Gavin Verhey used today’s episode of Good Morning Magic to tell the story of how the party mechanic came to be in Zendikar Rising.
The design team wanted Zendikar Rising to feel more like the original Zendikar set with a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) theme. The original set already had adventuring, loot, and avoiding traps, so the next step was to get an adventuring party together.
Like D&D, Magic already had Wizards, Rogues, and Clerics, but it was missing out on fighters. So, the team opted for Warriors in the fighter spot, choosing it over Knights or Soldiers. They considered adding a fifth class to include Druids, but it made scaling and tuning the party cards too difficult. If they went with five classes, they would also have to ditch some of the non-Human creatures from the set, so the decision was made to keep it at four classes. Then they had to break down which colors got which classes, leaving all colors a piece of the pie.
- White gets the most Clerics but no Rogues
- Blue gets the most Wizards, but no Warriors
- Black gets the most Rogues, but no Wiards
- Red gets the most Warriors, but no Clerics
- Green gets a little of all of the classes
Verhey wraps up the video asking for viewers to leave their favorite party in the comments section. Include your favorite creature from each class. Verhey’s party included: Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Viscera Seer, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Scuzzback Marauders.
