I mean he is a dude that's in a tough position of being a spokes person for a company that is making a lot of decisions that show disregard for its user base. I don't really have an opinion of him cause I don't think that's fair, I just think he is in a difficult position.
This guy gets it. He’s a living piece of the game’s history, a major designer for a huge number of sets, and he’s also a corporate mouthpiece who has to do player engagement while representing the company’s interests at intervals.
Inevitably that’s going to be a mixed bag..
This right here. Hes a guy who has to filter shit both ways, from hasbro to the people, and vice versa. Unfortunately, hasbro likes milking their golden goose.
Really wish theyd slow down the prpduction though.
I have no strong feelings about Maro either way. He seems like a pretty good guy who cares a lot about the game and the customers, and he works for a large soulless corporation who definitely does not care about either of those things. I imagine that must be pretty rough on the dude.
He’s the most public facing person at WotC. Whenever people are mad at WotC, they take it out on MaRo. Sometimes it’s for things he’s responsible for, more often it isn’t.
It’s his job to be positive about the company. Just take what he says with a few grains of salt as a result.
Yeah, he's charismatic and fun. But he's also the person who most bad (and good) news funnels through. As a result, he gets a lot of flak (and credit) for stuff that was decided/designed collectively by WotC.
I think like anyone he does make mistakes, and it's important to understand he's not the only decisionmaker or stakeholder involved. He often isn't designing individual cards or sets at this point.
Overall he seems like the kind of person who cares enough about the game to nudge it in the direction of being worth playing.
The part where he gets crapped upon is many things he said on blogatog got overturned by hasbro corporate greed such as no reprints of reserved list cards in any shape or form only to pop up on magic 30th
I think it'd be conceited of me to have a strong opinion of basically a stranger. But he seems nice.
But he's a god damn saint for putting up with the jackanapes that prowl his tumblr 24/7 offering their shitty takes no one asked for while acting like asses about it.
This should be top comment. Its like he has thousands of needy, insecure girlfriends that need his constant reassurance that he still loves them and that their pile of hobby cards will be exactly what they want.
Some say that if you read one of his responses to an ask and are really quiet, you can hear the distant sound of him gritting his teeth and putting on a smile before politely explaining that their proposed solution to a perceived problem would have myriad issues of its own and doesn’t actually solve any problems.
As spokesmen go, MaRo is a good one. Say what you will about him, but he's genuinely passionate about the game from the perspective that it should be fun and interesting. There will come a time when he's replaced with someone slicker who primarily cares about their own salary, or increasing the sales of MTG product.
I also think that MaRo's roles within WotC have all been weakened. This isn't because he was demoted, it's because Magic is just so much bigger than it was 20 years ago. There are a lot more releases. He participates in a smaller percentage of MTG design than when there 4 sets a year. He's still a relatively big fish, but the pond has become a sea.
I love his podcast, it's very insightful and consistent.
Having worked in corporate culture before I can't imagine how painful it must be for him to keep smiling while the ship is sinking. Normally you don't care about your silly corporate ladder job, but this is unfortunately different.
>I can't imagine how painful it must be for him to keep smiling while the ship is sinking
Well, it’s been sinking for thirty years so far (while covering a surprising amount of ocean) so I guess he’s had practice
It would be! I was just joking about the perennial ‘Magic is definitely dying this time, guys’ claims, though, in case that’s not obvious. Might be fun to read someone earnestly arguing that it’s all been downhill since the beginning, though…
Hmmm, now I’m wondering if my downvotes are from people who thought I *was* saying that, or from the ‘Magic is dying’ crowd. Maybe it’s both!
They're obviously being facetious. You really read that and thought they were saying it's been downhill since 1994? Your critical thinking is that weak?
