R&D

R&D is an abbreviation for Research & Design, formerly Research & Development. It is a section of Wizards of the Coast that create upcoming sets and cards. Design creates the vision, development upholds that vision even if it has to make some changes to get it there. The design/development split is a very important facet to Wizards R&D. It ensures that each set has two different set of eyes overlooking each decision to make sure that what we end up with is the best the set can be.

From the release of Magic 2014 on, design and development teams are officially referred to as "Initial Concept and Game Design" and "Final Game Design and Development" teams, respectively. Although these names had previously been in use at Wizards of the Coast internally, the announcement for M14 was the first to use them in public.

Design

The designers create new cards, mechanics and themes for Magic sets. Every set should do something innovative that hasn't been done before. It also set should bring back something from the past and present it in a new light, it should add new elements to old ideas. Every set should make players have to shift their thinking about the game in some way, while creating a moment that is uniquely its own. Head designer Mark Rosewater distinguishes five stages of Magic design, and corresponding dynasties of Magic designers.

First Stage

Alpha through Alliances. This stage was about the focus on individual card design. Design decisions tended to be made on a card-by-card basis.

• Richard Garfield
• The "East Coast Playtesters", fellow graduate students in the math and physics department.
  • Skaff Elias
  • Jim Lin
  • Chris Page
  • Dave Pettey
• The "Penn group", members of a local bridge club
  • Charlie Catino
  • Joel Mick
  • Don Felice
  • Howard Kahlenberg
  • Elliott Segal
• The Canadian connection
  • Steve Conard
  • Robin Herbert

Second Stage

Mirage through Prophecy. This stage was the introduction of the block and the focus of design in thinking of Magic in terms of a year. This was also the era of the psychographics with Timmy, Johnny, and Spike first getting defined.

• Bill Rose
• Mark Rosewater
• Mike Elliott
• William Jockusch
• Henry Stern

Third Stage

Invasion through Saviors of Kamigawa. This stage was the introduction of block themes. Blocks were no longer just a collection of mechanics, but contained specific things chosen to highlight the block's theme.

• Randy Buehler
• Mike Donais
• Brian Schneider
• Worth Wollpert
• Aaron Forsythe
• Elaine Chase
• Devin Low
• Brian Tinsman
• Tyler Bielman

Fourth Stage

Ravnica through Rise of the Eldrazi. This stage was the introduction of block planning. Instead of picking a theme and continuing it through the block, design now planned out how exactly the block was going to evolve. This planning allowed for themes to be better set up and paid off. Members of the fourth generation includes several participants of The Great Designer Search (GDS) 2006, Wizards of the Coast's historic search for R&D's for a Magic design intern.

• Mike Turian
• Erik Lauer
• Nate Heiss
• Matt Place
• Alexis Janson (GDS winner)
• Ken Nagle (GDS runner up)
• Graeme Hopkins (GDS runner up)
• Mark Globus (GDS)
• Paul Sottosanti
• Gregory Marques
• Mark Gottlieb
• Steve Warner

Fifth Stage

From Scars of Mirrodin until now. How mechanical themes are looked at and used is radically changed. In the previous two stages, themes had been used as the foundation to build the block on. Starting with Scars of Mirrodin, mechanical themes are now thought of as tools used to put a block together. Metaphorically, themes are no longer the canvas, but the paint. The fifth generation includes participants of The Great Designer Search 2 (2010).

• Dave Humpherys
• Zac Hill
• Tom LaPille
• Max McCall (GDS & GDS2)
• Billy Moreno (GDS2)
• Gavin Verhey
• Kelly Digges
• Matt Tabak
• Ethan Fleischer (GDS2 winner)
• Shawn Main (GDS2 runner up)

Development

Many think that development's job is to just tweak numbers and correctly cost things, but the main job for developers is to make Magic as fun as it can be for all the different types of players. Most of the time is spent working on game-play design to ensure the play experience is as good as it can possibly be. This means that that the mechanics and themes and overall feel of a design file should express themselves satisfyingly when actual games are played. The developers try to find the most fun parts of the design and bring them to the forefront of the set, and kill unwanted elements. Casting costs and other balance issues for both Limited and Constructed are still considered.

Magic Digital R&D

The Magic Digital R&D team, not to be confused with the Magic Online team, who is responsible for coordinating game design resources for digital projects, like building decks for Duels of the Planeswalkers or creating the list for the Magic Online Cube.

Trivia

• Look at Me, I'm R&D from Unhinged is a parody of R&Ds playtesting process. The card looks like the card Moat with a sticker pasted on top of it, which R&D uses for playtesting. The cost, card type, and the rules on the card have also been modified with a pen during the playtest, presumably because the printed rules proved counter-intuitive or overpowered. The card is also the successor to Look at me, I'm the DCI from Unglued.
• Designer is an Unglued creature types which was eliminated from the Comprehensive Rules list during the Grand Creature Type Update (Richard Garfield, Ph.D.).

See also

• Future Future League