories about legendary artifacts.
I sit down with former Magic designer Brian Tinsman to talk about the design of Champions of Kamigawa.
I sit down with the senior vice president of tabletop Magic, Bill Rose, to talk about the design of Invasion.
I was the lead designer for original Innistrad, and Erik was the lead developer. I have Erik on my podcast to talk about the making of the set.
This is another of my trivia podcasts where you try to guess the card I'm talking about before I reveal it. The topic? The longest names in Magic. (This is a companion to my shortest names trivia podcast last week.)
This is another of my trivia podcasts where I give clues and you try to guess the card before I reveal it. This podcast's topic—the shortest names in Magic.
I talk about the creation and design of the timeshifted sheets from Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight.
This is part two of a two-part podcast where I interview Richard Garfield about the design of Arabian Nights, Magic's very first expansion.
This is part one of a two-part podcast where I interview Richard Garfield about the design of Arabian Nights, Magic's very first expansion.
In this podcast, I begin from Alpha and start talking about Angel cards and their design.
In this podcast, I interview Olivia Gobert-Hicks to talk about Commander, cosplaying, and the Magic community.
In this podcast, I interview Pro Tour Hall of Famer Luis Scott-Vargas who has worn many hats over the years.
In this podcast, I interview Graham Stark of Loading Ready Run. We talk about his and LRR's interactions with Magic.
In this podcast, I interview Charlie Catino, one of the original Alpha playtesters and longtime Wizards of the Coast employee.
This is the second of a two-part series talking about the 45 colorshifted cards in Planar Chaos. I talk about which cards they were colorshifted from and why they were in the set. I also talk about which ones were us testing changes for the future.
This is the first of a two-part series talking about the 45 colorshifted cards in Planar Chaos. I talk about which cards they were colorshifted from and why they were in the set. I also talk about which ones were us testing changes for the future.
In this podcast, I interview Randy Buehler, member of the Pro Tur Hall of Fame and former R&D member.
This is number ten in my ten-part series on the philosophies of two-color pairs. In this podcast, I talk green-blue.
In this podcast, I interview Matt Cavotta, a man who has worn many Magic hats over the years.
This is a trivia column where I give clues about the biggest creatures in the game's history and you guess who they are.
In this podcast, I interview Mike Elliott, a prolific Magic designer from back in the day.
In this podcast, I interview George Fan, creator of Plants vs. Zombies. I talk with him about his love of Magic and his year spent on the Magic design team.
This is part two of a two-part series on the design of Antiquities, Magic's second-ever expansion, where I talk about how the set got made and then go through the design of every card.
This is part one of a two-part series on the design of Antiquities, Magic's second-ever expansion, where I talk about how the set got made and then go through the design of every card.
In this podcast, I interview Brian David-Marshall on the many roles he's played in Magic, from tournament organizer and store owner to commentator and Magic historian.
October 30, 2020 was my 25th anniversary of working at Wizards. In this podcast, I talk about the many things I've done in those 25 years.
In this podcast, I interview Henry Stern, a longtime member of R&D and former pro player.
Magic has 32 Oozes. (I'm not talking about you, Changelings.) I talk about all of them.
In this podcast, I interview Scott Larabee, the esports senior league operations manager. We talk about his many years of running tournaments.
I talk about an issue that's near and dear to my heart: how to make the Magic community even better.
In this podcast, I interview Jules Robins, an R&D designer who's worked on numerous products and is the lead set designer of both Commander Legends and Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (we only talk a little about his two set leads, as neither is out yet).
This is the ninth podcast in my two-color philosophy series. I talk all about red and white.
In this podcast, I interview Ken Nagle, runner-up of the first Great Designer Search and longtime R&D member.
This topic started from a question on my blog talking about the difficulty in designing four-color faction worlds and sets.
In this podcast, I interview Worth Wollpert and talk about his time in Magic R&D and running Magic Online.
This is another of my trivia podcasts. This time I look at all the current evergreen keywords (all 35 of them) and have you guess whether they were used and named in Alpha, started but not named in Alpha, or started and named after Alpha.
In this podcast, I interview Elaine Chase who has held many jobs with Magic over the years, including working in R&D, brand, and esports.
In this podcast, I interview Rachel Agnes, Magic brand manager. What does she do and how did she come to do it? Listen in and find out.
Before Rachel heads back to college, I thought it would be fun to do another mailbag podcast with her.
In this podcast, I interview Adam Prosak, a Magic designer who most recently led the set design for Core Set 2021.
In this podcast, I interview Corey Bowen, a current member of R&D, one who focuses on Commander design.
In this podcast, I talk with designer Jim Lin, one of the original Alpha playtesters and longtime R&D member.
In this podcast, I begin telling the in-depth story of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths's design.
In this podcast, I talk with designer Ethan Fleischer about all the premier sets he's led or co-led the design for.
The pandemic is lasting a little longer than expected, so I've decided to have one podcast interview a week and have the other be similar to the old solo podcasts where I talk about Magic design. Today is another in my two-color philosophy series. In this podcast, I talk about black-green.
In this podcast, I talk with Graeme Hopkins, one of the finalists from the first Great Designer Search and someone who currently works on Magic: The Gathering Arena.
