Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast
1,229 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★★ - 657 ratingsJoin 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!
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Episodes
#1128: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Play Design with Jadine Klomparens
April 12, 2024 14:30 - 29 minutes - 27 MBIn this podcast, I sit down with Outlaws of Thunder Junction Lead Play Designer Jadine Klomparens to talk about the play design of the set.
#1127: Same But Different
April 12, 2024 14:29 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBIn this podcast, I talk about a concept I learned from my days in Hollywood and how I apply it to Magic design.
#1126: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Set Design with Dave Humpherys
April 05, 2024 14:30 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBIn 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.
#1125: Mercenaries
April 05, 2024 14:29 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBIn honor of Outlaws of Thunder Junction, I did a card-by-card design podcast on cards with creature type Mercenary.
#1124: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Vision Design
March 29, 2024 14:30 - 30 minutes - 28.4 MBIn this podcast, I talk about the early design of Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
#1123: Every Set
March 29, 2024 14:29 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBBefore I get into Outlaws of Thunder Junction, I see if I can name every non-core expansion set in order with a bit of trivia about each one.
#1122: Top 20 Evergreen Mechanics, Part 2
March 22, 2024 14:30 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBDuring my MagicCon: Chicago talk where I listed my top 20 mechanics of all time, I also showed a slide for my top 20 evergreen mechanics and said that one day, I'd do a podcast on it. Today is that day. This is part two of two.
#1121: Top 20 Evergreen Mechanics, Part 1
March 22, 2024 14:29 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBDuring my MagicCon: Chicago talk where I listed my top 20 mechanics of all time, I also showed a slide for my top 20 evergreen mechanics and said that one day, I'd do a podcast on it. Today is that day. This is part one of two.
#1120: The Early Days of Magic
March 15, 2024 14:30 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBIn this podcast, I explain what it was like to play Magic in 1993.
#1119: The Elephant in Boots Problem
March 15, 2024 14:29 - 36 minutes - 25.3 MBIn this podcast, I share what Magic R&D refers to as the "elephant in boots" problems and how we work to solve it.
#1118: Top 20 Mechanics, Part 3
March 08, 2024 15:30 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBThis is my third podcast in a three-part series talking about the 20 best non-evergreen mechanics of all time. It's based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago.
#1117: Top 20 Mechanics, Part 2
March 08, 2024 15:29 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MBThis is the second of a three-part series talking about the 20 best non-evergreen mechanics of all time. It's based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago.
#1116: Top 20 Mechanics, Part 1
March 01, 2024 15:30 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBRecently at MagicCon: Chicago, I did a talk called "The 20 Best Mechanics of All Time," which you can watch here. This podcast covers part one of that talk.
#1115: MagicCon: Chicago
March 01, 2024 15:29 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MBIn this podcast, I talk about my time at last weekend's MagicCon: Chicago.
#1114: Playtesting in 2024
February 23, 2024 15:30 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBTen years ago, I released a podcast on playtesting, but a lot has changed. In this podcast, I look at how we playtest today.
#1113: Synergy
February 23, 2024 15:29 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBIn this podcast, I talk about the importance of synergy in Magic design.
#1112: Perfectionism
February 16, 2024 15:30 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MBWe spend a long time designing sets, constantly improving on every aspect possible. But how and when do we decide to step away? In this podcast, I explore the subject of perfectionism.
#1111: Puzzle Design
February 16, 2024 15:29 - 34 minutes - 31.4 MBIn this podcast, I talk about the basics of designing puzzles.
#1110: Early Advertising
February 09, 2024 15:30 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBIn this podcast, I look back at the advertising of the first ten years of Magic.
#1109: Murders at Karlov Manor Set Design with Andrew Brown
February 09, 2024 15:29 - 32 minutes - 29.5 MBIn this podcast, I sit down with Andrew Brown, co-lead set designer on Murders at Karlov Manor, to talk about the making of the set.
#1108: Erik Lauer
February 02, 2024 15:30 - 31 minutes - 29.2 MBIn this podcast, I pay tribute to longtime Magic designer Erik Lauer who recently retired.
#1107: Murders at Karlov Manor Puzzles with Mark Gottlieb
February 02, 2024 15:29 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBIn this podcast, I sit down with designer and puzzle-builder extraordinaire Mark Gottlieb to talk about the making of the puzzles for Murders at Karlov Manor.
#1106: Murders at Karlov Manor Design
January 26, 2024 15:30 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MBIn this podcast, I tell the design story of Murders at Karlov Manor.
#1105: History of Learn to Play
January 26, 2024 15:29 - 32 minutes - 30 MBIn this podcast, I talk about many of the products we've introduced to help teach people how to play and walk through how our philosophy about it has changed over time.
