This week's article is a very special episode of Tactical Metagame, as I'm here with Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) studio head Mark Tuttle, who agreed to do an interview covering a wide range of topics regarding Magic: The Gathering - Tactics, and he brought along some exclusive screenshots of the game!

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Seth Allison: So, to start off, tell me a bit about yourself. What is your position at SOE, and how did you get to that position?

Mark Tuttle: I am the Studio Head of Sony Online Entertainment's Denver studio. We handle all the “blind-repeat” [booster pack] games, whether they are integrated into MMOs like EverQuest's Legends of Norrath and Star Wars Galaxies' TCG, or a standalone product like Magic: The Gathering Tactics.

I originally started at Decipher back in 1995. I did some design on the original Star Wars customizable card game (CCG), as well as worked on their Star Trek and Lord of the Rings CCGs. I moved from there to WizKids [makers of Mage Knight, and “Clix” games such as HeroClix and MechWarrior] where I did marketing and eventually became a Brand Manager overseeing the “Clix” line.

Eventually Seattle wasn't working for my family. I saw a position open at SOE for a brand manager with experience in booster-pack products and moved to the Denver studio, working in marketing for two years until the position of studio head opened up, and here I am.

SA: The MTG Tactics card selection seems to be pulled from all Magic time periods. How did you decide which cards to recreate, and how much input did Wizards of the Coast have in the game's creation?

MT: Well, tasked with our first set, our “Alpha,” we had a lot of masters to serve. We needed to represent all five colors, as well as show off everything new about our game. We couldn't leave out some mechanics and say, “Oh, we'll come back to this in a later set.” Everything needed to be represented; the set needed to feel complete.

So we approached it as: If we could remake Magic, what would we want to include? What strategies and keywords were the most important to include? We had a big list and just started whittling it down until we reached the current set. There's obviously more we'd like to include, but that's the advantage of having more sets down the road.

As far as WotC input, they were very hands-off. They allowed us to make the game we wanted to make and didn't push us toward any specific direction. We would make a list of cards and they would go over it, letting us know if they didn't want us to make specific spells or creatures, but overall they let us do our job.

SA: Mirrodin Besieged just released. How much of a heads-up did you guys get from WotC on upcoming sets? Will Tactics start to mimic the recent paper releases?

MT: Well, we didn't ask, and truthfully, didn't need to. We are business partners, and if there was something we needed to know we could do that, but we have so much to work with that we'd rather make the Serra Angels, the Shivan Dragons, the iconic cards that have resonated with players over the years, instead of jumping on new stuff that doesn't have the legacy yet.

Also, we had to create a lot of new content. About 40 percent of the first set are all-new spells made with oversight from WotC to represent things like initiative, flanking attacks, and range without warping the original intent of iconic cards.

SA: Speaking of new sets, what are your plans for expanding MTG Tactics with new releases?

MT: We're aiming for about five months between major sets. It's more complicated than paper Magic because we need to create 3D models, sounds, and animations, instead of a flat, 2D illustration, but we're figuring 150 to 180 new spells/figures every five months.

Campaigns are a little different because those tools are already in place; we can generate new chapters in the storyline much faster. We're looking at two to three new campaigns between releases; we don't want our players going too long without new and exciting content.

SA: Will upcoming sets be released in a “block” format or as standalone releases?

MT: I don't think anything will be truly standalone; every set will move to reinforce the themes laid down by previous sets, while introducing new strategies and themes in them. One future concept we're working on is exploring other planes. Right now we're looking at the first two sets being Dominaria, and after that maybe moving on to other planes in the MTG universe. [Seth's note: C'mmmon Ravnica, c'mmmmon Ravnica!]

SA: Overall, are you satisfied with the launch of MTG Tactics? What issues or features are the team most focused on at the moment?

MT: Well, it was a bit of a bumpy launch, and we're still working on a variety of issues. Minimum spec issues have been rough; the near-infinite variety of combinations of graphics cards, memory, and motherboards have created some issues. We're crunching on that, and obviously working to bring in as many new players as possible.

As far as game enhancement, we're updating the Spellbook builder, adding more slots to the creature/spell count. We heard the feedback from the players; we need to make the Spellbook more conducive to decks with lots of one-ofs; people want to play a wider variety of creatures and spells, so we're going to let them do that.

We're also looking into messaging/stats going into and out of a PvP game. When you enter the game, you can see your opponent's name, his record, and so forth. Leaving the game, you can see stats like how many creatures were killed, how much damage you dealt and took, how many spells were cast, and other stats. Magic players are very numbers-focused, and we wanted to enhance that experience for those interested in such numbers.

We have meetings regularly to brainstorm new features; our board in the studio has over a hundred things on it. We hope that this is a live product for years to come and can regularly roll out new features and functionality.

SA: Are there any plans to implement direct peer-to-peer trading? If so, how can we expect it to work?

MT: We know a lot of people want direct trading, and we're looking into it. There are a lot of issues that people don't immediately realize, things like fraud, increased need for customer-service representatives for buggy, unfair, or harassment situations in a private trade system. Our other blind-repeat games used a direct-trade system, and we decided to try out with just an Auction House this time, and add trading if we felt it was absolutely necessary.

One of the things we like about the Auction House is the availability of it. You don't have to be online or sync up with someone else to trade; you can post up your cards for sells and maybe not log in for a few days, come back, and have your Gold. Tactics is available in many languages, and being able to bridge the language and time-zone gap by being able to “browse” everyone's collections at the same time is a great advantage of the Auction House system.

SA: In the campaign chapters and daily missions, you encounter several iconic characters from MTG lore, including all five of the original Lorwyn Planeswalkers. Are there any plans to incorporate some of the newer Planeswalkers like Elspeth or Tezzeret?

MT: We definitely want to get new Planeswalkers in there, but not just to jam them in for no reason. The story we tell with Tactics is the story of your personal ascent as a Planeswalker. You get more powerful and acquire new skills, and along the way, you interact with other Planeswalkers in the main storyline. We want major characters to appear, but they need to come in when it makes sense to see them.

SA: Developing MTG into a Tactics game—is it like when you make a film adaptation of a book, and you have to change some things for a new medium but risk backlash from the purists of the original medium? How's the response from paper MTG players been?

MT: It's funny you ask this; I was having this conversation yesterday with another developer. In the end, it's not Magic: The Gathering the Trading Card Game. It's a different game with similar mechanics, but we have to serve the master of being a Tactics game and doing what's right for a Tactics game, not what would be best for the paper version of Magic.

We never set out to make MTG rule-for-rule, because that already exists in several iterations. We wanted to capture the flavor and feel of the Magic universe, but it needs to feel like its own game and provide a new and different experience for the player than the card game.

SA: Finally, ManaNation’s audience is primarily Magic card players. Do you have anything you'd like to say to them directly?

MT: We'd like to invite everyone to come in and try it out. It's a free-to-play game; you can experience the first campaign with a starter deck, earning new cards along the way. You unlock daily missions you can do for Gold, and you can spend the Gold in the Auction House to purchase new cards and improve your deck.

You can purchase additional campaigns, as well as booster packs, promo cards, and just more Gold via our Station Cash micro transactions, but none of it is required to play. Now's the best time to sign up and try it out, as we're giving out an exclusive and free Mossbridge Troll promo card to everyone who creates an account before February 28, so head over to www.MagicTheGatheringTactics.com and download the game to try it out.

SA: Thanks for your time!

MT: Thanks for having me.