Hey Gavin, on the subject of those sets and decks you are excited about but can't talk about yet - a lot of the game design stories and such that makes it to the community are mostly after-the-fact (for obvious reasons). Have you considered filming a "day at work" kind of video (perhaps you coming up with card designs, or explaining your thoughts on rebalancing/cutting cards?) And then just waiting for the set to release before showing the video? It would definitely give an insight into the process I (and probably others) have never seen before, and I think it could be really interesting!
While many of us would love that, there are potential issues. The video could accidentally record other stuff that was not meant to be show. It could also get stolen, hacked, leaked, etc, and reveal things that shouldn't be revealed. If they can do it with no issues, then PLEASE, YES, DO IT.
Really hope they don't burn you at both ends over there. You do so much and your love for the game and community really shines through. Hope you don't overwork yourself either. If there'll be another magic con in europe I hope to bump in to you and thank you in person. Happy for all of us that you are precisely where you belong ❤
Happy to hear you lead the design for Final Fantasy! It must have been a huge responsibility to bring to life such an iconic franchise into the world of Magic the Gathering. I'm so hyped ever since seeing the spoiler art, I can't wait to see what that Yuna and Tidus card is going to do. I hope it is a huge success!
YOU ARE THE (*MAGICal) MAN Mr.Verhey! Thanks for all you do, ALL you design and have input in, and ALL you do in the community, for this game, and ultimately for those also out there that love this game!! YOU ARE A BIG PART of what makes this game so successful and FUN, and hope your humble nature, fun personality, and ingenious mind NEVER CHANGES! May you Live Long, And Prosper (yes, a different IP I realize..... but it was fitting and true!)
The crumbling of the rules committee was a disasters for Commander. That said, if anyone at WotC was going to take over the format, I’m glad it was you Gavin. There’s a deficit of trust right now in Magic with the push for Universes Beyond, the increase in cost of playing the game, and old players still stinging from some crazy decisions by the company (looking at you Magic 30 and damage to Modern), but your love of the game and openness lets me know that there’s still a lot of people working there that love the game. Thanks for keeping up the good work.
Agree with that, though slightly concerning how we haven't had an update in the new year. Lack of effective communication was what messed up the previous RC, and Gavin's strength in that area is much of what makes him a good choice.
I hope one day Gavin will be able to address and work hand in hand with every part of MTG. He’s always been a voice for the community and will continue to do everything in his power to make this game enjoyable for years to come!! I especially hope he’ll have more direction in what sets are created and released because 1/2 of magic being universes beyond SUCKSSSS!!! Magic has so much amazing lore that I hope we continue to push it and not more cards that aren’t “magic centered”
Thanks for all the amazing things you do! I love how connected you are with the community, even to the point where when I was just starting out on content creation and I had no following on any social media whatsoever you still made the time for me, that's something only people who truly love what they do...do! And I think everyone in the community is grateful for you and what you do ❤
I would like to see more Land destruction support and Parity breakers (mass land recursion, indestructible land enablers) printed. Im very for this strategy when its played in the cycle of *setup>Parity breaker>MLD as a finisher* Im aware of social stigma but i think MLD effects that reward or require parity breaking could work
5:45 so after hearing & seeing what you do in terms of Commander product design, Prof is absolutely right when he ribs you every time a Battlebond Land is played & he gripes about their exclusion from Commander precons. 😂 I don't know you at all to rib you in a similar fashion, so I'll say something else: Thank you Gavin for all your hard work! It has made & will continue to make Magic such a fun game for me & my friends at my LGS to play! (And maybe we'll see BBD Lands in a precon soon!)
Thank you for all your community work. You were so kind to answer all my son’s questions about card design. It’s been really fun getting him into magic and we’ve been playing with the beginner box a ton.
@@GoodMorningMagic Thanks for the reply. I am actually really hopeful for the Bracket system. I think that people joke around with the current 1-10 power level system because it has no strict structure for what makes a 6 a 6, a 7 a 7, an 8 an 8, etc... but by you all making a clearly defined list of cards that are higher or lesser tiers than others gives that system the context that the current one lacks. Best of luck in the creation of the system and don't let all the controversy you read online after its announcement make you lose any sleep.
So glad there are people like you at Wizards, Gavin. Thanks for all you do and taking the time to share it with us. I know I appreciate it and I cant be alone in that.
Gavin, thank you for explaining your role in the amazing world of Magic, and I know that it's not your area (I think it is marketing or packaging) but I would love to see a "credits" card in each set stating who worked on the set, maybe on the back of a token. You all do amazing work and I think that there should be some kind of way for you to be acknowledged
This is why we adore you so much Gavin! Your honesty and passion are appreciated to no end! While we’re on the topic of legendary creature / pre con ideas is there any possibility of a Sultai enchantress that gets value and power out of enchanting opponents stuff? Maybe buffs or evasion. The deck could have fun not very well known cards in EDH like Public Enemy, Vanishing, Season of the Witch, Enigmatic Incarnation, Eutropia, Twice Favored, Fumble, Auta Graft, Steal Enchantment and Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief. Would be so flavorful to be like the classic witch archetype, always giving out shiny apples that are full of poison
Hey Gavin, thanks for all of your hard work, we can truly see that you do it with love for the game and the community even when there are moment where things are out of your reach or scope. The only thing I and most Europe feels is the let down of not having a Magic Con in 2025 after two amazing Magic Cons in Barcelona and Amsterdam. I have enjoyed very much your unknown events and I still keep all the play test cards I got in my collection binder. Nothing else to say then, You Got This!
What a video! So nice to get a glimpse behind the curtain...loved the parts where you mentioned contact & caring about the community when it's clear that WoTC is actually so out of touch. But nice to understand who's behind crap like Karlov Manor, Thunder junction, crappy new mechanics etc.
You are one of the true rockstars of the MtG community and one of the reasons I think people still have at least some faith (even if it might be bruised) in WotC regarding MtG. Knowing you and others with your same mindset work on the franchise we love. Thank you for everything you do.
