One of the biggest challenges with running a Great Designer Search is that the number of people who want to be involved greatly outstrips our ability to review their material. For instance, 7800 people expressed an interest in participating (and that’s after having to limit people based on criteria like the ability to work in the US that cut out many thousands more). I can review about 100 design tests. Note this involves doing less Magic work so I can focus on the gigantic task.

If all 7800 actually participated and sent in design tests, that would take me three years to grade. And not a lot of Magic would get done (by me). This means that we have to find ways to narrow down the field that we can grade objectively. We start with a time-consuming task because it eliminates the people that aren’t really invested, 7800 became 3056.

The multiple choice test is a way for us to check knowledge in a way that lets us make major cuts without having to have an individual look at each submission. There simply isn’t a way to cut from 3056 to around 100 people without talented designers falling through the cracks. For starters, I believe there are more than 100 talented designers involved.

The lesson here is that no matter how much you want things, there are always logistics that have to be accounted for. I might have an awesome mechanic, but if it can’t be templated in a way that fits on a card, it’s of no use.

I know this process is rough on a lot of people, but the reality is 7800 expressed interest, 8 get to actually be contestants and only 1 gets to actually win. That means the vast, vast majority of the people don’t get the thing they most want which is a job designing Magic cards.

I hope The Great Designer Search 3, like the two before it, will be an enlightening look into Magic design, that will be entertaining and educational, helping many of you become better Magic designers.

Thank you to everyone who has participated. I hope with time, you can look back as this as a fun thing to have been involved in.

Finally, I want to plug that the first Great Designer Search 3 “show” where we announce our Top 8 and have our first design challenge will be Friday, March 9th on the Magic website. I hope you check it out.