Last week, Mark Rosewater wrote an article for his column "Making Magic" about the pervasiveness of sequels. Magic is full of follow-ups, retcons, homages, and continuations of a theme: each set in a block connects to the one before or after, and each new expansion brings new mechanics to the table while giving players more of what they've enjoyed in the past. Ravnica block took the popular multicolor theme from Invasion and released a load of new gold and hybrid cards to play with. Time Spiral was a throwback to the epic storyline of Dominaria, using time itself as a device to enable clever updates to old cards and wacky alternate-universe variations. And, of course, in October we return to Mirrodin, the plane that gave us both the much-loved scry keyword and the much-maligned affinity mechanic. The first revealed keyword in Scars of Mirrodin – infect – is a double follow-up, an upgrade to wither from Shadowmoor and the triumphant return of poison counters.

The most exciting news from last week, however, was also a sequel: Mark Rosewater announced the return of "The Great Designer Search," the contest that gives any gamer the chance to become the newest Wizards of the Coast employee as a member of Magic R&D! The first Great Designer Search took place in 2006; Wizards took on the winner, Alexis Janson, for a six-month internship, as well as the three runners-up. Rosewater explains the contest in his article:

"Anyone who was interested (and fit the criteria—I'll talk about this in a second) could apply. A series of essays and tests narrowed the field from over one thousand applicants down to a final fifteen. From there we had five challenges that tested the applicants' Magic design skills. Each challenge was judged by a series of judges, including myself, and at the end I would eliminate one or more of the applicants. At the end of five challenges we were down to three candidates, all of whom were flown out to the Wizards of the Coast offices in lovely Renton, Washington for a series of interviews and one final test."

The Great Designer Search 2 is a huge event for the Magic community, and one that should excite any player, from the most inexperienced newbies to seasoned Pro Tour regulars. Naturally the contest represents a dream job for wannabe designers; that's part of what makes reality shows like American Idol so enticing. Anyone – even you – can have your talent realized and become an instant celebrity. But, of course, every applicant faces fierce competition, and only the best of the best can win that coveted contract.

First, let's look at the 2006 coverage of the first Great Designer Search to figure out what skills you need to go all the way. For those who couldn't care less about the contest, however, the GDS is still more than just a big spectacle: it provides valuable insight on design that can help you become a better player by changing the way you think about the game.

Test Your Might

In order to narrow down the pile of over one thousand applicants to just fifteen finalists for the "reality show," Mark Rosewater and his fellows designed a series of preliminary tests. The first is a series of essays in which you introduce yourself and answer some open-ended design questions: the second is a multiple-choice test to gauge your understanding of basic design rules. These tips will help you come out riding that tsunami of applicants like a pro.

1. Express your personality.

   The Idol judges are just looking for a voice and a face to splash on an album cover. Wizards is looking for someone to spend six months with them in Washington. Is your opening essay a portrait of the person they want to have hanging around the office?

2. Have opinions. Voice them clearly and confidently.

   If you want to demonstrate that you're the candidate for the job, you must show that you can think critically. Use the writing skills you learned in high-school English: active verbs, strong arguments. Don't be wishy-washy.

3. Know your color pie.

   You can't pass either of the first two tests without knowing what each of the five colors of Magic does, what it doesn't do, the contents of its philosophy, and how it interacts with other colors. Protip: if you want to learn this quickly, read about the ten Ravnica guilds.

4. Understand the three player psychographics.

   Timmy, Johnny, and Spike: good designers think about how each type of player will react to their new cards. In short, Timmy plays for the fun of it, Johnny plays for self-expression, and Spike plays to win. Read up on these characters and figure out what motivates them.

5. Don't be afraid to take risks.

   The judges care about how you think more than what you think. If you write your essays with conviction and solid reasoning, it won't matter whether you gave the answer they were looking for or not.

Let's assume that you've successfully navigated these first two tests. You're still in a pool of over a hundred contestants from which maybe a dozen will be plucked. The third test requires you to actually design some cards and submit them. How can you distinguish your entry from the pack?

1. Be innovative.

   Easier said than done. This means you need to find ideas that aren't just derivations of existing mechanics. Explore unused design space. Try something that's never been done before in Magic. And for goodness' sake, check online to make sure your card hasn't already been printed.

2. But don't be a comedian.

   Some applicants cracked jokes and submitted silly playtest names for their entries. They didn't last long. Approaching design with a glib attitude is like a big, burly man walking up to Idol auditions in a tutu; unless you're a really spectacular performer, people are just going to laugh at you.

3. Demonstrate diverse design.

   The third test of GDS1 called for six cards that feel like they came from six different blocks. Think of a test like this as an opportunity to show the extent of your creativity. Draft a batch of cards with distinct mechanics and goals, then read over them again to ensure that they're not too similar to each other.

