This went from a fun niche magic interest video to a must-watch for creatives and people looking for a spark of inspiration so subtlely, but so beautifully. Masterfully done.
Gavin you gotta stop making me cry! The story about getting Josh's card idea into a set just got me right in the heart. But there are a lot of cool stories here! Also the way this is edited together is really neat!
A SEA fan/player here, I'm stoked for a Filipino set and not just that, a SEA inspired set would definitely be great. We have a whole throve of mythologies and folklores that have been left untapped/untouched by many games out there.
Make more videos like this! It gets the community involved through featuring them and it also provides niche and interesting behind the scenes trivia! As a player it is always fun to see the thought process that went into the creation of the cards, from commons to mythics
This video is one of the best. Love the structure, the storytelling, the poetry reference, even the sneaky Tom cameo. Inspirational video Gavin. Thanks for sharing.
The C17 Cat deck is one of my favorite releases ever, and the "real cat" energy of Hungry Lynx and Qasali Slingers are a big reason why. Thanks for that, and thanks for signing my Mirri Weatherlight Captain that commands one of my favorite decks to this day.
Oh wow the office has CHANGED! Of course it has, I haven't seen it since 2001, but the concept art room looks like where there was once the full globe of Dominaria during the war with all the attack lines and marching arrows surrounding it. On top of all the insights into design and inspiration, it was also a blast to see the high tower in Reton, love it!
It's an honour to have been included in this video, especially having my British accent introduce one of our greatest creative exports, but mainly as this was such a moving tribute to creativity overall.
I really love this video, it's always amazing to hear how the stories and experiences of people influence the cards we play with. Keep up the good work Gavin.
I really enjoyed this video. Would love more of them. It's great to hear about where all those cards came from. First I wanted to critic the repetition of the question, but in the end it made beautiful sense for why it was always asked. Thank you for the video, Gavin
I'm really glad to be able to hear the story about Retrofitter Foundry. Commander 2018 was my introduction to the format and I chose the Izzet Artifact deck because my other friends had already chosen the other 3. Whenever I had played Standard I only ever used Azorius or Esper and I'd never really played Artifacts apart from the UB Affinity intro deck I had learnt how to play with in Mirrodin. After a little while I decided turning the deck into UR tokens would be more my speed, but Retrofitter Foundry is still an awesome card in the deck to this day.
Such an interesting video, really shows how inspiration can come from anywhere or anyone. It's always great getting that insight on the design process. I love the stories behind all of the cards, and it just shows how passionate you are with these endearing memories about the game
This is amazing. I'd say it was the best video you made yet, but your tribute to Sheldon gives it a run for its money. The last little bit is timeless. Thank you for sharing.
Gavin, you made Serene Remembrance??? Okay, so, I have a story to tell about that card. When I was in high school, during the Fall of 2013, I had a classmate who was really into Magic. He and his friend would play and one day he asked if I would be interested. I hesitated, but eventually I gave it a try. I wasn't very good, but I fell in love with the game. So, when my birthday came around, my friend asked me what kind colors I wanted to play. I choose Black and Green (because I played Wizard101 and those colors made me think of my favorite schools: Death and Life). He made me a Black/Green Deathtouch deck as a birthday gift. I don't have the deck anymore, but I distinctly remember Serene Remembrance being among the cards he included. The art of the card lives rent free in my mind and I have good memories whenever I think of the card. 10 years later, I'm still involved with Magic (and sorry if that made you feel a little old lol). Magic is an important part of my life and I don't go a day without thinking about it. Thank you so much for getting that card to print and being a reason I'm still involved today! And thank you for the video, too! It was great to hear how magic cards get made : )
Thank you, beautiful, great video, I think a lot together with my friends that there are many types of abilities and effects that deserve a card to make them unique enough to make a commander deck with them, like Bruvac does for the deck mill, like a legendary creature like Guile, to help counter spell decks, or a legendary creature like Possibility Storm, for the type of deck that I really love, a Chaos deck, especially if it were mono red, even in red I would like to have one legendary creature that improves the top exile cards, perhaps by placing counters on them, so that you can only play them on your turn, all of this would be wonderful to do and I would love to see one or more of these cards in the future.
The video i needed that i didn't know i needed! Well done!!! What about you asking other designer about where the idea of great or impactful cards they designed came from!
First this is amazing and thank you. To the staff both past and present of wizards and the community that has made the events and local store truly magical through my life I thank you, love and laughter in your lives and cheers friends
I have never played magic in my life (i do play a lot of other TGC's), but this popped up on my feed. this was really cool to see where inspiration comes from. thank you
It is hilarious how many busted card you made, but I am glad to see you embrace it instead of hiding it. I am surprised with you being a Ninja fan and your age we never got the old internet meme of pirates vs ninjas as a gag.
