Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Design”
As 2024 comes to a close, Kristen takes stock of the year’s sets. Was Foundations the best Magic set of the year? It was a big year for Magic in 2024, and we experienced a slew of products, whether Standard-legal, or legal for Modern or Commander. In total, we saw five sets enter Standard: There were also five more “major” …
A few weeks ago I wrote about Foundations and the history of core sets more broadly. There, I discussed the fact that they are intended to be beginner products that help introduce new players to the Standard format, especially. This is often achieved by more simplified designs that help introduce players to the game’s basic mechanics and themes. For the …
For almost 20 years now, Planeswalkers have been central to Magic’s identity as a game. The Gatewatch (along with other notables like Sarkhan, Ral, Vraska and Sorin) established a recurring central cast for the game’s storyline. They created marketable, consistent mascots for their respective color combinations and home planes. By these business-centric measures, Planeswalker cards have been an unmitigated success. …
The announcement that Universes Beyond sets will be legal in all formats – including Standard – beginning with new sets in 2025 came as something of a shock to the Magic community. Is it actually a good move? You might have been lucky enough to attend MagicCon Vegas this weekend. You might also, like me, have been at home, refreshing …
MagicCon Las Vegas happened this past weekend, and with it came a presentation from Wizards of the Coast breaking down what we have to look forward to from Magic in 2025. We’ve gathered that information here for you – so without further ado, prepare for THE FUTURE! Ahem. Anyway, the future starts with a look to the past: Innistrad Remastered – …
Magic: the Gathering is a game that takes place in countless settings and themes. The game has regularly explored settings involving body horror and gothic horror to name a few, and some of that art has been quite divisive. One thing that Magic always does well is its art, though, and when it comes to horror, terror, and disgust, the …
Foundations releases on November 15th [EDITOR – Card Kingdom’s Presale is live now!]. With its release we’re getting the most recent iteration of a Magic: the Gathering core set and this one is nothing short of revolutionary. However, core sets have been around since (almost) the beginning, and they’ve undergone several major changes over the years. In this article, I’m …
13. UNLUCKY FOR SOME It’s great when we get numberplay in spooky Magic sets, and Duskmourn doesn’t fail to disappoint. We’ve got the “unlucky” land cycle debuting here. They enter tapped unless a player has 13 or less life, which is going to happen pretty quickly, actually. The artwork on each evokes classic horror tropes and locations, which results in …
The unveiling of new set mechanics is always my favorite part of spoiler season, since their quality has a huge impact on how we perceive that expansion. The new rules need enough flavor and novelty value to turn heads, but also to be balanced, and offer interesting play patterns that can hold up over the next 2-3 years of Standard. …
We’re in the midst of Duskmourn: House of Horrors preview season and it releases later this month, on September 27th . The set contains lots of really cool mechanics, but the one that has caught my eye the most is “Manifest Dread.” In this article, I’ll break down how the mechanic works and how I think it’ll perform in the …
