• In a few sentences, what is the premise of Yugioh to MTG?

"Yugioh to MTG is my attempt at really trying my hand designing Magic the Gathering sets based on every Yugioh card I can reasonably get the art for. With that, I've pushed to designing draftable sets, with mechanics resembling actual mechanics you could find in a pack of Yugioh cards, or at least as close as an analogue can be. With that, its taking even the worst cards in Yugioh and giving them a home where they have a fair shot at being fun to play."

• What inspired you to begin creating Yugioh to MTG?

"Honest answer? A lot of dissatisfaction with how a good amount of the custom designs I've seen made for Yugioh cards ported to MTG. They all consistently felt like they were pulling directly from the source material too much rather than actually translating them. While that's all fine and good, I felt like there wasn't a real place where people could play with and see designs a bit more as game pieces, rather than show pieces."

• Where would you say Yugioh to MTG is in the development process?

"Right now, we've actually finished an entire set! Legend of Blue Eyes release was completed with amazing success and has an incredibly nuanced limited, giving experienced players a really deep card pool full of strategies that may not be apparent the first few drafts. We're currently working on the mechanical suite for the second set, Metal Raiders, which will be based on the TCG release as well as pulling as many cards as possible from the OCG releases that never got printed in the TCG."

• YuGiOh as a franchise is a staple in millennial/zoomer childhoods. What is your history with it, and what does it mean to you today?

"My older brother opening a pack and pulling a Twin-Headed Behemoth. A hot summer evening where my uncle handed us his older cards, us completely unaware that we held the five pieces of Exodia. Multiple nights spent making up our own rules, playing with the elemental heroes while watching the 4kids version of Yugioh.

Best said, it's a long one, and I can't say I would be the same without it. While before, it was a game of wonder, excitement, and wild fun, nowadays its a game I can only remember fondly, but be reminded of its downsides as well. The game to me is amazing in concept, poor in execution in terms of the direction it went. It has some of the most recognizable pieces of art, and I can't forget them no matter how hard I try, which is where I can admit I've got some rose-colored glasses on for haha.

I can't stop myself from being exited for banlists, new releases, and still pouring over the newest designs they've come up with, eagerly awaiting what new things they can come up with the shake up the game. It's still one of my favourite games, and I don't think that'll ever change!"

• Many custom creators try to convert their favorite IPs into MTG, to varying success. How have you gone about working through this conversion, and what strategies have you learned?

"The major thing I recognized doing this conversion is that there is absolutely NO way I could 1:1 translate designs without sacrifices, so I needed to understand what I'd be losing. This is a strategy that helped me identify really early what I wanted out of the project, and really set out what I could do, how to get there, and most importantly, how to finish each set in a satisfying way.

Early on, it was clear I couldn't translate levels, ATK/DEF, and even a good amount of the abilities present of the cards. What I could do was present analogues that fit the feel of the original designs, as well as giving them new twists that they could have never had.  For example, could you expect to see Red-Eyes Black Dragon as a flying beater with the ability to reanimate itself in most interpretations of it? Or what about Swords of Revealing Light acting as a tempo Thoughtsieze, ripping a card out and asking your opponent to give up two resources to get it back later?"

• What is your favorite card in Yugioh to MTG?

"Raimei, hands down. With the way packs are handled, every pack gets a "Constructed rarity" card, meaning you're likely to see constructed viable designs in your draft pools. With that, Raimei showed out as an amazing addition to the format, giving real answers to decks playing a go-wide strategy, while also keeping you alive against the very real burn strategy available. It's a strong one, and it gave me the opportunity to use mechanics from across magic's history recontextualized, and I'm so very glad I did!"

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

"First things first, Kogane, for constantly being there in drafts, design, and deconstruction of each and every one of the designs that made it through Legend of Blue Eyes for the Yugioh to MTG project. Without his help and encouragement I am positive I would not have even gotten this far, as he's aleady helping with the next set in the works. Ensorcelor also consistently helps out with the drafts, Fungustober constantly helping me with typo's and framing, DrakeXIV for getting me through the rougher patches of set design, Thenobletheif for giving me their unique look at Yugioh designs in magic, and so, so many others."