markrosewater

[markrosewater]

Rest in Peace to my father Gene Rosewater

I'm sad to announce that my father Gene passed away last night from Alzheimer's. He was 82. He was the source of my love for games, and there's no way I would be doing what I do now without his influence. Here's a podcast I did with him back in 2013:

https://media.wizards.com/podcasts/magic/drivetowork45generosewater.mp3

#Mark Rosewater

[markrosewater]

I don’t know if you’ve ever written an article or done a DTW on the topic, but what does the lead designer of a product do? Whether it be a premier set, supplemental set, or commander precon, they all have lead designers or coleads. what job/responsibility does a lead designer have that the other designers on the product don’t? What makes that role special? And why rotate them?

I’ll add it to the list.

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark, I just wanted to shout out the team for the great plot mechanic. My favorite (non-deciduous) mechanic long been suspend - I love the flavor of “pay now, get later.” Plot feels like a (really fun!) way to do some of that without the logistical issues of suspend. High fives to the team!

High fives to be applied.

[markrosewater]

Now that Cynthia Williams has stepped down, would you consider putting your name in the hat to fill her role?

My dream job is Head Designer.

[markrosewater]

Are we more likely to see things like Snow and Gates appear if they fit the card even if they’re not part of the set?

We’re going more cameos, but the bar is still high.

[markrosewater]

If I have It Came from Planet Glurg enter as a copy of 2 or more creatures, at least 1 of which is a legendary creature that I control and that's still on the battlefield, do I have to sacrifice one of them because the legend rule, or does it not count because ICFPG has names besides that?

It’s safe because it has the combination of both names and the legendary rule checks for the exact name.

[markrosewater]

Do you feel like design is limited with "only" five colors of mana ?

I do not.

[markrosewater]

In early design, when you want to test a lot of cards at once, do you still build 40-card decks? Are they singleton?

When we build decks in exploratory design, they’re usually 40-cards, but not singleton, as we want multiple cards of the thing we’re testing.

[markrosewater]

Mtg has such a good vocabulary and so many cool words. I've learned so many cool words from mtg over the course of my life.

May i request more cards with the word "nadir" in them? That's a great word and it deserves to be on more cards...

I’ll pass the request along.

[markrosewater]

Hey Mark, it’s my birthday! Can I please get a birthday trivia factoid on either Sliver Overlord or Sliver Gravemother!!?

Sliver Queen had been pretty popular. Legions brought back Slivers, so we thought it would be cool to do another five-color legendary Sliver in Scourge. We picked two abilities we thought would be useful. The tutor ability so you could go get the Sliver you needed in the moment, and the steal ability to help in Sliver on Sliver matches.

Happy Birthday!

[markrosewater]

Could a vehicle have a Saddle ability on top of a Crew ability?

I'm not sure what the point of doing that would be.

[markrosewater]

Could an MDFC or Split-card have plot?

The rules could support it, but it would cause some confusion and be tricky to design.

[markrosewater]

Do you have anything to say about the frustration stickers are causing in Legacy?

Could you give me more details?

[markrosewater]

Opened a bundle for OTJ today, and noticed that it had a game card from Magic Core Set 21 explaining how to play Draft when the box contains Play boosters. Is this a slight oversight? I thought new product would include updated game cards explaining how to play with Play boosters instead of referring to Draft?

Whether or not you're using Draft boosters or Play boosters, you're still drafting or playing (booster) draft.

[markrosewater]

The Magic word "counter" can mean either of two things in the rules. Shouldn't one of these be changed to avoid ambiguity? Why not "cancel" to replace the "counter" in counterspells?

Both terms are pretty ingrained. Luckily they don' get used in a way that often causes confusion.

[markrosewater]

What are the odds of us ever getting another Un-set?

Let's call it an uphill battle. But that was true at times in the past.

[markrosewater]

Hello, Mark! Do you think it's possible we'll ever see a non-Acorn card "create" something other than a token? If not, do you think we'd ever see the word "token" implied, so as to save space on the card? For example, "Create a Treasure," or "Create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature."

I'm skeptical we'll stop labeling tokens. I don't know if we'll ever make another noncard component, but we might.