The Three Immutable Laws of Magic Design

One of Magic's defining features is its mutability. Every format and every set brings with it new opportunities for players to redefine the game. Mark Rosewater calls this process of constant renewal and discovery "Crispy Hashbrown Theory" and posits that it's one of Magic's core strengths. While I generally agree with this, I have two objections. The first is that hashbrowns aren't the best example of a breakfast food you get sick of partway through and that it should be called "Pancake Theory" instead. The second is that while constant change is the lifeblood of the game, Magic has a set of qualities that should never be changed, no matter how weird or experimental you're getting. These are the three immutable laws of Magic design.

CCDD 120816—Voidmage Acolyte & Demolitions Expert

Cool Card Design of the Day
12/8/2016 - How do you make players happier to play a card that's been nerfed for being unfun?

The cards already exist, so we can't change them. We can either make the environment around them sufficiently weaker—which would cause a riot—or we can create cards that make them better…

Weekend Art Challenge Review 040116—Drake-Elf-Demon Synergy

Weekend Art Challenge Review
Hello Artisans,
Anastase here, ready to review our synergy chain design challenge.

Let us get to the cards!

Weekend Art Challenge 040116—Drake-Elf-Demon Synergy

Weekend Art Challenge
Hello Artisans! Anastase here. Remember this challenge?

Well we are going to do something similar this week, only trying the opposite:

You will have to design a card that synergizes if played alongside the previous card an Artisan suggested.

Each submission will use the next image in the queue, in order to generate a cycle of cards that each synergizes with the previous one: the drake synergies with the elf, the demon synergies with the drake, the elf synergies with the demon, the drake synergies with the elf...