Dan Sheehan

Getting really flustered during battle because my sword makes a flirty little "ooh!" sound instead of a "clang" every time it hits another sword.

By some miracle, the god of wonder and surprise has distracted or otherwise bartered with the god of cold efficiency and profit, and--for a little while longer, anyway--this card game opens onto worlds that are more alive than they need to be. Magic’s worldbuilding is, in other words, deeply gratuitous--not in the sense of too much, but in its etymological root: gratis, freely given. If we want to keep savoring this free gift, then we have to make use of it for ourselves--not depend entirely on what Wizards of the Coast does with its worlds. As Lopez remarked to me, the goal of worldbuilding is always “to build something that becomes the property of players,” to “Build a world whose parts that are seen are parts that thrill, that hook, that pull and invite players to wonder what else exists beyond.” This means making use of gratuitous worlds in our own way--in art and storytelling, role-playing and reflection, forms of engagement that let us participate in these worlds rather than merely observe them. Let this be a humble invitation: do something with your favorite Magic world. Live in it, for a little while. Consider where you might take its story, its characters, the structure of its existence. Accept the gift--and make it your own.

really good quote from the article- applies to anything, not just magic. accept the gift and make it your own.

Ryan's been one of my favorite Magic writers since I read his piece about Dominarian stained glass a couple years ago. Just a super insightful guy with a real love for this game. We're super excited to have him writing for @cascadecascade.com

I've been so excited to share this: for CASCADE CASCADE, I interviewed Miguel Lopez, the former WOTC writer and worldbuiler who helped create the Edge (of Eternities), Ixalan, & more.

we discuss the proliferation of tiny, irrelevant, beautiful details in the worlds of Magic. give it a read!

Marketing used to be cool

The Anime Sickos is the only podcast. You might think there are others but there actually aren't

In truth, I was simply fulfilling a vision

Diet Coke and capers

Accidentally painted a pretty bleak picture at the corner store. Didn’t help my cause by meekly saying “I call it Daniel Cola”

I hate whatever marketing person figured out that I only open emails from real people and started hiding spam from companies behind random names like Ronald Baninus

So apparently Polymarket is letting you bet on the likelihood of a nuclear attack by certain dates. We all must continually bet on the closer dates, lowering their potential payout so that government insiders are less incentivized to pick them

One of the crimes of AI has been the destruction of the beautiful "my nephew made this logo for me on his computer!" energy from all the hyper-local plumbers and taco shops. AI slop on white work vans is a crime against humanity.

Spoiler alert about the collapse of society: you are cooked

Always funny to meet a person who sincerely thinks that society should collapse, at which point they will probably play a key role in helping construct a new one.

Even ignoring the political stuff, they locked everything up in plastic safes and cut the number of employees per store so shopping there became a miserable experience where you have to ask a visibly exhausted person to release the deodorant for you. The fake shoplifting crisis of 2020 cost them big

during the composition of every post, your computer or phone should take a discrete photo of you that is forcibly attached to the post upon publishing

"Dark Ritual's current oracle text simple reads "Add BBB," the Magic equivalent of "I am."

There's a reason Rob's one of the greats. His work closes the gap between our hobbies and our "real" lives, lending gravitas to the time we spend on the things we love and helping us make sense of ourselves. Also he started this piece with a David Berman quote so he had me at hello here.

Yall. The response of this has been nothing short of awesome. Thank you.

Dan & I really set out with the dream of “what if we could get our favorite mtg writers in a room & cook?”

Getting to accept outside pitches seemed like a fever dream but we’re already approaching money points where (cont)

People always act like any downward trend that lasts longer than a single human lifespan must just be old people opining about the good ol' days but sometime shit does get worse for real!

People always act like any downward trend that lasts longer than a single human lifespan must just be old people opining about the good ol' days but sometime shit does get worse for real!

🚨ALERT🚨

This Wednesday, my article for CASCADE CASCADE releases! I talk about those absurdly, seemingly unnecessarily minute details of Magic’s worlds—and I interview a stellar person who has helped create some of the game’s best worlds.

It's 2045. You're clocking in for your shift in the Tillyverse as a guy they all hunt Most Dangerous Game style. All the pain you feel is REAL and people can gamble on when you will SCREAM

Okay fine one more author announcement, like as a treat.

@kathleen.loadingreadyrun.com.

Welcome to Issue 1 - it's go time.

CASCADE CASCADE begins tomorrow - but here's a bit of an introduction to us, what we're about, our FIRST MONTH of articles, subscription options (YOU CAN SUB BY BUYING A T-SHIRT BTW), and other fun stuff.

www.cascadecascade.com/welcomein/

seeing a blinding flash on the horizon and rushing to open up Kalshi because I only have a few seconds to insider trade before the shockwave hits

Love Post-AI warfare. All the fake stuff looks real at a glance, all the real stuff seems a little fake. I have no idea who's actually alive or dead. Hopefully, an emissary of the king will ride through town to give us word from the front.

This toothpaste will never go back in the tube because it’s just a dumbed down version of what people have been doing for a century, you fix it all or none of it