The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield

Andy and Anthony are joined by Richard Garfield, legendary game designer and the creator of Magic: the Gathering. Richard talks about how he got interested in modifying and tweaking games, his concept that players can be loosely understood as either ‘honers’ or ‘innovators’, and why some games with great mechanics have no soul as a result of overdevelopment. Andy and Anthony also take advantage of this opportunity to ask Richard about his relationship to Cube, getting insight into how he designs his own and what he values about the format. They cover all the most salient Cube topics, including handling feedback from players, how to approach power level outliers, and how to manage complexity.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:49 - Welcoming Richard Garfield to the show

3:31 - How Richard got started modifying games

11:12 - How do you know when a game has gotten too complex?

17:37 -  Honers vs. Innovators

22:48 - Richard’s relationship to Cube

28:46 - On “Overdeveloped” Games

31:22 - The virtues of a wider power level band

43:09 - How to process feedback from players

46:58 - Is getting into nature an important part of Richard’s creative process

49:15 - The role of visual and narrative elements in games

55:00 - Designing a meta vs designing a game

58:10 - Richard’s current favorite games

1:02:56 - Richard’s game design book recommendations

Discussed in this episode:

• MH3 Community Review Survey and the Commander Set Survey
• Episode 202: Reading Series — The Creator of ‘Magic the Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where it All Went Wrong
• Stratego
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Algomancy
• The Encyclopedia of Chess Variations
• Balatro
• Founders of Reyvik
• Finkel vs. Garfield
• Deckmasters Garfield vs. Finkel Product
• Slay the Spire
• Spectromancer
• Munchkin
• Innovation, by Carl Chudyk
• Quadradius
• Gamut of Games, by Sid Sackson
• New Rules for Classic Games, by R. Wayne Schmittberger

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You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

• Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
• Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box:

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Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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