Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast

#1032: Turn Structure

May 05, 2023 14:30 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MB

In this podcast, I walk through all the phases and steps of a turn to talk about how design creates cards for each part of the turn.

#1031: March of the Machine Casual Play Design with Ellie Rice

May 05, 2023 14:29 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MB

In today's podcast, I sit down with Ellie Rice from the Casual Play Design team to talk about their process for March of the Machine.

#1030: F.I.R.E. Design

April 28, 2023 14:30 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MB

R&D uses a philosophy in design known as F.I.R.E. design. There are a lot of misconceptions as to what it means, so I walk through its philosophy in this podcast.

#1029: March of the Machine Commander Decks with Ethan Fleischer

April 28, 2023 14:29 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MB

I sit down with the lead designer of the March of the Machine Commander decks to talk about their design.

#1028: Databases

April 21, 2023 14:30 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MB

In this podcast, I talk about one of the most important tools we use for Magic design—databases. I walk through the history of our databases and explain how we use them.

#1027: March of the Machine with Taylor Ingvarsson

April 21, 2023 14:29 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MB

I sit down with March of the Machine's Lead Art Director Taylor Ingvarsson to talk about the visual identity of the set.

#1026: Lessons Learned – Innistrad: Crimson Vow

April 14, 2023 14:30 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MB

This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led or co-led and all the lessons I learned from designing them. In this episode, I talk about what I learned from making Innistrad: Crimson Vow.

#1025: March of the Machine Set Design with Dave Humpherys

April 14, 2023 14:29 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MB

In this podcast, I sit down with Dave Humpherys, the lead set designer of March of the Machine, to talk about the making of the set.

#1024: March of the Machine Design

April 07, 2023 16:30 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MB

In this podcast, I tell the design story of March of the Machine.

#1023: Frames & Icons with Daniel Holt

April 07, 2023 16:30 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MB

In this podcast, I sit down with Senior Game Designer and Graphic Designer Daniel Holt to talk about how the frames and icons for March of the Machine were designed.

#1022: Invitational Cards

March 31, 2023 14:30 - 39 minutes - 27 MB

Gavin Verhey recently did a video about the Invitational cards on his YouTube channel Good Morning Magic, inspiring me to do a podcast telling the behind-the-scenes stories of how we made each card.

#1021: Legends

March 31, 2023 14:29 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MB

In this podcast, I talk all about the making of Magic's third expansion, Legends, which, among other things, introduced multicolor and legendary permanents.

#1020: Structural Support

March 24, 2023 14:30 - 39 minutes - 27.2 MB

I recently wrote a new "Nuts & Bolts" column where I talked about the elements a set needs to work well in Limited play. This podcast goes over all the details from that article. If you're interested in building your own set or cube, this is worth a listen. If not, it's still a good insight into the process.

#1019: Magic Story with Harless and Natalie

March 24, 2023 14:29 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MB

In this podcast, I sit down with Harless Snyder and Natalie Kreider to talk about the role of Magic story in the game and the revival of The Magic Story Podcast.

#1018: Unreleased Mechanics

March 17, 2023 14:30 - 38 minutes - 26.5 MB

In this podcast, I talk through numerous mechanics that we've designed but never published.

#1017: Art of Phyrexia with Ovidio Cartagena

March 17, 2023 14:29 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MB

In this podcast, I sit down with Art Director Ovidio Cartagena to talk about the art direction of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

#1016: Product Architect

March 10, 2023 15:30 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MB

Today, I talk about the role of the product architect and the importance of the position.

#1015: Artifacts and Enchantments

March 10, 2023 15:29 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MB

In this podcast, I talk about the history of artifacts and enchantments and how they evolved to become closer mechanically.

#1014: MagicCon Philadelphia

March 03, 2023 16:34 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MB

I went to Philly to attend MagicCon. This podcast tells of my journey.

#1013: Colorless with Ben Weitz

March 03, 2023 16:33 - 30 minutes - 21 MB

So far, I've talked with all five color representatives. That means it's time to talk with a sixth, the colorless representative Ben Weitz.

#1012: Working with Worldbuilding

February 24, 2023 15:30 - 31 minutes - 21.4 MB

One of the teams I work closest with is the Creative team. In this podcast, I talk about how the Vision Design and Worldbuilding teams work hand in hand.

