I started writing my Making Magic column back in 2002. In November of 2003, I hit one hundred weeks of writing and decided to look back at my first one hundred articles. I wrote a short synopsis of each article, graded it, and then linked to it for ease of access. That article was "One Hundred and Counting." It went over well, so now, every one hundred weeks, I write a new article. Recently, I hit week 1,100, so it's time for another look back.

The reason I do this recap column is twofold. First, it serves to keep a record of all my articles for people who want to go back and find a particular one. Second, it acts as a resource for newer readers who want some idea of where to start when diving into the ever-growing pool of Making Magic articles.

This is the eleventh in the series. Here are the first ten write-ups:

As always, here's my five-star scale:

Five Stars

This is as good as it gets. The crème de la crème. If you're going to catch up on any old articles, these are the ones to read.

Four Stars

While not my absolute best, this article is one of my better pieces.

Three Stars

One of my bread-and-butter articles. Nothing spectacular, but nothing too shabby either.

Two Stars

At best, a ho-hum read. At worst, a failed experiment.

One Star

The only reason to read this is to say you've read every article. Not my finest hour.

Whenever I write one of these columns, I get questions about why there are so few low-rated columns. There are three reasons. One, I'm keeping a constant grade across all the "Hundred and Counting" articles. In the early years, I published some low-rated articles, so I can't just get rid of the lower ratings and readjust the scale. Two, if I feel I've written an article that falls lower than a three-star column, I rewrite it. I'm always aiming for five-star columns, so my three-star columns are me "hitting low." Three, I've been doing this for 1,100 weeks (over 20 years), so I'm a stronger writer than I was in 2002.

With that out of the way, let's talk about some columns.

Week #1001 (March 1, 2021) – "The Test of Time Spiral Remastered"

Three Stars

This article kicked off Time Spiral Remastered preview week, so I told the story of how we made the set and showed off some preview cards. Time Spiral Remastered's codename was "Project Cupcake," and you'll learn even more tidbits if you read this article.

Week #1002 (March 8, 2021) – "27 Things You Might Not Know about Time Spiral Block"

Four Stars

Because Time Spiral Remastered was coming out, I decided to share a bunch of stories about the making of Time Spiral block. This article has a lot of fun behind-the-scenes stories.

Week #1003 (March 15, 2021) – "Time After Time Spiral Block"

Three Stars

In this article, I told my card-by-card design stories from Time Spiral Remastered.

Week #1004 (March 22, 2021) – "Nuts & Bolts #13: Design Skeleton Revisited"

Five Stars

This is part of my "Nuts & Bolts" series that I do every year for amateur Magic designers. This column revisited the concept of a design skeleton, a key tool in making a Magic set. I showed off a default design skeleton (made by Adam Prosak) that we use in R&D. If you ever want to design your own Magic set, this article is essential reading.

Week #1005 (March 29, 2021) – "In the Strixhaven, Part 1"

Four Stars

This marked the first week of Strixhaven: School of Mages previews, so I started telling the story of the set's design. I also introduced the set's Exploratory Design and Vision Design teams.

Week #1006 (April 5, 2021) – "In the Strixhaven, Part 2"

Four Stars

This column went into detail about the making of the five colleges of Strixhaven: School of Mages.

Week #1007 (April 12, 2021) – "School's in Session"

Three Stars

This is my card-by-card design story column for Strixhaven: School of Mages. I looked at the evolution of the design of several cards from the set.

Week #1008 (April 19, 2021) – "Strixhaven Vision Design Handoff Document, Part 1"

Five Stars

When we finish a vision design and hand it off to set design, the vision design lead creates a document known as the vision design handoff document. Whenever I'm the vision design lead, I show the document I handed off along with annotations about it. It doesn't get more in the weeds than this. A must-read if you want to understand how we make Magic sets. This document was long enough that it's a two-part article.

Week #1009 (April 26, 2021) – "Strixhaven Vision Design Handoff Document, Part 2"

Five Stars

And here's part two.

Week #1010 (May 3, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Strixhaven, Part 1"

Three Stars

For most sets, I do a mailbag column or two in a series I call "Odds & Ends" where I answer player questions about the set. In this column, I answered questions about Strixhaven: School of Mages.

Week #1011 (May 10, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Strixhaven, Part 2"

Three Stars

For Strixhaven: School of Mages, I did two mailbag columns.