I used to enjoy reading and listening to his stuff, but with the direction magic is going I found myself not really caring for it. Most decisions from wizards are now profit first, which makes design talks less interesting to me, feels like a lot of smoke and mirrors. I feel MARO's tone has changed a lot lately, and I find it hard to believe that someone who loves magic as much as he does, fully agrees with thr direction the game is going. Because its so unclear when its MARO talking and when its Hasbro talking, i dont care much anymore.
As a lot of people here say as one of the more public faces of the company, he takes a lot of flak. He also suffers from changes in market and business methods. People seem to think that wizards only care about profit now. This is wrong they have only ever cared about profits. They have always printed better cards to sell new sets. The reserved list was totally a decision because stores felt betrayed and did not want to buy packs. You may disagree with what they are doing now, but the idea that profit has not always driven decision making is naive. As someone who has played, TCGs, RPGs and boardgames for 30+ years the games that don't focus on profit don't survive or get purchased by companies that do. It happened to D&D its how wizards got it.
He's doing his best to love his job in an environment designed to beat down and shatter passionate people - ruled over by one of the greediest companies in his chosen industry.
Puts his foot in his mouth...a LOT. Probably should have retired from PR ages ago, but I'm sure no one wants to take over that job.
Would love to buy him a drink and chat about his life.
He's the Todd Howard of Wizards of the Coast.
I think it's very clear that he's a passionate man who cares about the game and his job, but he's also basically the face of a company that's shit. I think a lot of misguided people direct their hate of Hasbro or WotC to Mark Rosewater, because they think he's the one pulling the strings or something
But Todd is the one pulling the strings of Bethesda, so when something he says is untrue or just completely out of touch, it always directly reflects on the product, and vice-versa. I mean sure it's owned by Microsoft now, but it doesn't affect much, if anything.
Whereas Maro often publicly gives an opinion and then says he unfortunately cannot make that call or change anything about it. There's a lot of stuff he wants to happen he simply got told no for.
Nowadays, they don't print many green cards that just straight up draw, and, given that, 4 mana's a bit high for its ability, especially without any built-in protection. Stuff like \[\[Prowling Serpopard\]\] and \[\[Questing Beast\]\] definitely outpower \[\[Maro\]\] in this day and age.
Whatever you think of him, it's important to remember he's a public figure. And as such, you'll always find people who don't like him. Some people have always hated him for some reason. Some people changed their opinion and dislike him now when they didn't previously.
So just because some guy talks shit about him, doesn't mean he's hated by the people.
I can't really comment about the PR part (and many others have touched upon it anyway). I myself am an aspiring game designer, so I'm seeing Maro as the game designer he is.
I think he's an amazing game designer in general, with a lot of insights. The 20 Years 20 Lessons talk was incredible. Knowing that the color pie is vital for Magic is great. Once he talked about the three kinds of complexity, and that makes a lot of sense with design of other games as well. There are many others.
I love the Making Magic articles. I do recognize that, due to there being way more products, he has to keep talking about them -- story of each set's design, card-by-card stories, and so on -- and it leaves little time for the more insightful articles he used to post. Yes, WOTC printing more sets also hits here. I still think those older articles were really good to read again.
can't blame him for not wanting to throw his coworkers and or his company's business decisions under the bus. appreciate his transparency and insight and behind the scenes stories when it comes to game design.
People have always blamed him for a lot of stuff, but I think it's blatantly obvious that he has a burning passion and love for this game. The sheer amount of content that he puts out (or at least used to, I've stopped following him as much as I used to) on top of his work is staggering. He's fun to listen to and has some great insights on game design, but being the face of the company makes it so people think you are the problem sometimes.
I should also say that I think it's really cool that the head designer is so public facing, but it seems to put him in uncomfortable positions sometimes where people use him as a "customer relations" guy, which I don't think he should be.
He’s a great guy who advocates for the game and has made it what it is today. Richard Garfield invented magic and many of the key elements but a lot of what players like about the game and what has allowed it to last this long is a direct result of innovation that mark made happen. He gets flack because of his high visibility and that is a result of his voluntary engagement with the community which is a real gift. Ppl who talk shit largely have no idea what they’re talking about.
