Odyssey (Magic: The Gathering) - Reception

Reception

Odyssey was a poorly received set. Mark Rosewater, the lead designer for Odyssey, claimed that the set was the one from which he learnt the most as a designer, as it was the set in which he made his biggest mistakes. Rosewater went into the Odyssey design deciding he wanted to challenge notions of card advantage. Looking back on this he states that he was doing this for himself at the expense of the audience at large. Other design mistakes highlighted by Rosewater included the Threshold mechanic. The mechanic forced players to keep track of the number of cards in their opponent's graveyard and which cards could put cards into the graveyard. It was found that this was largely not enjoyable for players.

Another problem with Odyssey that Rosewater has discussed is that the storyline and flavor of the set did not match its graveyard-focused mechanics. He explains that this was because there used to be little interaction between the development team and the creative team. Rosewater recalls talking with Brady Dommermuth, an editor for the game at the time, who suggested that a gothic horror theme would have better suited the set's design. Rosewater would later become the head designer of Magic and Dommermuth the creative director. This would lead to the Innistrad set, released in 2011, that returned to the graveyard themes explored in Odyssey but this time with a gothic horror theme. The Flashback mechanic would also return in Innistrad.