Melissa DeTora

Melissa DeTora is a Senior Game Designer at Wizards of the Coast and currently leads the MTG Casual Play Design team. She is the first woman to Top 8 a Magic Pro Tour. [8:03] Melissa's WOTC journey: Intern -> Senior Game Designer [9:47] What is Play Design? [13:38] Play Design -> Casual Play Design [17:41] Playtesting Commander during COVID-19 [23:26] Designing for "Casual" [25:57] Play Design interactions with Commander RC and CAG [28:21] Too many treasures / Dockside Extortionist is OP [29:36] Arcane Signet [32:06] "I'm still learning things every day" / "I don't want to go to FNM" [37:58] Melissa's mentors [43:21] Design story: Tovolar [46:33] Looking back: Mutate, Companion mechanics [53:46] Looking back: past sets [56:43] Self-criticality as a designer [58:41] Self-criticality as a player [1:00:39] Mindset change: PTQ to PT [1:02:36] "You are probably bad at Magic" [1:05:38] Raphael Levy [1:09:22] Playtesting at the DeTora residence / Joel Larsson, pathfinder [1:13:15] Parents and Magic [1:14:22] Pump It Up [1:24:06] Women in Magic: then vs. now Show notes: humansofmagic.com Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic Music: @kuplasound