Magic is pretty much perfect to me excepting the concept of mana.

RNG isn't so bad. I mean card games are going to involve RNG by necessity because of drawing and shuffling. You could just embrace that part of the game and just dial that up to eleven. Like for example making cards that have to deal with coin flips but also other cards that let you reflip a given coin with an unfavorable result or something.

Or making "random" killspells that see more play in creature light decks vs creature heavy decks could be a thing.

Anyway magic for me would be perfect if you could always be on curve with your land drops somehow (like hearthstone).

And local game stores are coming back into vogue idk what planet you're on. cafe's with board games & card games make a lot of money if they're properly maintained and have accommodating owners etc (and decent food especially).

A lot of this is like marketing advice which is good and all but I was thinking about nuts and bolts design of the game. You did discuss the mix-n-match nature of decks and also rng vs discrete games (like a completely random game vs a completely determined game like chess). Right now mtg probably falls somewhere along Risk in terms of variance vs skill. You also discussed keeping individual cards and rules simple enough for new players but deep enough to keep experienced players engaged (which is I think MtGs greatest secret with NWO).

Great listen! I was multitasking while I listened, so I'm not sure how in-depth you touched on this: for me, the reason I play card games is for the mental challenge. I'll be honest; I found card games like Pokemon boring because of the lack of in-depth strategy and skill and for that very reason, Legacy is my favorite format in magic. I enjoy the complexity of the game and difficulty of piloting the decks and dislike Standard because of the lack of complexity, relatively speaking. I guess I just don't enjoy easy magic; I want to feel that I earned the win, or feel like I deserved to lose when I lose.

I know you guys talked a bit about it when covering relevancy of RNG, but I don't recall it being on your list of requirements.

This is the first one of this podcast that I've listened too; I might have to go back and listen to some more. It was very well done and interesting.

Thank you commentors! It's rare I get comments on these episodes, so it always brightens my day to see them when I do :)

NewHorizons: We might be wrong somewhat about game stores, but I think what we are getting at is that, logically, more people will prefer to have access to a game via the technology at their fingertips rather than having to drive somewhere, lug their game along with them, and then potentially have to deal with issues such as smells, etc.Not everyone would agree, but I think it's safe to say a majority would.

ToolmasterOfBrainerd: I'm glad you enjoyed! I highly recommend going back and listening to some of the older stuff. While some cover topics no longer "in the news", I know from personal experience that that doesn't really matter when having it on in the background.

Also, I hate to be that guy, but if anyone reading this truly enjoys this podcast, Eric and I would really appreciate a 5-star rating on iTunes and/or Stitcher. We haven't received any in the time we've been doing this, and it's hindering our outreach quite a bit. Be a pal, why doncha?