Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #1052: Coldsnap

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

In this podcast, I talk about the design and development of the set Coldsnap. ...

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm not pulling my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for other Drive to Work at Home Edition. So today, I'm going to talk all about the design of Cold Snap. So I'm going to talk about where it came from. It's got a very interesting design story. Okay, so we have to go back, and at this time we were working on Ravnica, I believe. Now, back then, we go back in the days, we used to make three sets a year. So, back in the days of blocks, there was a large set, a small set, a small set back in the day. And we were definitely starting to dip our toe into the idea of doing a fourth set. Everyone's rather be a core set, but we were dipping our toe into having a fourth standard legal set that wasn't a core set.
Starting point is 00:00:56 So what happened originally was the brand team, at this point, the brand team was separate from the R&D at this point. Nowadays, it's tabletop magics altogether. But back in the day, this wasn't true. And so the brand team asked R&D and said to them, do you want a summer set? And R&D said, you know, not really. There's nothing jumping to mind. Yeah, let's not do a summer set.
Starting point is 00:01:32 And everything was fine. And they came back, I don't know, six months later and they're like, you know, we really would like a summer set. And I remember Bill Rose was frustrated. He's like, well, six months ago, you know, like, if you really wanted to do one, well, six months ago, you know, like, if you really wanted to do one,
Starting point is 00:01:47 how about six months ago when we said no, you go, well, we really want you to do it. So we had to come up with an idea for a summer set. And I think the two leading contenders, one was, this was the summer after Ravnica. I think Brady Dunramith pitched the idea of, well, what if we have a set that's all ten guilds? It's kind of this follow-up to the year of Ravnica,
Starting point is 00:02:11 because each year of Ravnica, each set only had, you know, four or three guilds in it. And she was like, oh, maybe we could wrap it up, you know. So that was Brady's idea. But another idea we had, maybe I had this idea. I don't even know where this idea came from, but it could have been my idea. Magic at the time had blocks.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Blocks had three sets in it. Every block had three sets except for one. So when Ice Age came out, so Ice Age was designed by the East Coast playtefters, Jim Lind, Scaf Elias, Dave Petty, Chris Page. And it was one of the sets that Richard Garfield had asked his play designers to design, to sort of like, you know, the idea originally was we're going to put magic out.
Starting point is 00:02:52 At some point, we're going to need more expansions. And so they started working on them. No one knew how fast we would need expansions. But anyway, they made Ice Age, and Ice Age was his own standalone thing. Then, later, the same team made Alliances, and when they
Starting point is 00:03:10 were making Alliances, they didn't really, they weren't thinking, I mean, blocks weren't a thing yet. They were just making their own set. It was on Dominaria, because almost everything was on Dominaria, I guess, but, so it wasn't a similar location, but it really mechanically had nothing to do with Alliances. I'm sorry, it was All really mechanically had nothing to do with alliances.
Starting point is 00:03:26 I'm sorry, it was alliances. It had nothing to do with Ice Age. So what ended up happening is when they turned the set in, we, the developers at Wizards, knew that we were moving toward wanting a block structure. So the plan Mirage, the very next thing, was going to be a block. So we wanted to introduce the idea of blocks. So we said, okay, this is the second set in the Ice Age block. So we sort of introduced it. And Alliances, in development, we added some things to tie it together.
Starting point is 00:03:56 None of that was there in the design. It wasn't meant to be a follow-up to Ice Age. Now, we didn't do a lot. It was just a little tiny touch of things. I mean, obviously, the flavor overlapped. It was still on Terrasier. But anyway, once Blocks became a thing, once Mirage did its Blocks and Tempest
Starting point is 00:04:12 and once Blocks started becoming a thing, we kind of retroactively said, well, you have Ice Age and then you have Homelands and you have Alliances and that's kind of the Ice Age block even though it didn't make any sense to count Homelands because Homelands was from a completely different plane. And so it was sort of sitting there.
Starting point is 00:04:31 So one of the things that when we were brainstorming came up was there's this idea in television where there's a lost episode that happens. Like the Honeymooners had one where they'd record something. that happened, like the Honeymooners had one, where they'd record something, and back in the early days, you know, they literally, someone could just put it in a vault and not realize it, and, you know, it went missing for years, for decades.
