How do card game creators keep making such balanced cards?

Question

For card games like Magic The Gathering, etc., how do the creators make new cards that are balanced (in terms of cost, strength, abilities)? Is there a set formula, or is it a long testing/tweaking process before the card gets released?

In: 22

Answer 1

A bit of both. They’ve made a lot of cards before, so many new cards can be pretty much what they’ve done before. They also have a long design cycle (around 18 months), so they have time to come up with and balance new ideas. And sometimes unbalanced cards still get through, so they have to use the banhammer.