Week #1012 (May 17, 2021) – "Future Sight Design Handoff Document"

Five Stars

Normally, I do handoff documents for the current sets, but Modern Horizons 2 previews were coming up the next week, so I thought it would be fun to look back at Future Sight's handoff document. (When originally pitching the idea that would evolve into Modern Horizons, I pitched it as "Future Sight 2.") Because this is an older document, it's a bit different from the more modern ones for those who enjoy seeing the evolution of R&D processes.

Week #1013 (May 24, 2021) – "A Modern Approach, Part 1"

Three Stars

This marked the beginning of Modern Horizons 2 previews, so I introduced the Vision Design team and walked through the story of the set's design. I also previewed a bunch of Squirrel cards (the set had a Squirrel draft archetype in black-green).

Week #1014 (May 31, 2021) – "A Modern Approach, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is part two of the design story of Modern Horizons 2. I introduced the Set Design team and previewed some mix-and-match cards (cards that have two different nonevergreen keywords).

Week #1015 (June 7, 2021) – "On the Horizons, Part 1"

Four Stars

This is a card-by-card design stories column for Modern Horizons 2. Among others, I told the story of how Chub Toad got its name and how it created one of the deepest cuts in Modern Horizons 2 design.

Week #1016 (June 14, 2021) – "On the Horizons, Part 2"

Four Stars

This is part two of my card-by-card design stories column for Modern Horizons 2. Among other things, you'll learn how Urza's Saga came to be.

Week #1017 (June 21, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Modern Horizons, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first part of my Modern Horizons 2 mailbag column. Normally, I do the mailbag columns by myself, but I had Aaron Forsythe as a special guest answering some of the questions. (Aaron was the lead set designer for Modern Horizons 2.)

Week #1018 (June 28, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Modern Horizons, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is the second part of my Modern Horizons 2 mailbag column.

Week #1019 (July 5, 2021) – "D&D-esign. Part 1"

Three Stars

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms previews began, so I introduced the Vision Design team, started telling the story of the set's design, and showed off some preview cards. My favorite part of this article was showing off an illustration my roommate made of our D&D play group from back in the day.

Week #1020 (July 12, 2021) – "D&D-esign. Part 2"

Three Stars

This is the second part of my Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms previews. I introduced the Set Design team and talked about how the various mechanics were designed.

Week #1021 (July 19, 2021) – "Dungeon Tales, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first of two card-by-card design story columns for Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. In it, I walked through the design evolution of several of the most iconic creatures and items from Dungeons & Dragons, including Drizzt Do'Urden and The Book of Vile Darkness.

Week #1022 (July 26, 2021) – "Dungeon Tales, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is part two. I talked about the design of Tiamat and Xanathar, among others.

Week #1023 (August 2, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Part 1"

Three Stars

I did two weeks of mailbag columns for Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. This is part one.

 

Week #1024 (August 9, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Part 2"

Three Stars

And this is part two.

Week #1025 (August 16, 2021) – "State of Design 2021"

Five Stars

Every year in August ever since I became head designer, I write an article called "State of Design" where I look back at the last year's worth of design and talk through what went right and what went wrong. This article looked at Zendikar Rising through Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. The "State of Design" articles are the most introspective I get about how Magic design has been doing.

Week #1026 (August 23, 2021) – "Innistrad Design Handoff Document"

Five Stars

The Future Sight design document had gone over so well, I decided to go back and show another handoff document from the past. This time, it was Innistrad, as Innistrad: Midnight Hunt previews were about to begin.

Week #1027 (August 30, 2021) – "Happy Hunt-ing, Part 1"

Three Stars

It was the start of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt previews. This column mostly talked about the design of the day and night mechanic.

Week #1028 (September 6, 2021) – "Happy Hunt-ing, Part 2"

Three Stars

Week two of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt previews, I introduced the Vision and Set Design teams and walked through how we designed the mechanical feel of each of the five main creature types (Human, Spirit, Vampire, Werewolf, and Zombie).

Week #1029 (September 13, 2021) – "Burning the Midnight Oil, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first of my card-by-card design stories from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Among other things, I explained why the set has no green curse (a popular question at the time).

Week #1030 (September 20, 2021) – "Burning the Midnight Oil, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is the second of my card-by-card design stories from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. I mostly spent time going through the evolutions of some of the legendary creatures from the set.

