AuthorRecurring Insight

What if you could find any card in your library and put it straight into your hand? Patrick Sullivan analyzes the immensely powerful Alpha card Demonic Tutor.

What makes a card design succeed where other versions have failed? Patrick Sullivan analyzes the history and design of Thief of Sanity, one of Magic’s most distinctive flying creatures.

Patrick Sullivan analyzes the history and design behind one of Magic’s most notorious lock pieces: Smokestack.

Phyrexian mana led to some of the most broken Magic cards in this century. Patrick Sullivan looks back at the game’s cheapest pump spell, Mutagenic Growth.

One of Magic’s iconic lands is also among its biggest rule-breakers. Patrick Sullivan explores Commander favorite Maze of Ith, an early lesson in how not to design a land.

How does a card printed to enable a mechanic spawn whole new archetypes on its own? Patrick Sullivan looks back at Life from the Loam.

What makes the perfect Standard card? Patrick Sullivan looks back on a creature that met its moment flawlessly: Loxodon Smiter.

Is Bridge from Below even a real Magic card? Patrick Sullivan looks back at one of the game’s most controversial designs.

Color-shifting, or reprinting effects in new colors, reached its zenith in Planar Chaos. Patrick Sullivan looks back at the Force Spike color-shifted to white, Mana Tithe.

Brainstorm was supposed to be a “fixed” Ancestral Recall. Patrick Sullivan details how the Ice Age common became one of Magic’s defining cards.

After the original Zendikar, aggressive one-drops were never the same. Patrick Sullivan examines Modern Burn staple Goblin Guide.