Starting point is 00:04:53 And then somebody finds it and goes, oh, there's a lost episode. And so we thought it might be funny to do like a lost, the equivalent of a lost episode. What if there was a lost set? You know, what if, you know, the Ice Age designers designed a third set, What if there was a lost set? What if the Ice Age designers designed a third set, but
Starting point is 00:05:07 it got lost? Our joke was we found it in a filing cabinet, much less you find an old lost episode in a vault. So the idea we pitched was what if we did the third set? Ice Age had Ice Age, had alliances, but there was no third set. What if this
Starting point is 00:05:24 small set was the third set of the Ice Age had Ice Age, had Alliances, but there was no third set. What if this small set was the third set of the Ice Age block? So basically, the two big things we pitched were Ravnica follow-up and the Cold Snap. What we ended up calling Cold Snap. The third Ice Age set. Or the lost Ice Age set. Anyway, what happened was, well, I was very excited for Ravnica. There was a lot of nervousness by other people on Ravnica.
Starting point is 00:05:51 And so they decided they didn't want to, they thought a fourth set in Ravnica would be too much. So they decided, let's do the Lost set of Ice Age. Now, because it was so late in asking, we did not have our normal period of time for design. So we ended up doing design in six weeks, which is very, very short for Magic Design. It had its full development. Once again, this was back in the day of design development.
Starting point is 00:06:17 So the design team, Bill Rose led the design team. I was on it, Aaron Forsythe was on it, and Devin Lowe was on it. And we weren't, I mean, while it only had a six-week design, that's all we did for six weeks. We were very focused. So while six weeks is crazy short, we also, we met a little more than you normally meet.
Starting point is 00:06:35 So it wasn't like a normal meeting. We sort of, we met every day. And so it was a little more high content. So even though it was six weeks, we did meet a lot more to try to get more work done. Although the best designs take time to percolate, so just meeting more doesn't always help you out.
Starting point is 00:06:52 Anyway, so there were a bunch of challenges to making the set. So here were the key things we needed to care about. One is, we wanted to feel like it was part of the Ice Age block. That was one. So the flavor, mechanically, we wanted to feel like that was the of the Ice Age block. That was one. So the flavor mechanically, we wanted to feel like that was the whole gimmick of the thing.
Starting point is 00:07:08 And the second thing was Ice Age and Alliances were so long ago, it wasn't easy to get packs of Ice Age or Alliances. So we're like, okay, this is going to be drafted by itself. And so we wanted, and it's a small set. I think, let's see, the set had
Starting point is 00:07:23 in it there were 155 cards, 40 rare, 50 uncommon, 60 commons. I don't think it had basic lands, because it was a small set, and there's no, Mythic Rare was far from being a thing yet. So,
Starting point is 00:07:40 okay, so that's the two big things. How do you make it feel like Cold Snap, or, sorry, how do you make it feel like an Ice Age set, and then how do you make it draft by itself? Okay, so that's the two big things. How do you make it feel like an Ice Age set, and then how do you make it draft by itself? Okay, so the first thing we did is we sort of looked at the mechanics that existed in Ice Age, right? What did Ice Age do? So one of the challenging things about Ice Age and Alliances is, A, Alliances didn't really have a lot of named mechanics. It did have something. We'll get to that in a second. And Ice Age,
Starting point is 00:08:10 it introduced some things. So Ice Age had the first cantrips, what we call slow trips, because they were cantrips except you didn't draw the card right away. So you draw the card
Starting point is 00:08:18 at the beginning of next turn. It had Cume of Upkeep. It had Snow-Covered Lands. What else did I... there wasn't a lot most of the things that it had either we had chosen to incorporate into magic like cantrips became a normal part of magic
Starting point is 00:08:38 or we're like eh you know Snow-Covered or Cume of Upkeep are things we ended up sort of not doing much anymore. But we're like, okay, look, we're making an Ice Age set, and so we made use of the stuff. It had Slow Trips, it had Cume of Upkeep. We definitely messed around a little bit and
Starting point is 00:08:54 had some fun with, like, where could we put Cume of Upkeep? Are there weird and quirky Cume of Upkeep costs we could do? We had some fun there. So Snow, in Ice Age, there were just snow-covered lands, and there were cards that either
Starting point is 00:09:10 cared or didn't care about the snow-covered lands, but that's all snow-covered was. So we decided to expand it out, and so what we did is we made snow a supertype. So we did a couple things. We made snow a supertype, so now, not just the basic lands could be snow-covered, but creatures or enchantments or whatever could be snow-covered.