*points at screen* LOOK GARY THERE I AM! This video was rad as heck, I love hearing design stories like this and it goes to show really just how much love and care goes into this game we love!
I was wondering the same thing. That's my guess as well, copyright and liability issues. Easier to argue in court that any likeness is coincidental when your corporate policy is that designers are not allowed to look at fan cards.
They're not allowed to look at unsolicited card designs. But things like the Great Designer Search show that they can in the right environments. Once you get to a certain step of the hiring process for a designer, showing what cards you can design (and since they're soliciting that information, they can look at it) becomes ok.
Casual Najeela? I just threw up in my mouth a little bit... Ha, seriously though, I've tried my hand at designing cards. I fully understand how "Oops" happens sometimes. I've been playing for 23 years, I've learned to take the good with the bad and the overly good... Thank you, Gavin and everybody else behind the scenes!
I've always toyed around with designing magic cards in my notes app but never thought about making little physical cards out of them... I might do that. Thanks for the idea Gavin
Wonderful video, truly interesting insight on how and why magic cards look the way they do. Thanks for everything Gavin! Same for the rest of the Wotc staff
A video about the testing process would be cool. I’m really curious if there’s enough testing going on since there’s been a lot of “oopsie” moments and powercreep spikes over the past few years
Hopefully one day this will get read I miss nomads. We haven't seen the nomad type in a pretty long time. They didn't really have anything that clicked with them anyhow, but your citys blessing at machu pichu made me think of minimalism permanents. Reward having very little on board, +blah for not having any artifacts or the whole tribe gets vigitouch for owning less than 10 permanents. As a nomad with very little representation in modern magic, Id love it.
One of my favorite things to do is make custom cards that feel authentic to MTG. Most of my ideas come from fictional characters outside of Magic. One of my favorite ideas was a mono colored cycle of commanders inspired by companions. They had eminence, but the eminence ability was a negative ability that hated on what those colors were "strongest" at but would get a strong effect when the commander is on board. For example: [Liantis, Ancient Vitality] {4}{W}{W}{W} Eminence Whenever a creature with power 2 or less enters the battlefield under your control, if Liantis, Ancient Vitality is in the command zone or on the battlefield, that creature loses all abilities. Vigilance Creatures you control can block an additional creature each combat and get +0/+1 for each creature they're blocking. Whenever a creature you control dies, if it was dealt damage by an opponent's creature, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, under your control. 4/5 This was one of my earliest cards though. I've learned so much with every card I created. I've reeled in the essay-like text boxes and have found some personal design philosophies I like to stick by unless it makes sense not to. My biggest dream is to work as a designer for MTG. In the meantime, I'll continue to make my customs :))
its funny to see the inspirations coming from all around the world and theres people like me who will live and die wanting a chance to create like that and never do anything remotely near that. Its tough to grow up...
How did Merchant of the Vale // Haggle get made? There are not a lot of red instants / sorceries that do card selection at a mana value of 1, and this one gets a lot of play from me despite not being a cantrip!
Will there EVER be a good Werewolf-mechanic? Like give me a Commander that transforms and has amazing werewolf art and skip the transforming over and over for like 20 creatures every turn. Mechanics like daybound/nightbound are absolte trash in commander and it is just a fantasy archtype that is somewhat locked away!
Used everybody lives with my 2nd doctor deck made everyone draw their entire library then forced the entire table to draw at the same time on the next person's turn. Such a fun group hug build.
Might be off topic, but the original idea of magic cards was likely inspired in part by Wiz War that had a ton of interesting spell cards, but it was technically a board game
Hi! I'd also like to voice that Filipino myths and legends would make for excellent flavor for Magic! Some of the monsters ans stories are the wildest things you could ever read about!
I would like to see cards with a bluff mechanic, something that makes me think a little like poker. something like "when this creature attacks, you can bet what type of card you have in your hand, when you do this, your opponent must say whether or not you are telling the truth, if the opponent fails to guess, your creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn, if your opponent guesses, your creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn."
Since I started playing Magic, I’ve found myself thinking up card ideas. I find the game design so compelling… and I wonder what I could do with it. What advice would you give about wanting to game design?
I have to say I don't particularly agree with the "can't look at fan made cards" policy. There's a lot of great ideas out there and I have no doubt if you allowed the use of fan made cards you'd have no shortage of people sending in ideas not wanting anything in return except maybe a designer mention on the card. Hell that may even be a great idea for a set. A set for the people by the people. Be a great way to use up a bunch of slush art back stock too lol
this was really beautiful.