In this podcast, I talk with Brian Schneider, former Magic head developer. We talk about the many sets he worked on during his time at Wizards.
In this podcast, I talk with Witney Williams, the director of global events. She and I talk about all the things that go into running large Magic events.
In this podcast, I talk with Mike Turian, Pro Tour Hall of Famer and coworker. I talk with him about his time working as a Magic developer and his current job as principal product designer. What is that? Listen and learn.
In this podcast, I talk with Devin Low, former Magic head developer, about his time working on Magic.
In this podcast, I talk with Shivam Bhatt about his role with Commander and his podcast.
In this podcast, I talk with Sheldon Menery about his days of judging and his role in helping to create the Commander format.
Doug just celebrated his 20th year at Wizards, so I had him on the podcast to talk all about his work on the Creative team.
In this podcast, I talk with Brian Hacker about his time on the Pro Tour and how he and other Magic pros ended up on MTV.
In this podcast, I talk with Chris Pikula about the Pro Tour and what it's like to win a Magic Invitational.
In this podcast, I talk with Dave Humpherys about the Pro Tour and all the sets he's led.
In this podcast, I talk with April King about the challenges of keeping a Magic database and about the community of Magic Twitter.
In this podcast, I talk with Christine Sprankle, one of the best-known Magic cosplayers.
This week's podcast is an interview with Skaff Elias, one of the original playtesters and a longtime Wizards employee.
In this podcast, I talk with Jimmy and Josh, hosts of The Command Zone and Game Knights.
In this podcast, I talk with Blake Rasmussen, one of the people in charge of communications for Magic.
Brian Tinsman spent many years designing Magic cards and led sets like Rise of the Eldrazi and Time Spiral. He and I chat.
Erik is my equivalent in set design. He and I talk about our many years of making Magic together.
I talk to product architect Mark Heggen to explain how he got into the game and just what exactly he does for Magic.
In this podcast, I talk to Brian Lewis (aka The Professor) of Tolarian Community College.
Donald Smith Jr. is a member of the Play Design team, and I talk with him about what Play Design does.
For years, this has been the number-one request for a carpool guest for the podcast, but as Richard doesn't live near me, nor work at Wizards anymore, it's been an unobtainable goal. Thus, he seemed like a great guest for my at-home edition where I could call him on the phone. Richard and I talk about the design of Alpha.
I also interview Chris who is another GDS3 alum and another person I work closely with on the Vision Design team. As with Ari, we talk about what it's like being a Magic player from the outside who became an insider.
In another of my interview series, I interview Ari Nieh, winner of the Great Designer Search 3 and someone I work closely with on the Vision Design team. We talk about his early days of Magic, GDS3, and what it's like to work in R&D.
In this podcast, I'm interviewing Annie Sardelis, one of the members of the Creative team.
In this podcast, I'm interviewing my boss and longtime Magic collaborator, Aaron Forsythe.
This podcast is part 2 of my interview with Michael Ryan. We continue talking about the making of the Weatherlight Saga.
I've started recording "Drive to Work" from home due to the pandemic, so I decided to use the opportunity to do something that's hard to do in the car, interview people over the phone. This podcast is part one of a talk I have with Michael Ryan, my fellow co-creator of the Weatherlight Saga. We talk about how we made the story, including many of the characters.
This is the fifth part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the fourth part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the third part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the second part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the first part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This podcast is another in my two-color philosophy series. This time, I start talking about my first enemy color pair, white-black.
This is another trivia podcast. I ask about elements of Magic and see if you can identify whether it was part of Magic at the start of the game back in Alpha.
My eldest daughter and I traveled to New York City to attend Broadwaycon. This podcast talks all about it and how it made me rethink how I do Magic design.
This is part five in my ten-part series on two-color philosophies. In this podcast, I talk about green-white.
This is part two of a two-part series on the design of Unsanctioned. In it, I walk through the designs of all sixteen of the new cards.
This is part one of a two-part series on the design of Unsanctioned. In it, I walk through the designs of all sixteen of the new cards.
This podcast is part two of a two-part series on a Head-to-Head I did on Twitter about possible changes to the Commander format.
This podcast is part one of a two-part series on a Head-to-Head I did on Twitter about possible changes to the Commander format.
In this podcast, I talk about a phenomenon known as success paralysis where being successful can discourage you from embracing change.
What are the top 50 creature types in order of how often they show up on Magic cards? In this podcast, I give listeners clues for guessing as I go through the list.
In this podcast, I talk about an aspect of Magic that's core to trading card games and can influence how we design sets—collecting.
In this podcast, I talk about a popular topic from my blog about why Magic worlds aren't all as diverse as Dominaria.
This is my first podcast of a new series where I talk about various members of the Magic community that produce content. I'm going to start by talking about Maria and Meghan of the "Good Luck, High Five" podcast.
Part of Magic design is reusing things you've used before. This podcast talks all about when and how we reuse things in design.
In this podcast, I talk about the many different ways we've evolved the planeswalker card type since its introduction.
This podcast talks about when you have to change what you're doing in a design. I give numerous examples of designs where we ended up making big changes.
In this podcast, I examine all of our major planes and talk about the most important part of the plane from a design and flavor perspective.
What are the 50 words that show up in the most Magic card titles? In this podcast, I go through that list and talk a bit about how we name cards.
