IMAGINE DRAGONS, PART 1
Posted in Making Magic on March 2, 2015


By Mark Rosewater
Bio Archive Twitter
Welcome to the first week of previews of Dragons Tarkir. As you know, Sarkhan has traveled back in time and alter history of his native plane. Let's see what he has accomplished exactly and how we designed the new collection to show these changes. As always, I also reveal an interesting letter.

BREEDERS DRAGONS
Another of my habits is to introduce you to design teams that created the collections, so let's get to it:

 Mark Gottlieb (leader)

A Mark Gottlieb I met him for a letter he wrote me. Mark has always been a big fan of puzzles and even worked for a time as editor of Games Magazine. Many years ago, I wrote to ask if I could help with the section Magic: The Puzzling issue of The Duelist, our former publication on Magic. Mark had realized that there were some mistakes and offered their expertise in editing puzzles, and without charge. I thanked the interest, but I refused.

A few years later, I met Mark in person because he had been hired to editing equipment; this was a time before the computer from becoming part of R & D. A few years later, Mark got the position of director of standards. During that period, he and I had a good season discussing how we could implement the new cards and mechanics. Later, Mark became developer, specializing in many complementary products.

One day, Aaron Forsythe (my boss) came to me and told me she was worried because I had too much workload. The needs of the design department had grown over the years and I had more and more things to attend to. Aaron suggested creating a new post: design coordinator, which would be responsible for leading designers. That person would supervise people and would manage working time, while I take care of the technical design work. Spend less time coordinating and focus on design was just what I wanted.

Aaron came to me a few weeks later and told me they had found the right person for the job, but wanted my consent. The candidate was Mark and I agreed that was a good decision. Today, Mark and I worked very close, which is funny because I had joked for a long time it was my nemesis (Matt Tabak has picked up the baton, as the new director of standards).

When we begin to approach the design of Dragons Tarkir, I knew it would be a difficult task. There were many changing elements between Kans of Tarkir and rewritten destination and Dragons Tarkir had to adapt and complement to the rest of the block. I chose Mark as head of design for this collection and I've never regretted it. Mark understand all the factors that were driving and did a great job overseeing Dragons Tarkir and providing many comments that helped improve Kans of Tarkir and rewritten destination.

 Dan Emmons

Dan I met him during his first day of work at Wizards. Had just joined the support team games (so called customer before), but came to me because his real goal was to enter Wizards work in R & D. I explained that his work in the offices would help show us what she could do, but that does not do any good if not excelled in their regular work. I suggested him to join the team contribution of letters, a group of employees outside R & D who want to create Magic cards. Whenever the development process creates holes for letters, team contribution is the first consulting to try to fill them.

Dan impressed us with their proposals, so we included it in several minicomputers, or temporary teams who spend a week or two to solve problems under design or development. Our friend took pains in minicomputers and decided to start calling him to work on collections of Magic, first in a complementary and then normal. Dan did pretty well on computers and when a vacancy in the design department was opened, we offered the position.

Wizards Dan left for other opportunities, but during his time here was part of many design teams. The positive energy of Dan never wavered since I met and will continue longing for. However, for you have not yet gone, because you can see the fruits of their work Tarkir Dragons.

 Graeme Hopkins

A Graeme met him when he was among the three finalists of the first Great Designer Search. The three traveled to Renton to participate in the Challenge, which consisted of a series of three intensive interviews and a final face competition. Graeme did not win, but got an internship in R & D and took well, so he was offered a job in the digital department of the company. Luckily, occasionally let you work in design.

Graeme has been part of numerous teams, many of which have led me. Our partner is witty and prolific, two great qualities for a designer. Always a pleasure to work with Graeme and Dragons design Tarkir was no exception.

 Colin Kawakami

Colin I met him when he came to do your job interview. Like Mark Gottlieb became design coordinator, Colin was hired to work as coordinator of the creative team. Tarkir Dragons was the first collection that worked with us as a representative of his department. Colin soon joined our team and it was a good signing.

Not always have representatives of the creative department in Collections third, but the Kans of Tarkir block had a complex creative component and spin it wanted to make sure everything. Colin showed us a very elaborate network of plot elements and made sure that everything was connected properly.

 Sam Stoddard

Sam I met him during his first day of work. He had heard of it and had read his texts, but did not know him in person. He had also participated in the Pro Tour, but his time and mine did not match. Sam joined the Dragons Tarkir design and development department representative, but he showed he was comfortable designing cards. As I explained during previews rewritten Destiny, one day we took work home and Sam and I had separate the idea to create the mechanics quickly.

Sam has an eye for identifying what they need Magic collections and always made ​​very relevant and useful questions. This was the first team I worked with Sam, and I realized that this guy will become a new development workers.

 Mark Rosewater

To me met me ... Well I do not remember; I think it was quite young. Well, the fact is that the best way to know how they design teams is part of them, so I also participated in the design of Dragons Tarkir.

FIRST THINGS FIRST
I have written many articles about the design of the block Kans of Tarkir, but like you you did not know the three collections, I found it somewhat difficult to explain it all. Now that we finally got to the third collection, I thought I could retell this story, but without letting me some important details that I had to skip.