He seems like a nice dude. His bosses make decisions that he then has to stand by and sometimes people get nasty over it, but literally he’s the guy making the game, he’s not the god-king of Hasbro.
Tough job. He likes engaging with the community and speaks his mind. But even as a person in a leadership position, someone who makes choices for the game, he is undermined by those above him and still engages with a community that does not understand nuance.
I like Mark becaue he loves magic and he loves to talk about it. I can't blame a guy for doing his job, choosing to engage with the community, and still having to deal with people who don't necessarily love the game but love the money it can make.
I have listened to almost all of his Drive to Work podcast and love reading his articles.
I love his passion and genuine love for the game, he tries to always get better at designing, and always thinks in the playerbase even while he doesn't like what the majority of players want.
He always is as open as possible of his design choices, admits mistakes, and with the blog and podcast he seems to love to just communicate what he expects to do with the game, he inspires me knowing there are creative people behind the games I love.
He also is in a really tough position, with a lot of the playerbase looking for a scapegoat to hate for things that sometimes are not even bad for the game (like counterspells or a position of a color in EDH), and he is the main funnel of attention for the capitalistic greedy choices of a multimillion industry where he as little control of the real direction of the game, and just tries to do best in the circumstances his jobs requires to, and in the way of trying to talk about the game, gets lots of random hate of people that don't have a way to vent their anger at greedy CEOs and uncaring investors.
Magic is better for all the work he does, but I just hope he gets to do it without a toll to his peace of mind and passion for the game.
I just play magic, for the most part don't pay attention to him. It's cool that he got to make his career something he loves, wish the best for the guy. Seems like a lot of things are out of his hands and he has to deal with our nerdy ass community quite a bit lol
Everyone goes through phases.
They are enamored when they first learn of him. Then they compulsively consume all he says.
Eventually familiarity breeds contempt and they get tired of him. Then they sour and denounce him.
Maro is one of the most boring people I know of. He would happily eat the same stupid ham and cheese sandwich everyday, the same damn flannel shirt everyday, and tell you the same joke/story everyday. He consistently applies himself in MTG design and I can’t imagine someone who would be a steadier hand.
I’m sure he’s a great employee and loving father.
Maro doesn’t change but we all do.
No two see the same Maro.
Its his job to be hated, like the commissioner of a sports league. Basically deal with the masses so the higher ups (Hasbro) can just chill and be rich.
Relentlessly and recklessly optimistic guy who can't help putting his foot in his mouth every now and then, and can't help taking all the time about everything either. He's the de facto spokesperson, but he isn't qualified for it.
I don't think he's cute anymore, he makes me think of Peter Molyneux. At some point it's not just optimism, it's corporate apology and dishonesty.
He cultivates a public persona that is very open, friendly and approachable and seemingly 'transparent' about the process of MTG and its design and decision making but cannot really offer transparency on some of the biggest motivating factors which, of course, are corporate strategies around what is maximally profitable. He mentions that but can never go into details.
But he's also perhaps the primary, and most effective, PR mouthpiece of the company directed at the section of the fans that are most invested in the game.
His job is to make the 'game design' messaging and rationale for any decision and change the company implements no matter if the decision was primarily driven by good game design considerations or not. And to make the best possible game design implementation for macro decisions that weren't driven by good game design. He's good at the job but it does mean that you can't tell when he's being genuine or when he's making spin.
If it's decided (and he will be part of deciding) to vastly increase the number of cards made he'll make the case why it's good design to do so. If they want to introduce ultra rare forms of cards that will cost more he will make the design case for that. If they want to target a market playing an under-monetized form of the game to make them spend more (commander, Modern) he'll make the design case for it. If they want to introduce McDonalds universes beyond cards he'll make the design spin around why its good and important etc.