We all know that 95% of R & D are three goblins in a trench coat. Hey Gavin, I'm a long time watcher of this channel but haven't really commented a ton. You probably won't see this due to the amount of post from other fans but I would like to say thank you & the crew for continuing to create cards which fuel the hobby. Also, I know you cannot take card suggestions so I am not going to type an example but I'd like to say that I hope you guys will revisit abilities that commanders can have when in the command zone. Stuff like Derevi has which can get around the tax system but maybe a toned down version. Maybe the card checks for certain things to happen & if the conditions are met, you get the choice to put it directly into play from the command zone.
Gavin! I met you at PAX Unplugged and you told me your favorite Final Fantasy was VI. I just played through it for the first time all the way through and it was fantastic!
Thanks for video Gavin! Who can we ask for more information about judges and magic? it's been more than a year since WotC endedn the contract with judge academy and the promise that soon there will be more news on the topic
Because your aren't discouraging giving you feedback only tangentially related to your field of expertise, let me make a request I'm sure a bunch of other people have already given. Please make another set in Bloomburrow, it was so much fun and got me to buy magic cards and really get into it since the mid to late nineties. Cheers for all the great work you do.
this wasn't uploaded in the morning for us midwesterners smh. But, this was a super insightful video! I learned to appreciate more people who work for WoTC, such as the lady who worked on the bloomburrow and duskmourn sets! (my hearings a little bad and i don't want to misspell her name and the close captions called her and sardellis so im trying my best) One of the types of videos that I love watching is office tours, where the physical space is shown off and how the inside works, but also I would understand if it would be difficult to get permission to do something like that. Overall, I love the peek behind the curtains! I really appreciate learning more about the company as it feels more run by humans and less unknown corporate entityish.
thank you for the insight, i really appreciate it even if i have zero intention to be hired, making custom cards and set is fine. thank you for making monastery mentor, it's one of my favourite cards of magic :3
Appreciate the video. Always cool to see a little window into the sausage making process as a game developer of a different type. One thing about feedback is that there seems to be nowhere to give feedback on the business decisions that affect the game and players enjoyment of it. And that's probably by design, but it leads to a lot of people coming to you or Mark or other people at Wizards who don't make those decisions to bear the load of a deeply unpopular business decision. And not just my own personal big gripe (that Universes Beyond coming to Standard sets is going to push me out of playing constructed magic entirely as someone who doesn't want to interact with UB), but stuff like the Secret Lairs switching models from printing based on demand to a scalping paradise or the decision to change from 4 standard sets a year to 5 in 2024 to 6 in 2025 or that there are waaaaayyyyy too many sets being released. Where should we direct that feedback?
I have been brewing a "Hit me" commander for a while. I want to fill it with monarch, initiative, Coveted Jewel. I love the idea of being a treasure goblin that people want to hit. Not Pillow fort. People get to hit me. They just have to make deals first or face my wrath.
I went to my first MagicCon last year and I absolutely agree it os totally worth it to connect with the magic community at large. It be great if we got more events like that in Europe *hint hint*
Was following you from star city forever ago i tried to get in wizards also couldnt swing the relocation at the time had to go a different direction but glad to see your effort paid off and got you where you wanted cograds man keep it up eventually maros gonna retire were gonna need our guy on the jnside
I would really love a documentary style video detailing the process of building a set and commander decks, then releasing it after said set comes out. I think that would be pretty cool, but thanks for all that you already do at WOTC, Gavin.
If you're taking feedback for cards I would absolutely frickin love anything more substantial in Red/White that cares about lands or sacrificing lands in any way. There's so many cards there like Hew the Entwood and Nahiri's Lithoforming but there's no commander in centralised strategy to pull it together without falling back on Green. Please please do whatever you can to make some kind of boros lands commander/strategy and if that was a Nahiri that'd be all the more dope. Love what you do, keep being awesome, you frickin rock
I don't get to travel to events often to have a chance to meet you, but there's one thing I've always wanted to ask for: a Temur commander who cares about drawing 2 cards per turn. I really liked the archetype in Eldraine and thought it would be fun with cards like On the Trail and Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse
Good to know more about how you design and structure the sets/cards. Kind of sad that UB are now in Standard. I wanted to play at my LGS FNM but now I opted out because of it. Pauper looks fun but here where I live there is no LGS community for that format. Pioneer and Modern are also mostly dead here too. And Commander is fully competitive, with a cEDH and a budget cEDH league. Casual is not a thing anymore, just posible at our kitchen table. MTG has two days at our LGS's (one cEDH and one Standard)
I have a question about a potential cycle of cards in Illuminor Szeras and Slobad, Iron Goblin. Seems like this 3 mana 3/3 that can tap and sacrifice something for mana equal to mana value could be a full cycle. Like the blue one could be exile a noncreature spell you control from the stack to get blue mana equal to its mana value. Are these intended as a cycle or just coincidentally similar?
You did raise a good point. Why isn't Goblin King a noble? Or Witch Engine a Phyrexian? Or dogged Detective a Detective? I would really love another Grand Creature Type Update that coverd these "oversights".
I think it's a credit to how great Magic is as a game that people who work on it are so willing to do Magic stuff even outside of their normal job of doing Magic stuff.
Thanks for Sharing Gavin. If you're ever able to get a white 2 drop hatebear for Death and Taxes that'd be great. Thalia and Spirit of the labyrinth sadly have been really power crept out.
i know that mark rosewater is very accessible for questions on his tumblr blog, whats the best place to reach you for magic questions? the comments of your most recent youtube video? bluesky?