I'm trying something new, what I'm calling a cluster podcast, where I pick a topic and talk about a whole bunch of little topics in that category. For my first cluster podcast, I have chosen to talk about food.
This is part four of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
This is part three of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
This podcast is about the similarities and differences between artifacts and enchantments, and how they've changed over time.
This is part two of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
This is part one of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
In game design, as in any creation—and life really—things don't always go according to plan. In this podcast, I talk about numerous times Magic design ended up having to go in a different direction.
In this podcast, I take listeners behind the scenes into the making of the Throne of Eldraine announcement stream.
In this podcast, I talk about what we have to do in design to make sure that the set and story align.
In August, I wrote an article about why diversity matters in game design. This is my podcast version of that topic.
This is another of my mailbag podcasts where I answer all your questions. I do these with a carpool guest. Instead of "Mailbag with Matt" or "Replies with Rachel," we get the first-ever "Small Talk with Sarah" where my guest is my youngest daughter, Sarah.
This podcast is another in my "Other People's Lessons" series where I talk top ten lists of lessons for something else and apply them to Magic design. Today is life lessons.
This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about lessons from sets that I led or co-led the design for. This time, I talk about what I learned leading the design for War of the Spark.
In this podcast, I talk about us putting together the themes of three years' worth of sets that cover what we call the "Bolas Arc" (Kaladesh through War of the Spark).
As is normal, I went to San Diego Comic-Con, but this year, I got to reveal Throne of Eldraine to the world. It was quite fun. In this podcast, I fill you in on my entire trip.
This is part four of a four-part series on all the banned or restricted cards I had a hand in designing.
This is part three of a four-part series on all the banned or restricted cards I had a hand in designing.
This is part two of a four-part series on all the banned or restricted cards I had a hand in designing.
Not that I'm proud of this, but I have the honor of having had a hand in creating more cards that have been banned or restricted than any other designer. In this podcast, I walk through the many cards I've helped design from this list and talk about their designs.
In past podcasts, you've met my dad, my mom, and my eldest daughter, Rachel. Today, you get to meet my youngest daughter, Sarah.
Magic has six major zones plus a few others used in various formats. I talk all about them including examining the design space of zone changing.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of full-art lands and talk about all the times we've used them.
This is another in my series "Lessons Learned" where I examine the lessons I've learned from sets I led or co-led. Today, I talk about the third Un- set, Unstable.
This is part four of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
This is part three of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
In this podcast, I talk all about power level. I describe what it is and how it impacts how we make Magic cards.
This is part two of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
This is part one of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of split cards—how they came to be and the many different times we've used them.
We have a line we call the innovation products (things like Conspiracy, Unstable, and Battlebond). I'll explain what they are and talk through all the ones we've made thus far.
This is part five of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
This is part four of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
As a new series following up my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series, I'm starting "Other Lessons" to talk about other things I've learned during my time at Wizards. This podcast's lesson is "People overrate ideas and underrate execution."
This is part three of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
This is part two of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
This is part one of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
So, I went to England for MagicFest London and Mythic Championship II. This podcast talks all about my trip.
Part of my job is traveling. This podcast talks about what it's like working when traveling as well as the many things that have to be done before or after you've traveled.
This episode is another in my "Designing _____" series where I talk about how we design certain basic effects. In this episode, I talk about effects interacting with the library.
Working on Magic has taken me to many countries around the world. In this podcast, I reminisce about all the places I've visited on Magic's dime.
Magic is printed in eleven languages. In this podcast, I talk about how that came to be and how making a game printed in so many languages impacts game design.
This podcast is all about us adding two words to the rules text of one card and all the hullabaloo that followed. I explain why we did it and walk through the timeline of what happened (it's a little convoluted).
In this podcast, I discuss when rules should and shouldn't be broken in Magic design. It involves a bunch of talking about planeswalking and puppies.
In this podcast, I talk about Magic mechanics that just didn't make the cut and had to be retired.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of the booster pack, how it's evolved, and what impact it has on the design of Magic.
In this podcast, I walk through all the Planeswalkers to explain who they are and how they're mechanically represented on cards.
I realized I hadn't done a Top 10 list in a while, so I decided to talk about bad mechanics.
This podcast is about the history of the block, how they came about and why they went away.
This is part two of a two-part series exploring the Rabiah Scale, a scale talking about how likely we are to visit or revisit certain planes in a Standard-legal set.
This is part one of a two-part series exploring the Rabiah Scale, a scale talking about how likely we are to visit or revisit certain planes in a Standard-legal set.
This is part three of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.
This is part two of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.
This is part one of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.
Based on my previous article, I explain why we just can't do some of the things fans request for Magic.
This is another in my "Designing _____" series where I walk through making basic effects. In this podcast, I talk about making all the various destruction cards.
I had the pleasure to have a carpool guest, Greg Weisman, the author of the upcoming War of the Spark novel, Ravnica. He and I talked all about what went into writing a story with over 100 named characters.
This podcast is based on a recent article I did talking about the importance of empathy in game design (and life).
Magic has a number of golden rules, and today, I talk about what they are and why they're so important to design.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about the lessons I've picked up from sets I've led or co-led. In this podcast, I talk about Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance (as the vision design for them was done together).