Week #1031 (September 27, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Midnight Hunt, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is my first mailbag column for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.

Week #1032 (October 4, 2021) – "Odds & Ends: Midnight Hunt, Part 2"

Three Stars

And this is my second mailbag column for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.

Week #1033 (October 11, 2021) – "Let's Talk Color Pie"

Four Stars

I was working on updating my Mechanical Color Pie article, but it turned out to be a way bigger project than I'd anticipated, so I made this column as a filler. It's not actually a column but a link to all my articles and podcasts (at the time) on color pie. It's a great resource and something I recommend checking out if you haven't read or listened to the large amount of work I've spent explaining the color pie.

Week #1034 (October 18, 2021) – "Mechanical Color Pie 2021"

Five Stars

In 2017, I made an article called the "Mechanical Color Pie" where I tried, to the best of my ability, to label every commonly used effect in the game and assign it to its proper color or colors along with a listing if it was primary, secondary, or tertiary in that color.

Four years later, things changed, so I enlisted the help of the Council of Colors and updated it. It is the ultimate resource for figuring out what color(s) an ability belongs in. If you've never seen it, give it a look. Warning, though: it's lengthy.

Along with it is an article that listed all the changes made between the original article and the 2021 update: "Mechanical Color Pie 2021 Changes."

Week #1035 (October 25, 2021) – "How Trivial – Vampires"

Four Stars

From time to time, I do a trivia column called "How Trivial." It's a multiple-choice Magic trivia test. This time, in honor of the Innistrad: Crimson Vow previews that were about to begin, the topic was Vampires.

Week #1036 (November 1, 2021) – "From Vow On, Part 1"

Three Stars

It was the start of Innistrad: Crimson Vow previews. I introduced the Vision Design team, showed off a preview card, explained how the set came to be (it wasn't originally on the schedule), and explained the origin of the Blood artifact token.

Week #1037 (November 8, 2021) – "From Vow On, Part 2"

Three Stars

I introduced the Innistrad: Crimson Vow Set Design team, and then walked through the rest of the set's mechanics. Part of the story was about how Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow traded two mechanics.

Week #1038 (November 15, 2021) – "The Here and Vow, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is part one of my Innistrad: Crimson Vow card-by-card design stories. I explained the evolution of both Chandra and Edgar Markoff and walked through how Form of the Vampire almost happened.

Week #1039 (November 22, 2021) – "The Here and Vow, Part 2"

Three Stars

In part two of my Innistrad: Crimson Vow card-by-card design stories, I explained the evolution of Kaya, Olivia, and Sorin.

Week #1040 (November 29, 2021) – "To Unfinity and Beyond"

Three Stars

We do something called a "first look" where we give everyone the first glimpse at a new set. It usually happens several months before previews begin to help stores gauge interest in the set. Due to our schedule, this first look at Unfinity was already a bit earlier than normal. Then the product was pushed back from an April 1 release date to October 7, making this a very early first look. In it, I previewed a bunch of art and cards and explained that the set would be black bordered with some cards being Eternal legal.

Week #1041 (December 6, 2021) – "Odds & Ends – Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first of two mailbag columns for Innistrad: Crimson Vow.

Week #1042 (December 13, 2021) – "Odds & Ends – Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is the second of two mailbag columns for Innistrad: Crimson Vow.

Week #1043 (December 20, 2021) – Vacation Week

I normally take a few weeks off each December.

Week #1044 (December 27, 2021) – Vacation Week

Week #1045 (January 3, 2021) – Vacation Week

Week #1046 (January 10, 2022) – "Even More Words with R&D"

Four Stars

Occasionally, I write a "Words with R&D" column where I explain common lingo that we use while making the game. This is my third column in that series. If you enjoy language, it's a fun look into R&D-speak (much of which gets used by the enfranchised playerbase).

Week #1047 (January 17, 2022) – "The Big Picture"

Five Stars

I often say that Magic is not one game but many games that share a rules system and component pieces. In this column, I looked at the challenges of designing such a robust game system. This is where my buffet metaphor came from. (I compared Magic design to running a buffet.) I think this a good look at one of the core challenges of making Magic.