Awesome video as always Gavin, love to see the behind the scenes stuff and I'm very curious about the secret future projects you teased that you are working on. Keep up the great work! I sent you an email earlier this week, wondering if received it by any chance and had a chance to read it? -HB
Gavin, I was thinking this week that it would be nice to have a WOTC office tour. I would like to better understand what are the different positions within the company. Better understand the work structure between Vision design, Set design, creative, Play design, etc. What Studio X looks like, etc, etc. I know it may do for a long video and kindo lot of work to do. But, would take a series of 20 videos to cover that. Maybe something to present for the 35th anniversary?
I saw you close to the exit at the end of Magic-con Amsterdam last summer. I wanted to say hi and maybe take a photo but you looked very, very tired. I thought: "Maybe Gavin deserves a bit of space right now" See you next time and don't push yourself too much :)
I don't know how much you can speak to this, maybe it's a question better served for MaRo, but can you speak to the amount of legends in Aetherdrift? I feel like I remember reading something he said where we can expect roughly one set a year going forward that has a lot of legends because of the crossover feel of Omenpaths. Like 2023 had MOM, and last year had legends from all over the multiverse in Outlaws. I feel like because Aetherdrift will feature three planes, we can expect a bigger number of legends than normal to represent each of the three main planes, as well as all the team captains.
As a MTG player, more collector than player, and a big fan of FF I'm hoping you did justice to the FF set coming out. I'm also a big fan of AC, and even though a lot of people didn't like it I do like the AC set but feel that some things was underplayed, missing, or should have been different. I'm sure you get a lot of comments about what others would have done but over all I feel that sense I got back into MTG, start first off in 2006 before taking a break before hearing about MTG again from some co-workers and deciding to get back into it right before Kaladesh was released, that the cards and the play have been fun with the correct group of people. Not all my experience was fun as the hard core competitors wouldn't let the newer and non-competitors really have time before smashing them and running some people off. I'm right now looking for a new group to play with but with my being American living in Japan it is a bit hard to find a group.
Awesome video Gavin! I saw some internships went up today. I was wondering if there going to be any design internships posted or are the ones posted now all the ones going to be out! Thank you for the amazing content ❤
Please give my most sincere thanks to whomever dreampt up the Goose Mother. It started as a meme commander deck, but ive fallen in love with the foul fiend.
Two per set seems reasonable; 4 or 5 once a year for special or certain sets also seems reasonable. I understand we aren’t obligated to buy them all and having more choices is a good thing, but it also made some of us feel daunted by being flooded with so many new cards every few months that we have to keep up with,
Would be rly fun to see some cards go through the 3 design phases for both main sets and for commander decks? Always like to see how cards change and evolve across the 3 phases. Maybe it’s just me being nerdy about game design lol.
Yeah... he knows. It's not his decision though. Not just because he isn't on the "vision" team like Mark Rosewater, but because I don't think even Mark Rosewater has much of a say, when it comes to IP crossovers.
I have a wild idea for a card and was wondering if you might be able to make it for a future unknown event. A card that cares about creatures having duplicates of a keyword ability. Every now and then you find a creature with trample twice due to multiple effects acting on it. It would be cool if a card cared about that and let’s say doubled the damage that trampled over, or tripled if the creature had three instances of trample. For every extra instance of lifelink you can double or triple the amount of life gained. Extra flying means the blocker needs more flying or reach to block it. If you want to be mean, have infect doubled, but probably best to stay away from that. The idea has been mostly for damage based keywords. I was thinking the base card had some way of giving out a few keywords to enable cards to have multiple instances of then. I could also see a creature that gives creatures +1/+1 for each keyword ability they have and they deal double damage if they have an instance of two of the same keyword. This isn’t as cool as the idea above, but seems much simpler to template. Been an idea I’ve been sitting on for a while. You’re pretty good at putting cards together, especially wacky ones.
At some point lifelink was stakable. If you had a creature with lifelink and added an aura that grated it lifelink then it would have kinda double lifelink. They changed the rule so lifelink could not stack anymore. I think the reason was for balance and because the stacking could make lifelink too great. Especially in limited games lifelink tend to slow games and you may want to avoid possibilities of huge lifegain. MaRo somtimes on his blog is ask questions about Trample. Couple weeks ago he noted that Trample is one of the most complex to grasp evergreen keyword for new players. Its flavor resonates less with the mechanic than Flying for example. And in conjunction with other kewords like deathtouch it can get even more complex. Now add double Trample to the equation and lot of players will scratch their head. Pretty sure they thougt about your idea at some point. But, I think it may not be an idea that leads to good gameplay. This is something MaRo answer often. An idea may sounds good on paper, but in reality it does not play weel. A lot of mechanics went to print and WotC will not do them again just because they realised with time that it was not fun/good mechanic. Like Rampage, Bushido, Ante, etc.
In the spirit of giving feedback even though you can't do anything about it, if you would even want to, please bring back blocks. With there being 6 standard sets in a year, dedicating two sets to exploring a plane, or universe beyond magic, allows for so much more depth and more cards to go into a commander deck dedicated to a niche strategy from a specific set. Just wanted to add my name to the list of people advocating for this!!
hey gavin just wanted to say monastery mentor is my favorite card and i put it into my pet narset deck, i was wondering if you guys could maybe look at making more stuff relevant to monks, because ive always dreamt of a monk tribal commander deck but theres not alot of cards to fully support a tribal deck that doesnt rely on populating the board with tokens and force you into this almost spellslinger kind of deck
Well, well, well. If the card "requests" are a thing, i always wanted a pioneer legal card. It would be a card for my red white soldier/tokens decks, i want it to be a sorcery WR: creatures you control gain haste. Create 3 1/1 white soldier tokens. I know it is rather pushed. Maybe cut the haste part. But in general i was surprised how much there is of support cards for tokeny soldier in red/white in Pioneer, and the deck feels 🤏 this much close to being actually good. Just needs couple over-the-top cards.
Thanks for always being accessible as well as open and transparent (as far as NDAs and such allow). Sorry this leads you getting a lot of second-hand aggro when the community is frustrated. My rule of thumb is: If you can easily interact with someone at a company then 90% of the time they're not part of, let alone responsible for, what you're complaining about.
