Blogatog

I just wanted to reach out and say that I really like the diversity of creature types in the new set. It fits the setting really well and the Federation mechanic is both a flavour slam dunk and wanting to have as many creature types as possible is a really cool spin on a “typal” mechanic. High fives to all involved!

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:50:26 -0400

High fives to be delivered.

Is “Curse of the Fire Penguin” still in color for red? Was it ever?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:24:46 -0400

I think if we made it for the first time today, it would first be green, second be red.

Could a a BG card copy an opponents creature? As a bend perhaps? Thank you for answering.

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:39:47 -0400

Highly unlikely.

Was there any consideration for “facing a dilemma” to include voting?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:38:53 -0400

No, limiting it to modes was so clean.

A week or two ago you got an ask about brushwaggs, asking if brushwaggs were always going to be the butt of the joke when you need the anti-changeling tech used in Embiggen and the new aquarium playtest card. Worth pointing out that the new Federation mechanic from Star Trek uses non-Borg for that instead of non-Brushwagg!

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:33:19 -0400

I am well aware, as I was when I answered the question. : )

A new Lich-style card was spoiled today. I believe every “You can’t lose the game” and “You don’t lose the game for having 0 or less life” effect so far has been white or black (or colorless). Is this an effect that is only in the white and black slices of the color pie? Or could any color theoretically get it if there was a color-relevant downside?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:32:26 -0400

Theoretically, sure, but it would need to really support why it's in that color.

If/when: non-Shapeshifter creature with Changeling

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:36:09 -0400

If. It’s finding flavor that makes sense.

Was there ever a consideration to add the Star Trek series to cards like you did with Final Fantasy?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:35:01 -0400

EDIT: Tumblr being ornery. The question I answered are what are my favorite characters from each Star Trek shows.

Of the four shows I watched:

Scotty

Data

Dax

The Doctor

Would you consider a Universes Beyond set using a nonfiction IP? Ever since UB was first announced I have yearned for Universes Beyond: The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:33:43 -0400

The rights to nonfiction things are a bit thornier.

Graveyard order mattering is one of those things that technically affects every game in old enough formats, even if nobody is playing cards that care about it: you cannot know what your opponent is playing. Could the relevant cards receive errata to eliminate it from the game? (I’m aware this kind of functional errata is extremely rare, but so is a mechanic that affects games where it isn’t played.)

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:29:58 -0400

Many of those cards really depend on graveyard order, so they would be hard to errata.

For UB sets is there a general time where something that’s come out in the source material is too recent to reference? Like could a marvel set reference a comic from last year?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:28:36 -0400

We design years ahead, so we can’t get too recent without help from the company we’re working with, and even then, there are time restrictions. We lock down 6-9 months ahead of release.

Have you ever met someone who worked on Doom or Doom II?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:26:37 -0400

Not that I am aware of.

What would you say the likelihood is of releasing another D&D MTG set based on one of the other settings? I for one would love a Planescape set or a Ravenloft set

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:26:03 -0400

Both brands being at Wizards doesn’t hurt the chances. : )

Idk if you take pre-emptive feedback, but I genuinely hate the fact that there are more than 20 new creature types in Star Trek. All it does is dilute the pool of creature types, make UB even more disconnected from Magic, and make the cards less playable. Nobody is ever going to play Cardassian tribal, I would have much prefered if they were all put together as Alien.

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:25:17 -0400

There’s a mechanic in the set, called Federation, that rewards you for having a high number of unique creature types, so there’s a mechanical reason for wanting more unique types.

What would you say has been your favorite “booster fun” treatment?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:21:54 -0400

Probably the comic book Sagas.

Why has black been getting the “3 MV or less” restriction lately?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:21:20 -0400

We’re just doing a little less -N/-N effects which filled a similar void.

Hi Mark, can you please provide high fives to the Star Trek team? Previews have been incredible so far and I’m having a blast. Thanks!

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:20:39 -0400

Will do.

just finished listening to one of your older podcasts about keywords spread across the color pie. You talked about primary/secondary/tertiary, which is terminology that’s still being used, but you also mentioned quaternary and quinary, which I never heard of before. Are those terms still being used today or have they become deprecated?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:20:25 -0400

We don’t use those terms. It was more me trying to explaining some concepts.

For whoever asked about flavor words, y'all’ve already done it in both directions: Shadowspear (THB) -> Totec’s Spear (SLD 1505) adds flavor words. Black Market Connections (CLB -> LCC) removes them. (As do all the Street Fighter SLD cards for their SLX counterparts.)

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 02:13:48 -0400

FYI

Hi Mark! Is this possible to get new commander decks that are not tied to a certain set (like Doctor Who or Warhammer 40k)?

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 02:13:28 -0400

We just put out a series of monocolor decks that are labeled Foundations, but are pretty loosely connected to that set.

We aren’t currently doing new Universes Beyond Commander decks not tied to a booster release.