Magic the Gathering's head designer has responded to criticisms of the recently-revealed Innistrad: Double Feature compilation set.
Double Feature is a store-exclusive set coming at the end of January 2022 that combines all the cards from the two recent Innistrad sets, Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow, into a single, draftable experience. One of the big selling points of it is meant to be its 'collectability', as every card in every booster pack will be in a monochromatic "Silver Screen" art style.
However, the reception to Double Feature has been less than positive, to say the least. The primary issue has been with the Silver Screen style, which simply uses art from Crimson Vow and Midnight Hunt and puts a black and white filter over it instead of taking more influence from old-fashioned horror movies, like its box art suggests it would.
The fact that every card from the two recent Innistrad sets is being included was also an issue raised, with people questioning whether such a complete reprint of sets only a few months old was the way to go over a more curated experience. Cards like Evolving Wilds and Bramble Armor were in both sets, and so are going to wind up getting reprinted twice in the same set in Double Feature.
Responding to these concerns, head designer Mark Rosewater took to his Blogatog blog to answer some questions about Double Feature. In particular, he said that he "wish we'd done a better job when announcing it of making players understand what it is", 'it' being a reduced print, made-for-draft mashup of both sets meant for limited play in stores.
Rosewater also had to step in and clarify one point of confusion surrounding the Silver Screen style. When it was detailed in a recent blog post, many people were led to believe it meant every card could be a Silver Screen printing, but many would just be their normal art. That isn't the case, and Rosewater has confirmed that every card in every booster pack will be in black and white.
Compared to other store exclusives like Mystery Booster: Convention Edition, Double Feature still so far seems incredibly underwhelming. This could have included art styles seen in the recent Secret Lair October Superdrop that features cards based on old horror movie posters and pulp novel covers, or even alternate that fit a bit better with the black and white style.
There's also concerns for accessibility to take into account. Having every card be the same colour makes them difficult to parse across the table, especially for people with visual impairments or sensory processing difficulties (as noted by Magic Proxy artist Meghan "Sheepwave" Burden). For a set intended to get people back into game stores and drafting, is having such an inaccessible art style really the way to go about it?
Innistrad: Double Feature launches on January 22.