One thing I would like to see is more support from WOTC for the Pauper format. Perhaps once every few years, have a design team work with the PFP to review the meta at that time, then put together a collection of precon decks based around the top decks of the meta. These would help introduce new players to the format at game stores, and experienced players could get their hands on cards they may not be able to get through normal means.
Thank you for the video! I was wondering, if exploratory doesn't work with creature types on cards, at what stage do kindred mechanics get included in a set file?
Ok Gavin real talk: Which cell of Studio X wins the most internal Baseball/Bowling/Trivia/Group activities, there's gotta be some rivlary somewhere in there. No one else is listening, please don't afraid to be frank here. ;-) Thanks for this, I'm into Pauper right now and I'm pretty ok with it for the most part, and Commander is really a question of your table. I will say that I LOVED New Capenna. It's my fave set since...Innistrad? Ravnica? Brothers War? Just the flavour and functionality and everything, the vibe, so thanks to that design team.
Have the magic events improved since last year? As fun as the mystery draft and artists area was the rest of the event was a disaster. The cost is to much as well.
Oh, i have feedback, and i hope it's useful. I'm just a Magic beginner tho, so take it with a grain of salt. I personally wished Magic the Gathering had more creature interaction. There were attempts that either got abandonned quickly or just linger in the background, not being used much in sets at all. Companions in my beloved March of the Machine set for example have been abandonned so thoroughly that one of the Companion creatures got banned rightout just for being a Companion, the otter Lutri. If i wanted "mind control" style effects, that let creatures take over opposing creatures, i have to go deep into sets of the past. Yes, there are omnipresent mechanics like the "Ally" Sub Type, which Gideon, one of my favorite Planeswalkers has an emphasis on in one or two of his variants. "Ally" is a mechanic and sub type which every other set has a few cards for, but it is never really put in the spotlight i feel like. Or i just must've missed it. Then there's vehicles and mounts, Aetherdrift will have new vehicles, maybe even a new way of playing vehicles, and Outlaws of Thunder Junction had mounts. Those interactions are great, and they go into the right direction. But at least until now, all they do is change an Artifact into a Creature (vehicle) or give a Creature the abilities of another Creatures (mount), rendering the creatures that "exploit" the vehicle or mount basically useless for an entire turn. So, my feedback would be: Could you guys try to come up with a way where creatures could exploit and interact with each other's power, thoughness, abilities in a creative way that makes for a unique, new way to play creature decks? I really don't wanna quote him wrong, but i think Brian Kibler said something similar about another TCG recently, a different TCG which seemed to have given up on creature interaction all together. But i'm not gonna make cross advertisement here, good or bad, so i won't mention other TCG's names. A card that kinda got me by surprise recently and is the epitomy of creature interaction, is the card "Alpha Brawl". Alpha Brawl is a red spell that makes one creature an opponent controls fight all other creatures the opponent controls, and then lets those creatures fight the chosen creature. That's hilarious and totally overblown, but it's a bold and thorough creature interaction. That's kinda what i wish for, of course not in such a hilarious overblown way, but something that tries to not keep it too safe with mechanical quirks when making creatures help or hinder each other. Edit: "Trial of Agony" from Duskmourn is another card that forces a wicked kind of creature interaction. Seems like red is the color bold enough to do creature interactions outside of the norm. Thank you for creating one of the best games of all time and keeping it social and keeping it have just enough mass appeal, so people can find each other, can find new people, and escape reality, and enter the planes of Magic the Gathering for a few hours, feeling like wizards, villains and heroes in fantastic worlds.
This was such a fun summary of all the cool things that you do. Thank you for sharing! Gavin❤
Thanks for watching Zbexx!!
Appreciate all you do Gavin
Thanks man
Hey Gavin, on the subject of those sets and decks you are excited about but can't talk about yet - a lot of the game design stories and such that makes it to the community are mostly after-the-fact (for obvious reasons). Have you considered filming a "day at work" kind of video (perhaps you coming up with card designs, or explaining your thoughts on rebalancing/cutting cards?) And then just waiting for the set to release before showing the video? It would definitely give an insight into the process I (and probably others) have never seen before, and I think it could be really interesting!
While many of us would love that, there are potential issues.
The video could accidentally record other stuff that was not meant to be show. It could also get stolen, hacked, leaked, etc, and reveal things that shouldn't be revealed.
If they can do it with no issues, then PLEASE, YES, DO IT.
Really hope they don't burn you at both ends over there. You do so much and your love for the game and community really shines through. Hope you don't overwork yourself either. If there'll be another magic con in europe I hope to bump in to you and thank you in person. Happy for all of us that you are precisely where you belong ❤
Happy to hear you lead the design for Final Fantasy! It must have been a huge responsibility to bring to life such an iconic franchise into the world of Magic the Gathering. I'm so hyped ever since seeing the spoiler art, I can't wait to see what that Yuna and Tidus card is going to do. I hope it is a huge success!
YOU ARE THE (*MAGICal) MAN Mr.Verhey! Thanks for all you do, ALL you design and have input in, and ALL you do in the community, for this game, and ultimately for those also out there that love this game!!
YOU ARE A BIG PART of what makes this game so successful and FUN, and hope your humble nature, fun personality, and ingenious mind NEVER CHANGES!
May you Live Long, And Prosper (yes, a different IP I realize..... but it was fitting and true!)
The crumbling of the rules committee was a disasters for Commander. That said, if anyone at WotC was going to take over the format, I’m glad it was you Gavin. There’s a deficit of trust right now in Magic with the push for Universes Beyond, the increase in cost of playing the game, and old players still stinging from some crazy decisions by the company (looking at you Magic 30 and damage to Modern), but your love of the game and openness lets me know that there’s still a lot of people working there that love the game. Thanks for keeping up the good work.
Agree with that, though slightly concerning how we haven't had an update in the new year. Lack of effective communication was what messed up the previous RC, and Gavin's strength in that area is much of what makes him a good choice.
