Thread by @Glenn_Jones_

To celebrate the #MTGBRO Transformers cards, I thought I'd do a little thread of design notes for the cards. First up: Optimus Prime, of course! #WotCStaff 1/?

Optimus changed throughout design, but the Robot's death trigger reviving as a truck never did. It was a good nod to his history of sacrificing himself for the team only to return...though we did keep accidentally enabling infinite loops. #WotCStaff 2/?

Starscream stayed close to this design the whole time. Most change revolved around which side was which and color identity. We always think about how the audience might combine their favorite characters in the same deck, and how to support that. #WotCStaff 3/?

We liked Soundwave's alt mode design, but found supporting it on the front difficult. In the end, I decided to go with something powerful and invasive, but also difficult and requiring careful calculation. Sound like anyone you know? #WotCStaff 4/?

Slicer didn't change much beside numbers, so let's talk "living metal." Alt mode vehicles wanted to be Vehicles, but crew felt wrong--they're autonomous. I loved how this version let them "hide" and also provided an obvious reason to want to leave Robot mode. #WotCStaff 5/?

Transformers were one of Casual Play Design's first projects as #WotCStaff, and they had a lot of input on Goldbug especially.
For "MTMtE" a design goal was that converting from either mode would have clear goals that felt necessary for play and narratively appealing. 6/?

"Bomat Courier, the commander" was a solid structure for showcasing our new mechanic, since it's obvious why you'd convert. Combining it with sacrificing fellow artifacts captured her aggressive, impulsive, and ruthless nature perfectly for me. #WotCStaff 7/?

The trick to Ultra Magnus was certainly differentiating the play patterns of two trucks in satisfying way. In the end, we decided to go the convoy route and pair that with a unique color identity to set him apart. #WotCStaff 8/17

Ah, Megatron. The true challenge: he has so many facets and fans that you'll always miss for some of them. The team loved emphasizing his tyrannical leadership with white, which I liked in part because UBR is such a common "villain" combination for Magic. #WotCStaff 9/17

We toyed with a lot of variations on Jetfire's mana ability, but in the end I thought it was most enjoyable to match the powerstones you saw in #MTGDMU #WotCStaff 10/17

The only thing more challenging than designing a triple changer on a DFC had to be concepting its art! Mechanically, we wanted to allude to a well-known "griefer" card to sell his personality, and Wound Reflection played the best. #WotCStaff 11/17

Ratchet was designed during a time when many designers were working on fun mono-W commanders. His Vehicle conversion has the "loop-breaker" clause because this structure was so much more fun in practice than using a time-based trigger. #WotCStaff 12/17

I wanted a few Transformers to have the Vehicle be the high-cost side, to ensure more diverse play patterns within the set. I also just really wanted a Decepticon with connive, it's a great word for them. #WotCStaff 13/17

We tried to get a good mix of color identities, but all of Prowl's were in use elsewhere. We also weren't willing to make Goldbug GW, due to that knocking him out of Optimus decks. So Prowl wound up W to allow play in more decks. #WotCStaff 14/17

I loved Blaster the whole way through design, only changing rates. You'll note that he is a fan of basketball, while Soundwave? Not so much. #WotCStaff 15/17

Early Arcee designs assumed we'd use her motorcycle art and focused around using temporary flying to simulate popping a wheelie. Her car art pays homag to that idea, but design committed to manifesting her sharpshooting skills with a reload ability. #WotCStaff 16/17

Hope you enjoyed this little look inside the process! Happy to entertain further questions, with the caveat that I may not be able to answer them. Roll out! #WotCStaff 17/17