About once a month, R&D takes the day off to play with an upcoming set. In this podcast, I talk all about R&D play days and how they work.
One of the things I enjoy doing is answering questions from the fans. In this podcast, I explore the many ways I do that.
Brian retired from doing coverage, so I decided to dedicate a podcast to his long Magic career.
This podcast is the tenth and final in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the green-blue guild, the Simic Combine.
This podcast is the ninth in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the white-black guild, the Orzhov Syndicate.
My eldest daughter, Rachel, and I traveled to New York to go to a convention about New York theater. This is part two of a two-part series about that trip.
My eldest daughter, Rachel, and I traveled to New York to go to a convention about New York theater. This is part one of a two-part series about that trip.
This podcast is the eighth in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the red-green guild, the Gruul Clans.
This podcast is the seventh in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the Cult of Rakdos, the black-red guild.
This podcast is the sixth in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the Azorius Senate, the white-blue guild.
This podcast is the fourth in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
This podcast is the third in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
This podcast is the second in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
This podcast is the first in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
Often on my blog and social media accounts, I talk about things being "bends" and "breaks." In today's podcast, I go in depth defining what those terms mean and talk about why bends (in moderation) are good for the game and why breaks are bad.
This is another podcast in my "Designing _________ " series where I discuss how we design basic Magic effects. In this podcast, I talk about designing direct damage.
This is a new series called "Other People's Lessons" where I look at lessons from other areas of art and examine how those lessons apply to Magic design. Today's lesson was by a poet named Kara Ziehl and talks about how to better write poetry.
In this podcast, I examine the many creature types that are unique to the game of Magic.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led (or co-led) and explore the many lessons I learned while doing the design.
In this podcast, I talk about the many ways we learn about what the players like and don't like.
This is the first in my "Designing [Blank]" series where I talk about how to design basic Magic effects.
This is another in my "Magic Evolution" series that goes through sets and explains the innovations of each expansion. This podcast is about the original Ravnica block.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of each guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the red-white guild, the Boros Legion.
Gaming conventions have played a big role in Magic's history. In this podcast, I talk about many of the key ones that have intersected with Magic.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of each guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the black-green guild, the Golgari Swarm.
In this podcast, I talk about an aspect of the game I don't discuss often—collecting. I discuss the many ways we make the game collectible and what impact that has on how we design.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of the guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the green-white guild.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of the guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the blue-red guild.
In this podcast, I talk about the various ways we create Magic mechanics to answer the question "Where do mechanics come from?"
This is the first of ten guild podcasts. I'll be doing five now and five when Ravnica Allegiance comes out. In this one, I talk about how we first created Dimir and the three guild mechanics.
In this podcast, I talk about a group of people who do a lot of work on Magic, but not the part I normally talk about. This is the people to whom R&D hand off their work.
My family went to Chicago to drop off my oldest daughter Rachel at college, so I talk all about how the city of Chicago has intersected with Magic.
As I had just dropped my daughter Rachel off at college, I talk about how a designer has to learn to let go of their work and pass it along to other people.
I was about to take my daughter off to college, so I dedicated a podcast to talking about what lessons college taught me that impact my life and how I design Magic.
This podcast is all about an unnamed but commonly used mechanic, one where you exile a permanent and then return it to the battlefield. R&D calls this ability "flickering" (it's also known as "blinking"), and this podcast will talk about its history, from its start in Urza's Destiny to present day.
This is another in my "Magic Evolution" series, where I go through the history of the game and talk about the design innovations each set brought to the table. In this podcast, I talk about Champions of Kamigawa block.
This is another in my series "Lessons Learned," where I examine sets I led or co-led and talk about what I learned from doing the design. In this podcast, I talk about the design of Ixalan.
Inspired by a video about the people who playtested Magic before it came out, I go into greater detail about the various playtesters.
This podcast talks about how Magic uses creature types and the role they play in design.
This podcast is about a concept that I wrote about in an article earlier this year which talks about the importance of games allowing its players to tell stories about the game.
This podcast tries to give a sense of scope about how many things we work on at once in R&D.
On a rare "Drive from Work," I talk with carpooler Scott Van Essen about what it was like to design Kaladesh together.
My carpool guest Scott Van Essen and I talk about the design of the new Transformers Trading Card Game, which he and I both worked on.
At my SDCC Magic panel, I gave a little presentation about the history of Magic. This podcast is a slightly longer version of that talk.
Every year, I attend San Diego Comic-Con where I run a Magic panel among other responsibilities. Upon my return, I always record a podcast about it. This is that podcast.
I turn over my podcast to the color green, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part five of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
I turn over my podcast to the color red, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part four of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
I revisit two of my old articles ("When Cards Go Bad" and the follow-up "When Cards Go Bad Revisited") to talk about why R and D makes bad cards.
I turn over my podcast to the color black, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part three of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
I turn over my podcast to the color blue, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part two of my five-part series "Color Talk."
I turn over my podcast to the color white, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part one of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
My wife and I love throwing parties, so in this podcast, I talk about the numerous lessons we've learned over the years and how I've been able to apply those lessons to designing Magic sets.
This is another in my series where I go through Magic sets and talk about what each one added to design technology. In this podcast, I talk about original Mirrodin block.