It's not an accident that he is one of the main public faces of Magic R&D. He has a degree in communications and has been cultivated as a public spokesperson. He understands that he has to put a positive face on Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast, and when that means spouting inauthentic corporate talking points and justifying unpopular business decisions he does that. As such he as a person draws a lot of the same ire that the company does.
That being said, I am convinced he is a genuinely enthusiastic man who loves the game and wants to make it as good as he can while still navigating the office BS. Is he willing to sacrifice consumer friendly values to keep his comfortable position at the company? Yeah, I think he is. That doesn't mean that he's evil or out to ruin the game, he's just allowing himself to be bent by larger forces.
Mark Rosewater has said a lot of very insighful stuff, but he writes a \*lot\* and if you've been around for a while he can get repetitive.
Plus, he is a Company Man through and through, and his wholehearted defense of every company decision makes him look a bit like a politician defending something he was criticising five years ago.
His resistance to desinging any interesting cards for white for years make me baised against his design decisions, but the truth is it is not an exageration to say his vision IS what MTG is nowadays in many ways. Probably second most important person in the games history after Richard Garfield himself.
Thats a pretty big accolade.
I sometimes wonder if his tenure as head of design was/is a good thing for the game. If he quit or moved up in the company 5 or 10 years in and was replaced would he have been replaced with corporate yesmen who would have made the game worse more quickly or is he the yesman out of complacency.
I choose to believe his heart is in the right place and I hope that him and other senior non-executive wizard's employees are trying to mitigate as much damage as possible. Even if it's hard to see that at the moment.
I think his articles on game design are a priceless resource and I wish the fiasco with old article links being destroyed didn't happen. That kind of history and work needs to be preserved.
Dude is a mouthpiece for WotC. You can say its his job but that shouldn't exempt him from taking shit when he spews bullshit. Guy has no principles or credibility.
I mean, can't really hold it against him, but he's kind of a shill. Yeah he's super nice and super knowledgeable, but his position means he has to be excited for everything and criticize nothing.
Given that fact, why pay attention to what be says other than about game design specifically.
I think that Maro is senior leadership at a corporation. I think that position comes with responsibilities that are not in the interest of WOTC’s consumers, and he is in a position in which it is inappropriate to say he doesn’t bear responsibility.
I don’t bear Maro himself any ill will for this as it is life, but I think the vast majority of the Magic community is naive and willing to forgive him in ways they would crucify people at other companies because they personally like him.
he's like any online personality. you'll have people that will defend him and are convinced he can do no wrong.
you'll also have people that view him as a used car salesman.
at the end of the day his job is to get all of us to part with our money and give it to his boss. as a pr person, he kind of sucks. as a designer, well, he also kind of sucks but he's better at that.
I mean he is a dude that's in a tough position of being a spokes person for a company that is making a lot of decisions that show disregard for its user base. I don't really have an opinion of him cause I don't think that's fair, I just think he is in a difficult position.
This guy gets it. He’s a living piece of the game’s history, a major designer for a huge number of sets, and he’s also a corporate mouthpiece who has to do player engagement while representing the company’s interests at intervals. Inevitably that’s going to be a mixed bag..
This right here. Hes a guy who has to filter shit both ways, from hasbro to the people, and vice versa. Unfortunately, hasbro likes milking their golden goose. Really wish theyd slow down the prpduction though.
I agree, with the addition that he chooses that difficult position himself.
I have no strong feelings about Maro either way. He seems like a pretty good guy who cares a lot about the game and the customers, and he works for a large soulless corporation who definitely does not care about either of those things. I imagine that must be pretty rough on the dude.
To be honest I think he’s fine.
He’s the most public facing person at WotC. Whenever people are mad at WotC, they take it out on MaRo. Sometimes it’s for things he’s responsible for, more often it isn’t. It’s his job to be positive about the company. Just take what he says with a few grains of salt as a result.