I hope one day Gavin will be able to address and work hand in hand with every part of MTG. He’s always been a voice for the community and will continue to do everything in his power to make this game enjoyable for years to come!! I especially hope he’ll have more direction in what sets are created and released because 1/2 of magic being universes beyond SUCKSSSS!!! Magic has so much amazing lore that I hope we continue to push it and not more cards that aren’t “magic centered”
Thanks for all the amazing things you do! I love how connected you are with the community, even to the point where when I was just starting out on content creation and I had no following on any social media whatsoever you still made the time for me, that's something only people who truly love what they do...do! And I think everyone in the community is grateful for you and what you do ❤
I would like to see more Land destruction support and Parity breakers (mass land recursion, indestructible land enablers) printed. Im very for this strategy when its played in the cycle of *setup>Parity breaker>MLD as a finisher*
Im aware of social stigma but i think MLD effects that reward or require parity breaking could work
5:45 so after hearing & seeing what you do in terms of Commander product design, Prof is absolutely right when he ribs you every time a Battlebond Land is played & he gripes about their exclusion from Commander precons. 😂
I don't know you at all to rib you in a similar fashion, so I'll say something else: Thank you Gavin for all your hard work! It has made & will continue to make Magic such a fun game for me & my friends at my LGS to play! (And maybe we'll see BBD Lands in a precon soon!)
Good evening, Gavin
Good morning, notSoAverageGuineaPigEnjoyer!
7:55 I know you are a big fan of Commander and Pauper but have you tried Pauper Commander. It's such a cool format!
Thank you for all your community work. You were so kind to answer all my son’s questions about card design. It’s been really fun getting him into magic and we’ve been playing with the beginner box a ton.
Wow, that's cool to know, that every commander precon is the baby of one person dedicating their vision, work and game passion to it.
Any more details on Brackets? Will we get any info about them in the next 6 months?
As I mention in the video, you can expect to hear more on Commander in the not too distant future. Thanks for your patience! :)
@@GoodMorningMagic Thanks for the reply. I am actually really hopeful for the Bracket system. I think that people joke around with the current 1-10 power level system because it has no strict structure for what makes a 6 a 6, a 7 a 7, an 8 an 8, etc... but by you all making a clearly defined list of cards that are higher or lesser tiers than others gives that system the context that the current one lacks. Best of luck in the creation of the system and don't let all the controversy you read online after its announcement make you lose any sleep.
Love your efforts Gavin. Thanks for the continued engagement.
So glad there are people like you at Wizards, Gavin. Thanks for all you do and taking the time to share it with us. I know I appreciate it and I cant be alone in that.
Gavin, thank you for explaining your role in the amazing world of Magic, and I know that it's not your area (I think it is marketing or packaging) but I would love to see a "credits" card in each set stating who worked on the set, maybe on the back of a token. You all do amazing work and I think that there should be some kind of way for you to be acknowledged
This is why we adore you so much Gavin! Your honesty and passion are appreciated to no end! While we’re on the topic of legendary creature / pre con ideas is there any possibility of a Sultai enchantress that gets value and power out of enchanting opponents stuff? Maybe buffs or evasion. The deck could have fun not very well known cards in EDH like Public Enemy, Vanishing, Season of the Witch, Enigmatic Incarnation, Eutropia, Twice Favored, Fumble, Auta Graft, Steal Enchantment and Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief. Would be so flavorful to be like the classic witch archetype, always giving out shiny apples that are full of poison
I appreciate you explaining all of the things you do at Wizards. It is quite overwhelming. Thank you for the video Gavin.
Hey Gavin, thanks for all of your hard work, we can truly see that you do it with love for the game and the community even when there are moment where things are out of your reach or scope. The only thing I and most Europe feels is the let down of not having a Magic Con in 2025 after two amazing Magic Cons in Barcelona and Amsterdam. I have enjoyed very much your unknown events and I still keep all the play test cards I got in my collection binder. Nothing else to say then, You Got This!
Thank you Gavin for your work and the content you share!!
7:43 you could make a video in a year saying “this is the set I was talking about about”
Thanks for all of your hard work Gavin. You are a wonderful person 🙂
What a video! So nice to get a glimpse behind the curtain...loved the parts where you mentioned contact & caring about the community when it's clear that WoTC is actually so out of touch. But nice to understand who's behind crap like Karlov Manor, Thunder junction, crappy new mechanics etc.
Thanks Gavin can't wait to here more info on the upcoming final fantasy set. It's the most excited I've been for MTG in a decade
Great video :) Always wondered how such a work looks like. Keep doing as you do Gavin...you got this :)
You are one of the true rockstars of the MtG community and one of the reasons I think people still have at least some faith (even if it might be bruised) in WotC regarding MtG. Knowing you and others with your same mindset work on the franchise we love. Thank you for everything you do.
We all know that 95% of R & D are three goblins in a trench coat.
Hey Gavin, I'm a long time watcher of this channel but haven't really commented a ton. You probably won't see this due to the amount of post from other fans but I would like to say thank you & the crew for continuing to create cards which fuel the hobby. Also, I know you cannot take card suggestions so I am not going to type an example but I'd like to say that I hope you guys will revisit abilities that commanders can have when in the command zone. Stuff like Derevi has which can get around the tax system but maybe a toned down version. Maybe the card checks for certain things to happen & if the conditions are met, you get the choice to put it directly into play from the command zone.
Thanks for the comment. I read it :)
Good morning! Nothing but the best for you Gavin
Gavin! I met you at PAX Unplugged and you told me your favorite Final Fantasy was VI. I just played through it for the first time all the way through and it was fantastic!