For the last three years, my daughter Rachel and I have attended Vidcon, a convention dedicated to YouTube video stars. This podcast is the story of this year's trip and all the things I learned from it.
My eldest daughter, Rachel, is off to college, but before she left, I was able to get in one more podcast with her. We chose to continue with our mailbag series "Replies with Rachel," where she and I answer questions from all of you.
To celebrate Magic's 25th Anniversary, we had five birthday Grand Prix around the world. I attended one of them, GP Las Vegas, and this podcast is all about my trip to the event.
This is the 20th and final installment in my series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" based on my 2016 Game Developers Conference speech. In this podcast, I talk about how the 20 lessons all connect.
It's been two years since Research and Development started the new Vision Design, Set Design, Play Design model. In this podcast, I take a look at it and judge how I think it's going.
After three trials and five design challenges, the GDS3 top three came to Wizards' offices for the final day of the competition. This podcasts talks all about the final day of GDS3.
In this podcast, I talk all about a longstanding meeting we have every week in Research and Development.
This podcast is part six of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part five of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part four of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
For the 25th Anniversary Grand Prix, I recorded a video with Richard Garfield and Peter Adkison. This podcast is all about the day I spent shooting that video. I also talk quite a bit about the early days of Magic.
This podcast is part three of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part two of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part one of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast talks about how we decide when to keyword (or ability word) a mechanic in design.
I'm often asked about how one can be more creative, so I decided to finally make a podcast about the topic.
This is the fourth in my "Magic Evolution" series where I go through every Magic set and talk about the design innovations of each one. On today's podcast, I talk about the Odyssey and Onslaught blocks.
I go through a Magic card and talk about what impact design has on each part of the card.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the kicker mechanic from its start in Invasion all the way through to its use in Dominaria.
For this podcast, I walk through every design team I've led or co-led and talk about what the jumping-off point was for the design to show the many different paths we start with when making a set.
In this podcast, I talk about why it's important for each plane to have a distinct identity.
This is another in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series based on my 2016 Games Developers Conference speech. Today is lesson nineteen: "Your audience is good at recognizing problems and bad at solving them."
The Great Designers Search 3 was plugging along behind the scenes when I recorded this, so I checked in to give you some info on how it was going.
In this podcast, I talk about my days doing stand-up comedy and the lessons I learned that applied to Magic design.
This is the third and final part of a three-part series on the vision design of Dominaria.
Not every card is new. In this podcast, I talk about when and how we use reprints in design.
I was asked to make some "How to" videos for Magic (alongside Gaby Spartz). This podcast is all about the day I spent making Magic videos.
I started a new feature on my Twitter where I polled the audience about various Magic design issues. This podcast goes over the issues I asked about and the feedback I received.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about the lessons I learned on sets for which I led or co-led the design. In this podcast, I talk about co-leading Amonkhet.
A lot of my job is giving and receiving criticism. In this podcast, I talk about the tenets to giving criticism in a way that helps the person getting the criticism be better able to use it.
In this podcast, I talk about my time as editor-in-chief of Duelist, the Magic-themed magazine Wizards used to produce.
In this podcast I walk through the history of the morph mechanic from its origin to its use in Khans of Tarkir block.
This is the third in my series "Magic Evolution," where I go through every set and talk about what design technology was created. In this podcast, I talk about Mercadian Masques through Apocalypse.
This is a fun podcast where I explain my definition of what a game is. I'm sure it's bound to prompt much discussion.
This is part eighteen of my series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" based on my 2016 Game Developers Conference talk. In this podcast, I explain why restrictions breed creativity.
This is part three of three, where I share many card-by-card design stories from Dissension.
This is part two of three, where I share many card-by-card design stories from Dissension.
In this podcast, I go over the design test, the third trial for the Great Designer Search 3.
Having just read 94 design tests for the GDS3, I spend a podcast talking about many of the common mistakes novice designers make.
I finally get around to the third and final set in original Ravnica block, Dissension. This is part one of three, where I share many card-by-card design stories from the set.
In this podcast, I go over the answers for the final 25 questions in the Trial 2 multiple-choice test for the Great Designer Search 3.
In this podcast, I go over the answers for the second 25 questions in the Trial 2 multiple-choice test for the Great Designer Search 3.
In this podcast, I go over the answers for the first 25 questions in the Trial 2 multiple-choice test for the Great Designer Search 3.
To make it into the Top 8 of the Great Designer Search 3, you needed to pass three trials. In this podcast, I talk about the first trial, the essay test.
For many years, Magic was broadcast on ESPN2. This podcast looks back at that time and talks about the experience from behind the scenes.
Part of my job is answering questions from all sorts of different sources. In this podcast, I talk about who I answer questions from and how I do it.
This is a companion podcast to one I did about designing sets that revisit worlds we've been to before. In this podcast, I talk about designing for a new world.
I traveled to Victoria, Canada, to participate in LoadingReadyRun's inaccurately named but very fun Pre-Prerelease for Unstable. This podcast is all about my trip.
Unstable did something different by having various versions of a card with the same name. This podcast talks about how they happened and the great lengths we went to in order to hide their existence.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of playtest cards in R&D, including a discussion on the latest technology.