Starting point is 00:09:30 And then we made a mana symbol, a snow mana symbol, which meant you needed to use mana produced by a snow permanent. permanent. So any creature, or any permanent could be a creature, could be a land, could be an artifact that was a snow permanent. If it tap produced mana, that mana was considered snow mana. Now, you could have red snow mana or blue snow mana, but it was considered snow mana
Starting point is 00:09:55 and you could pay snow cost. And the snow cost looked like a little snowflake. Also, there was one thing we borrowed from Alliances. Alliances didn't have a lot, but one of the things that Alliances is probably most famous for is pitch cards. Force of Will being the most famous. So a pitch card basically is a card
Starting point is 00:10:16 you, instead of casting it with the mana cost, instead of paying its mana, you can discard a card of the same color. So we did more of those. So we really sort of looked through the set and tried to figure out sort of like what we could
Starting point is 00:10:31 work with. And it was definitely, it was, I mean the short timeline didn't help, but it was very challenging in trying to figure out the right way to make use of all the different component pieces. A lot of it also was trying to expand upon stuff. One of the things about the block model was the first set would introduce something, and usually the second and third set
Starting point is 00:10:51 would extrapolate on it. So a lot of what we were trying to do with some of this stuff is oh, we have Cube of Upkeep, but we're trying new costs. You know, we have Snow, but we made Snow a permanent type, and now there's Mana, and you know, Pitch, we tried to do some different things with Pitch cards So, we were definitely trying to do that. Now, the other thing that really shaped us was this idea that we wanted it to be draftable unto itself.
Starting point is 00:11:16 Because normally, if you draft a set by itself, it's a large set and not a small set. And so, this definitely was a little bit different in that regard. So, the two mechanics that we put in the set were both designed to be flavorful, you know, feel like they made sense in an Ice Age block, but also played well in a small set draft.
Starting point is 00:11:39 So the main one we made for that purpose was called Ripple. So Ripple says, Ripple N, N being a number, when you cast this spell, you may reveal the top N cards of your library. You may cast any revealed cards with the same name as this spell without paying their mana cost. Put the rest on the bottom of your library. So the idea essentially was Ripple was what we call a collect me mechanic.
Starting point is 00:12:01 And so we definitely played around with a bunch of collect me mechanics because we wanted, we, what we were trying to do is take what was going to call a collect-me mechanic. And so we definitely played around with a bunch of collect-me mechanics because we wanted... What we were trying to do is take what was going to be a negative, which was you're going to get a lot of repetitions of commons because you're drafting with only a small set, and try to make a feature out of a bug, if you will. And so the idea is, well, if you can get a lot of the same card... And so the ripple mechanic was made to make you want to collect them.
Starting point is 00:12:25 We did another card by, some card by card designs that made you want to collect them. But we kind of leaned into that, that one of the things about the set was going to be that you needed to, that you needed to, in drafting, want to get multiples of it. The other thing you'll notice is like,
Starting point is 00:12:43 Ripple doesn't let you, in Limited, you can play as many as you have, where in Constructed you can't. So Ripple was a little more... can be a little stronger in Limited because you can draft more of them, where in Constructed, you are limited to having four. Okay, the other
Starting point is 00:12:58 mechanic is called Recover. So Recover has a cost. Sorry. It says Recover and has a mana cost. When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay cost. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card. Okay, so what this card was trying to do...
