• In a few sentences, what is the premise of Hearth-Hollow?

"Hearth-Hollow: Root and Remedy is a top-down custom Magic set set in a plane of perpetual autumn, blending cozy fantasy with hints of rustic mysticism and underlying danger. The world revolves around village life, harvest rituals, potion-brewing alchemists, and the tension between tradition and arcane experimentation. Rather than epic wars, the story centers on personal stakes, hidden identities, and the subtle interplay of community and magic. The plane sits on the edge of the feywild and where humans exist, incorporating DND elements of the Eladrin elves, The Unseelie court, and other thin lines between faeries and humanity when set around themes of forever autumn."

• What inspired you to begin creating Hearth-Hollow?

"Hearth-Hollow actually started out as a short story about a woman who used to be an alchemist for a very evil Duke, where she tried to lay low for the rest of her days as a baker in a small village with an autumn-punk / cozy cottage-core vibe that I never got around to really developing. However, the idea of a plane or realm that was a small cozy fantasy of perpetual autumn always stuck with me. I started playing around with mechanics, flavor, and ideas and well, this seemed to be the perfect idea to worldbuild with and here we are."

• Where would you say Hearth-Hollow is in the development process?

"Hearth-Hollow is in late design/early development. The core mechanics—Harvest, Potions, Innovate, and Rotting—are established and fleshed out. The worldbuilding, character arcs, and flavor are well defined, but the Limited environment is still undergoing refinement through card iteration and testing, particularly to balance complexity and synergy across archetypes. Basically, it’s done but needs to be played in depth! Which is totally available on my github page for people to download."

• Many of Hearth-Hollow's exciting new mechanics contribute to board complexity. How does this impact your limited format, and in what way(s) do you manage it?

"Mechanics like Potions and Harvest introduce multiple resource types and decision points, which can increase board complexity. To manage this, I’ve focused on keeping individual card text simple and intuitive, emphasizing visible counters and tokens over hidden information. Complexity is designed to emerge from interactions over time, rewarding careful planning without overwhelming players. Visual clarity, use of consistent token design, and modular archetypes help ensure that the set remains approachable in Limited. Basically, I’ve tried my best to keep the amount of different types of counters and tokens to a minimum and haven’t introduced any new counter types for that reason."

• AI art generation engines have skyrocketed in popularity in the past year, but have also developed quite a stigma in creative circles such as this one. Given that Hearth-Hollow is a project whose art is entirely generated by Midjourney (one such engine), what is your position on the usage of these tools, and how have you approached using them in the Custom Magic space?

"I view AI art as a tool for prototyping and visualizing ideas that might otherwise stay abstract—especially in a solo project where commissioning art is beyond my means. For Hearth-Hollow, Midjourney helps evoke mood and tone, serving as a placeholder or worldbuilding aid. That said, I fully acknowledge the controversy around dataset ethics and artistic credit. My hope is that Hearth-Hollow can inspire appreciation for its themes and mechanics, while being transparent about its process. If the set ever grows beyond its current scope, I’d love to collaborate with human artists in a more formal way. I personally view AI in this aspect as a mere toy, and when kept to that standard, can be fun for personal, individual use-cases. But when in the hands of the corporate machine for lack of a better term, can be destructive and invasive, which I am very sympathetic to."

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

"Absolutely. I’d like to thank the custom Magic design community for their invaluable feedback, enthusiasm, and inspiration—especially those who offered playtesting notes, flavor suggestions, or just shared in the autumnal vibes. Hearth-Hollow wouldn't be what it is without your warmth and creativity. Specifically: DrChipmunk, stellHex, Tahazzar, and Mattelonian. They have helped me tremendously through their feedback, syntax correction, and snagged me out of the hole of centering this set around Food tokens which, looking back, I believe would’ve buried this set into mediocrity."