Hey it's that guy
It’s that magic man, Sam.
hey yours are really beautifull as well!!
When Sam gives a compliment, you know it's real
Thank you so much Sam. Thought of you tons when making this video ❤️
“Can a player have flying?”
“No.”
Form of the Dragon: “Am I a joke to you?”
ROFL
Moat could be made to work with that flavor too. But I guess it would give both players flying.
big shoutout to your mom cutting out those homebrew cards
Interviewer: Where does the idea for a Magic card come from?
Future MTG Designer: *drops a huge tome entitled "The Life of Gavin"*
This went from a fun niche magic interest video to a must-watch for creatives and people looking for a spark of inspiration so subtlely, but so beautifully. Masterfully done.
Gavin you gotta stop making me cry! The story about getting Josh's card idea into a set just got me right in the heart. But there are a lot of cool stories here!
Also the way this is edited together is really neat!
This. A hundred times this. Times some number over nine thousand!
I would like to start a petition to get Najeela's name officially changed to "Najeela, the Nice Casual Warrior Commander (Oops)"
A SEA fan/player here, I'm stoked for a Filipino set and not just that, a SEA inspired set would definitely be great.
We have a whole throve of mythologies and folklores that have been left untapped/untouched by many games out there.
Make more videos like this! It gets the community involved through featuring them and it also provides niche and interesting behind the scenes trivia! As a player it is always fun to see the thought process that went into the creation of the cards, from commons to mythics
This video is one of the best. Love the structure, the storytelling, the poetry reference, even the sneaky Tom cameo. Inspirational video Gavin. Thanks for sharing.
The C17 Cat deck is one of my favorite releases ever, and the "real cat" energy of Hungry Lynx and Qasali Slingers are a big reason why. Thanks for that, and thanks for signing my Mirri Weatherlight Captain that commands one of my favorite decks to this day.
Oh wow the office has CHANGED! Of course it has, I haven't seen it since 2001, but the concept art room looks like where there was once the full globe of Dominaria during the war with all the attack lines and marching arrows surrounding it. On top of all the insights into design and inspiration, it was also a blast to see the high tower in Reton, love it!
They've changed buildings at least twice in that span, including in the last year or two.
@@Natedogg2 Man, I've really got to get back up to the Emerald City. Love seeing the growth and changes.
It's an honour to have been included in this video, especially having my British accent introduce one of our greatest creative exports, but mainly as this was such a moving tribute to creativity overall.
I really love this video, it's always amazing to hear how the stories and experiences of people influence the cards we play with. Keep up the good work Gavin.
I really enjoyed this video. Would love more of them.
It's great to hear about where all those cards came from.
First I wanted to critic the repetition of the question, but in the end it made beautiful sense for why it was always asked.
Thank you for the video, Gavin
man, this is a very Graham Starkian video =)
Hi shivam
I could cry right now
I'm really glad to be able to hear the story about Retrofitter Foundry. Commander 2018 was my introduction to the format and I chose the Izzet Artifact deck because my other friends had already chosen the other 3.
Whenever I had played Standard I only ever used Azorius or Esper and I'd never really played Artifacts apart from the UB Affinity intro deck I had learnt how to play with in Mirrodin.
After a little while I decided turning the deck into UR tokens would be more my speed, but Retrofitter Foundry is still an awesome card in the deck to this day.
hi! 12 more of these, please, thanks ! 👍
“So I made Najeela. Oops” 😂 Awesome videos as always Gavin
This is an amazing video. Loved every minute of it. Thank you for putting that all together and sharing those stories with us. So interesting!
Such an interesting video, really shows how inspiration can come from anywhere or anyone. It's always great getting that insight on the design process. I love the stories behind all of the cards, and it just shows how passionate you are with these endearing memories about the game
This is amazing. I'd say it was the best video you made yet, but your tribute to Sheldon gives it a run for its money. The last little bit is timeless. Thank you for sharing.
Really liked this episode. Well done ❤
this was such a beautiful video! please never stop making these! (:
Such a beautiful, fun video. Thank you for sharing!