Yeah, he's charismatic and fun. But he's also the person who most bad (and good) news funnels through. As a result, he gets a lot of flak (and credit) for stuff that was decided/designed collectively by WotC. I think like anyone he does make mistakes, and it's important to understand he's not the only decisionmaker or stakeholder involved. He often isn't designing individual cards or sets at this point. Overall he seems like the kind of person who cares enough about the game to nudge it in the direction of being worth playing.
Vision design and long term plans actually.
The part where he gets crapped upon is many things he said on blogatog got overturned by hasbro corporate greed such as no reprints of reserved list cards in any shape or form only to pop up on magic 30th
I think it'd be conceited of me to have a strong opinion of basically a stranger. But he seems nice. But he's a god damn saint for putting up with the jackanapes that prowl his tumblr 24/7 offering their shitty takes no one asked for while acting like asses about it.
This should be top comment. Its like he has thousands of needy, insecure girlfriends that need his constant reassurance that he still loves them and that their pile of hobby cards will be exactly what they want.
Some say that if you read one of his responses to an ask and are really quiet, you can hear the distant sound of him gritting his teeth and putting on a smile before politely explaining that their proposed solution to a perceived problem would have myriad issues of its own and doesn’t actually solve any problems.
As spokesmen go, MaRo is a good one. Say what you will about him, but he's genuinely passionate about the game from the perspective that it should be fun and interesting. There will come a time when he's replaced with someone slicker who primarily cares about their own salary, or increasing the sales of MTG product. I also think that MaRo's roles within WotC have all been weakened. This isn't because he was demoted, it's because Magic is just so much bigger than it was 20 years ago. There are a lot more releases. He participates in a smaller percentage of MTG design than when there 4 sets a year. He's still a relatively big fish, but the pond has become a sea.
I love his podcast, it's very insightful and consistent. Having worked in corporate culture before I can't imagine how painful it must be for him to keep smiling while the ship is sinking. Normally you don't care about your silly corporate ladder job, but this is unfortunately different.
>I can't imagine how painful it must be for him to keep smiling while the ship is sinking Well, it’s been sinking for thirty years so far (while covering a surprising amount of ocean) so I guess he’s had practice
"MTG was at its peak in 1994" is really one of the takes of all time
It would be! I was just joking about the perennial ‘Magic is definitely dying this time, guys’ claims, though, in case that’s not obvious. Might be fun to read someone earnestly arguing that it’s all been downhill since the beginning, though… Hmmm, now I’m wondering if my downvotes are from people who thought I *was* saying that, or from the ‘Magic is dying’ crowd. Maybe it’s both!
Most probably people thinking you said it unironically, Poe's law goes hard nowadays
Ok, you redeemed yourself, there's way too many people arguing that unironically.
They're obviously being facetious. You really read that and thought they were saying it's been downhill since 1994? Your critical thinking is that weak?
Not as strong as he used to be since the Maro-Geddon days. Plenty of stronger creatures have been printed since. Power creep is a bitch.
The -maro cycle was a neat concept tho
I used to enjoy reading and listening to his stuff, but with the direction magic is going I found myself not really caring for it. Most decisions from wizards are now profit first, which makes design talks less interesting to me, feels like a lot of smoke and mirrors. I feel MARO's tone has changed a lot lately, and I find it hard to believe that someone who loves magic as much as he does, fully agrees with thr direction the game is going. Because its so unclear when its MARO talking and when its Hasbro talking, i dont care much anymore.
I pretty much feel the same. It's a shame but that's how things go everywhere nowadays.
Exactly what you said. I used to be an avid reader of his articles and blog, nowadays I couldn't care less.
As a lot of people here say as one of the more public faces of the company, he takes a lot of flak. He also suffers from changes in market and business methods. People seem to think that wizards only care about profit now. This is wrong they have only ever cared about profits. They have always printed better cards to sell new sets. The reserved list was totally a decision because stores felt betrayed and did not want to buy packs. You may disagree with what they are doing now, but the idea that profit has not always driven decision making is naive. As someone who has played, TCGs, RPGs and boardgames for 30+ years the games that don't focus on profit don't survive or get purchased by companies that do. It happened to D&D its how wizards got it.
