Stages of design

This page is about historical eras of design. For the process of designing a set, see Design § Life cycle.

The stages of design are a framework developed by Head Designer Mark Rosewater for understanding the history of Magic design. As of 2024, Rosewater distinguishes seven stages of design and corresponding dynasties of designers, the most recent having started with Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

First stage (Golden Age)

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 from the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Charlie Catino
  • Joel Mick
  • Don Felice
  • Howard Kahlenberg
  • Elliott Segal
• The Canadian connection.
  • Steve Conard
  • Robin Herbert

Second stage (Silver Age)

Mirage through Prophecy. Richard Garfield left to explore other games, and Joel Mick took over as head designer. 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 getting defined and a cleaning up of the rules.

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

Third stage (Bronze Age)

Invasion through Saviors of Kamigawa. Joel Mick became brand manager, and Bill Rose took over as head designer. 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. Bill Rose had become Vice-President, thus Mark Rosewater became Head Designer, and Brian Schneider became Head Developer. This stage was the introduction of block planning. Instead of picking a theme and continuing it through the block, the design team 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 include 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 through Rivals of Ixalan. How mechanical themes are looked at and used was radically changed. In the previous two stages, themes had been used as the foundation to build the block. Starting with Scars of Mirrodin, mechanical themes were thought of as tools used to put a block together and to evoke an emotional resonance. Metaphorically, themes were no longer the canvas, but the paint. The fifth generation included participants of The Great Designer Search 2 (2010). New members:

• 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)
• Jenna Helland
• Sam Stoddard

In 2016, Rosewater started a new age, starting with Khans of Tarkir. The stage was heralded by the introduction of exploratory design. The elements of a set and block are now mapped out before the actual design of the cards and mechanics start. This stage also features exploratory world-building, which leads to an earlier and more extensive integration of flavor and design. In 2014, he incorporated this stage into the Fifth Stage. New members:

• Ian Duke
• Ben Hayes
• Adam Prosak
• Tim Aten
• Jackie Lee
• Jonathan Skolnik
• Melissa DeTora

Sixth stage

From Dominaria through Innistrad: Crimson Vow. The abandonment of the block system was the start of the Sixth Age of Design (originally counted as the Seventh Age). This stage also saw the change from a two-part system for design to a three-part system. Instead of design and development, it became vision design, set design, and Play Design. Magic shifted to a more eternal environment with more backward compatibility, to facilitate the popular Commander format.

Seventh stage

From Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty to the present. The core of the current stage of design is that Magic design is questioning itself. They got more emboldened with "redoing" worlds and card complexity. They started making more mechanics deciduous or bringing them back in small doses ("cameos"). It also saw the introduction of Universes Beyond.