• In a few sentences, what is the premise of Volori?

"Volori is a top down designed set based on wishes, fate, and desire. The plane itself pulls magic from the other planes of the Multiverse to fulfill the wishes and desires of its denizens, which has effects on the plane itself and leads to unnatural consequences. One example of this is for powerful beings of other worlds having the ability to directly influence the plane from outside it. The denizens of Volori, while consistently having their own desires fulfilled and wanting more, live in a bit of fear of the future due to this phenomenon. To remedy this, they seek out those that have the ability to see the future. However, despite all the warnings, they continue to want more, and most tend to have unmet desires after death, which tethers their spirit to the plane with a new desire to find a host to continue to meet their lasting need for fulfillment."

• Where would you say Volori is in the development process?

"Volori has a full design file with a total of 289 cards (not including basic lands)! However, a designer’s work is never done as the set has already had a complete archetype overhaul and has a few Draft archetypes needing more love (and others that need a little less), So I have been adding/cutting designs as needed, as well as changing names and altering flavor text to best flesh out the world, flavor, and story. 

Currently, the biggest factor is hosting Drafts, updating the file with necessary changes, rinse and repeat! The other thing that I am attempting to start is a Volori Constructed Primer to hopefully better aid the set’s transition into a constructed format! I am also attempting to collaborate with an artist or two I know personally to commission promotional artwork for the set to show off. This art would be 100% original and explicitly created for the card in question, not found anywhere else on the internet. They would be designing the art from scratch before sending it to me personally! I hope to be able to by the end of things have a few to put into the file for a nice added bonus!"

• 4) Possess has the power to extend abilities and create strong battleships. How do you go about designing and balancing those cards to either prevent, or embrace, that possibility? 

"Possess is probably one of my favorite mechanic ideas that I have ever created, and I’ve taken a lot of thought into how it plays out. The biggest inspiration for the mechanic I had was Mutate. I thought that the ability to have a singular permanent with a whole bunch of abilities and such was rather appealing. When I knew when I needed a mechanic that felt right for the Spirits of Volori, I had to do something akin to a spiritual possession. 

After a few ideas, I came up with the idea to use the merging text from Mutate, tied to a death trigger for flavor reasons, and Possess was born! However, the one thing I was dead set on in early design was avoiding the ability to loop Possess triggers. Since Possess triggers upon the creature dying, I felt like I had to have a way to where “Possess” itself didn’t carry over, to avoid just having a mess of a creature pile with a whole lot of tracking issues. To remedy this, I added the clause to where the creature passes all their abilities except Possess onto their target. Now originally, I had Possess just be a mechanic that granted extra value, something that gave a “second chance” if you will (A keyword here, an ability there, etc.). It was only recently when I allowed it to stack, and I’m glad I did! Allowing multiple Possess creatures to have a single target opened up a more interesting design space. 

There were a few cards I had designed before the change that now spawned a whole new archetype within the set that was never before possible, and a new batching mechanic called “Compound Permanents” that became more prevalent than a few small designs that led to now one of my favorite new playstyles within the set as a whole!"

• You use several returning mechanics in addition to those custom-tailored for Volori. What led you to reusing these mechanics, and how do you balance their presence with that of your unique ones? 

"As mentioned above, Volori has already gone through a full archetype and design overhaul. In this overhaul, one of the things I found out is that I had a lot of designs and themes that unofficially used themes present in other existing mechanics. So, what I attempted to do was something that canon magic is beginning as well, and use those mechanics keyworded as potential deciduous targets! The two mechanics that fell under this umbrella (that weren’t deciduous already) are Delirium and Escape. However, there are quite a bit of canon mechanics that fall under here, but each one takes up a small amount of Complexity, and each one supports overarching themes of the set. The custom mechanics I had created (Prophecies, Possess, and Compound Permanents to support Possess) cover most of the mechanical complexity the set had room for, and that tends to push them to the forefront of people seeing the set for the first time."

• What is your favorite card in Volori?

"This is a hard one. I have a lot of cards I am fond of for different reasons. If I really had to pick one, I’d have to go with Queen’s Game. This 6 mana enchantment was originally designed as a card to allow you to control combat! The flavor I intended to portray was a single puppetmaster toying with allies and enemies alike for mere entertainment. My biggest draw to this card however, is the story of it getting to where it is now! As a newer designer, I struggled with the confidence in my designs during the beginning of Volori’s development, and in some cases, still have some doubts in my designs. Queen’s Game was one of the biggest designs I made that was met with adversity and multiple people had told me to cut the design altogether. However, despite this, I held on and continued to rework the design, keeping the original flavor of what I wanted the card to do. As it stands now, it still retains the flavor I want it to portray, and it now is something I would enjoy running in my decks. In the end, I not only gained a fun design, but also a lesson in self-confidence. I will always have a soft spot for this card, and whenever I doubt my ability to design future ideas, it will be a story I will always remember!"

• Would you like to give any special thanks to anyone for their help?

"There are so many people I would love to give a shout to, but I’ve done a lot of typing (After this, I’ll have to ice my poor aching hands), so I’ll sadly have to shorten it! First, I would like to give one to Kebelqua for being the biggest player in Volori’s Grand Overhaul. Kebel actually spent some time going through the entire set’s MSE file and helped make the major leap into what it is today! Without their help, I might’ve tabled the set altogether due my lack of understanding of a draft environment! 

A few other big players with the Grand Overhaul of Volori are TVP, Kogane, and Dr. Platypeople, who each pointed out major points that needed to be addressed on a fundamental level! TVP went through Volori’s entire Planesculptors Page and pointed out card by card the issues it presented in limited, and why. Kogane helped reorganize the set archetypes to allow the set to perform in limited to its fullest potential, and Platy took the time to answer my multitude of questions that I had in regard to Volori’s major fundamental flaws! 

The last major thanks I have are to Ensorcler and Cajun. Ensorcler would always give large amounts of card by card feedback after Drafts from the very beginning of Volori’s design and set channel, and Cajun would always put up with me being a bother in Tech Support for the simplest issues, and took the time to explain everything in the “For Dummies” language, because, lets face it, I suck at technology! I want to take the time to also thank all the people who drafted and took an interest in Volori, as I wouldn’t be able to keep it going as long as I have without all your support!"