Drawing Live
Connive: The Remodeling of Explore
April 12, 2022
5 min to read
Connive is in dialogue with Explore, a powerful yet contentious mechanic.
Building the UMA Cube
April 5, 2022
6 min to read
Zach caught cube fever due to Cube Con, and the only cure is to replicate the feel of Ultimate Masters.
Design of a Card: Maestros Charm
March 30, 2022
8 min to read
Three Grixis-colored Charms, nine modes, and one fascinating designing history binding them all together.
Tell Me Your Problems
March 22, 2022
5 min to read
Game designers tend to respond much better to problems than to solutions, even when the solutions seem obvious.
Design of a Card: Mnemonic Sphere
March 15, 2022
6 min to read
How many designs can you name that led to Mnemonic Sphere? There are plenty more than just Courier’s Capsule.
Managing Complexity on Kamigawa
March 8, 2022
9 min to read
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty manages to squeeze more text onto its cards than any other set, and yet it works.
Mechanics in Review: Ikoria
March 1, 2022
9 min to read
Mechanics in Review goes back to spring 2020, a time many of us would rather have forgotten, but like Companion, we’re still living with.
Design of a Card: Ecologist’s Terrarium
February 22, 2022
5 min to read
The latest descendent of Braidwood Sextant humbly impresses by doing things we’ve seen hundreds of times before in a never before seen package.
Design of a Card: Moon-Circuit Hacker
February 15, 2022
7 min to read
Moon-Circuit Hacker is powerful, nuanced, and a microcosm of current Magic’s strengths and weaknesses.
Design Callbacks in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
February 8, 2022
14 min to read
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is chock full of mechanics hiding in plain sight without their identifying keywords.
2021 Mechanics in Review—Kaldheim
February 1, 2022
8 min to read
We finish out our series on all the new premier mechanics of 2021 with the set that started it all: Kaldheim.