#1104: Strictly Better
January 19, 2024 15:30 - 34 minutes - 31.2 MBIn this podcast, I define the R&D expression "strictly better," discuss its history, and talk about why it's a thing we have to care about.
#1103: Making Things with Jess Dunks
January 19, 2024 15:29 - 31 minutes - 29 MBIn this podcasts, I talk with Rules Manager Jess Dunks about how we go about making mechanics work that do things we've never done before.
#1102: Play Design Changes with Ben Weitz
January 12, 2024 15:30 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBI talk a lot about all the changes cards go through early in design. In this podcast, I interview Play Designer Ben Weitz to talk about the types of changes the Play Design team makes to cards late in the process.
#1101: Designing Universes Beyond
January 12, 2024 15:29 - 33 minutes - 23 MBIn this podcast, I go through the process from start to finish of designing a Universes Beyond set.
#1100: Designing to Art
January 05, 2024 15:30 - 33 minutes - 23.1 MBMost of the time, we create the card design before we commission the art, but not always. In this podcast, I walk through when art comes before design and when we have to design to the art.
#1099: The Dark
January 05, 2024 15:29 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MBIn this podcast, I talk all about Magic's fourth expansion.
#1098: Mana Cost
December 22, 2023 15:30 - 39 minutes - 27.1 MBThis podcast is dedicated to mana cost. I talk about its history as well as the design space it offers designers.
#1097: The Waiting Game
December 22, 2023 15:29 - 30 minutes - 21 MBSometimes it can take a while to get a particular idea to print. This podcast shares some stories of things that took a while to get out to the public.
#1096: Why Restrictions?
December 15, 2023 15:30 - 32 minutes - 22 MBThis podcast was inspired by a number of blog posts asking why we've been adding more restrictions to cards lately.
#1095: How I Became Head Designer
December 15, 2023 15:29 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBDecember 3 marked my 20th anniversary as Magic head designer, and this podcast tells the story of how that came to be. It's also filled with a lot of tips about how someone can work toward their own dream job.
#1094: Returning Mechanics
December 08, 2023 15:30 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBHow do we decide when to bring mechanics back? This podcast talks all about it.
#1093: Fixed Mechanics
December 08, 2023 15:29 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBSometimes we make a mechanic and realize later that we could have done it better. This podcast talks about how we make new mechanics that are fixed versions of older ones.
#1092: Vision Design Summit
December 01, 2023 15:30 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBIn this podcast, I talk about a procedure we do called a Vision Design Summit.
#1091: Colorless Design
December 01, 2023 15:29 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MBIn this podcast, I talk about how we design colorless cards.
#1090: Lessons Learned – Unfinity
November 24, 2023 15:30 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MBThis podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led or co-led and explain the many lessons I learned while making them. This episode is about what I learned leading the design for Unfinity.
#1089: Expansions Symbols with Daniel Holt
November 24, 2023 15:29 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBIn this podcast, I sit down with Graphic Designer Daniel Holt to talk all about the making of expansion symbols.
#1088: Vision Design
November 17, 2023 17:23 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBIn this podcast, I take an in-depth look at the current vision design process.
#1087: Exploratory Design
November 17, 2023 17:22 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBIn this podcast, I take an in-depth look at our current exploratory design process.
#1086: Black-Green-Blue
November 10, 2023 15:30 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBThis is the tenth and final podcast in my three-color philosophy series. This time I talk black-green-blue.
#1085: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Art Direction with Ovidio Cartagena
November 10, 2023 15:29 - 30 minutes - 21 MBIn this podcast, I sit down with Ovidio Cartagena, the art director of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, to talk about worldbuilding and the visual look of the set.
#1084: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Set Design with Jules Robins
November 03, 2023 14:30 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBI interview Co-Set Design Lead Jules Robins to talk about how the underground set moved to Ixalan.
#1083: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Vision Design
November 03, 2023 14:29 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this podcast, I talk about the vision design for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Things don't always work out, so this podcast looks into a very different take on an underground world.
#1082: Blue-Red-White
October 27, 2023 14:30 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBThis podcast is the ninth (of ten) of my three-color philosophy series. In this one, I talk blue-red-white.
#1081: Copying
October 27, 2023 14:29 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MBIn this podcast, I talk about one of my favorite effects in Magic: copying.
#1080: Prescriptive Design
October 20, 2023 14:30 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBIn this podcast, I talk about the spectrum of meeting players' desires. At one end is designing cards the players are asking for, and at the other end is designing cards they don't expect.
#1079: WHO Commander Decks with Gavin Verhey
October 20, 2023 14:29 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBIn this episode, I sit down with Designer Gavin Verhey to talk about the design of Magic: The Gathering® – Doctor Who™.