So glad you enjoyed it!! An incredible game ❤️
Thanks Gavin for the transparency
Thanks for video Gavin! Who can we ask for more information about judges and magic? it's been more than a year since WotC endedn the contract with judge academy and the promise that soon there will be more news on the topic
Love the Office Space reference in the title
Thanks for the video about this Gavin! Would love to talk your ear off about Pauper 😂
It's a great format and I love it! :D
Because your aren't discouraging giving you feedback only tangentially related to your field of expertise, let me make a request I'm sure a bunch of other people have already given. Please make another set in Bloomburrow, it was so much fun and got me to buy magic cards and really get into it since the mid to late nineties. Cheers for all the great work you do.
How does your approach to playing a game differ when you're testing a set vs when you're playing for fun? How does your drafting differ?
this wasn't uploaded in the morning for us midwesterners smh. But, this was a super insightful video! I learned to appreciate more people who work for WoTC, such as the lady who worked on the bloomburrow and duskmourn sets! (my hearings a little bad and i don't want to misspell her name and the close captions called her and sardellis so im trying my best) One of the types of videos that I love watching is office tours, where the physical space is shown off and how the inside works, but also I would understand if it would be difficult to get permission to do something like that. Overall, I love the peek behind the curtains! I really appreciate learning more about the company as it feels more run by humans and less unknown corporate entityish.
Also Yay I made the video at 9:10 which was the Card Design panel in Amsterdam which was like a fun scavenger hunt to find :D :D :D
It's funny that you mention the goblin king thing on the same (published) day that Shivam and Wheeler did in their podcast ep
thank you for the insight, i really appreciate it even if i have zero intention to be hired, making custom cards and set is fine.
thank you for making monastery mentor, it's one of my favourite cards of magic :3
Appreciate the video. Always cool to see a little window into the sausage making process as a game developer of a different type.
One thing about feedback is that there seems to be nowhere to give feedback on the business decisions that affect the game and players enjoyment of it. And that's probably by design, but it leads to a lot of people coming to you or Mark or other people at Wizards who don't make those decisions to bear the load of a deeply unpopular business decision.
And not just my own personal big gripe (that Universes Beyond coming to Standard sets is going to push me out of playing constructed magic entirely as someone who doesn't want to interact with UB), but stuff like the Secret Lairs switching models from printing based on demand to a scalping paradise or the decision to change from 4 standard sets a year to 5 in 2024 to 6 in 2025 or that there are waaaaayyyyy too many sets being released.
Where should we direct that feedback?
I have been brewing a "Hit me" commander for a while. I want to fill it with monarch, initiative, Coveted Jewel. I love the idea of being a treasure goblin that people want to hit. Not Pillow fort. People get to hit me. They just have to make deals first or face my wrath.
Second comment since it is in the area of something you address: I am humbly requesting a Krosan Verge for the other 9 color pairs.
Hmmm... Something to think about!
Love u Gavin! U do a lot for wizards like us ! 😅 keep up the amazing work
I went to my first MagicCon last year and I absolutely agree it os totally worth it to connect with the magic community at large. It be great if we got more events like that in Europe *hint hint*
Was following you from star city forever ago i tried to get in wizards also couldnt swing the relocation at the time had to go a different direction but glad to see your effort paid off and got you where you wanted cograds man keep it up eventually maros gonna retire were gonna need our guy on the jnside
I would really love a documentary style video detailing the process of building a set and commander decks, then releasing it after said set comes out.
I think that would be pretty cool, but thanks for all that you already do at WOTC, Gavin.
Gavin, as a pauper player and Final Fantasy fan, you have no idea of how high my expectations are for this set.
If you're taking feedback for cards I would absolutely frickin love anything more substantial in Red/White that cares about lands or sacrificing lands in any way. There's so many cards there like Hew the Entwood and Nahiri's Lithoforming but there's no commander in centralised strategy to pull it together without falling back on Green. Please please do whatever you can to make some kind of boros lands commander/strategy and if that was a Nahiri that'd be all the more dope. Love what you do, keep being awesome, you frickin rock
Thanks Gavin! And thanks for that Eldrazi deck in MH3. :)
I don't get to travel to events often to have a chance to meet you, but there's one thing I've always wanted to ask for: a Temur commander who cares about drawing 2 cards per turn. I really liked the archetype in Eldraine and thought it would be fun with cards like On the Trail and Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse
remember some people at wizards apparently spent *''many many years''* on creating murders at karlov manor.
It was nice to see this, great lil vid. Also.. please don’t let things become Yugio driving a hot wheels car, chasing a pokemon 👋
Good to know more about how you design and structure the sets/cards.
Kind of sad that UB are now in Standard. I wanted to play at my LGS FNM but now I opted out because of it. Pauper looks fun but here where I live there is no LGS community for that format. Pioneer and Modern are also mostly dead here too. And Commander is fully competitive, with a cEDH and a budget cEDH league. Casual is not a thing anymore, just posible at our kitchen table. MTG has two days at our LGS's (one cEDH and one Standard)
I have a question about a potential cycle of cards in Illuminor Szeras and Slobad, Iron Goblin. Seems like this 3 mana 3/3 that can tap and sacrifice something for mana equal to mana value could be a full cycle. Like the blue one could be exile a noncreature spell you control from the stack to get blue mana equal to its mana value. Are these intended as a cycle or just coincidentally similar?
You did raise a good point. Why isn't Goblin King a noble? Or Witch Engine a Phyrexian? Or dogged Detective a Detective?
I would really love another Grand Creature Type Update that coverd these "oversights".
Bigger question is why isn't Dogged Detective a dog, you know
@@GoodMorningMagicOlivia Voldaren continues to not be a vampire noble as of Innistrad Remastered
I am also wondering why Witch Engine isn't a Phyrexian, I have brought it up to multiple wizards employees and am still waiting.
My current biggest "why isn't goblin king a noble" is "why is the token from The Sea Devils an alien". They're earth natives!
Thanks for all you do!
I think it's a credit to how great Magic is as a game that people who work on it are so willing to do Magic stuff even outside of their normal job of doing Magic stuff.
