This is part one of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.

#650: War of the Spark Cards, Part 1

Join Magic: The Gathering Head Designer Mark Rosewater as he shares stories, insights, and more while driving to work. Listen and learn more about how Magic is made!

Games

Leisure

A/B mechanics are mechanics that require a separate subset of cards to work (such as madness requiring cards that make you discard). In this episode, I talk about how we design A/B mechanics, the challenges of making them, and the history of some famous A/B mechanics.

#1130: A/B Mechanics

Back in 2018, we ran the Great Designer Search 3 (GDS3). Part of that event was a multiple-choice test many contestants took to qualify for the next part of the qualification. One question from that test, question number 28, proved to be controversial. The topic recently returned to social media, so I decided to record a podcast about it. I talk about the history of the GDSs, the reasons why there's a multiple-choice test, and get into the specifics of question 28.

#1129: The Question

In this podcast, I sit down with Outlaws of Thunder Junction Lead Play Designer Jadine Klomparens to talk about the play design of the set.

#1128: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Play Design with Jadine Klomparens

In this podcast, I talk about a concept I learned from my days in Hollywood and how I apply it to Magic design.

#1127: Same But Different

In this podcast, I sit down with Dave Humpherys, set design lead for Outlaws of Thunder Junction, to talk about the set design of the latest expansion.

#650: War of the Spark Cards, Part 1

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