Starting point is 00:13:17 I'm trying to remember the name. It was trying to... What's the card? Ice Age had a card that when it went to the graveyard if there was exactly one creature on top of it, you could get it back. So they were trying to do that, but the thing that had happened since
Starting point is 00:13:34 the time that we had made Ice Age graveyard ordering stopped mattering. That up through, I think Tempest Block, there were cards that cared about the order of your graveyard. What we found was that was pretty annoying, that having to not be able to mess with your graveyard was sort of a pain.
Starting point is 00:13:53 So we stopped doing that in Tempest Block and haven't done it since. Graveyard matter hasn't mattered since then. But when we first designed this mechanic, we first made Recover, the earliest version of it said, hey, if there's a creature directly on top of this, you can pay to get it back. And I was like, okay, guys, you got, so I think this happened,
Starting point is 00:14:16 I think Recover happened not in their initial design, but during development. Because I remember going to, Randy Buehler was the lead developer, going to Randy and saying, what are you doing? We're not reintroducing graveyard matters. because I remember going to, Randy Buehler was the lead developer, going to Randy and saying, what are you doing? We're not reintroducing Graveyard Matters.
Starting point is 00:14:31 And Randy was like, well, we're doing a throwback. Graveyard Matter mattered in Ice Age. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. And so what I said to him is, look, I think we can duplicate a lot of what you want without having to have graveyard order. So the idea essentially is, how do you say that a card is directly below a creature? Well, what if it triggers when a creature dies?
Starting point is 00:14:48 Like, when a creature dies, you have this window to get it back. But, you know, it's when the first creature dies after it's in the graveyard, that's your window. If you don't pay it then, then you miss on it.
Starting point is 00:14:58 Now, did Recover come out amazing? I mean, I 100% believe it was a great call not to have graveyardveyard Order matter. Recover ended up being not too, you know, I mean, obviously it got played within the confines of Limited, but I don't think Recover got played much else
Starting point is 00:15:16 to my knowledge. Ripple, so Ripple ended up being, Ripple was very powerful in Limited, and in Cold Snap Draft, I think Ripple ended up being a Ripple was very powerful in Limited, and in Cold Snap Draft, I think Ripple ended up being a little too good. The best strategies, if you ever happen to be
Starting point is 00:15:32 in a Cold Snap, Cold Snap, Cold Snap draft, the Ripple cards are very strong. I don't remember exactly what's the strongest of the Ripple cards. My gut said it was red. But anyway, so what essentially happened is we spent six weeks we made the file we handed over i don't think recover was there when we handed over ripple was i'm pretty sure
Starting point is 00:15:51 um and then we the set had a full development so i had a full development it had a rushed design but a full development um and then it was a time for it to come out. So the funny story about that is, so we really liked the idea of a lost episode. You have a lost file, right? And so the idea was that we wanted to push this story of the set was lost. But it was never our intention for people to think it was like, it was always meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
Starting point is 00:16:24 That was the intent. The idea that it was, like, it was always meant to be tongue-in-cheek. That was the intent. The idea that we've, it was lost in, you know, it was lost in the thing. And we did a lot of things to sort of, um, like, we made a lot of hints in our, like, in the thing that announced it,
Starting point is 00:16:36 we did all sorts of subtle hints that this isn't real, this is a joke. Um, like, uh, I mean, like, I think it, uh, for example, the code name on the set on the cards was Rock and Roll, which implied that the code was Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, which we never would have done. There were a lot of little subtle things that sort of saying, hey, this is a joke. Um, but the biggest problem is Randy Buehler decided that he wanted to do the announcement. Randy Buehler decided that he wanted to do the announcement.
Starting point is 00:17:07 And I think the thing is, I had a reputation for sort of messing around with the audience. I did a lot of silly things. But Randy really, whenever he'd interacted with the audience, he'd been very straightforward. So having Randy as the voice where we're trying to go tongue-in-cheek didn't work. So Randy said we found it. It was lost in a file. We found it.