I really enjoyed this. Thanks Gavin. Great editing
Loved this video! Felt really poetic, as appropriate to the ending 💜
Gavin, you made Serene Remembrance??? Okay, so, I have a story to tell about that card. When I was in high school, during the Fall of 2013, I had a classmate who was really into Magic. He and his friend would play and one day he asked if I would be interested. I hesitated, but eventually I gave it a try. I wasn't very good, but I fell in love with the game. So, when my birthday came around, my friend asked me what kind colors I wanted to play. I choose Black and Green (because I played Wizard101 and those colors made me think of my favorite schools: Death and Life). He made me a Black/Green Deathtouch deck as a birthday gift. I don't have the deck anymore, but I distinctly remember Serene Remembrance being among the cards he included. The art of the card lives rent free in my mind and I have good memories whenever I think of the card. 10 years later, I'm still involved with Magic (and sorry if that made you feel a little old lol). Magic is an important part of my life and I don't go a day without thinking about it. Thank you so much for getting that card to print and being a reason I'm still involved today! And thank you for the video, too! It was great to hear how magic cards get made : )
Incredible. That's such a touching story - I'm glad you're playing now and that my card helped you on your way here! ❤️
This is a really great video and I’d love more like this!
Wonderful vid. Great vibe.
Love the video ❤. Then again you put out so much good in the world. Love you man! Thanks for all that you do.
Beautiful stuff Gavin. Thank you
Thank you Gavin. That was absolutely lovely.
Thanks Gavin, that was amazing!
Thank you, beautiful, great video, I think a lot together with my friends that there are many types of abilities and effects that deserve a card to make them unique enough to make a commander deck with them, like Bruvac does for the deck mill, like a legendary creature like Guile, to help counter spell decks, or a legendary creature like Possibility Storm, for the type of deck that I really love, a Chaos deck, especially if it were mono red, even in red I would like to have one legendary creature that improves the top exile cards, perhaps by placing counters on them, so that you can only play them on your turn, all of this would be wonderful to do and I would love to see one or more of these cards in the future.
The video i needed that i didn't know i needed! Well done!!! What about you asking other designer about where the idea of great or impactful cards they designed came from!
Beautiful. Thank you, Gavin
First this is amazing and thank you. To the staff both past and present of wizards and the community that has made the events and local store truly magical through my life I thank you, love and laughter in your lives and cheers friends
I have never played magic in my life (i do play a lot of other TGC's), but this popped up on my feed. this was really cool to see where inspiration comes from. thank you
It is hilarious how many busted card you made, but I am glad to see you embrace it instead of hiding it. I am surprised with you being a Ninja fan and your age we never got the old internet meme of pirates vs ninjas as a gag.
TH-cam download this automatically before my flight to Philippines.This was not what I was expecting but this was awesome!!!
What timing!!
The video was amazing, the ending was beautiful
This video is legitimately breathtaking
Incredible video!
Beautiful message 🙂
This was an incredible retelling
Its never to late to errata yurikos command ninjutsu 😉
This was wonderful!
Gavin, you forgot your closing phrase, but may your inspiration and love for the game never end. You got this!
Another incredible video!!
*points at screen* LOOK GARY THERE I AM!
This video was rad as heck, I love hearing design stories like this and it goes to show really just how much love and care goes into this game we love!
Beautiful video, thank you
Have a nice day
This was truly special 🥰
Great video!
I run Serene Remembrance in my Codie deck to let me recast the 0-cost spells! Cool to know that it was designed by young Gavin!
Interesting question, why aren't you allowed to look at fan made cards? Is it a liability thing where people may claim copyright infringement?
I was wondering the same thing. That's my guess as well, copyright and liability issues. Easier to argue in court that any likeness is coincidental when your corporate policy is that designers are not allowed to look at fan cards.
it is exactly that. copyright and liability concerns
@@shivambhatt8380 Thanks for confirming!
How do they discover talent then? If they're not allowed to look at fan-made cards, how can they determine if someone is good at making cards?
They're not allowed to look at unsolicited card designs. But things like the Great Designer Search show that they can in the right environments. Once you get to a certain step of the hiring process for a designer, showing what cards you can design (and since they're soliciting that information, they can look at it) becomes ok.
Casual Najeela?
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...
Ha, seriously though, I've tried my hand at designing cards. I fully understand how "Oops" happens sometimes. I've been playing for 23 years, I've learned to take the good with the bad and the overly good... Thank you, Gavin and everybody else behind the scenes!
I've always toyed around with designing magic cards in my notes app but never thought about making little physical cards out of them... I might do that. Thanks for the idea Gavin
Amazing!!
Just made me fetch a River of Tears 😭 that was beautiful
Wonderful video, truly interesting insight on how and why magic cards look the way they do. Thanks for everything Gavin! Same for the rest of the Wotc staff
A video about the testing process would be cool. I’m really curious if there’s enough testing going on since there’s been a lot of “oopsie” moments and powercreep spikes over the past few years
I really love New Blood; text-changing effects are some of my favorite kinds of weirdness in Magic.