I already explained that the preliminary design had considered making a block with large / small / large collections. Furthermore, the intermediate collection is going to draft with two large, never draftearían together. We also knew that we were going to use an archetypal story of time travel to explain the structure. The protagonist come and discover a world that was in decline, then travel to the past to correct the problem and then return to the present to see the consequences of their actions. As often happens in these stories, things never go exactly as expected the protagonist.

Started designing Kans of Tarkir knowing we needed a world in decline that would become even worse. The creative team took care to think about how would those two places and presented his idea. First, we would create a world devastated and ruled by warlords where dragons were extinct, and then become a plane in which the dragons would be the warlords. The proposal found it fantastic and we got to work.

With regard to mechanical, block structure identified some things. We wanted the first collection and the third were very different. They needed some parallels to show that it was alternate timelines, but we wanted to experience the drafts and thematic prove very different. When we decided to Kans of Tarkir going to be a collection wedge, we had to ask what it would Dragons Tarkir. Rewritten destination would be designed for that combined with the other two collections, so serve as a bridge between mechanical.



Kans of Tarkir going to be a collection wedge and I did not want Tarkir Dragons also be. So why not use the fragments (three color combinations formed by a color and its two allies)? The problem was that the two tricolors end up becoming too similar collections because collections fragments used a similar collections wedge structure. Furthermore, although the draftear new three color combinations would be used would be very similar strategies. In summary, the third collection could not be tricolor.

What if we did monochrome? What if a tricolor world let us pass one single color? In the end, we found that change too drastically. Furthermore, rewritten Destiny would have had many difficulties to fit both the tricolor and with the monochrome theme. For example, three color collections need land not needed in single color. We would have had to be included to ensure that rewritten Destination worked well with Kans of Tarkir, but later than enough when draftease with Dragons Tarkir. That change was excessive.

This left us with two color options. Now, I wanted there parallels between the first and the third collection. To achieve this, I decided that we were going to use a number of factions. Each collection would have five factions led by warlords. That generated a robust parallelism that allowed us to define the identity of each collection. Therefore, I had to decide whether the clans of Dragons Tarkir enemies or allies would use colors. Are you wondering why not combined them both? It could have, but when two collections are contrasted and looks neater than the other, the aesthetic is strange. If I wanted to mix two color types factions should have done the same with the tricolor, and did not want to because there was so much demand for creásemos a collection wedge.

Therefore, I reviewed our options and made ​​a decision: Dragons Tarkir would use the theme of enemy colors. We had never done a cycle of legendary dragons of opposite colors and unique collection of that type that we had created was Revelation, fifteen years ago. I also liked the idea that dragons generate many conflicts when they should do with power, and the enemies colors serve to represent it. Note that we had not yet begun designing Tarkir Dragons. First, we had to plan well what we were doing, to ensure that Kans of Tarkir not occupy the territory mechanic needed to Dragons Tarkir.



Hunt the weak | Illustration Lars Grant-West

Then, Erik Lauer came to me. Erik is the lead developer, ie, my counterpart in the development department. Erik told me that it seemed wrong to use combinations of enemies colors. Here's why: the right way to draftear a collection wedge is to start choosing letters from two opposite colors; that way, you can then choose between two factions in different wedge. For example, if you start to blue-red draftear, you can then add white to go Jeskai, or green to go Temur. Indeed, draftear color combinations enemies would be too similar. Erik suggested us to use allies colors.

At first I was a little surprised. By topic, I liked dragons collection utilizase opposite colors but then thought about the proposed Erik and I realized he was right. Our main objective was to develop a structure for drafts ever seen; To achieve this, each step had to be very different. Also, when I researched it, I saw that we had not created a cycle of legendary dragons allies colors. The truth was that there was plenty of space mechanic explore.

But then, what about the guilds of Ravnica? Had they not proved the final two color models factions? The players like Magic multicolored themed and has a limited number of combinations. Well, if we wanted to continue creating colorful collections (and this theme is very popular), we were going to have to deal with combinations of different forms. The truth is that we found very novel use colors to create clans allied dragons instead of guilds.

Now, let's step back and see how this decision affected the whole block. I wanted there five clans. We were going to see their tricolor and then two color versions, in addition to the prototypes that seem to be the precursors of both categories. I also decided that each clan would have a main color, because that would serve thread and help us address two color combinations from another perspective. In the case of the wedges, the obvious choice was the opposite of the other two color, because it was the axis. But there was one problem: if the wedges were to become allies combinations of two colors, colored enemy had to go. For example, the green-white clan could only proceed abzana wedge.

This meant that the main color of each wedge had to be one of the two allies. I knew there was intuitive and surprise the audience a little, but there was choice. For me, it was more important to preserve the parallelism between the clans, because the structure of time travel was based on it. Each clan would develop differently and wanted the links were clear. If we had set up five spots that they became five two color combinations and not have a direct correspondence, we would have contradicted the theme of the timelines. In short, two color combinations were to represent the next evolution of the clans.

