The New Golden Age of Magic Design

Anyone who has played Magic: the Gathering for a long time will tell you that the game has been going through some growing pains in the past several years. The set structure changed from three-set blocks plus a core set to two two-set blocks to doing away with blocks altogether and the core set returning.

They experimented with twice-yearly rotations before walking that back after a single rotation. They introduced Masterpieces, decided they were so successful that they would do them every set, and then within a year changed course on that decision, replacing Masterpieces with the Ultimate Masters Box Toppers and the Mythic Edition. They introduced unique Buy-a-Box promotional cards for standard sets, with the stated goal of making them with casual and not competitive appeal, and then immediately dropped the ball in printing the tournament-staple Nexus of Fate. Masters Editions shifted from being format-specific to being themed, which lead to a lukewarm reception and a cancellation of the series. Perhaps most tumultuously, more cards had to be banned from Standard formats containing the Kaladesh block than any single previous block ever - including Mirrodin and Urza's Saga.



Finally, these changes seem to have clicked together into a machine that isn't just stable, but excelling. Core Set 2020 is one of the most exciting core sets ever, with Magic Origins being the only serious contender. War of the Spark is one of the most innovating, exciting, and powerful sets to come through Standard in a long time. Modern Horizons took the nostalgia formula of one of the most-veteran-beloved sets of all time, Time Spiral, and refined them into something with broader mass-market appeal and an exciting new twist, putting it contention for one of the best sets ever. And on top of all that, Mark Rosewater has been hinting that this Fall's set is at the same level of excitement as War of the Spark and Modern Horizons.



So how is it that Wizards of the Coast has managed to produce these hits back-to-back-to-back? There have been a few crucial behind-the-scenes changes that have driven this:



1. The shift from Design and Development to Vision Design, Set Design, and Play Design.

What does this mean, exactly? You can read up on Mark's explanation here. The short version is that the old system had one group concepting and designing sets, and another group polishing them for publication. Under the new system, the concepting has been split out into its own group. This might not seem like a big deal, but it means a few crucial things. The people who come up with the original ideas are not the ones who are creating the brunt of the set, which means they aren't as attached to the original ideas and are more willing to scrap things that aren't working. It also means that Mark Rosewater gets to focus his energies on the raw creative aspect of Magic, where he clearly excels, and less on getting cards into a print-ready state. Remember his mantra during the Design and Development era was frequently "I am not a developer", and the Urza's Saga block stands as a testament to how very much that isn't his forte. The new system also gives Play Design, the new version of what was Development, a longer time to work with each set, including testing it with the future sets that it will be sharing standard with. The Vision, Set, Play system also allowed Wizards to devote the necessary resources to testing Modern for Modern Horizons. Overall, this changeover has lead to a marked improvement in consistency of quality in sets coming out while still allowing them to push the envelope.

2. The restoration of power to the common slot.



As of Shards of Alara, and the adoption of "New World Order", commons got a lot more simplified. This was arguably necessary, given the extreme level of complexity that the preceding blocks - Time Spiral and Lorwyn/Shadowmoor - but it also lead to a significant drop-off in the power level of commons. Mark Rosewater denies this, stating that complexity and power are not inextricably linked, but it's easy to see the drop-off by comparing pre-New World Order metagames to post-New World Order metagames. Just look at decks like Odyssey's Blue-Green Madness or Mirrodin's Affinity, both built around a core of powerful common cards, like Wild Mongrel, Deep Analysis, Careful Study, Basking Rootwalla, the Artifact Lands, Frogmite, Myr Enforcer, and so forth. Or take a look at the original Ravnica block, with its constructed-playable Signets and Karoos that completely outshine the common Guildgates and Cluestones, and Lockets of the follow-up Ravnica sets. But the pendulum is finally swinging in the other direction. There's been a deliberate effort to create more exciting, tournament-caliber cards at common. We see a bit of this in War of the Spark with Ob Nixilis's Cruelty, but Core 2020 takes it into full swing, returning Murder to the common slot and printing new, powerful commons like Cloudkin Seer. The Play Design article on the "F.I.R.E Principle" details this change.



3. The pushing of boundaries.

War of the Spark is the primary culprit for this change, with its uncommon planeswalkers, planeswalker static and triggered abilities, and hybrid mana planeswalkers. Before War of the Spark released, the idea of planeswalkers at uncommon was completely unheard of. War pulled out all the stops, not only releasing twenty uncommon planeswalkers, but pushing several of them for competitive play. Narset, Parter of Veils and Ashiok, Dream Render are showing up across every format. Planeswalker static and triggered abilities are also a fresh new design space that completely revolutionizes how Planeswalkers play. Modern Horizons pushes plenty of boundaries of its own, between printing cards directly into the Modern card pool, the first pushed two-mana planeswalker, the first new cards with Storm in close to a decade, the first new card with Dredge since the original Ravnica, a new twist on Force of Will, and tons of other risky designs. Core 2020 plays it a little safer, but it still crosses lines that many never expected to see crossed in a Core Set. An uncommon planeswalker and a rare planeswalker would be absolutely staggering to see if we hadn't just come off of a Standard set with over thirty of those. Even still, it's very new ground for a Core Set. Years ago, the idea of legendary creatures in core sets was novel, and there's only been a handful of three-color cards ever printed in a Core Set, but Core 2020 gives us a brand new cycle of wedge-colored legendaries.

4. Fanservice.



Sometimes, the easiest way to get people excited about a Magic set is to give them what they've been asking for. Modern Horizons really pulls out all the stops in this regard, printing three of the most-asked-for characters of all time: Urza, Serra, and Yawgmoth. These three characters are three of the earliest, most recognizable, and most powerful in the game's vast history, and players have been begging for them to get cards since nearly the beginning of the game. War of the Spark also delivered a number of characters that players have been asking for - Feather, Fblthp, Massacre Girl, and Ilharg. While none of these have been waiting for cards quite as long as Urza and company, Feather's been a common request since she was one of the main protagonists in the original Ravnica novel, while Fblthp, Massacre Girl, and Ilharg were teased in the Return to Ravnica block's flavortexts. Mark Rosewater recently published a list of the most-requested characters, and of the thirteen named, six of them were printed in these sets. Urza didn't show up on this list, due to having recently received a silver-bordered card, but that makes seven out of fourteen.

Fanservice covers more than just old characters finally getting cards. Modern Horizons goes all out. Foil token cards, double-sided token cards, premium glossy art cards. full-art snow basics, returning mechanics - you name it, and Modern Horizons has it.



So there we have it. A few changes behind the scenes and a desire to give players what they are asking for has lead to a string of some of the most exciting sets of all time. With Commander 2019 and the Fall set, codenamed Archery, looming on the horizon, it's clear that we've entered a new Golden Age of Magic design. If the next several sets are as big successes as these past few have been - and given Mark Rosewater's cryptic hints about Archery, all signs point to this - this could well be the best time to be playing Magic: the Gathering ever.