Thanks for Sharing Gavin. If you're ever able to get a white 2 drop hatebear for Death and Taxes that'd be great. Thalia and Spirit of the labyrinth sadly have been really power crept out.
That was really interesting, Gavin 😊
BUT I am still waiting for my platypus creature type 🧐
#wherearemymtgplatypusses
i know that mark rosewater is very accessible for questions on his tumblr blog, whats the best place to reach you for magic questions? the comments of your most recent youtube video? bluesky?
Here, bluesky, instagram - if it's social media, I'm probably on it :)
Awesome video as always Gavin, love to see the behind the scenes stuff and I'm very curious about the secret future projects you teased that you are working on. Keep up the great work!
I sent you an email earlier this week, wondering if received it by any chance and had a chance to read it?
-HB
Gavin, I was thinking this week that it would be nice to have a WOTC office tour. I would like to better understand what are the different positions within the company. Better understand the work structure between Vision design, Set design, creative, Play design, etc. What Studio X looks like, etc, etc. I know it may do for a long video and kindo lot of work to do. But, would take a series of 20 videos to cover that. Maybe something to present for the 35th anniversary?
I saw you close to the exit at the end of Magic-con Amsterdam last summer. I wanted to say hi and maybe take a photo but you looked very, very tired. I thought: "Maybe Gavin deserves a bit of space right now"
See you next time and don't push yourself too much :)
Was that a secret ff mtg art reveal?
Hey Gavin, I'd like to see a Ruby Sunday (Doctor Who) card one day
How do you even land a job at wizards? I’m curious
I have an old video about it but it's probably time for an updated one: th-cam.com/video/qQ_2JOFFvFo/w-d-xo.html
@ lol yes I felt attacked by the beard 😂
@@danielcohenmunwes A real blast from the past there!
Cool video! Can you share more about what Cedric's role will be at Wizards and how that fits into the teams/roles you described in this video?
I don't know how much you can speak to this, maybe it's a question better served for MaRo, but can you speak to the amount of legends in Aetherdrift?
I feel like I remember reading something he said where we can expect roughly one set a year going forward that has a lot of legends because of the crossover feel of Omenpaths. Like 2023 had MOM, and last year had legends from all over the multiverse in Outlaws. I feel like because Aetherdrift will feature three planes, we can expect a bigger number of legends than normal to represent each of the three main planes, as well as all the team captains.
As a MTG player, more collector than player, and a big fan of FF I'm hoping you did justice to the FF set coming out. I'm also a big fan of AC, and even though a lot of people didn't like it I do like the AC set but feel that some things was underplayed, missing, or should have been different. I'm sure you get a lot of comments about what others would have done but over all I feel that sense I got back into MTG, start first off in 2006 before taking a break before hearing about MTG again from some co-workers and deciding to get back into it right before Kaladesh was released, that the cards and the play have been fun with the correct group of people. Not all my experience was fun as the hard core competitors wouldn't let the newer and non-competitors really have time before smashing them and running some people off. I'm right now looking for a new group to play with but with my being American living in Japan it is a bit hard to find a group.
Awesome video Gavin! I saw some internships went up today. I was wondering if there going to be any design internships posted or are the ones posted now all the ones going to be out! Thank you for the amazing content ❤
Please give my most sincere thanks to whomever dreampt up the Goose Mother. It started as a meme commander deck, but ive fallen in love with the foul fiend.
thanks Gavin! probably doesn't need saying back but, you got this!
Two per set seems reasonable; 4 or 5 once a year for special or certain sets also seems reasonable. I understand we aren’t obligated to buy them all and having more choices is a good thing, but it also made some of us feel daunted by being flooded with so many new cards every few months that we have to keep up with,
Would be rly fun to see some cards go through the 3 design phases for both main sets and for commander decks? Always like to see how cards change and evolve across the 3 phases. Maybe it’s just me being nerdy about game design lol.
If you want some feedback, I recommend dialing back the worlds beyond stuff.
Having that stuff in standard is going to be really frustrating.
Yeah... he knows. It's not his decision though. Not just because he isn't on the "vision" team like Mark Rosewater, but because I don't think even Mark Rosewater has much of a say, when it comes to IP crossovers.
Suggestion: banners and similar promotional materials given to WON stores can be random participatory prizes for commander nights.
I have a wild idea for a card and was wondering if you might be able to make it for a future unknown event. A card that cares about creatures having duplicates of a keyword ability. Every now and then you find a creature with trample twice due to multiple effects acting on it. It would be cool if a card cared about that and let’s say doubled the damage that trampled over, or tripled if the creature had three instances of trample. For every extra instance of lifelink you can double or triple the amount of life gained. Extra flying means the blocker needs more flying or reach to block it. If you want to be mean, have infect doubled, but probably best to stay away from that. The idea has been mostly for damage based keywords. I was thinking the base card had some way of giving out a few keywords to enable cards to have multiple instances of then. I could also see a creature that gives creatures +1/+1 for each keyword ability they have and they deal double damage if they have an instance of two of the same keyword. This isn’t as cool as the idea above, but seems much simpler to template. Been an idea I’ve been sitting on for a while. You’re pretty good at putting cards together, especially wacky ones.
At some point lifelink was stakable. If you had a creature with lifelink and added an aura that grated it lifelink then it would have kinda double lifelink. They changed the rule so lifelink could not stack anymore. I think the reason was for balance and because the stacking could make lifelink too great. Especially in limited games lifelink tend to slow games and you may want to avoid possibilities of huge lifegain.
MaRo somtimes on his blog is ask questions about Trample. Couple weeks ago he noted that Trample is one of the most complex to grasp evergreen keyword for new players. Its flavor resonates less with the mechanic than Flying for example. And in conjunction with other kewords like deathtouch it can get even more complex. Now add double Trample to the equation and lot of players will scratch their head.
Pretty sure they thougt about your idea at some point. But, I think it may not be an idea that leads to good gameplay. This is something MaRo answer often. An idea may sounds good on paper, but in reality it does not play weel. A lot of mechanics went to print and WotC will not do them again just because they realised with time that it was not fun/good mechanic. Like Rampage, Bushido, Ante, etc.
