May 2012
3 tags
stephenmilner asked: Is flying a mechanic?
chaoticslinky asked: Would the Rules Manager explode if you put a permanent type and instant or sorcery on a split card?
dhemmann asked: I think I remember reading that you exercise during lunch. Does WotC have it's own gym? What kind of workout do you do?
stephenmilner asked: Theres something I've came up with for red I wanna tell you but not sure I'm allowed. Would I be allowed to say "Imagine card X, but maybe cost a little less, and also with ability Y. I think Red should get more things like Y"?
godograpes asked: You wrote, "The Huey design team, which I’m leading, starts in two weeks." What does it mean for a design team to "start?" And what leads up to that start?
kelbyfetter asked: Why were wurms pulled down from green's iconic big creature? I think they make excellent sense from a flavor perspective. They're kind of like red in that they are big and reptilian, but can't fly and don't breathe fire, which are things red does more of by itself.
reddyneddy asked: I dont think Hydras as the signature Green creature are iconic enough a creature for the layman to grasp. Dragons, Angels and even Sphynx's have been in a lot of pop culture for the average Joe to grok. Green needs a poster creature that people have heard of and has immediate 'Wow' factor that makes people excited. I would take sea monsters out of blue, as they are natural creatures...
dead-horses asked: I do understand not wanting to make legendary lands. What baffles me is giving them legendary names.
reddyneddy asked: In regards to the mana system Magic uses, I understand that attempting to fix it with gauranteed land drops doesn't work for competitive play (it works well for casual play). The main issues I would have with it are - When a new player plays MTG and their first experience is mana screw it can REALLY hurt their incentive to play again. And - I love watching live coverage, but the mulligans...
blekkja asked: So if Huey is starting in a fortnight then now is the time to bombard you with our own pet ideas (Mirage 2 / top down African?) to push youse in the 'right' direction? I jest. As an aside I recall in quite an early column you said that Huey, Duey and Luey were coming up soon. They are at least 5 or 6 years late!
yamareto asked: How high in the rankings does a pro need to be for you to notice him as a potential asset for design and development?
wickerpopstar asked: Lifelink: Primary in white, secondary in black? I understand the black flavor (draining energy from opponent) but what's the flavor for white?
ralphio asked: What about Haste into Blue? It could give you interesting use with tap abilities. Not to mention more crossover with Red.
stephenmilner asked: "Star Wars (Episode 4: A New Hope) is the best Star Wars film". I think over half of the Star Wars fans would disagree (including me). Maybe Empire is Star Wars' M10?
stealingshit asked: How did Zendikar do in the flavor department? It had great cards, but I'm going to pretty upset if two blocks of people walking around scored better than the folklore-loaded Lorwyn-Shadowmoor miniblocks.
derobim asked: So you need another creature keyword for Blue. You find one that fits it PERFECTLY... and then give it to Green instead. Why didn't you just make White's vigilance creatures more aggressive, giving Blue the defensive vigilance creatures? Seriously, you're not likely to find anything that fits Blue better than Vigilance.
tsuyoshikentsu asked: Here is an argument on Wurm vs. Hydra for Green's iconic creature. There have been two uncommon Hydras in the history of Magic, and no common ones. Compare this to the other iconic types. Now, I have two questions, the second of which is rhetorical. First, is a common Hydra, or an uncommon Hydra as envisioned in modern terms, even possible? And second, what is that lesson to which you...
hunter61 asked: You said you like "Win, Place and Show" , but it wouldn't qualify because "win" definitly has an in-game meaning. Right?
zipzopzuubitybop asked: Why were there Homelands cards in Time Spiral's "Timeshifted" listing? I thought "Timeshifted" was only supposed to showcase cards from Dominaria's past, and Homelands is set on Ulgrotha.
judygrimes asked: Have you played the card game Dominion?
spacetimelegacy asked: One thing I think you're overlooking re: the idea of using any card as mana is the fact that in many cases, you really don't want to lose any of the cards in your hand just because you didn't draw a mana-only card. It adds a different kind of "stress" to the game, one that I believe is more strategic. Besides, "I should have dropped a different card for mana"...
frodo-swagins asked: What is the connection of legend of the five rings and magic, if any?
halbernacht asked: Has Game, Set, Match been used already as a set name?