Loved this video
Incredible video/podcast Gavin! Can we get more reveal ramp but in other colors? Reveal ramp feels more red or blue then green by the way
Hopefully one day this will get read
I miss nomads. We haven't seen the nomad type in a pretty long time.
They didn't really have anything that clicked with them anyhow, but your citys blessing at machu pichu made me think of minimalism permanents. Reward having very little on board, +blah for not having any artifacts or the whole tribe gets vigitouch for owning less than 10 permanents. As a nomad with very little representation in modern magic, Id love it.
Great video you’re awesome for the community
Beautiful video.
Unfortunately Geode Golem doesn't work with my favorite expensive commander: Phage.
Love Stinging Study and Cloudkill though.
One of my favorite things to do is make custom cards that feel authentic to MTG. Most of my ideas come from fictional characters outside of Magic.
One of my favorite ideas was a mono colored cycle of commanders inspired by companions. They had eminence, but the eminence ability was a negative ability that hated on what those colors were "strongest" at but would get a strong effect when the commander is on board. For example:
[Liantis, Ancient Vitality] {4}{W}{W}{W}
Eminence Whenever a creature with power 2 or less enters the battlefield under your control, if Liantis, Ancient Vitality is in the command zone or on the battlefield, that creature loses all abilities.
Vigilance
Creatures you control can block an additional creature each combat and get +0/+1 for each creature they're blocking.
Whenever a creature you control dies, if it was dealt damage by an opponent's creature, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, under your control.
4/5
This was one of my earliest cards though. I've learned so much with every card I created. I've reeled in the essay-like text boxes and have found some personal design philosophies I like to stick by unless it makes sense not to.
My biggest dream is to work as a designer for MTG. In the meantime, I'll continue to make my customs :))
This was so cool! Can we have a Magic origins story next? Like about richard garfield and the whole story?
its funny to see the inspirations coming from all around the world and theres people like me who will live and die wanting a chance to create like that and never do anything remotely near that. Its tough to grow up...
I just saw myself in there hahaha 😂😂😂
This is such a wholesome video.
Gavin really is a treasure (give us bant merfolk commander)
Great video
omg such a perfect video
omg loony! what a surprise ^_^
How did Merchant of the Vale // Haggle get made?
There are not a lot of red instants / sorceries that do card selection at a mana value of 1, and this one gets a lot of play from me despite not being a cantrip!
I think next time you do an episode like this, maybe you can also bring in a couple other Designers to bring in one of their tales?
Now I think of it, it would be really nice (?) to see precon that the them is either annoy other opponent or chaos theme lol
Will there EVER be a good Werewolf-mechanic?
Like give me a Commander that transforms and has amazing werewolf art and skip the transforming over and over for like 20 creatures every turn.
Mechanics like daybound/nightbound are absolte trash in commander and it is just a fantasy archtype that is somewhat locked away!
How do you answer a question that is too complex to answer? Enter: this video. Well done ❤
Great video! I have a really quick question: where does the idea for a Magic card come from?
Wow!
I was playing magic and didn’t get a good result… so I made a card on the spot and won- Gavin Norris.
Used everybody lives with my 2nd doctor deck made everyone draw their entire library then forced the entire table to draw at the same time on the next person's turn. Such a fun group hug build.
Might be off topic, but the original idea of magic cards was likely inspired in part by Wiz War that had a ton of interesting spell cards, but it was technically a board game
Hi! I'd also like to voice that Filipino myths and legends would make for excellent flavor for Magic! Some of the monsters ans stories are the wildest things you could ever read about!
I would like to see cards with a bluff mechanic, something that makes me think a little like poker. something like "when this creature attacks, you can bet what type of card you have in your hand, when you do this, your opponent must say whether or not you are telling the truth, if the opponent fails to guess, your creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn, if your opponent guesses, your creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn."
Hey my unshaven cringe question got in! Great video, lots of cool anecdotes
This video is going to have lots of people like me tear up something fierce
Now i know if I ever meet Gavin to get Serene Remembrance signed by him.
Since I started playing Magic, I’ve found myself thinking up card ideas. I find the game design so compelling… and I wonder what I could do with it.
What advice would you give about wanting to game design?
lets gooooooooooo
I have to say I don't particularly agree with the "can't look at fan made cards" policy. There's a lot of great ideas out there and I have no doubt if you allowed the use of fan made cards you'd have no shortage of people sending in ideas not wanting anything in return except maybe a designer mention on the card. Hell that may even be a great idea for a set. A set for the people by the people. Be a great way to use up a bunch of slush art back stock too lol
Great vídeo even If there was no kithkin
Neat.
Gavin recording with gas station headphones but great video