MTG boss Mark Rosewater reflects on kickers, enemy colors, and more

His best choice was 2005 SimpleWhich set the true balance among the five warring flowers of the game. Secondly, DepositA set of 2011, which emphasized – and revolutionized – the format of the project. And on the third Invasionwho arrived 25 years ago in October 2000 and opened a new era Magic: Assembly.

Invasion This is what I called the beginning of the third era Magic Design, ”said Rosewater Polygon the next morning. “It was a huge blow.”

Hidden in the quiet corner of Magiccon, an extensive three -day congress, I drove pink water into a corner to talk about InvasionThree approaches block – InvasionIN PlaneshiftAnd Apocalypse – This merged story and the gameplay, unlike anything, is in front of them, in order to reduce Magic: Assembly In many ways, than one.

Two new mechanics that redistributed Magic

To InvasionThe fact that pink water calls the second age MagicMost of the new extensions were quite simple. Take two mechanics, throw them together, choose a fantastic sphere (often inspired by popular mythology) and boom, you have a new block of cards for sale. Invasion He accepted this formula and made one critical settings: what if these mechanics and places were organized around the unifying theme?

For Bill Rose, a leading designer during development on InvasionThis topic was multi -colored cards (or “gold” cards in Magic speak). Golden cards were not a new idea, but they become increasingly rare. Ahead InvasionThe team purposefully limited the number of multi -colored cards in new sets to create a hype.

“We built Invasion Being a large multi -color set, ”Rosoter said.

With this basic concept, pink water, Rose and their colleague, Mike Elliott, flew to the Tahoe lake, where they held a weekly brainstorming for InvasionField (why dad Rosa? Magic In the next decades: divided maps and the cost of kikers.

Split Cards, perhaps more obvious invention, but also those that encountered the most internal resistance. If Invasion Was about combining MagicFive colors by creative ways, then one card turned to the side and divided into the middle to turn on two spells instead of one, was an ideal way to revive this topic.

Invasion It was all about allied colors, and the split -cards are ideal. ” Pink water said. Richard Garfield [the creator of Magic: The Gathering] I thought they were careful. Everyone else is working on Magic He hated them. “

Magic postcard of night and night

The idea for the split -card arose in another set called Opensatirical expansion that bent and violated the rules Magic Card design. One of the most popular cards in Open There was BFM (Big Furry Monster), a map, so large, it was divided into two – you had to have both half in your hand to play the creature. Players loved BFM, but Open It was not possible to achieve sales, so the publisher of the game, Wizards of the Coast, canceled the continuation plans. Pink water took the concept, turned it over and created divided cards.

Despite the numerous efforts of the Wizards on the killing of this concept (Rosewater recalled the need to abandon the attempt to crush their idea at the development meetings), Split Cards ultimately hit the set. The plan was to surprise the players when they opened Invasion Packs, and despite a few leaks, this is exactly what happened.

“I remember how I kept my little daughter in a busting and watched people open booster bags,” Rosoter said. “Someone opened the split map, his eyes turned wide, he turned to the side, and then I saw the light left. He understood this and just smiled. This moment made the whole struggle worth. ”

Magic map: Skizzik

The magic map is element

InvasionKiker Mechanic also fits well into the colorful theme of the set, albeit in a more restrained way. Focusing on the previously existing “ransom” mechanic, which allows you to pay additional costs to return the used spell to your hand, and not discard it, Kicker allows you to unlock the best effects by paying additional manu.

“It worked well with Multycolor, as you could kick spells with other colors,” Rosewater said. “IN InvasionMost kikers remained in the same color, but the idea was there. ”

Both divided cards and kicker have since become the main characteristics Magic: Assembly This often appears on new maps, without great importance. Pink water called these “deciduous” mechanics, concepts, so fundamental for the game (for example, a scurry or flights) that we all consider them to be understood.

But for now Invasion It began with several new ideas that withstood the test of time, the biggest innovation did not appear until the block is completed from ApocalypseField

Allies and enemies

Prophetic-Bolt-Apocalypsis-MTG-ART Image: Wizards of the coast

Magic: AssemblyThe famous color wheel organizes five elements of the game (Mountain/Red, Forest/Green, Plains/White, island/blue and swamp/black) in a circle. This is not just a random order – the placement of each element matters. The colors that relate are considered allies (like red and green), and those that are not enemies (like red and blue). Today is everything MagicThe colors are mixed and mixed almost evenly, but it was not so before ApocalypseField

“The colors of the allies are usually stronger than the enemy,” said Rosoter, “but also there was just an ally than the enemy.”