This is part seventeen in my 20-part series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" based on my 2016 Game Developers Conference speech. In this podcast, I talk about the lesson "You don't have to change much to change everything."
In this podcast, I talk about the lengthy journey to make the third Great Designer Search happen.
This is part two of my "Magic Evolution" series where I walk through sets and explain what innovations they added to Magic design.
This is technically a "Drive from Work." I picked Mark up at his house to do the last podcast, so we figured we might as well do another podcast when I drove him home.
I have a special carpool guest, Magic Senior Brand Director Mark Purvis. He promised to come back when we could talk openly about Unstable. And so he did.
I had the opportunity to appear on Game Knights with Jimmy Wong and Josh Lee Kwai. The three of us and Gavin Verhey drafted Unstable before its release so we could show off how fun it was. This podcast is all about my trip down to Los Angeles to shoot the episode.
I've often said the hardest part of my job is making cool things and then not being able to talk about them for a long time. This podcast is all about the joy of getting to finally tell people news through the lens of the fun I had watching Unstable be revealed.
R&D started a new process called a "hackathon" where we take off a week and work on future speculative products. Today, I'm going to explain how it works and walk you through our first two hackathons.
One of my many jobs is Un-rules manager. In this podcast, I talk about my role and about many of the weird rules of Unstable.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of one of the most popular creature types in Magic, Slivers.
This is Part 2 of my look back. Note that while there will eventually be a Part 3, it won't be for a while.
I took a page from my column and decided to take my 500th podcast to look back at all the podcasts I've done. It turns out 500 is way too many to do in one podcast, so I just talk about my first 100 podcasts. This is a good chance to hear about some of my early podcasts to help figure out which ones you might want to listen to. There's also a bit of behind-the-scenes information about making them.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about a design I led (or in this case co-led) and walk through all the lessons I learned from doing it.
The entire third floor was recently remodeled, which resulted in R&D being moved to a different section of the floor. This podcast is all about the move and the many pieces of Magic history I discovered while moving.
Magic has had a lot of symbols show up on cards over the years. In this podcast, I talk about them all.
Last year, R&D changed the structure of how we make Magic cards. In this podcast, I explain the change and introduce the three new parts of Magic design in R&D.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of the kicker mechanic, from its start in Invasion to modern day.
This is the sixteenth installment in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series where I talk about each of my lessons from my 2016 Game Developers Conference talk. In this podcast, I talk about the lesson "Be more afraid of boring your players than challenging them."
I talk a lot about the process of creating what the cards do, but part of making Magic cards is also physically creating them. In this podcast, I talk about how we print Magic cards and what impact that has on designing them.
Besides designing Magic cards, I also spend a lot of time interacting with the public. This podcast talks all about this aspect of my job, including how I came to be a spokesperson.
The Un- sets are where I try new things, so it seemed only apropos to experiment with having the podcast be about the design when the set is being previewed. This is part 1 of 3.
The very first Hasbro-centric convention, called HASCON, was held in August. I was there, and this podcast is all about it.
In this podcast, I explore Magic's early sets and talk about the design innovations each one brought.
In this podcast, I look at the history of the scry mechanic, from its premier in Fifth Dawn all the way to it becoming an evergreen keyword action.
I am often asked what factors determine when we choose to keyword a mechanic. In this podcast, I talk all about this topic.
In my "Making Magic" column, I occasionally write articles where I blend together Magic and non-Magic topics selected by the audience. In this podcast, I talk all about the articles I've written in this format.
For this podcast, I talk about how you can keep things feeling different in a game that's constantly making new content.
For the first time ever, I have a guest who isn't in the car with me. Thanks to new technology, I now have the ability to have a guest phone in. Gavin Verhey of Magic R&D tests out this new technology with me.
This is the fifteenth podcast in my 20-podcast series "20 Years, 20 Lessons." In this podcast, I talk about the importance of designing a component for the audience it's intended for.
I attended another SDCC and had another Blogatog Live Magic panel where I talked for the first time about Unstable. In this podcast, I talk all about what happened, including a few tidbits about Unstable from the panel that didn't make it out to social media.
I'm often asked questions about how best to start a design. In this podcast, I go into detail about how to do just that.
In this podcast, I talk about the many different multicolor blocks we've made and how we went about making them.
We have to make a lot of Magic sets, and while we always make new things, a lot of our job is taking the staple things we do all the time and finding small ways to make them feel different. In today's podcast, I talk about how we do that.
In this podcast, I look back at some of the different formats from the early days of Magic including things likes Grand Melee and Emperor.
For the second year, I took my daughter to VidCon, the convention for YouTube stars. As an outsider looking in, I always get a lot of insights that I can apply to Magic.
Back in June, we had a week with more announcements packed into it than we had ever done before in that condensed amount of time. This podcast walks through all the reveals of that week with some behind-the-scenes info about making it happen.
This podcast is dedicated to Magic trivia, focusing mostly on trivia from the early days of the game.
This is my first mechanical color pie podcast where I go in depth on one mechanical aspect. For my maiden voyage, I chose to talk about how the five colors handle creatures.
A few months ago, I wrote an article where I spelled out what colors did what in the color pie. In this podcast, I talk all about the making of this article and why the mechanical color pie is so important.