Week #1048 (January 27, 2022) – "The Making of a Dynasty, Part 1"

Four Stars

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty previews were about to begin, so I introduced the Exploratory and Vision Design teams, showed off two preview cards, and began telling the story of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty's design. There's an interesting story about how I (and many others) worked hard to make sure this set was on Kamigawa. My column was published on Thursday that week as that's when previews began.

Week #1049 (January 31, 2022) – "The Making of a Dynasty, Part 2"

Four Stars

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty previews continued, so I introduced the Set Design team, showed off a cool Kiki Jiki–inspired preview, and walked through how all the mechanics were chosen and created. Making the set feel like Kamigawa without using most of the mechanics from the original block was a challenge.

Week #1050 (February 7, 2022) – "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Vision Design Handoff, Part 1"

Five Stars

I showed off the vision design handoff document for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. As always, it showed the original document with annotations from me. It was long enough that I broke it into two parts.

Week #1051 (February 14, 2022) – "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Vision Design Handoff, Part 2"

Five Stars

This is part two of the vision design handoff document for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

Week #1052 (February 21, 2022) – "Elements of Neon Dynasty"

Three Stars

This is my one card-by-card design story article for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Among other things, I talked about the making of the new Shrines (along with the history of Shrines), and how we designed our first compleated planeswalker, Tamiyo.

Week #1053 (February 28, 2022) – "Odds & Ends: Neon Dynasty"

Three Stars

This is my one mailbag column for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

Week #1054 (March 7, 2022) – "Nuts & Bolts #14: Initial Ideation"

Five Stars

This is another in my "Nuts & Bolts" series where I talk about how to design your own cards/set. This article talked about how to do early ideation (from having a basic idea for your set to having a fleshed-out structure).

Week #1055 (March 14, 2022) – "Which Came First?"

Five Stars

This is my favorite trivia column that I've ever done. I give you two elements of the game, and you decide which came first.

Week #1056 (March 21, 2022) – "Get It? Unstable Edition"

Three Stars

Whenever a new Un- set comes out, I always do an article where I look back at the last Un- set and talk through a bunch of the less obvious jokes hidden in the set. Because Unfinity was coming out, I looked back at Unstable. Unfinity had been delayed at this point, but I didn't know until when, so I just published the article where I had originally planned it.

Week #1057 (March 28, 2022) – "Deciduous"

Four Stars

If a mechanic appears in (almost) every set, we call it evergreen. There are other mechanics that we can use in any set that needs them but don't appear in every set, and these are known as deciduous. This article looked at most of the deciduous mechanics at the time. This is where I first announced cycling as deciduous.

Week #1058 (April 7, 2022) – "Hitting the Streets of New Capenna, Part 1"

Four Stars

This was the first week of Streets of New Capenna previews. In this article, I told an interesting story about how Mark Gottlieb came up with the basic idea for the set in the middle of a meeting. He sent an email in the middle of the meeting, and I put that email in the article. It's surprising how much of the final set was shaped by the initial email. This article was published on a Thursday, as that's when the previews started.

Week #1059 (April 11, 2022) – "Hitting the Streets of New Capenna, Part 2"

Four Stars

In this article, I talked about how each of the five families were designed, including the mechanics for each. I also introduced the Set Design team.

Week #1060 (April 18, 2022) – "Word on the Streets of New Capenna, Part 1"

Three Stars

This was my first of three articles on card-by-card design stories from Streets of New Capenna. This article looked at the making of the five charms tied to the families (Brokers Charm, Obscura Charm, Maestros Charm, Riveteers Charm, and Cabaretti Charm).

Week #1061 (April 25, 2022) – "Word on the Streets of New Capenna, Part 2"

Three Stars

The second Streets of New Capenna card-by-card design stories article focused on the evolution of several designs, including Elspeth Resplendent.

Week #1062 (May 9, 2022) – "Word on the Streets of New Capenna, Part 3"

Three Stars

In the third Streets of New Capenna card-by-card design stories article, I told the evolution of more card designs, including Urabrask, Heretic Praetor and Vivien on the Hunt.

Week #1063 (May 16, 2022) – "Odds & Ends: Streets of New Capenna"

Three Stars

This is my mailbag column for Streets of New Capenna.

Week #1064 (May 23, 2022) – "First Out of Baldur's Gate"

Three Stars

This is the first preview column for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. I introduced the Vision and Set Design teams, showed off a few preview cards, and told the story of how this set came to be.

