I admire the restraint it took to write calmly about a subject that must be pretty personal for Mark.
I think Mark is misunderstanding what “stop designing for Commander” means. His response here would be more appropriate if fans were saying “stop balancing for Commander” – which of course nobody is. I don’t know about anyone else, but speaking for myself, when I say “stop designing for Commander” I mean “stop printing undercosted legends with as many abilities as you can jam into a text box”. It is okay – preferable, even – if one card can’t do everything by itself.
I think Mark is probably right about playtesting, in that no amount of additional resources would be enough to guarantee they’d catch every mistake. But I still don’t love the “eh, what can you do” attitude. I keep thinking, maybe they could hire a consultant with experience in an industry where rigorous testing is the norm. There’s got to be room to improve their processes.
A relatable sentiment.