#1011: Mental Processing

February 24, 2023 15:29 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MB

In this podcast, I talk about all the different ways cards can impact the players mentally and how we have to account for it in design.

#1010: Mana Value

February 17, 2023 15:30 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MB

In this podcast, I talk about how this concept came about and how we design for it.

#1009: White with Chris Mooney

February 17, 2023 15:29 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MB

This is another in my series where I sit down with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I talk with Chris Mooney about white.

#1008: Die Rolling

February 10, 2023 15:30 - 32 minutes - 22 MB

In this podcast, I look at the history of die-rolling cards.

#1007: Black with Corey Bowen

February 10, 2023 15:29 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MB

This is another in my series where I sit down with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I talk with Corey Bowen about black.

#1006: Lessons Learned – Strixhaven

February 03, 2023 16:40 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MB

This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I look back at sets I led (or co-led) to talk about the design lessons I learned. Today's podcast is on Strixhaven: School of Mages.

#1005: Blue with Ethan Fleischer

February 03, 2023 15:29 - 31 minutes - 21.4 MB

This is another in my series where I sit down with representatives of the colors from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I talk with Ethan Fleischer about blue.

#1004: Logistics

January 27, 2023 16:43 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MB

In this podcast, I talk about an important aspect of design, something we call logistics (all the physicalness of using a card).

#1003: Phyrexia with Adam Prosak

January 27, 2023 16:41 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MB

I sit down with Set Lead Designer Adam Prosak to talk about the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

#1002: Phyrexia Design

January 20, 2023 15:30 - 37 minutes - 26.1 MB

In this podcast, I talk all about Phyrexia and the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

#1001: Red with Jules Robins

January 20, 2023 15:29 - 30 minutes - 21 MB

This is the second in my series of interviews with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I interview Jules Robins about red.

#1000: Drive to Work

January 13, 2023 15:30 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MB

To celebrate my 1,000th episode, I talk all about the making of Drive to Work.

#999: Green with Megan Smith

January 13, 2023 15:29 - 30 minutes - 21 MB

In this podcast, I sit down with Megan Smith, the representative for green in the Council of Colors to talk all about green.

#998: Budget

January 06, 2023 15:30 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MB

I've covered almost every aspect of designing a new set but haven't talked about how our budget impacts design. Today's podcast is all about designing under a budget.

#997: Noncreature Artifact Tokens

January 06, 2023 15:29 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MB

In today's podcast, I talk about the seventeen noncreature artifact tokens from across Magic's history.

#996: Artifact Destruction

December 23, 2022 15:30 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MB

In this podcast, I look back at the history of artifact destruction.

#995: Off-Color Activations

December 23, 2022 15:29 - 33 minutes - 22.8 MB

In this podcast, I talk about how we design activations that require a color not found in the mana cost of the card.

#994: Bonus Sheets

December 16, 2022 15:30 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MB

In this episode, I talk about the history of bonus sheets from Time Spiral to The Brother's War.

#993: The Brothers' War with Yoni Skolnik

December 16, 2022 15:29 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MB

I sit down with Yoni Skolnik, the lead set designer of The Brothers' War, to talk through its design.

#992: Interviewing Guests

December 09, 2022 16:35 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MB

I do a lot of interviews on my podcast, so this podcast is all about what it takes to interview people and offers some tips on how to do it well.

#991: Unfinity with Ari Zirulnik, Part 2

December 09, 2022 16:34 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MB

In this podcast, I'm joined by Ari Zirulnik again (he oversaw names and flavor text for Unfinity) so that he and I can give more off-the-cuff canon material about the characters from Unfinity.

#990: Top-Down Design

December 02, 2022 15:30 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MB

In this podcast, I walk through all the various things that have to be done when doing a top-down design.

#989: Public Speaking

December 02, 2022 15:29 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MB

Part of my job involves talking in front of large crowds. In this podcast, I talk about what that's like and offer tips on how to do it well.

#988: Designing for an Eternal World

November 25, 2022 15:30 - 47 minutes - 32.5 MB

Magic constantly changes and evolves, which means that we as designers must keep changing how we approach design. This podcast talks about the challenges of making Magic in a world where the most popular tabletop formats are larger.