In this podcast, I talk about the mechanic flashback. I discuss how it got originally designed and the many different blocks that have used it.
I asked for feedback about my podcast, and one of the most common replies I got was that people would like me to occasionally mix in more recent design stories. So, this is part one of a two-part series on the design of Amonkhet.
One of the questions I get most often is "How can I become a game designer?" I answer that question in this podcast.
From time to time, I dedicate a show to talking about the many people who have worked on Magic. In this podcast, I'm talking again about R&D—this time covering the group I dub the "third wave."
In this podcast, I talk about one of the design tools we use—counters. I go through the various kinds and talk about how counters help us expand what we can do in design.
Wizards has made many games other than Magic. So many, in fact, that I needed two podcasts to talk about them all.
Magic is just one of the games Wizards of the Coast has made. Today, I walk through the many, many others.
This podcast is the fourteenth in my 20-podcast series based on a GDC speech I gave in 2016 about 20 of the lessons I've learned designing Magic for 20 years. The lesson of this podcast is "Don't be afraid to be blunt."
I talk about the use of different frames and walk through the many times we've used frames to aid the game mechanically.
On my blog, there was some discussion about the mechanical theme of "vanilla matters." (Vanilla creatures are creatures without rules text.) It was a complex topic, so I decided to spend a whole car ride explaining why the "vanilla matters" theme is so hard to do.
One of my popular features in my "Tales from the Pit" comic is an ongoing "sit-com" with planeswalkers I make using the Funko Pop! figures. I call the recurring feature "Sparks." In this podcast, I talk about how it came about and what I did to find the humor in the planeswalkers.
In this podcast, I talk about the difference of designing a set for a new world and designing for a return.
This is a history podcast where I talk all about the history of Prereleases, from the first one for Ice Age to modern day.
Wizards of the Coast makes games other than Magic. Today, I talk about one of our other big games. I discuss its history, how it influenced Magic, and how it came to be a Wizards of Coast game.
I talk a lot about the design of Magic, but there are many other teams that design has to work with. This podcast talks about all these other teams. I talk through the lens of Amonkhet, so if you’re eager to hear a few Amonkhet stories, you might want to give this a listen.
In this podcast, I talk about the nuts of bolts of rarity, including some history about how different rarities have worked over the years.
This is part two of a two-part series where I examine the first Great Designer Search in detail. I walk through all the tests to get in and then all the challenges given to the contestants.
This is part one of a two-part series where I examine the first Great Designer Search in detail. I walk through all the tests to get in and then all the challenges given to the contestants.
R&D has a sign hanging on our walls explaining the principles of Magic R&D. In this podcast, I walk through all the items on the list and explain why they're important and how they impact the way R&D makes Magic.
This is another in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series where I go over the 20 lessons from my 2016 GDC Speech. Today's lesson is number thirteen: Make the fun part also the correct strategy to win.
Telling a story can be difficult in any medium, but it's especially hard through the medium of a trading card game. In this podcast, I walk through the difficulties and how we overcome them.
This is the third and final podcast in my three-part series on the design of Guildpact.
This podcasts talks about all the different worlds we've visited over the years in various Magic expansions.
This is another in my series "20 Years, 20 Podcasts" where I talk in detail about all the Magic stuff that happened in a particular year.
There was a lot of discussion online about what exactly "top-down" and "bottom-up" designs were, so I dedicate a podcast to talk all about what the terms mean. I then walk through the history of Magic talking about whether or not the first set of each block was a top-down or bottom-up design.
I often talk about the many fights in R&D that I managed to win. Well, I didn't win them all, and this podcast talks about a bunch of the fights I lost.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led the design for and the lessons I learned from leading it. In this podcast, I discuss what I learned from leading the design for Battle for Zendikar.
This is another podcast in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series with design lessons from my GDC talk. Today's podcast talks about Lesson #12: Don't Design Something to Prove You Can.
Wizards of the Coast doesn't give public tours, but occasionally we give them for special guests. As someone who has done a lot of these tours, I thought it would be fun to do one for all of you, virtually.
This podcast is a look at the behind-the-scenes of the "Drive to Work" podcast. Very meta.
In this podcast, I talk all about the importance of elements in your game having strengths and weaknesses.
This is another Top 10 podcast. In this episode, I talk about the Top 10 coolest things about working in R&D.
In my 21 years at Wizards, Magic has helped me travel all over the world. In this podcast, I talk about the sixteen different countries I've visited.
This is another in my series on designing different rarities. In this podcast, I talk about designing rares and mythic rares.
In this podcast, I explore the design of a trading card game, but one other than Magic. I talk about the creation of Duel Masters, a trading card game we created for the Japanese market.
I'm often asked about the best way to teach Magic to a new player. In today's podcast I explain how to do it.
This is part eleven in my 20-part series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" where I recap 20 lessons I learned in my first 20 years working on Magic. This is based on a speech I gave at the Games Developers Conference in 2016. You can find my three-part article about the speech here, here, and here.
This is another episode of "Replies with Rachel," where my eldest daughter and I answer your questions.
I spend this podcast talking about an important lesson I've learned doing Magic design.
I spend a lot of time answering questions. In this podcast, I talk about that aspect of my job and explain what I've learned over the years about how to best answer questions.