Week #1065 (May 30, 2022) – "Going Baldur's Gate, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first of two articles on card-by-card design stories from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.

Week #1066 (June 6, 2022) – "Going Baldur's Gate, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is the second article with card-by-card design stories from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.

Week #1067 (June 13, 2022) – "Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate Vision Design Handoff"

Three Stars

I showed off the vision design handoff for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. This was the first vision design handoff I showed that I didn't write. (It was written by Glenn Jones, the lead vision designer of the set.) I did write the annotated notes, though.

Week #1068 (June 16, 2022) – "Seeing Double Masters 2022"

Three Stars

This is my first preview column for Double Masters 2022. I showed off two preview cards and told the story of the set's design. This article went up on Thursday because that's when previews started.

Week #1069 (June 20, 2022) – "A Double Take, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first of two articles of card-by-card stories from Double Masters 2022. These days, I don't design nearly as many final cards, but because this was a reprint product, it included many cards that I had a direct hand in designing, so I got to tell some first-hand stories.

Week #1070 (June 27, 2022) – "A Double Take, Part 2"

Three Stars

This is the second Double Masters 2022 card-by-card design story article.

Week #1071 (July 4, 2022) – "More Life Lessons"

Five Stars

In 2006, I wrote a two-part article called "Life Lessons" where I talked about how I applied lessons I'd gotten from my life to Magic design. It was a popular article, so sixteen years later, I wrote a follow-up with more life lessons.

Week #1072 (July 11, 2022) – "Magic Designs from A to Z, Part 1"

Four Stars

I had a break in between previews, so I decided to write a three-part article about fun design stories. I chose 26 Magic cards ordered A to Z from across Magic's history to talk about. I got a lot of positive feedback about the three-parter.

Week #1073 (July 18, 2022) – "Magic Designs from A to Z, Part 2"

Four Stars

This is part two.

Week #1074 (July25, 2022) – "Magic Designs from A to Z, Part 3"

Four Stars

And this is part three.

Week #1075 (August 1, 2022) – "State of Design 2022"

Five Stars

This is my "State of Design" article for 2022. It covered Innistrad: Midnight Hunt through Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.

Week #1076 (August 8, 2022) – "Ravnica Design Handoff Document"

Five Stars

Dominaria United previews were about to begin, so I showed off the design handoff document from original Ravnica. Again, this is an earlier document from before our vision design days, but it's a cool look inside the making of original Ravnica.

Week #1077 (August 18, 2022) – "Dominaria United We Stand, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is my first preview column for Dominaria United. I introduced the Vision Design team, showed off a few preview cards, and talked about what we chose to carry over from original Dominaria to Dominaria United. Note that this article went up on a Thursday as that's when previews started.

Week #1078 (August 22, 2022) – "Dominaria United We Stand, Part 2"

Three Stars

I introduced Dominaria United's Set Design team and talked about how more elements of the design came to be. Also, I showed off some cool preview cards.

Week #1079 (August 29, 2022) – "Dominaria United We States of Design, Part 1"

Four Stars

In this article, I started telling Dominaria United card-by-card design stories. I focused on Ertai Resurrected and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and talked about how each originally had a different story that was changed. This column was the first time I'd ever written about the original version of the Weatherlight Saga that Michael Ryan and I created.

Week #1080 (September 5, 2022) – "Dominaria United We States of Design, Part 2"

Three Stars

I tell more Dominaria United card-by-card design stories, including Braids, Arisen Nightmare and Jaya, Fiery Negotiator.

Week #1081 (September 9, 2022) – "Dominaria United We States of Design, Part 3"

Three Stars

This is my third and last Dominaria United card-by-card design story article. I talked about Karn, Living Legacy and The Raven Man. It went up on a Thursday to make room for my Magic x Warhammer 40,000 preview article (see next).

Week #1082 (September 12, 2022) – "Designing for Universes Beyond"

Four Stars

Magic x Warhammer 40,000 previews were starting up, so I decided to write an article about the larger challenges of designing for Universes Beyond. I also previewed a new Magic x Warhammer 40,000 card.

Week #1083 (September 20, 2022) – "Making Space, Part 1"

Four Stars

It was the first week of Unfinity previews, so I introduced all the design teams, showed off some previews (including Vorthos), and explained how stickers and Attractions came to be. This is an extra-long article because I had a lot of story to tell.