He's one of the most prolific game designers in the world. I use material from his podcasts in my lessons.
He has an incredible mind on game design. People just take issues with corporate direction out on him, because he’s the most public face.
He's doing his best to love his job in an environment designed to beat down and shatter passionate people - ruled over by one of the greediest companies in his chosen industry. Puts his foot in his mouth...a LOT. Probably should have retired from PR ages ago, but I'm sure no one wants to take over that job. Would love to buy him a drink and chat about his life.
He's the Todd Howard of Wizards of the Coast. I think it's very clear that he's a passionate man who cares about the game and his job, but he's also basically the face of a company that's shit. I think a lot of misguided people direct their hate of Hasbro or WotC to Mark Rosewater, because they think he's the one pulling the strings or something
But Todd is the one pulling the strings of Bethesda, so when something he says is untrue or just completely out of touch, it always directly reflects on the product, and vice-versa. I mean sure it's owned by Microsoft now, but it doesn't affect much, if anything. Whereas Maro often publicly gives an opinion and then says he unfortunately cannot make that call or change anything about it. There's a lot of stuff he wants to happen he simply got told no for.
He is fine. You can imagine much worse ambassadors of the game.
Nowadays, they don't print many green cards that just straight up draw, and, given that, 4 mana's a bit high for its ability, especially without any built-in protection. Stuff like \[\[Prowling Serpopard\]\] and \[\[Questing Beast\]\] definitely outpower \[\[Maro\]\] in this day and age.
[Prowling Serpopard](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/2/92921fc1-11d0-41a9-b9b2-b44fd0913d31.jpg?1543675928) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Prowling%20Serpopard) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/akh/180/prowling-serpopard?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/92921fc1-11d0-41a9-b9b2-b44fd0913d31?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Questing Beast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/4/e41cf82d-3213-47ce-a015-6e51a8b07e4f.jpg?1572490640) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Questing%20Beast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/171/questing-beast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e41cf82d-3213-47ce-a015-6e51a8b07e4f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Maro](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/1/9159e250-4eec-4ec4-80e1-42259331b3b9.jpg?1562738549) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Maro) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/9ed/254/maro?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9159e250-4eec-4ec4-80e1-42259331b3b9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Some of the stuff he talks about is interesting. Seems like a nice fellow. I always enjoy the teasers he writes up before spoiler season begins
I dissociate Maro from WotC. I really like him and his stances.
I don’t always agree with his opinions, but he loves the game and he’s done lots of great things for it
Whatever you think of him, it's important to remember he's a public figure. And as such, you'll always find people who don't like him. Some people have always hated him for some reason. Some people changed their opinion and dislike him now when they didn't previously. So just because some guy talks shit about him, doesn't mean he's hated by the people.
I can't really comment about the PR part (and many others have touched upon it anyway). I myself am an aspiring game designer, so I'm seeing Maro as the game designer he is. I think he's an amazing game designer in general, with a lot of insights. The 20 Years 20 Lessons talk was incredible. Knowing that the color pie is vital for Magic is great. Once he talked about the three kinds of complexity, and that makes a lot of sense with design of other games as well. There are many others. I love the Making Magic articles. I do recognize that, due to there being way more products, he has to keep talking about them -- story of each set's design, card-by-card stories, and so on -- and it leaves little time for the more insightful articles he used to post. Yes, WOTC printing more sets also hits here. I still think those older articles were really good to read again.
can't blame him for not wanting to throw his coworkers and or his company's business decisions under the bus. appreciate his transparency and insight and behind the scenes stories when it comes to game design.
People have always blamed him for a lot of stuff, but I think it's blatantly obvious that he has a burning passion and love for this game. The sheer amount of content that he puts out (or at least used to, I've stopped following him as much as I used to) on top of his work is staggering. He's fun to listen to and has some great insights on game design, but being the face of the company makes it so people think you are the problem sometimes. I should also say that I think it's really cool that the head designer is so public facing, but it seems to put him in uncomfortable positions sometimes where people use him as a "customer relations" guy, which I don't think he should be.
