Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Design”
During previews and release windows of new Magic expansions, we tend to focus on the impact of their strongest individual cards. But over time, as those cards become familiar parts of the broader metagame, it’s the unique mechanics which come to define that set in the collective memory. Taking the Limited perspective, these mechanics essentially ARE the set – you …
While Commander’s grassroots origins make it different from many other Magic formats, it still has a ban list like the rest of them. However, since Commander is not a format with tons of tournament data to back up banning certain cards, some players are unsure why certain offenders end up on the list. Today, I’m going to take a look …
It’s never been a better time to play an equipment deck in Commander, or even just splash some powerful pieces of equipment in your deck. CAG member and combat-step enjoyer Kristen counts down the best equipment of 2023. It’s safe to say I’ve played a lot of equipment in my time, and it’s one of my favorite card types. I’ve …
While Commander’s grassroots origins make it different from many other Magic formats, it still has a ban list like the rest of them. However, since Commander is not a format with tons of tournament data to back up banning certain cards, some players are unsure why certain offenders end up on the list. Today, I’m going to take a look …
What new Sorcery spells should be making the cut in your Commander decks? Kristen is here with a list of ten of the best! Last week, I looked at ten Sorcery spells that had aged really well in Commander. This time around, I will cover ten new classics: sorceries that have landed with impact, and continue to impress me. Sorceries …
It seems to be that as time goes on, Magic becomes harder and harder to decipher. Complexity creep on cards is one thing, but what about the complexity of game pieces? Kristen sits down to talk about accessibility in Magic. For many of us, Magic’s artwork is a big draw. Without the stunning vistas, fierce warriors and heroic (or villainous) …
As Magic players, most of us primarily care about how the game actually plays. However, so much more goes into a set than the cards themselves — from worldbuilding to characters and the places they intersect. Often, these qualities outside of gameplay are called flavor, and they help sets taste different, even if they are similar in some ways to what has …
Arguably the best thing about Magic is the sheer variety of ways to play it. Even ignoring the growing range of officially-supported formats, Magic’s “rules engine” and massive card pool make perfect building blocks for inventing all sorts of wacky new scenarios! That’s just what a player named “Perodequeso” was up to back in 2016 when he invented Wacky Races. …
With Phyrexia: All Will Be One fully released into the wild, and the resulting disaster of the Planeswalkers’ ill-fated foray into the metal plane ready to play out, it’s time to look at what comes next. March of the Machine is the next Standard set in the Magic storyline, and here’s a look at what we know so far. The …
In Phyrexia: All Will Be One, we have a cycle of one-mana artifacts with activated abilities that can draw you a card called Skullbombs. This builds on a similar cycle from Scars of Mirrodin called Spellbombs, which were themselves a sequel to the original Spellbombs from Mirrodin block. It’s not often we see cycles full reiterated this many times, but …
