Alternate Worlds Podcast

Brian Schneider
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Games
  • Updated Weekly

Conversations with legendary game designers, creators, and the people who made Magic: The Gathering. Hosted by former Magic R&D lead and game executive Brian Schneider, Alternate Worlds explores game design, the history of Magic, creativity, and the people behind the games we love. bschneidmtg.substack.com

  1. 6h ago

    Simon Armstrong

    Simon Armstrong is a gamer, game maker, gamesman, and so on and so forth. Early on, Simon knew he enjoyed coding & making games, so he explored that path & became an early Flash developer at Zynga. Since then, he worked at Warner Bros on Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and logged a stint at Captain.tv helping to get Stream Pirates ready for launch. Today, Simon is part of a 2-man shop making Sol Mates, which will launch on Steam in 2026. Indie dev is a strange beast, may Simon navigate the terrain well and emerge victorious. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    Simon Armstrong

  2. 4d ago ·  Bonus

    BONUS EPISODE: Bing Gordon, Skaff Elias & Mike Turian

    It is quite fortunate to get to record the Alternate Worlds podcast, and today especially did not disappoint — here we have Bing Gordon, the legendary CMO/CCO from the first decades at Electronic Arts (and legendary VC in Silicon Valley thereafter), Skaff Elias, who helped spearhead Magic: the Gathering through its initial design into eSports, and Mike Turian, current Sr. Executive Producer of Magic: the Gathering today. A lot of wisdom dropped in this one. :) Bing’s interests are in systems where Everybody Wins, or in designs & communities that figure out how to build value for all who engage with them. He has a book coming out to that end in the next week or two (see: the link above), and he’s been curious to learn more about ecosystems like Magic: the Gathering’s, which have figured out how to provide “outsized good” to “outsized many.” It’s hard not to appreciate the benefits Magic has added to many of our lives, and it was a joy to revisit the principles that helped TCGs & other great games find a long-term home in the world of entertainment. My microphone breaks about halfway through this recording, but fortunately, the guests were so fun to listen to it wasn’t such a bad thing. Alternate Worlds, Alternate Hosts. A fine one to sit back and just take in the conversation. A special session, is this one — enjoy! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    BONUS EPISODE: Bing Gordon, Skaff Elias & Mike Turian

  3. Oct 13

    David Bartholow

    I met David Bartholow at Cornell University before pro Magic: the Gathering was a thing, and we faced off & supported each other in tournaments for many years afterwards. David was a member of Team Deadguy, one of the top early MtG teams consisting of Chris Pikula, David Price, David Bartholow, Tony Tsai, Worth Wollpert and over time, many others. Deadguy was often positioned as “the good guys” in the early Magic scene, which fought cheating as the pro game got its footing. Today, Dave is a math teacher at a Montessori school near Cleveland, and his adventuresome spirit remains intact. By the time this podcast releases, he may or may not be newly married. :) He’ll have to less know in response to the video’s release. (Congrats, Dave!) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    David Bartholow

  4. Oct 6

    Jeremy Cranford

    Jeremy Cranford was the Art Director on Magic: the Gathering during my time as an R&D lead, and in my opinion, totally rocked the house. Mirrodin was incredibly stylish and like nothing we’d done before — which one could say about Kamigawa & Ravnica, too. Ravnica, in particular, feels like the first concrete art style & world that maps to what the game has used for the last twenty years. Since Magic, Jeremy has been a steward for Hearthstone, WoW TCG, Storybook Brawl and is currently focused on Marvel Snap, a very well-made mobile card game by Second Dinner. Jeremy’s got a really cool & adventurous vibe — he knows he’s only going to live once & does things he really wants to do without sweating it too much. He’s an artist, a visionary, a surfer, and a badass. And he wants to make great things. Hard not to love that. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    Jeremy Cranford

  5. Sep 29

    Teresa Johns

    I met Teresa Johns at Serious Business, the first gaming startup either of us worked at, in 2009. Serious Business was an incredibly talented & well-curated team, and its members have gone on to become prominent VCs, CEOs, CTOs, COOs, technologists, artists, etc. Six months after we joined the company, we were acquired by Zynga, which had a very different ethos and led to very different types of adventures. I termed Zynga a “work bootcamp” and Teresa termed it “so much fun.” This dissonance makes me giggle. Since then, Teresa has been at some of the most important companies in modern life and has seen the evolution from “early whimsical fun” to “late-stage whimsical fun.” She has a truly unique & interesting perspective. If you have Teresa on your side, whether you’re a business or a human, you are noticeably better for it. As Mr. Rogers said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” That’s Teresa, to a T. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    Teresa Johns

  6. Sep 22

    Mark Schneider

    Mark Schneider is a chess master who traveled the country to play in chess tournaments as a teen. He went on to parent three boys, all of whom played with him in the first Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour. The youngest, Jeremy, finished 20th in PT-Dallas Juniors. The middle child, Justin, finished 1st in PT-Dallas Juniors, and Top 8 at PT-Chicago ‘98. The oldest, Brian, is writing this to you now, and grew up to become one of the R&D leads for Magic: the Gathering. My dad is well-known as a bit of a character & as someone who enjoyed attending events and kibitzing with players from around the globe. He also invested in Magic & Pokemon for the fun of it, to support & play his own part in our evolution through TCGs, and has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Thanks dad! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    Mark Schneider

  7. Sep 15

    Chris Galvin

    Chris Galvin ran the first Midwest Regionals for Magic: the Gathering in 1996, and supported 1,300 players so well that when the time came, Wizards believed he’d be a good fit for their organized play department. Over time, Chris helped to support building out important regional events (such as Pro Tour Qualifiers) & the Junior Super Series — the kinds that couldn’t be supported by a normal game store — which led to a mature ecosystem of event operators working to support Magic: the Gathering events as a gateway to becoming a sport. Chris eventually graduated to oversee all of Organized Play (and later aspects of digital gaming at Wizards), and as you listen to him speak throughout this call, it isn’t difficult to see why — he’s warm, rational, thoughtful, and open-minded — and he loved games and has great empathy for those who play them. Chris went to The University of Chicago, but if you hear me say, “Go Bears” at some point during the call, it’s because he could’ve gone to Stanford. And anyway, it always applies. “Go Bears!” (Take that Greg Collins — who actually went to Stanford. Yeah!) Chris is a great storyteller with great stories to tell. Enjoy! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    Chris Galvin

  8. Sep 8

    Wright Bagwell

    Wright Bagwell makes games. He also tinkers, mods, hacks, manifests, errs, shares, and designs. I met Wright at Zynga, where he spearheaded the Farmville 2 design, which went incredibly well (like, incredibly, well). Before that he led the Dead Space series, and before that he made Quake mods, which got him into the industry in the first place. After that, he co-founded Outpost Games as its CEO, logged ample time at Google and Luda working on AI-native gaming, and most recently spearheaded design at Series Entertainment. Design can be exploratory, about discovery of what works, and the creative streams can cross and bob and weave and time or a sense of time can come and go. Wright lives at this vortex and leverages all he’s learned and all the toys and toolsets he can find to create new things to entertain and connect people. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

    Wright Bagwell
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Conversations with legendary game designers, creators, and the people who made Magic: The Gathering. Hosted by former Magic R&D lead and game executive Brian Schneider, Alternate Worlds explores game design, the history of Magic, creativity, and the people behind the games we love. bschneidmtg.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Brian Schneider
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Brian Schneider
  • Show Website
    Alternate Worlds Podcast

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