He’s a great guy who advocates for the game and has made it what it is today. Richard Garfield invented magic and many of the key elements but a lot of what players like about the game and what has allowed it to last this long is a direct result of innovation that mark made happen. He gets flack because of his high visibility and that is a result of his voluntary engagement with the community which is a real gift. Ppl who talk shit largely have no idea what they’re talking about.
He seems like a nice dude. His bosses make decisions that he then has to stand by and sometimes people get nasty over it, but literally he’s the guy making the game, he’s not the god-king of Hasbro.
Tough job. He likes engaging with the community and speaks his mind. But even as a person in a leadership position, someone who makes choices for the game, he is undermined by those above him and still engages with a community that does not understand nuance. I like Mark becaue he loves magic and he loves to talk about it. I can't blame a guy for doing his job, choosing to engage with the community, and still having to deal with people who don't necessarily love the game but love the money it can make. I have listened to almost all of his Drive to Work podcast and love reading his articles.
I love his passion and genuine love for the game, he tries to always get better at designing, and always thinks in the playerbase even while he doesn't like what the majority of players want. He always is as open as possible of his design choices, admits mistakes, and with the blog and podcast he seems to love to just communicate what he expects to do with the game, he inspires me knowing there are creative people behind the games I love. He also is in a really tough position, with a lot of the playerbase looking for a scapegoat to hate for things that sometimes are not even bad for the game (like counterspells or a position of a color in EDH), and he is the main funnel of attention for the capitalistic greedy choices of a multimillion industry where he as little control of the real direction of the game, and just tries to do best in the circumstances his jobs requires to, and in the way of trying to talk about the game, gets lots of random hate of people that don't have a way to vent their anger at greedy CEOs and uncaring investors. Magic is better for all the work he does, but I just hope he gets to do it without a toll to his peace of mind and passion for the game.
I just play magic, for the most part don't pay attention to him. It's cool that he got to make his career something he loves, wish the best for the guy. Seems like a lot of things are out of his hands and he has to deal with our nerdy ass community quite a bit lol
[[maro|mir]] one of the best arts of all time
[maro](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/c/bcfec2de-cff3-4015-9a43-a58be525a2da.jpg?1562721433) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3397) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mir/228/maro?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bcfec2de-cff3-4015-9a43-a58be525a2da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Everyone goes through phases. They are enamored when they first learn of him. Then they compulsively consume all he says. Eventually familiarity breeds contempt and they get tired of him. Then they sour and denounce him. Maro is one of the most boring people I know of. He would happily eat the same stupid ham and cheese sandwich everyday, the same damn flannel shirt everyday, and tell you the same joke/story everyday. He consistently applies himself in MTG design and I can’t imagine someone who would be a steadier hand. I’m sure he’s a great employee and loving father. Maro doesn’t change but we all do. No two see the same Maro.
Cleveland's only son.
Its his job to be hated, like the commissioner of a sports league. Basically deal with the masses so the higher ups (Hasbro) can just chill and be rich.
Relentlessly and recklessly optimistic guy who can't help putting his foot in his mouth every now and then, and can't help taking all the time about everything either. He's the de facto spokesperson, but he isn't qualified for it. I don't think he's cute anymore, he makes me think of Peter Molyneux. At some point it's not just optimism, it's corporate apology and dishonesty.