In the spirit of giving feedback even though you can't do anything about it, if you would even want to, please bring back blocks. With there being 6 standard sets in a year, dedicating two sets to exploring a plane, or universe beyond magic, allows for so much more depth and more cards to go into a commander deck dedicated to a niche strategy from a specific set. Just wanted to add my name to the list of people advocating for this!!
So then who do I blame that we still have the reserved list?😂😂😂
hey gavin just wanted to say monastery mentor is my favorite card and i put it into my pet narset deck, i was wondering if you guys could maybe look at making more stuff relevant to monks, because ive always dreamt of a monk tribal commander deck but theres not alot of cards to fully support a tribal deck that doesnt rely on populating the board with tokens and force you into this almost spellslinger kind of deck
It would be pretty fun to see a Pauper Masters set with a bunch of cards upshifted in rarity.
Is that a talk you have at family gatherings(pun intended)?
Well, well, well. If the card "requests" are a thing, i always wanted a pioneer legal card. It would be a card for my red white soldier/tokens decks, i want it to be a sorcery WR: creatures you control gain haste.
Create 3 1/1 white soldier tokens.
I know it is rather pushed. Maybe cut the haste part.
But in general i was surprised how much there is of support cards for tokeny soldier in red/white in Pioneer, and the deck feels 🤏 this much close to being actually good. Just needs couple over-the-top cards.
Thanks for always being accessible as well as open and transparent (as far as NDAs and such allow). Sorry this leads you getting a lot of second-hand aggro when the community is frustrated.
My rule of thumb is: If you can easily interact with someone at a company then 90% of the time they're not part of, let alone responsible for, what you're complaining about.
Thanks Gavin!
By the way, what do you think about a video about whats on your shelf and wall there!?
One thing I would like to see is more support from WOTC for the Pauper format. Perhaps once every few years, have a design team work with the PFP to review the meta at that time, then put together a collection of precon decks based around the top decks of the meta. These would help introduce new players to the format at game stores, and experienced players could get their hands on cards they may not be able to get through normal means.
Thank you for the video! I was wondering, if exploratory doesn't work with creature types on cards, at what stage do kindred mechanics get included in a set file?
Ok Gavin real talk: Which cell of Studio X wins the most internal Baseball/Bowling/Trivia/Group activities, there's gotta be some rivlary somewhere in there. No one else is listening, please don't afraid to be frank here. ;-)
Thanks for this, I'm into Pauper right now and I'm pretty ok with it for the most part, and Commander is really a question of your table. I will say that I LOVED New Capenna. It's my fave set since...Innistrad? Ravnica? Brothers War? Just the flavour and functionality and everything, the vibe, so thanks to that design team.
Will there be a MagicCon or something alike in Europe this year, like last year in Amsterdam?
Have the magic events improved since last year? As fun as the mystery draft and artists area was the rest of the event was a disaster. The cost is to much as well.
Aetherdrift drift Commander Hints video? More Assembly workers?
i, as well, can't wait for the FF set :3
Hello Gavin. I've asked Mark after Kaladesh, and i still don't know: Why the vehicles don't have their P/T on the left side of the card?
Oh, i have feedback, and i hope it's useful. I'm just a Magic beginner tho, so take it with a grain of salt.
I personally wished Magic the Gathering had more creature interaction. There were attempts that either got abandonned quickly or just linger in the background, not being used much in sets at all. Companions in my beloved March of the Machine set for example have been abandonned so thoroughly that one of the Companion creatures got banned rightout just for being a Companion, the otter Lutri. If i wanted "mind control" style effects, that let creatures take over opposing creatures, i have to go deep into sets of the past. Yes, there are omnipresent mechanics like the "Ally" Sub Type, which Gideon, one of my favorite Planeswalkers has an emphasis on in one or two of his variants. "Ally" is a mechanic and sub type which every other set has a few cards for, but it is never really put in the spotlight i feel like. Or i just must've missed it. Then there's vehicles and mounts, Aetherdrift will have new vehicles, maybe even a new way of playing vehicles, and Outlaws of Thunder Junction had mounts. Those interactions are great, and they go into the right direction. But at least until now, all they do is change an Artifact into a Creature (vehicle) or give a Creature the abilities of another Creatures (mount), rendering the creatures that "exploit" the vehicle or mount basically useless for an entire turn.
So, my feedback would be: Could you guys try to come up with a way where creatures could exploit and interact with each other's power, thoughness, abilities in a creative way that makes for a unique, new way to play creature decks? I really don't wanna quote him wrong, but i think Brian Kibler said something similar about another TCG recently, a different TCG which seemed to have given up on creature interaction all together. But i'm not gonna make cross advertisement here, good or bad, so i won't mention other TCG's names.
A card that kinda got me by surprise recently and is the epitomy of creature interaction, is the card "Alpha Brawl". Alpha Brawl is a red spell that makes one creature an opponent controls fight all other creatures the opponent controls, and then lets those creatures fight the chosen creature. That's hilarious and totally overblown, but it's a bold and thorough creature interaction. That's kinda what i wish for, of course not in such a hilarious overblown way, but something that tries to not keep it too safe with mechanical quirks when making creatures help or hinder each other.
Edit: "Trial of Agony" from Duskmourn is another card that forces a wicked kind of creature interaction. Seems like red is the color bold enough to do creature interactions outside of the norm.
Thank you for creating one of the best games of all time and keeping it social and keeping it have just enough mass appeal, so people can find each other, can find new people, and escape reality, and enter the planes of Magic the Gathering for a few hours, feeling like wizards, villains and heroes in fantastic worlds.
Gavin! What's happening? Now, did you get the memo about your TPS reports?
This makes me curious how many games you guys play at work and what the testing process is like.
I think we should make magic cards Dorito resistant.