4. Value elegance.

   The death of many cards is overcomplexity. Ask yourself whether you can capture the flavor of the card you're designing in fewer words. Remember: the goal of design is to create cards whose meaning is instantly apparent to players.

5. Practice.

   If you have any interest whatsoever in this challenge, start designing cards now. Keep a Word document or a notebook with your ideas written down. Review them periodically. If you're serious about getting good, write up proxies and playtest your ideas against real cards. You may not be able to use all your ideas for the actual contest, but you'll already have a well of resources from which to draw your best work. At the very least, it'll be fun!

The Art of War

Understanding cards at the developmental level doesn't just allow you to appreciate the intricacies of card creation – it will help make you a better Magic player! How, you ask? Thinking about the way each card was conceived and revised, asking why Mark Rosewater or Ken Nagle or Mark Gottlieb approved the design the way it is, can let you inside the mind of the designers and unlock new potential for your own deck building and play.

Consider the unassuming Hedron Crab.

This little crab has powered several innovative decks to tournament success. The design of the card is simple and elegant. First and foremost, it's a one-drop creature that showcases landfall, which is the backbone of Zendikar. It helps diversify the set, alongside creatures like Grazing Gladehart, by doing something more than simply getting bigger when a land enters the battlefield. And its ability encourages players to think differently about land, even in a mill deck: it challenges them to find ways to put more lands into play, via fetches or efficient ramp spells like Harrow.

But Hedron Crab demonstrates other important design considerations underneath its obvious features. The card is uncommon for a reason – it screams "build around me," but if players could draft seven of the little guys at common, it would lead to some seriously degenerate Limited decks. It's also a 0/2, which means (fortunately for red-deck players) that it can't safely block Goblin Guide. Finally, the ability reads "target player" instead of "target opponent." Beginning players will miss this subtlety in their quest to mill out their opponents, but creative deckbuilders can exploit its mill-yourself ability to toss all manner of creatures into their graveyard: creatures with unearth, black creatures to fuel Crypt of Agadeem, or most recently, Vengevine, as seen in David Ochoa's tournament-stomping "Dredge-Uh-Vine" deck (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/528). Even a simple card like Hedron Crab has a host of design elements to consider, and you can bet that the R&D team scrutinized every one.

The more you examine every card you come across from the designer's perspective, the more you'll see their hidden quirks and developmental Easter eggs. The people who discovered the game-breaking Dark Depths + Vampire Hexmage, Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek, Ad Nauseam + Angel's Grace + Conflagrate – we call them innovators. You could be the next player on that list!

The Secret of Making Magic

The real value of GDS2, what makes this contest worth following, is that it allows us to view the rigors of card design and the people behind the game from a unique perspective. The writers at Wizards offer us a daily glimpse of R&D life through their columns, but we rarely see any part of the process but the finished product. When the judges heap praise or criticism on applicants' card submissions, however, we're seeing the process in medias res, watching the professionals analyze and evaluate with the same criteria that every new Magic set undergoes before its release.

Design is a careful engineering process: each new card introduces a new cog to a giant machine with over ten thousand interchangeable parts. A game with such a rich casual and professional environment must be exquisitely well balanced. At the same time, though, it's not algorithmic: you can't simply enter numbers into an equation and end up with a new card. (Mind Stone + Mind Stone + Mind Stone = Dreamstone Hedron notwithstanding.)

Above all, though, a Magic card is designed with feeling – the way you feel when you look at it and play with it. The soul of the game is the fantasy world that it creates: that's why cards are printed with artwork and flavorful quotes, not just little blocks of rules text. Let's look at some of the GDS judges' comments:

"I think players feel bad when they have a giant flier, yet they're not supposed to attack with it."

"Siege gets points for flavor, but it felt pretty non-interactive to me and that you didn't have to work hard enough."

"I really like this card. It's simple but it feels very unique."

"Even when it was right to do that, and people did it, most didn't enjoy discarding a bunch of cards to Krosan Archer very much."

"Your prerelease card…was definitely sexy and would excite players."

The feeling of each card is clearly foremost in a designer's mind, their Prime Directive – to make a game that's fun to play. So the next time you cast a spell, ask yourself: what about that card makes it fun? Is it the way Crystal Ball lets you know you're drawing exactly what you need next turn? The tension of flipping over cards one by one off a cascade trigger? Or the sheer thrill of casting Overwhelming Stampede and swinging for a zillion damage? When you consider the motivations behind the design of your favorite cards, you'll be able to appreciate the rich complexity of Magic on a whole new level.