Part of the iterative process is using feedback to improve upon your design. This podcast talks about how to best evaluate what you've done and use feedback to make your design better.
In this podcast, I look back to the early days of Magic and talk about how the Standard format came to be.
Mark talks about the special series where we've gone to the public and sought their help in creating a Magic card.
Mark talks about the Council of Colors group that was created to help monitor the color wheel.
Mark pits the mechanics of the original Mirrodin block against the mechanics of the Scars of Mirrodin block.
Mark explains the important process of figuring out what a card represents flavorfully.
Mark talks about being a magician in his youth and what he learned that he brought to Magic.
Mark talks about how they tweak old cards in design to make new cards that fill a similar function.
Mark explores the history of hybrid mana and talks about how it came to be and how we design with it.
Mark talks about VidCon, where he chaperoned his daughter Rachel, and the lessons he learned from it.
Mark talks about some of the interviews he has done and tips about doing good interviews.
Mark reflects on his trip, including an hour-long lecture, at the 2016 Game Developers Conference.
Mark shares stories about the changes that come late in the design and development process.
Mark talks about some of the various Magic T-shirts that he has collected over the years.
Mark begins a new series of Top 10 Lists by talking about his favorite sets that he designed.
Mark talks about when he was just a player of Magic and had not started working at Wizards.
Mark concludes his his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 5 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 4 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 3 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 2 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark begins a new six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark remembers the life of Christopher Rush and shares stories about their interactions.
Mark talks about how and when Research and Development decide to use reprints in a design.
Mark is joined by Melissa DeTora for a two-parter where they discuss their Magic firsts.
Mark talks about the many things design has to care about while designing a set for limited.
Mark looks back as the co-lead of Dark Ascension (with Mark Gottlieb) and shares what he learned from it.
Mark talks about the difference in Magic and Wizards from when he started to today, 20 years later.
Mark talks about the questions he gets asked the most and the answers he chooses to give.
Mark talks about the revisit to his original article about why so-called bad cards exist.
Mark talks about the system which explains which colors each evergreen creature keyword falls into.
Magic is a game that often breaks its own rules. Today's podcast talks about when, why, and how you should break the rules in game design.
Wizards pulled out all the stops with Magic at the Penny Arcade Expo held in Seattle this past August. This podcast talks all about it, including the full tale of my crazy seventeen-hour day.
Finally, I've gotten to my tenth and final (and possibly most requested) two-color podcast. I talk about the colors green and blue, what they have in common and why they're enemies.
Scars of Mirrodin,-Return to Ravnica,-Battle for Zendikar. We've begun to revisit worlds we've already been to. What design issues are there when you start with a world you've visited before? Today's podcast talks all about this topic.
Mark concludes his two-parter about the inspiration behind each block in the history of Magic.
Mark begins a two-parter about the inspiration behind each block in the history of Magic.
Mark shares his carpool with special guest, Melissa DeTora and what it is like to start to Research and Development.
Mark Rosewater talks about interactions as he continues his 10-part podcasts series about 10 things every game needs.
Mark shares his third podcast in his series on two color-pairs, talking about the interactions between black and red.
Mark talks about the process of playtesting in design and walks through the various stages.
Matt Cavotta joins Mark to talk about what the creative team must do to create a new world every year.
Mark talks about the process of how a card is made, from the blank page to holding it in your hand.
Mark Rosewater talks about rules as he continues his 10-part podcasts series about 10 things every game needs.
Mark Rosewater talks about goals in games in this first of 10 podcasts about 10 things every game needs.
Mark talks about what design changes went into the Scars of Mirrodin through Khans of Tarkir blocks.
Mark continues with part 4 of his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark talks all about what goes into playtesting during design (and a little bit during development).
Mark continues with part 3 of his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark continues with part 2 of his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark shares the third part in his series Mark on Judgment, the third set in the Odyssey Block.
Mark talks about the importance of an emotional connection between the game and the players.
Mark continues his series on the history of the Invitational, taking about the ones in Sydney and Capetown.
Mark talks about the third year in Magic History and the year he started working for Wizards.
Mark turns in one of the longest episodes yet, taking a step away from his Theros epic series.
Mark finishes his series on color philosophy. He saves the most misunderstood color for last.
Mark talks about the crazy tale of the making of the video for the very first Pro Tour.
In this podcast, I talk about the Duelist Magic Invitationals in Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur.
Mark talks about Magic's history with The Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach, California.
Mark dives into Scars of Mirrodin with the first in a series about the set and the block.
Mark Rosewater finishes his two part series about the lessons he's learned from designing Magic sets.
Mark Rosewater starts a two part series about the lessons he's learned from the sets he's lead in design.
Mark Rosewater expects traffic on the road, and so he picks a topic that he can talk extra about: Bad Cards.
Mark Rosewater talks about Homelands, a set he didn't design, didn't develop and wasn't even at Wizards during it.
Mark Rosewater talks about a popular article he did called "10 Things Every Game Needs."
Mark Rosewater talks about the psychographics of Magic players: Timmy, Johnny, and Spike.
Maro carpools with Matt Cavotta as the two talk about how the planeswalker card type came to be.
Maro explains how his idea for a "land set" turned into one of the best selling sets of all time.