Résoudre un problème (document en anglais)

1% Inspiration

Before I jump in and explain the inspiration for each block, let me first talk about why it's important that each block has a different inspiration. Magic, at its core, is a game about change. I like to think of it as a living, breathing thing that is constantly evolving. If we kept doing the same thing, the game would grow stagnant and our playerbase would get bored. This means that one of the responsibilities of R&D is to keep coming up with new ways to play the game. The best way to do this is by creating new blocks that take the game in new directions.

But there is a big obstacle to creative thinking—the neurology of the human brain. You see, our brain is a pretty complex organ that does an incredible amount of work. In order to maximize that work, the brain takes short cuts whenever it can. It will look at how we did something the last time and copy that. The brain starts making neural pathways that grow with time.

Now, in a vacuum, this makes sense. Let's say you want to use, well, a vacuum, to clean up. Odds are the way you used it the last fifty times you used the vacuum will work just fine for the fifty-first time. (I'm well aware that numerous readers have never used a vacuum fifty-one times, but I have kids, and for those who don't, here's a foreshadowing—they're very, very messy.) The brain's shortcutting, most of the time, is a blessing, because it allows us to do what we want without any excess brain activity.

But when it comes to creative endeavors, doing it the way you did it last time is not exactly a blessing. In fact, have you ever tried to solve a problem and you kept coming up with the same solutions? That's your brain using the same worn neural pathways. How do you solve this issue? By approaching your problem from a different vantage point. (My article "Connect the Dots" goes deep into the topic of creative thinking if you're interested.) By forcing yourself to think about it in a different context, you make your brain create new neural pathways that will lead to new answers. This is why, when I'm stuck in the design of a card (or mechanic or theme), I sometimes will create a self-imposed restriction to force me to think differently. (I am now obligated to state "Restrictions breed creativity.")

The reason we want each block to have its own inspiration is that we want to approach each block differently, so the people working on it approach it from a direction no design team has approached it before.

My last note before I jump into the blocks is that I am going to talk about where we started for each design, not necessarily where it ended up. As you will see, some blocks started one place and ended up someplace different. This leads to another important creativity lesson: don't let where you once were keep you from going where you need to be. A jumping-off point is just a place to get started. If your creative work moves away from it, do not be afraid to follow it.

With all that out of the way, let's start talking inspiration.

Theros Block

This block's design started with a simple idea—let's do a top-down set inspired by Greek and Roman mythology that has an enchantment

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