Starting point is 00:17:26 So what ended up happening was the audience got kind of mad because as they figured out it wasn't true, they felt like we lied to them when the intent had always been tongue-in-cheek. We weren't trying to make people think we actually found it. I mean, the set clearly was designed
Starting point is 00:17:41 with modern intentions and stuff, and a lot of things about it were very much using modern design technology. So the story was we found it, and then we developed it and updated it. But anyway, what ended up happening was I ended up writing, I ended up having to write something and sort of explain that it was a joke and that we weren't being serious about it. So I did clarify.
Starting point is 00:18:05 Are there good stories about Cold Snap? So the set came out. Oh, the other interesting thing about the set. So we had an interesting marketing challenge. So the set that followed Cold Snap was Time Spiral. So
Starting point is 00:18:19 Time Spiral's whole gimmick was remember it was past, present, future. So it was all about the past and nostalgia. But here we had a set, Cold Snap, that was right before it that also was kind of about the past. Like, the whole gimmick of it was, remember Ice Age? Remember Alliances? We're the third set. And so there was a lot of tricky... We didn't really, I mean, when we chose to do Cold Snap, we didn't really think about the set that was following it.
Starting point is 00:18:43 really, I mean, when we chose to do Cold Snap, we didn't really think about the set that was following it. And so there was some weird marketing challenges of trying to figure out how to market Cold Snap in a means that made it not sort of step on the toes of how we marketed Time Spiral. So Cold Snap came out. It wasn't super well received. I think like I said the set's design was done
Starting point is 00:19:09 quickly, in retrospect looking back, there's elements of it I like, I mean I think the, ironically the snow superword which we were very skeptical about, I think ended up being, having a lot more legs to it, the thing that's interesting is, so real quickly, a little history of Snow.
Starting point is 00:19:28 So Snow first came out in Ice Age and we, well, R&D's thought, I wasn't here when Ice Age came out, but our thought on Ice Age was that we didn't think Snow Cover was really well done. The biggest problem with it was it was supposed to be something that was... that you want to put in your deck, but more of the cards hurt you for having it than helped you for having it.
Starting point is 00:19:55 And so there were a couple cards that made you want to play Snow Covered Land, but it just wasn't really well balanced. And then we had a little tiny bit in alliances, more so to feel like it was part of Ice Age. So we did a lot of revamping of it. And it's funny, I really didn't think snow would come back. If you would ask me, if you look at my...
Starting point is 00:20:18 of, you know, when I rate, you know, the storm scale, when I rate things, I don't think I ever rated it really high. But in Modern Horizons, we ended up needing something, and it kind of, we were looking for a tweak to our, we wanted Duel Lands, and players have been asking for Snow-Covered Duel Lands for a while, and so we're like, well, but if we're going to do Snow-Covered Duel Lands, we want to make, you know,
Starting point is 00:20:43 we need, so Snow sort of got brought back in modern horizons and went very well, so much so that we then used it in cold time. So this mechanic that I, I really, if you'd asked me 10 years ago, like, you know, is snow coming back? I guess people did, because I had the storm scale. I was very skeptical it was coming back, and now it definitely seems to be a thing that people really enjoy. It is funny that probably the biggest success of Cold Snap, looking back on it, was the Snow Super type.
Starting point is 00:21:14 That I didn't expect. Yeah, anyway, so the set comes out. It wasn't super popular. I think it was... For a long time, it was sort of looked down upon. I think there's certain elements of it, like the snow covered, that over time have made people look at it in a slightly better eye. Okay, so let me talk about some of the cards that are in the set. Just sharing stories and stuff.
Starting point is 00:21:44 Okay, first up, I will tell the story of Mishra's Bauble. So Mishra's Bauble costs zero. It says, tap, sacrifice Mishra's Bauble, look at the top card of target player's library, draw a card at the beginning of next turn's upkeep. So this was a rift. So there's a card called Urza's Bauble in original Ice Age. In fact, I talked about Urza's Bauble.
Starting point is 00:22:04 I did a podcast on zero-cost things. So I probably talked about Mishra's Bobble in that same podcast. But this is just a good example of we were trying to make references while we could. So I just, as I'm talking about this, I'm like, I just talked about this. I won't
Starting point is 00:22:19 go too deep into it. But it's a good example where we were trying to find areas where we could take it and we can riff off it and find cool things to do with it. Okay, next up we'll talk Dark Depths. So Dark Depths is a legendary snow land. Dark Depths comes into play with 10 ice counters on it.
