Topical Blend #1 – To Err Is Human
Clearly my number one column of 2005. Possibly my number one column of all time (it does have some competition but it's at least a contender). If you enjoy when I invest a little of my personal life into my columns then this column is for you. Also, the non-Magic advice in this column is dead-on. I had multiple letters from readers who deal with these types of issues professionally who were impressed with much of what I said. And hey, my dating embarrassments are entertaining if nothing else.
| List A – Magic Design Themed Topics (Choose one) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 10 Worst Designed Cards | 963 | 12.1% |
| Impossible things to do in Magic | 902 | 11.4% |
| Pros and Cons of Introducing a Sixth Color | 734 | 9.2% |
| Why R&D has been hosing blue | 417 | 5.3% |
| Biggest changes in Magic that never happened | 416 | 5.2% |
| Enchant Worlds | 373 | 4.7% |
| Original Decisions in Magic (Why five colors? Why those basic lands?, etc.) | 362 | 4.6% |
| Evolution of Power (How the Power Level of Magic Has Evolved) | 358 | 4.5% |
| Where Is Magic Heading? | 354 | 4.5% |
| Design follies (Card and Mechanic Designs That Went Awry) | 271 | 3.4% |
| Cards That Failed To Get Through Design | 178 | 2.2% |
| Popular Cards vs. Good Cards (And How We Design Each) | 169 | 2.1% |
| What Would Magic Be Like Without Rarity | 158 | 2.0% |
| New Race/Class System | 148 | 1.9% |
| Creatures with Power of 2 That Cost 1 | 147 | 1.9% |
| Designing Multicolor Cards | 138 | 1.7% |
| Why Better & Worse Versions of Existing Cards Get Printed | 133 | 1.7% |
| Evolution of a Color | 127 | 1.6% |
| Designing for multiplayer | 118 | 1.5% |
| The Changing of the Color Wheel | 109 | 1.4% |
| Designing Blue Cards | 100 | 1.3% |
| Designing For Deck Archetypes Kept In Check (Discard Decks, Land Destruction Decks & Permission Decks) | 95 | 1.2% |
| The Creation of Frogs In Magic | 92 | 1.2% |
| The Role of Chaos Inducing Cards | 88 | 1.1% |
| Choosing Set Themes | 87 | 1.1% |
| Designing Ante Cards, Licids, and Nettling Imp Style Creatures | 80 | 1.0% |
| How Sixth Edition Rules Affect Design | 74 | 0.9% |
| Mana Costs Commensurate with Their Power | 63 | 0.8% |
| Alpha "Boon" cycle | 54 | 0.7% |
| Mana Costs | 52 | 0.7% |
| Revisit the Top You Make the Card Mechanics | 51 | 0.6% |
| Designing for Limited | 46 | 0.6% |
| Learning from Design Mistakes | 44 | 0.6% |
| The Kindle/Burst mechanic | 39 | 0.5% |
| Non-Elegant Cards | 39 | 0.5% |
| Themes outside Magic affecting Magic design | 36 | 0.5% |
| Ebb and Flow of Creature Types | 35 | 0.4% |
| Designing Cost Reduction Mechanics | 35 | 0.4% |
| How the Public Impacts Magic | 34 | 0.4% |
| Designing Removal | 31 | 0.4% |
| Designing Enchantments | 31 | 0.4% |
| Timing and Tempo and Their Impact on Design | 31 | 0.4% |
| How Designing Magic Is Similar to Building a Paper Airplane | 31 | 0.4% |
| How has my personal life affected my design | 30 | 0.4% |
| Designing Creature Stealing Cards | 30 | 0.4% |
| Juxtaposition in Design | 14 | 0.2% |
| Designing for various formats | 12 | 0.2% |
| Design of the card Firestorm | 11 | 0.1% |
| Total | 7940 | 100.0% |
| List B – Non-Design Themes (Choose One) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Girls | 1053 | 12.0% |
| “Mark Rosewater is &$%^# Insane” | 753 | 8.6% |
| Mathematics & Magic | 705 | 8.0% |
| Monty Python | 631 | 7.2% |
| Dungeons & Dragons | 494 | 5.6% |
| “Old School” Magic | 443 | 5.0% |
| Slivers | 412 | 4.7% |
| What It's Like To See Your Cards Banned | 402 | 4.6% |
| Top 10 Vital Lessons for New Players | 398 | 4.5% |
| How the Internet Affected Magic | 326 | 3.7% |
| Gleemax | 323 | 3.7% |
| The Dune Chronicles | 293 | 3.3% |
| Lack of Marsupials in Magic | 235 | 2.7% |
| Card Advantage Without Card Drawing | 230 | 2.6% |
| Invisible Banana Splits | 212 | 2.4% |
| Time Travel | 165 | 1.9% |
| Flying Pigs | 158 | 1.8% |
| Rock Music | 154 | 1.8% |
| Saprolings | 152 | 1.7% |
| Lhurgoyfs | 146 | 1.7% |
| “Roseanne” | 138 | 1.6% |
| Mistform Ultimus | 133 | 1.5% |
| Reiver Demon | 130 | 1.5% |
| Sit-coms Changing Actors Mid-Show | 112 | 1.3% |
| Pitfalls to Learning the Game | 86 | 1.0% |
| Dinosaurs | 82 | 0.9% |
| Love | 81 | 0.9% |
| Book Recommendation for Designers | 64 | 0.7% |
| How I Became a Magic Designer | 62 | 0.7% |
| Family Relationships and Magic (Ruel Brothers, Phil and Kaja, etc.) | 61 | 0.7% |
| Money | 60 | 0.7% |
| How has Magic design affected my personal life | 48 | 0.5% |
| Reptiles | 24 | 0.3% |
| How I Choose My Topics/ How My Columns Are Created | 16 | 0.2% |
| Total | 8782 | 100.0% |
Top 10 Worst Designed Cards and Girls. Hmm. This should prove to be interesting.
And for those that have noticed that I gave this little experiment its own name and then numbered it number one might tip my hat that I just might do this again in the future. (I've been told my A list was, well, A-List.) By the way, I'm curious to hear what all of you thought about this experiment, so please drop me a line once you're done.
But let's get back to the column at hand. Bad Designs, women. Where do those two topics merge? Click below to find out.
CLICK HERE IF YOU'RE A FAN OF BAD DESIGNS OR FEMALES (CLEARLY AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD DESIGN)