• What inspired you to begin creating Irandian Mists?

"I've been a Magic player since around 2016, and around the same time is when I started creating a TTRPG setting (mainly meant for DnD and other fantasy systems). This setting has developed over the years to be quite deep and lore-rich, and when I found the custom mtg community, it seemed like an obvious first choice to get my designer feet wet, so to speak."

• Where would you say Irandian Mists is in the development process?

"I'm currently finalizing the current iteration of commons and uncommons, mainly doing small mechanical passes and finalizing the art, and hopefully I can start playtesting with common/unc draft and sealed tests quite soon."

• In your set description and design doc you make it a point that you want the set to adhere to more a traditional MtG fantasy setting. In a canon landscape with more out-there settings and time periods, what made you want to go this path?

"This was one of the happy coincidences of taking this route. Many MtG players, including myself, found Tarkir: Dragonstorm to be a breath of fresh air after a collection of hat sets, universes beyond and bad writing. Because of the direction Wizards has been taking Magic lately, I think a step back to its roots would be appreciated by many, and since they don't seem to be heading in that direction themselves, I figured "why not me?""

• With Convert’s stat-shifting nature allowing for some very swingy combats, how have you found balancing the mechanic as a repeatable on-board “pump”?

"This is going to be one of the main feedback points on the playtests I'm going to be looking for, it's something I've been keeping a very close eye on during development. Swapping P/T is a notoriously difficult idea to design around, so it's going to take a lot of careful asfan planning and checks and balances, but so far the playtests have surprised me with how playable most boardstates actually are.

Designing mechanically around it has been surprisingly doable so far, with most cards designed to play well with the mechanic having traditionally defensive statlines, and attack triggers or player damage triggers based on their power. This direction has made the archetype work so far, and I'm curious to see what players will do with it during the next round of tests!"

• What is your favorite card in Irandian Mists?

"Choosing a single card is going to be rough, but I figure that's the reason the question is here 🙂

I'm quite happy with the basic lands, and there are a number of cycles in the set that I'm also fond of, but the single card design I'm the proudest of is probably Struggle to Subdue. Two of the conditions white gets removal under are "targeting small creatures" and "with compensation", and I think that card switches from one to the other as the game goes on and creatures become bigger (alongside being a nice convert payoff as well)."

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

"Drakrylos has always been around to give a listening ear, and my mechanics wouldn't be what they are today without them. In the server itself, stellHex, Ensorceler, DrChipmunk and Le Codex have all shown interest in the set and have helped fine-tune and polish cards, as well as giving valuable feedback on the mechanics, so I'm grateful for that help.

Lastly, I'm lucky to have an active playgroup in real life that also helps me test, and the feedback they have given me has been very valuable in its own right, and I'm looking forward to the next paper playtest very much!"