He evaluates this before InvasionThere were less than 50 multi -color cards for each combination of the enemy – sometimes less than 30.

“The enemy has always been a poor younger brother, who never attracted attention,” Rosoter said. “The idea that he had a day was very exciting.”

MATG Map: Spiritmonger

MATG Map: Kromat

Wizards of the coast originally planned to include gold cards of enemy color in the initial Invasion block, but ultimately pushed them to ApocalypseThis field was another innovation at that time. (What if we have retained some ideas for the second and third set in the block, and will not throw them away at the same time?) It also solved another problem.

“One of the problems when we played with 10 colored pairs was that it was just a lot,” Rosoter said. “Well, what if we do not start with all 10?”

ApocalypseMaps of enemy flowers have become another surprise Invasion Block (the one who blew me up as a recently read Magic player in the early 2000s), but be it Invasion Was your acquaintance with the game, or have you played for years, it was a long -awaited change.

Mike Turian, competitive Magic The player at that time who continued to work at Wizards of the Coast told Polygon that Seth felt “revolutionary” when he was first released.

“It was really cool and dynamic,” said Turian. “It was a multi -color set, and you could play a five -color deck. It really was not something before. ”

What if magic had … a plot?

MTG Art to win the coalition of cards Image: Wizards of the coast

Invasion Also under influence Magic One big way that had nothing to do with the design of cards or the gameplay: it gave the game a story. For Rosewater, who worked as a television writer in the hit Rosanna Before joining Wizards in 1995 with a close -knit narrative have always been a missing element.

He and the team decided to focus this story around the Weatherlight crew flying a ship first represented in 1997. Weatherlight and his team fly from one place to another in various adventures, giving Magic Repeating cast long before the introduction of Planeswalkers. At that time, the game already had several recognizable characters, such as URZA (a powerful, morally ambiguous wizard) and his brother/opponent of Mishra, but the idea of ​​a many years of narrative, which connected every new expansion, like the seasons of television show, was an unknown territory.

STH-89-VAVs

PLS-133 __- Heavenly weather service

During these adventures, the Weatherlight team ultimately discovered plans for a full -scale attack on MagicThe original furnishings of Dominaria, the firms (biomechanical monsters from the artificial world created by the evil Eugenist Yaugmot), which prepared the ground for the scene for InvasionField

“The Firexians have always been my favorite villains, and I wanted to use them in a great way,” Rosoter said. “They invaded dominance because we wanted danger, and at that time dominaria was home Magic.

The fact that this interdimensional invasion caused all the different fractions and colors of magic to unite against a common enemy, which is well combined with a multi -colored topic of invasion, but, according to the visible, it was a “happy accident”. At that time, the teams of the narrative and design of the maps did not work together, which has changed significantly over the decades since then.

“History and mechanics were not planned together,” said Rosoter. “But as soon as we realized what was happening, we leaned towards this. And so much aroma of this: ok, why is it a multi -color set? Because everyone in Dominery should get together to stop the Firecs. ”

The legacy of the invasion

Mtg Invasion Art Big Dragon Image: Wizards of the coast

Invasion May be MagicAccording to Mark Roisoter, the third influential set, but his legacy may even be even more. We would even have a number of number one rose, Simplewho gave the names and personalities 10 to various two -sided couples, without Invasion?

Five years later, when Rosewater intends to design SimpleHe created it as a direct counterweight for InvasionField

Invasion Was it all about playing as many flowers as possible, ”he says. – So, how am I: what is the opposite of this? Ok, play two Colors and this is how we got to the guilds. ”

For Turia, who left the circular highway of the “Wizard of the Coast” SimpleIN InvasionThe impact goes even deeper. For decades since then Magic: Assembly He advanced further into gold cards, especially in response to the popularity of the format of the commander, which is built around powerful, multi -colored creatures.

“The fact that the invasion showed wizards was a lot of love for the multicolon,” said Turian. “To me, Invasion Is there really a moment when Wizards found out that gold cards are cool and amazing. ”

Leave a Comment