In short, we bite the bullet and decided that the main color of the wedges would be one of the two allies colors. Then, rewritten Destino, we emphasized that each clan had a dominant color. And that is the reason wedge clans were structured in this way.

[Art of Stratus Dancer]

Dancer strata | Illustration Anastasia Ovchinnikova

METAMORPHOSIS METAMORPHOSIS
We also had to deal with how we would use the metamorphosis (rather, the cards face down) to represent history. The metamorphosis symbolized Tarkir this. Manifest was the prototype of metamorphosis in the past. Therefore, Tarkir Dragons needed to give a twist to the cards face down. We had two options: to create a variant of metamorphosis that reflects their new developments or develop a variant manifest to show that, in the new reality, metamorphosis does not come into existence.

We opted for the variant of metamorphosis for two reasons. The first was excessive mechanical. In each block, we usually use between six and twelve mechanical, so we get an average of nine. For example, the Return to Ravnica block had eleven (ten guild's mechanical fuse) and we seemed enough. Well, Kans of Tarkir block was already twelve mechanical: the five clans wedge bicolor five clans, metamorphosis and manifest. That is, we had already reached the maximum. With a variant of metamorphosis, we could achieve the effect we wanted without having to create a thirteenth mechanics. It was enough that resembled metamorphosis that proves easy to understand.

The other problem was that while we were designing Tarkir Dragons, still did not know what would manifest destiny. Remember Tarkir Dragons is a large collection, so we started developing it several months before rewritten Destiny. The design team loved the mechanics of state, but it was strange and complex. Was relatively unlikely to survive the development of rewritten Destiny; at least it would change a lot. Therefore, it was too risky to mess with her ​​Tarkir Dragons, so we opted for the variant of metamorphosis. Well, for one of many that we came.

The first variant of metamorphosis was born during the preliminary design and was called auramorfosis. All cards with that mechanics were auras. When You put on your back, automatically appendix to a creature of your choice. That resulted in a very different game experience. For example, you could attack with a creature face up and one face down. With the metamorphosis, it tends to block the creature upside down because it could turn around and do much damage. With auramorfosis, it was better to block the creature face up, because that had the greatest chance to hit hard.



Manifest | Illustration Raymond Swanland

The auramorfosis had two big drawbacks. First, the team of preliminary design had to collaborate on Theros block after creating the auramorfosis and developed mechanical concession. Although both mechanics were not exactly the same, it seemed too much to include in consecutive blocks. Second, the design team did some tests with auramorfosis and saw that once you pillabas the trick, the game experience became forced and was not as fun as metamorphosis.

Then we propose create the osomorfosis. The idea was that the cards Dragons metamorphosis is Tarkir could launch by two mana, instead of three (like the Bear Runeclaw , hence the name). The problem was how they interacted both formats metamorphosis Limited. Remember if a player had paid two or three mana for each card very difficult and generated much confusion. That made ​​us planteásemos if all cards with morph Kans block of Tarkir should cost two mana, but that's a story for another article.

The following technique we tried was the supermetamorfosis. Turn over cards with that skill cost four mana, but came with a + 1 / + 1 and functioning as 3/3 creatures. It was a pleasure playing with supermetamorfosis. It looked like metamorphosis, so it was easy to learn to use it, but it worked very differently at the strategic level. In addition, you gave an incentive to play the creatures face down, even if you had mana to deliver them directly, because that will you You put a + 1 / + 1. Besides, unlike the osomorfosis, the advantage supermetamorfosis counters to distinguish normal metamorphosis.

So what happened to the supermetamorfosis? Had a little problem: it was not compatible with the metamorphosis. When you threw a letter supermetamorfosis, you know it was not a morph, so there was no interaction between them. Letters to metamorphosis could only be creatures with morph and letters supermetamorfosis creatures could only be supermetamorfosis. As an advocate of this mechanic, I argued that it would be acceptable. Yes, it was a disadvantage, but the supermetamorfosis had many advantages. In the end, I could not win that war.

The final variant of metamorphosis proved to be an evolution of the supermetamorfosis. No costs four mana used to launch 3/3 creatures, but retained the idea of ​​"tummy start to get a + 1 / + 1". The name of the new variant tests was megametamorfosis, who caught and used as the final name. Creatures with megametamorfosis are like creatures with morph, but have an advantage when put face up, get a + 1 / + 1.

To demostrároslo, permit me reveal my letter today. World, I'd like the ballerina strata.



DRAGONS FOR ALL
There is still much to tell about the design of Dragons Tarkir, but I've reached my limit for today. Luckily, this is part 1 of the article, so I will continue this story next week. As always, interested to give me your opinion. You can write me via email or any of my profiles on social networks ( Twitter , Tumblr , Google+ and Instagram ).

Come back next week when I start talking about the other mechanical new collection and about the overall structure that operates the block.

Until then, I hope that your metamorphosis are megaeficaces.

"DRIVE TO WORK # 204- ARABIAN NIGHTS, PART 1"
This podcast is the first of a three part series on the design of the first expansion of Magic.

"DRIVE TO WORK # 205- ARABIAN NIGHTS, PART 2"
And this is the second of three podcasts on the design of Arabian Nights.