this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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[โ€“] mike@mtgzone.com 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

First off, I didn't realize MaRo did this for Tempest too. This is awesome.

Tempest block is when I started but Urza's block was my favorite. I was a little too young to go out and draft those sets but I remember following every spoiler and loving every card that came out in Saga, Legacy, Destiny. I also remember my peak excitement as a child was getting a USG booster box for Christmas and cracking a Gaea's Cradle. Needed 4 of those for a deck and I didn't have the $80 for a playset (lol).

Crazy that MaRo was the only designer for Urza's Destiny. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what a designer does here, but that seems really short staffed at a time when the game was very popular.

Original Goblin General (Goblin Marshall) was very much like a Deranged Hermit and I think the tweak they made was better. I really liked the take he had on Echo + Death Triggers. I think that is just a great example of tradeoffs in the older game. It was a cool idea to staple cycling as a (2) + Sacrifice mechanic for permanents.

It would be pretty incredible if they brought Urza's block draft to Arena for an event. I think that would definitely get be back playing regularly.

[โ€“] MysticKetchup@mtgzone.com 3 points 1 week ago

Behind the scenes of early Magic was really a handful of people flying by the seat of their pants. They really were completely unprepared for Magic's overwhelming success.

Mark also talks about this on his Drive to Work podcast if you want more, it's pretty fun to hear his old stories of how they had to learn through experience for basically everything