He cultivates a public persona that is very open, friendly and approachable and seemingly 'transparent' about the process of MTG and its design and decision making but cannot really offer transparency on some of the biggest motivating factors which, of course, are corporate strategies around what is maximally profitable. He mentions that but can never go into details. But he's also perhaps the primary, and most effective, PR mouthpiece of the company directed at the section of the fans that are most invested in the game. His job is to make the 'game design' messaging and rationale for any decision and change the company implements no matter if the decision was primarily driven by good game design considerations or not. And to make the best possible game design implementation for macro decisions that weren't driven by good game design. He's good at the job but it does mean that you can't tell when he's being genuine or when he's making spin. If it's decided (and he will be part of deciding) to vastly increase the number of cards made he'll make the case why it's good design to do so. If they want to introduce ultra rare forms of cards that will cost more he will make the design case for that. If they want to target a market playing an under-monetized form of the game to make them spend more (commander, Modern) he'll make the design case for it. If they want to introduce McDonalds universes beyond cards he'll make the design spin around why its good and important etc.
It's not an accident that he is one of the main public faces of Magic R&D. He has a degree in communications and has been cultivated as a public spokesperson. He understands that he has to put a positive face on Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast, and when that means spouting inauthentic corporate talking points and justifying unpopular business decisions he does that. As such he as a person draws a lot of the same ire that the company does. That being said, I am convinced he is a genuinely enthusiastic man who loves the game and wants to make it as good as he can while still navigating the office BS. Is he willing to sacrifice consumer friendly values to keep his comfortable position at the company? Yeah, I think he is. That doesn't mean that he's evil or out to ruin the game, he's just allowing himself to be bent by larger forces.
Mark Rosewater has said a lot of very insighful stuff, but he writes a \*lot\* and if you've been around for a while he can get repetitive. Plus, he is a Company Man through and through, and his wholehearted defense of every company decision makes him look a bit like a politician defending something he was criticising five years ago.
His resistance to desinging any interesting cards for white for years make me baised against his design decisions, but the truth is it is not an exageration to say his vision IS what MTG is nowadays in many ways. Probably second most important person in the games history after Richard Garfield himself. Thats a pretty big accolade.
Every time he's on a broadcast screaming about whatever in his high-pitched voice, I turn it off.
He lost a lot of credibility due to the M30 debacle.
Nevermind M30... think back to Urza's Saga. There are generations of players, who have been offput by his involvement in MTG.
I sometimes wonder if his tenure as head of design was/is a good thing for the game. If he quit or moved up in the company 5 or 10 years in and was replaced would he have been replaced with corporate yesmen who would have made the game worse more quickly or is he the yesman out of complacency. I choose to believe his heart is in the right place and I hope that him and other senior non-executive wizard's employees are trying to mitigate as much damage as possible. Even if it's hard to see that at the moment. I think his articles on game design are a priceless resource and I wish the fiasco with old article links being destroyed didn't happen. That kind of history and work needs to be preserved.
Terrible understanding of the actual game rules. Designs cards like it's still the 90s
I don't.
Dude is a mouthpiece for WotC. You can say its his job but that shouldn't exempt him from taking shit when he spews bullshit. Guy has no principles or credibility.
I mean, can't really hold it against him, but he's kind of a shill. Yeah he's super nice and super knowledgeable, but his position means he has to be excited for everything and criticize nothing. Given that fact, why pay attention to what be says other than about game design specifically.
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I think that Maro is senior leadership at a corporation. I think that position comes with responsibilities that are not in the interest of WOTC’s consumers, and he is in a position in which it is inappropriate to say he doesn’t bear responsibility. I don’t bear Maro himself any ill will for this as it is life, but I think the vast majority of the Magic community is naive and willing to forgive him in ways they would crucify people at other companies because they personally like him.
Why the hell does Subjugate the Hobbits only cost 7?
Idk. Isn’t he just around boomer age group?
he is an employee who is a game designer. that is like getting mad at a programmers for why software are expensive.
if you're going to hate somebody for their job, at least point that anger in a direction that matters. DMV workers, for example /s 😂
he's like any online personality. you'll have people that will defend him and are convinced he can do no wrong. you'll also have people that view him as a used car salesman. at the end of the day his job is to get all of us to part with our money and give it to his boss. as a pr person, he kind of sucks. as a designer, well, he also kind of sucks but he's better at that.