Since the dawn of Magic, new sets have been designed in one of two main ways. There are bottom-up sets, which prioritize mechanics over flavor, and top-down sets, which do the opposite. Alternating these approaches has allowed for sets that appeal to a wide audience, at least when taken in aggregate. If one thing defines Magic as a game, however, it’s the willingness to evolve and change.
According to Head Designer Mark Rosewater, this two-pronged approach to MTG set design is over. Current and future sets are operating on a different methodology, with many huge implications.
Moving On Up

This change was officially announced in a Blogatog post yesterday. The question of whether bottom-up design was being phased out of Magic or not has been raised a few times recently on the blog. In response to this question, Mark Rosewater countered that bottom-up design is still very much part of modern MTG set design.
“There hasn’t been a lack of bottom up design. We just integrate flavor and mechanic better, so it’s hard to tell whether a set is top down or bottom up.”
Mark Rosewater
This is definitely something you’ve likely noticed recently if you’re a long-time player. A lot more sets seem to lean heavily into specific themes, often tied to recognizable settings and genres. As we’ve seen more of this, players have been quick to push back against this heavy use of tropes. Based on Rosewater’s response to questions on bottom-up design this week, however, it looks like they’re here to stay.
“We’re past the point where sets won’t have a flavorful hook. It’s how we do market research on new set ideas and it’s what we base our market campaigns around. It also has a huge impact on set sell in. […] In short, how we make Magic sets has evolved passed that era of set design.”
Mark Rosewater
This has been fairly obvious for a while now, but seeing it officially stated like this is still a pretty big deal. The idea that we won’t see any new MTG sets without a thematic, flavorful hook has all sorts of implications. It’s easy to predict the worst in this scenario and think that every set from now on will be a reference-fest like Thunder Junction or Duskmourn.
Top-down design, however, encompasses more than just genre sets like this and many past examples have been fan favorites. Whether this shift will be for good or ill remains to be seen, but it’s major either way.
A Bright Future?
Nowadays, even mechanically-focused sets are rich in top-down elements. Every set this year has felt this way. Even Bloomburrow, the freshest-feeling of them all, draws liberally from the likes of Redwall. For many long-time Magic players, this change does not feel like a positive one.
“If you don’t see a shift over the past several years from unique planes to riffs on existing genres, then fine, but it’s pretty clear. And I do absolutely think building sets mechanics-first IS the reason we got interesting worlds like Ravnica and Mirrodin rather than Disneyland rides.”
ct4cd
It’s interesting to look at how these new top-down sets are treated vs. older ones. Innistrad and Theros were both beloved sets, for example, and ostensibly do the same things that Thunder Junction and Duskmourn are doing now. Because of the new merged approach to design, every set feels a bit top-down now, which may be causing some fatigue.
“The question is certainly implying that we’re getting too much top down and that it’s a problem. I’m not sure that either of those is truly the case. I do think they’ve become bolder in their choices for what a Magic world can look like, but I also think that the distinction between top down and bottom up no longer makes a serious difference in how a set turns out.”
natew000
I think it’s important to give Wizards the benefit of the doubt on this one. While we have seen a number of sets that feel like ‘MTG does X genre’ in quick succession, there’s no reason to assume that those are the only kinds of sets this new model can produce. Next year’s Death Race might have you sighing in advance of all the Mad Max references, but it could equally be a strong piece of original worldbuilding in its own right.
Whether this change is a good or a bad thing is hard to say. Clearly, in business terms it’s excellent. MTG is more successful now than it’s ever been, as a direct result of moving to a set design model like this. The recent, on-the-nose thematic sets have performed incredibly well. For those who started playing earlier, however, there’s a sense of something lost. It can’t help but feel like the game is playing to the audience rather than charting its own course. Hopefully Magic can retain its heart as this set design approach continues to be used.
Read More: MTG Designer Confirms Playtest Card Was Foreshadowing For Duskmourn