Starting point is 00:22:36 Three, remove an ice counter from Dark Depths. When Dark Depths has no ice counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, put an indestructible legendary 2020 black avatar creature token with flying, name Merit Lage into play. And so the fun of this was
Starting point is 00:22:52 we wanted so Merit Lage in the story gets frozen in ice. And so I think what happened was we wanted, we thought it would be fun to make a Merit Lage card, but then the creative team was like, well, but he's Merit Lage,
Starting point is 00:23:10 or I think it's she actually. Merit Lage is trapped under ice. You can't have a Merit Lage card, and so we're like, okay, how can we have a Merit Lage card that doesn't negate the flavor of, you know, like, we can't just have a card called Merit Lage
Starting point is 00:23:24 because, like, well, Merit Lage, at this point in the story, is trapped in ice, but we're of, you know, like, we can't just have a card called Miracle Age because, like, well, Miracle Age, at this point in the story, is trapped in ice. But we're like, what if, what if the trapped in ice was part of the card? And so we came up with this fun design where it's like, okay, well, it starts in the ice, but you can chip away at it. And, you know, you need to get 10 ice counters.
Starting point is 00:23:42 So you spend three to get an ice counter. I'm sorry, it comes into play with 10 ice counters and it's three to remove an ice counters. So you spend three to get an ice counter. I'm sorry, it comes into play with ten ice counters. And it's three to remove an ice counter. So you've got to chip away at the ice. Anyway, this card has become very popular. Partly because it makes a 20-20 creature. And partly because there's some shenanigans where you can get rid of the ice counters a little faster. But it's definitely been a very fun card.
Starting point is 00:24:02 And so it is definitely neat to do that. Okay, next up, Commandeer. So, five blue blue instant. You may remove two blue cards in your hand from the game rather than pay Commandeer's mana cost. Gain control of target non-creature spell. You may choose new targets for it. So, the idea here is I'm stealing your spell, and then I'm getting to make use of whatever it is so because it's non-creature
Starting point is 00:24:28 if it's a permanent I gain control of it if it's a spell I assume I choose new targets and stuff if that spell is an artifact or enchantment the permanent comes into play under your control this is kind of noob now okay so the thing we did with the pitch spells is we decided to make
Starting point is 00:24:44 a cycle in which there were larger effects, but you had to pitch two cards. We had done pitch cards originally in alliances. We had done them again in Mercadian Masks. And pitch cards are definitely a really cool thing. I don't even need mana to cast them. But the requirement to have two cards definitely made it a bit different. And Commandeer is the most popular of this cycle. The ability to be able to steal something
Starting point is 00:25:12 or change a spell is pretty powerful when you don't have to spend mana. Because you have to discard two blue cards, it mostly goes in a heavy blue deck. That was the idea behind the pitch cards also, of making it require two cards, is it allowed us to make them such that it wasn't easy to put multiple cards, multiple pitch cards
Starting point is 00:25:32 in the same deck. They really dedicated a certain color. We thought that was cool. Okay, another popular card, Counterbalance. Blue, blue enchantment. Whenever an opponent plays a spell, you may reveal the top card of your library. If you do, counter that spell if it has the top card of your library if you do counter that spell if it has the same converted mana cost as a revealed card
Starting point is 00:25:47 okay I'm pretty sure I made this spell the idea was we wanted something that could counter we wanted something that could some of the time counter spells but not all the time
Starting point is 00:26:02 so the idea is we liked something that was sort of like, well, once in a while. Now, when it was originally designed, the intent of it was, it was a little more random. That, yeah, counter spells, but you don't control it, you know. So over time you will counter spells, but there's
Starting point is 00:26:19 a lot of variance in how much you counter. Now, it's often the case that cards become pretty good, but that's because there are things like scry and top and just means to interact with the top card of your library. So now, when people use it, at least in more competitive things,
Starting point is 00:26:36 there's more manipulation of the top of the library, so it's not quite as random as the card was originally sort of designed to be. Okay. Okay. Another. Next up. Let's see if I can find it.