thinc496 asked: So I'm making a flavor Ooze commander deck in the Ooze colors (Black, Red, and Green - yea, shame that there's no actual Ooze-colored commander; Xira will do), and I've been trying to figure this out: Aside from the fringe blue Ooze cards, Green is clearly the primary Ooze color, but what's secondary? Red or Black? There seems to be an even split between the two in terms of...
carloszero asked: How soon will Full-Art Land cards return?
arctem asked: Considering that Planeswalkers are always Mythic Rare, would it be possible to see a lower rarity one in an Un- set? Maybe with useless abilities that cancel themselves out?
rahzark asked: I just watched Walking the Planes 3. I have to say, you can pull off the most awesome of evil overlords! Suddenly, I lost all my dreams of working as a designer on one of your teams :p
carloszero asked: Will RTR feature only new mechanics?
arbitrarytumblr asked: Loved you in Walking the Planes, MaRo. Is there any official comment on the idea that Magic cards have all been blank since you took over R&D, and that what we're seeing is a very elaborate Jedi Mind trick?
anon-amarth asked: Pretty sure this has been asked and answered, but I couldn't find it in the backlog of questions. When designing un-sets, do they get development names that don't turn out to be their printed card name? Or are the names set from the start?
dukkhasatva asked: Today's Ask Wizards explains why Hatred has a card but Love doesn't, because the first is a better fit for a game about spell battles. Isn't the stance "blue is not a good fighter" also a bit deconstructive in that regard? You have a hard time coming up with keywords for blue creatures because you want it to be bad at what the game's about.
chemfy asked: What is your current opinion on Elvish and Simian Spirit Guide and will we see more Spirit Guides in the future?
ugmadness asked: Did you open the Ravnica booster pack from your latest comic? What did you pull?
chaoticslinky asked: If planeswalker the Flash faced off against planeswalker the Hulk who would win?
themastah asked: Can you use proprietary names for codenames? I'm thinking "Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle." You DID already use Live, Long, and Prosper.
chaoticslinky asked: What is your favorite mechanic not including ones that haven't been released yet? I include things like alternate costs/mana, keyword abilities, and even those lovely evergreen mechanics.
goblinbowlingteam asked: You said before that red isn't supposed to win if the game goes long. But then how can a red deck win in standard? There are very few playable creatures or burn spells, the two mana pw can't do a thing in the early game (while blue gets a pw that's perfect for the late game), and (most infuriating) there have been 4 cards in the past two standards that completely hose red! Meanwhile...
askmaroallthethings asked: How about Rock, Paper, Scissors as block playtest names?
3 tags
parallaxdementia asked: "We already used Fire in the Earth, Wind & Fire block...." Then how about Ready/Set/Go?
lordmarlin asked: I know you keep saying Planar Chaos is the exception and not the rule, but I've always thought Vigilance was a good fit for blue. With few exceptions Vigilance is only in white, so it needs a little more love from other colors. Blue is always untapping things with time magic so Vigilance is like pre-untapping. Giving blue creatures another keyword would help distance its identity from red and...
vereendood asked: Why wasn't Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Legendary? It looked exactly like a card that flavored uniqueness and would have made sense in a balancing issue.
seabutcher asked: Why can two sets, so many years apart, not have the same codename? Is it still a real concern around the office that someone might mistakenly think they're meant to be making cards for Saviours of Kamigawa?
baomon asked: Regarding the fav core set question - so if we included Alpha, then your favorite core set would be Alpha? Why?
mtgfacts asked: I vaguely recall that double strike was invented during a YMTC. Is this story accurate? How did it come about? I'd ask your opinion of the mechanic but given it has the word "double" right there in the name I'm guessing it'd be positive :)
spellkeeper asked: You spend a good deal of time in Washington state, right? Have you ever been to Miner's Drive Inn in Yakima for hamburgers?
wuyley asked: "One of the best things about Magic is its mana system. Yes, there are downsides to it but it does so much wonderful things" Wonderful things like and how does those things outweigh the frustration of land screw/flood that could be solved by putting any card face down as a land to tap to add 1 colorless mana to your pool?
leorigby asked: What about Huey. Dewey and Louie for a code name? or is the copyright an issue? hows about moe, larry and curly? or just Porthos, Athos and Aramis? just tossing some ideas...
zlorb asked: I've recently started drafting much more than I ever did and I have to say, I now think its the most fun way to play magic. How much of R&Ds time is spent focusing on limited vs. constructed?
