A series of design documents and retrospective analyses published by Wizards of the Coast provide detailed information on the development processes for several upcoming and recent Magic: The Gathering sets. These materials outline mechanical structures, design challenges, and lessons learned during the creation of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Murders at Karlov Manor, and the forthcoming set codenamed "Lorwyn Eclipsed."
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan & Murders at Karlov Manor: Design Post-Mortem
Lead designer Mark Rosewater shared observations on the design of two recent sets, focusing on challenges encountered during their development phases.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
The initial vision for the set, conceived as an underground adventure world, featured a "color matters" theme utilizing colored resource tokens and a "craft" mechanic. According to Rosewater, this vision was largely discarded following late-stage creative changes that relocated the setting to Ixalan and based on feedback from the Play Design team.
The final set instead centered on card types, the explore mechanic, and Dinosaur typal strategies. Rosewater stated that his personal attachment to the original theme hindered the design process.
Murders at Karlov Manor
Designed as a top-down murder mystery, this set incorporated mechanics including investigate, disguise, suspect, Cases, and collect evidence. The setting was changed to the plane of Ravnica during the vision design phase.
Rosewater noted that the murder mystery genre presents a design challenge as it is not inherently an environmental genre. He proposed potential alterations for future similar designs: removal of the cloak and suspect mechanics, a reduction in the volume of murder-mystery themed cards, and the addition of more elements specific to the Ravnica setting. He also observed that the puzzles included in the set represented a successful innovation, though they had low audience engagement.
Key Lessons Identified
"The mechanical theme of a set must serve the set's overall needs rather than a designer's personal preferences."
Rosewater concluded that the mechanical theme of a set must serve the set's overall needs rather than a designer's personal preferences. He also noted that while stories require plots, Magic: The Gathering expansions require environments with sufficient visual and tonal depth. Both sets, he stated, were negatively affected by flawed concepts during their vision design phases.
Lorwyn Eclipsed: Set Design Document Overview
The design document for the set codenamed "Lorwyn Eclipsed," under the code name "Wrestling," outlines its structure, mechanics, and design goals. The set aims to fuse elements from the original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor planes.
Core Mechanics
The set features several key mechanical elements:
- Double-Faced Cards (DFCs): These cards depict a Lorwyn identity on one side and a Shadowmoor identity on the other. The final set includes seven rare or mythic rare DFCs, including legendary creatures, an Elemental God, and an Oko planeswalker, with consistent power and toughness on both sides.
- Rainbow (later Vivid): A mechanic that counts the number of different colors among permanents a player controls, functioning similarly to the domain mechanic. It was intended to appear in blue, red, and green.
- Mashups: A design territory combining mechanics previously exclusive to Lorwyn (e.g., changelings, typal) and Shadowmoor (e.g., -1/-1 counters, hybrid mana).
Proposed Mechanics Not Included
Two mechanics proposed for the set were not included in the final design:
- Cavort: A red and white mechanic that rewarded players for dealing four or more total damage during their turn.
- Hunt: A black and green Elf mechanic that created a "Hunted Aura" token. This token would cause its controller to draw a card upon the death of the creature it was attached to.
Set Structure and Mana Fixing
The set's structure includes specific creature allocations at common and uncommon rarities, including monocolor creatures with primary and secondary types, changelings, and hybrid creatures. Mana fixing is provided through the mana costs of hybrid cards and the inclusion of Evolving Wilds at common, rather than through a cycle of common dual lands.
Card Cycles
The design document details numerous card cycles planned for the set:
- Behold Spells and Creatures: Two cycles utilizing the "behold" keyword action were implemented at uncommon and rare, with an additional green beholding card at mythic rare.
- Reuniters: A cycle of uncommon creatures that search the top four cards of a library for a creature of a primary type or a basic land type.
- HHH Signposts: A cycle of uncommon creatures indicating two-color archetypes, implemented with some changes to mana costs.
- Changelings: A cycle of uncommon Shapeshifters with changeling was implemented.
- Commands: A cycle of five rare kindred spells in ally colors, each with four modal abilities.
- Elemental Incarnations: A cycle of five rare Elemental creatures in enemy colors with hybrid mana costs and evoke.
- Shocklands: Five shock lands were included, corresponding to the primary typal color pairs.
Several planned cycles were not included in the final set, including a cycle of rare land DFCs and a five-card cycle of "Transcendents (Quints)" with XXXXX hybrid mana costs.
Archetypes
The document outlines the set's ten two-color archetypes, which largely remained consistent from initial plans:
- Stayed Archetypes: White-blue (Merfolk typal), blue-black (Control with Faerie typal), black-red (Goblin typal), red-green (Vivid mechanic), green-white (Kithkin typal), white-black (controlling blight archetype), blue-red (Elemental typal), black-green (Elf typal).
- Changed Archetypes: Red-white, initially "Cavort" (aggro), became a blight archetype focusing on large creatures with -1/-1 counters.
Missing Elements and Design Goals
The design team aimed to include returning and new legendary characters from the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor blocks, a version of the character Oona, five visiting Strixhaven students, Sun and Moon elementals, desirable reprints, and other callbacks. Most of these elements were incorporated into the final set.
Detailed Mechanical Callbacks in Lorwyn Eclipsed
Further design materials provide details on how the set incorporates mechanical callbacks to the original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks.
Champion Mechanic Reimagined
The original 'Champion' mechanic, which required exiling a creature upon entry, was reinterpreted for Lorwyn Eclipsed. The new cycle of "Champion" cards does not use the original keyword. Instead, they use the 'behold' keyword action, providing benefits—such as cost reduction or triggered abilities—if a specific creature type is revealed from the hand. This approach creates value without requiring the loss of a permanent. This cycle of uncommon monocolor creatures is aligned with the set's five core creature types (Kithkin, Merfolk, Goblin, Elemental, Elf). An additional common cycle uses 'behold' to offer a discount for casting spells.
Commands Cycle Redone
The original 'Commands' cycle from Lorwyn, which offered four modal choices, returns in Lorwyn Eclipsed as two-color cards aligned with the set's five typal archetypes:
- Green-White for Kithkin
- White-Blue for Merfolk
- Black-Red for Goblins
- Blue-Red for Elementals
- Black-Green for Elves
Each Command at least one typal effect, such as creating a token copy of a creature the player controls of the relevant creature type. The cards are also designated as 'kindred' cards.
Hybrid Creatures with -1/-1 Counters
The set features cards combining -1/-1 counters with trigger mechanics, inspired by designs from Shadowmoor and Eventide such as the 'Hatchlings' cycle. These include:
- Encumbered Reejerey: A Merfolk that triggers when it becomes tapped.
- Moonshadow: A black card that triggers when permanents are moved to the graveyard.
- Reluctant Dounguard and Bristlebane Battler: A green/white card that reacts to other creatures entering the battlefield. Bristlebane Battler is a 6/6 with trample and ward.