• Can you talk about some of your early projects? Do you remember the kinds of things you were doing back then? 

"I had ambitions for making my own sets early on, but none of them went anywhere. I did some designs for a reptile set I called Sauron (I had no clue what LotR was about), a Muraganda set, an Egypt-themed set, an animal-focused set called Predator’s Crypt (yikes) . . . but again these were mostly notebook scribbles for when I wasn’t listening to algebra class. One thing I remember clearly was that I assumed that Time Spiral was the norm, so all these early attempts at custom Magic design ended up with me using every mechanic under the sun."

• Your set Alara is one of the sets in MSEM and has a large fanbase. How do you feel about the set? What things do you like the most in it? Is there anything you wish you’d done differently? 

"I’m pretty proud of Alara. It’s my first finished set, and I think I did my best to create a Limited the way I liked it. My favorite thing about it has to be the Shard mechanics, which I spent the most time iterating on. Custom Magic to me is mostly about mechanic design, and I think I nailed it for each Shard.

I’d do a couple of individual designs differently today. Some examples: I dislike that Thunderscorn and Jhessian Cavalier are both 2M 3/2 commons with flash, I’d probably be using blue vigilance, and Archangel of Bliss will likely be a once-each-turn thing. Of course this is custom Magic and  I can still make those changes now but I try to take a hands-off approach once my set gets into a format unless I’m asked to by those who handle it."

• Do you think there were any secrets to Alara’s success? What did you learn from making the set, and is there anything you could give as advice to other designers from it?

"Yeah it’s because I’m a great designer, hah! But really a lot of it was applying all the things I learned from reading MaRo’s blog and design articles (and I used to read both obsessively). The main way I play Magic is also a lot of Limited, so being good in that regard made things easier. Alara is also one of my favorite planes, so I knew the source material well and having the set be a return made the setting less of a priority so I can focus on getting the mechanics right.

As for things I learned, probably the main one was to be ruthless with my creations. Things aren’t working out well? Into the design shredder it went. Didn’t matter to me that I had spent months on one of the shard mechanics when I knew it could be better, and that scrapping it meant redesigning a significant portion of the set. Of course there’s perfectionist pitfalls that can trap you if you go this route, but I was never worried about that.

I think one of the best things to come out of making Alara was the preview thread I and other members of the community made for it, which you can access on the MSE forums here. I wrote a bunch of design articles going in-depth on the set’s creation, and if you’re interested in more stuff I learned making Alara, you’d wanna check that out."

• Apart from Magic, what are some other hobbies and interests that you have? Do they ever cross over into the things you’re working on here?

"Really risking making this section look like my basic-ass fuckboy insta bio, but I am a fitness nut. Gym, hiking, wrangling wildlife in secluded highlands, all that. I allegedly have a set called Gymbros of Himbopolis in the works, and if my discord display name 💪brotein manganiello🥵🥵🥵 didn’t clue you in on what my personality is like, maybe that set will."

• Where do you see yourself vis-a-vis custom Magic in a year’s time? Is there anything you can reveal about some of your future projects or what you’re working on right now?

"I hope I’ve released most of the sets I said I will by that time. To be honest I’m kind of not feeling canon Magic right now, which affects how I engage with custom, but I’m sure I’ll be around next year. I want to livestream some set designing, from beginning to end, mostly as a fun thing but maybe it will help others learn a few things.

The next set in the Makoverse pipeline is supposed to be Origins 2023. Let’s see if the year in the name sticks. It’s like Magic Origins but for characters in my sets, and features both custom and canon planes. I think it’s the most fun set I’ve made yet, and definitely the most self indulgent. I can’t reveal too much as I plan to host a preview season over on the MSE Discord, but I can throw you a bone:"