Week #1084 (September 27, 2022) – "Making Space, Part 2"

Three Stars

In this article, I talked about all the mechanics in Unfinity other than stickers and Attractions and showed off more previews.

Week #1085 (October 3, 2022) – "The Unfinity Gauntlet, Part 1"

Four Stars

Unfinity got three weeks of card-by-card design stories. I had overseen the design from the first day of exploratory design to the last day of polish, so I had a lot of stories to tell, including how Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop got his name and how we designed our first dog planeswalker.

Week #1086 (October 10, 2022) – "The Unfinity Gauntlet, Part 2"

Four Stars

This is the second Unfinity card-by-card design story column. I showed off some weird playtest cards and revealed why Embiggen doesn't work on Brushwaggs.

Week #1087 (October 17, 2022) – "The Unfinity Gauntlet, Part 3"

Four Stars

This is the third Unfinity card-by-card design story column. I showed off the many variants of Six-Sided Die and explained why the right card concept gets you the name you want.

Week #1088 (October 24, 2022) – "Odds & Ends: Unfinity Gauntlet"

Three Stars

This is the Unfinity mailbag column.

Week #1089 (October 30, 2022) – "Act of War, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is my first preview column for The Brothers' War. I introduced the Vision Design team, showed off some previews, and told the story of how The Brothers' War went from a pitch for a supplemental product to a premier set.

Week #1090 (November 7, 2022) – "Act of War, Part 2"

Three Stars

I introduced the Set Design team for The Brothers' War and talked about how the set changed in set design.

Week #1091 (November 14, 2022) – "The Brothers' War Card Stories, Part 1"

Four Stars

I told the full story of the Mishra meld card from its earliest incarnation in the decks we made as proof of concept to convince the powers that be to do The Brothers' War as a premier set all the way through print.

Week #1092 (November 21, 2022) – "The Shapeshifting Sands"

Three Stars

It was Jumpstart 2022's preview week, so I previewed the entire Shapeshifter booster. I used that opportunity to talk about the history of the Shapeshifter creature type in Magic.

Week #1093 (November 28, 2022) – "The Brothers' War Card Stories, Part 2"

Four Stars

This column told the story of Urza's meld card, as with Mishra's, from the earliest days through print.

Week #1094 (December 6, 2022) – "Mastering Dominaria Remastered"

Three Stars

It was Dominaria Remastered's preview week, so I talked about how the set was designed and showed off a new version of an old card (Urza's Incubator). This article was published on a Tuesday because that's when the previews started.

Week #1095 (December 12, 2022) – "Odds & Ends: Dominaria Remastered"

Three Stars

This is the mailbag column for The Brothers' War.

Week #1096 (December 19, 2022) – "Storm Scale: Throne of Eldraine through Strixhaven, Part 1 "

Four Stars

I occasionally do a column I call "Storm Scale" (based on something I'd started on my blog) where I look at old mechanics and rank their chances of returning in a premier set. This Storm Scale article looked at all the sets from Throne of Eldraine through Strixhaven: School of Mages (apart from Theros Beyond Death, which was covered in a different Storm Scale article).

Week #1097 (December 26, 2022) – Vacation Week

Week #1098 (January 3, 2022) – "Storm Scale: Throne of Eldraine through Strixhaven, Part 2 "

Four Stars

This is the second part of my Storm Scale column. It was delayed by a week due to the site's vacation week. It was published on a Tuesday, as we were still on holiday vacation on Monday.

Week #1099 (January 9, 2022) – "Trivial Pursuit: What's in a Name?"

Three Stars

This is another "Trivial Pursuit" trivia column, this time on the theme of card names.

Week #1100 (January 17, 2023) – "Phyrexia: All Will Be One Direction, Part 1"

Three Stars

This is the first of a two-part column about the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One. I introduced the Exploratory and Vision Design teams and talked about how we figured out what to include to make the set feel Phyrexian.

A Hundred Strong

And that's one hundred more weeks of Making Magic. As always, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Kendall and Adam (and everyone else behind the scenes) for all their hard work helping to put this column together and to all my readers for continuing to check in every Monday.

I'm eager to hear your feedback on this column, on any of my ratings, or on any of the columns I talked about and linked to. You can email me or contact me through my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Join me next week for this year's "Nuts & Bolts" column.

Until then, may you have 1,100 weeks doing something you love.