Starting point is 00:26:52 So the next one is called, is it Scred? So Scred, it costs one red mana, instant. Scred deals damage to target creature equal to the number of snow permits you control. So this was, so I think Cold Snap kind of went the reverse way. Our concern in Ice Age was that you got two punished for snow. So we went a little bit the other direction. I mean, there are ways to punish you for snow, but this has a little more rewards for snow,
Starting point is 00:27:19 Scred being probably the most famous one. Because for one red mana, you can do a lot of damage. If all your lands are snow-covered, if, you know, are snow, your creatures can be snow, your other permits can be snow. You really can build decks where Scred is very, very powerful.
Starting point is 00:27:36 And it was one of the things that definitely shaped sort of how the environment with Cold Snap played out. I think Scred is the main reason why there's a period of time where a lot of snow got played in decks because Scred was just so powerful. I'm trying to think of other things we did here.
Starting point is 00:28:00 Okay, also here, Arkham Dagson, three and a blue, legendary creature, human artificer, two, two. Tap,, three and a blue, legendary creature, human artifice, or 2-2. Tap. Target artifact creature's control or sacrifices it. That player may search his or her library for a non-creature artifact card, put it into play, then shuffle his or her library. So this was playing around in space that the idea that I turned one artifact into another artifact, I would... Tinker was me messing in this space in a way that got a little dangerous.
Starting point is 00:28:28 I was trying to remake a spell from Antiquities that I really liked and ended up making a very broken card. R&D believes my most broken card in Tinker. This is sort of playing in that space but trying to be a little safer. It also allows you to... You can make the opponent change or you can make the opponent
Starting point is 00:28:45 change or you can make yourself change so you target artifact creatures controller so you can target any artifact, you control or they control it but he's an inventor and so it was kind of fun to mess around like he can turn one thing into another we thought that was really cool another here, one other legendary creature
Starting point is 00:29:01 before I wrap up for today, Darian, King of Keldor legendary creature, human lord 3- today. Darian, King of Keldor. Legendary creature, Human Lord, 3-3. Whenever you're dealt damage, you may put that many 1-1 white soldier creature tokens into play. This is another popular card. One of the things that we tried to do with this stat is we really went back and looked at characters that had been referenced in the novels or the stories and tried to find characters that hadn't had their card yet. And Ice Age had a bunch of novels,
Starting point is 00:29:29 and there were a bunch of things that sort of called out other characters and flavor text and stuff. So we really were looking for opportunities to take some of these characters you've heard about but didn't have a card yet and build a card for them. Anyway, guys, I can see my desk here, so I'm almost done. Cold Snap is an interesting story. It was something that we sort of got pushed into doing.
Starting point is 00:29:51 It was not something we had signed up for. I do think that a lot of cool things came out of the design. I'm not saying it's the best design in a vacuum. But stuff like snow came out of this, and there's other things that have gone on. There's definitely been stuff that people enjoy, the individual cards that people enjoy. Um, so I, I look back and it's, it's fun sort of exploring old sets and this was a quirky set. Um, it did teach me to have more than six weeks for design.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Uh, that is something we shouldn't repeat ever. Um, so, and just so people are aware, I mean, the nowadays design, you know, we have, uh, two months of exploratory design, four months of vision design, and then all sorts of, you know, set design can be up to a year. It's a little smaller than, I think, 10 months. But anyway, it is fun looking back. So I hope you guys enjoyed a little peek into Coltsnap. And I also want to say one of my goals is I'm trying to go back and hit all the different sets that I haven't had a podcast about.
Starting point is 00:30:50 So my ultimate goal one day is to have podcasts about every set. And I'm not I'm more than halfway there, but there's a whole bunch of stuff I haven't talked about. So I'm planning over time to try to catch up on some of the sets I haven't talked about yet. But anyway, guys, I'm now at my desk. So you all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking
Starting point is 00:31:05 magic, it's time for me to be making magic. See you guys next time. Bye-bye.

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