Charting the Stars: The Spaceships That Inspired Magic’s Edge of Eternities

We've been having a ton of fun with the latest Magic: The Gathering set, Edge of Eternities, and I've been especially enjoying the new Spacecraft card type, which sees massive ships, stealthy fighters, and powerful stations enter the game. This got me thinking about how the set's been influenced by sci-fi and pop-culture, so I reached out to Andrew Brown, a Game Design Architect from Wizards of the Coast who worked on the set, to learn more.

To begin our conversation, I wanted to know how Andrew's favorite sci-fi ships shaped the design for Spacecraft in Edge of Eternities. "This has to be the Eternity Elevator," Brown explains. "The infinite elevator has been a staple of many IPs and porting it into the vastness of space is charming to me. I can’t help but think of what kind of music they play in the elevator that lasts forever."

I really like the Eternity Elevator, and agree with Andrew that I've always found that idea of an Elevator from Earth to a space station or the moon really thought-provoking, especially when used as a focal point to the story ala The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke or Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Heck, there's even the Umbilicus used to exchange inventions with the Mads in Mystery Science Theater 3000!

Next I wanted to know from Andrew which spaceship he thought would make the best Commander if it were a Magic card,  What would its mechanics be? Deftly avoiding naming other IP's, Brown still provides a truly thought-provoking answer. "For me," he says, "it has to be the International Space Station. I am a sucker for 5 color commander decks and to me that captures the exact flavor of it. People from all over the world banding together to search the final frontier is poetic and full of hope."

I like the idea of the ISS as a Commander,  which feels like it would have Convoke to help get that message of universal cooperation through. Maybe we need a set of real-world spaceships in a future Secret Lair. I mean, Assassin's Creed got Leonardo da Vinci, why can't we get Apollo 11?

Many spaceships in pop culture seem to take on a life and personality of their own (sometimes literally, in the case of Alien, 2001, and many more). So I wanted to know from Andrew, which EoE Spacecraft, in his opinion, has the biggest personality of the set? 

"Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought easily has the most personality," Brown answers. "It knows it's the biggest, baddest and strongest around. No need to tell anyone! They know. 20/20? Check. 100 damage? Check. The queen of the runway."

He'll find no argument from me on that one. My first encounter with Dawnsire was during the pre-release, where my opponent blasted that 100 damage at his own creature enchanted with Pain for All, smoking me for 100 to the dome.

What about if Andrew had to spend a year living on a Spacecraft with the rest of the MTG design team? Which ship would he choose, and who’s in charge of the navigation? 

"We would live on the Seriema," Brown answers. "Magic design is a rag tag group of individuals from a ton of different backgrounds, so it's only fitting that we fly in the ship that embodies that mantra. Not to brag, but I would be in charge of navigation. I always remember which floor my car is parked in the parking lot."

"I can also intuit where every Starbucks is in any city with no map!" That's no easy feat for a company headquartered in Seattle, and will serve the MTG design crew well in their journeys across the Eternities.

Finally, I wanted his take on that one obscure or underrated Spaceship from the set that he thinks more players should know about. What are they sleeping on, and why does it deserve more love? 

"Extinguisher Battleship deserves more love," says Brown. "It's a ship with one goal, destroy. How can you not fall in love with something so simple, compelling, and terrifying?"

Thanks so much to Andrew Brown for taking the time to chat with us about Spaceships. What are your favorite spaceships -- both from pop-culture and real life? Let us know in the comments below!