I've been listening to Mark Rosewater's podcast, Drive to Work, since its inception. Rosewater covers a lot of topics in his show, and if you're new, it can be overwhelming to decide which past episodes are worth listening to.

With more than twenty years of game design experience, one thing Rosewater does extremely well is talk game design. For those of you looking to dive in to "Drive to Work" or who may have  game design aspirations, these eleven episodes are must-listens.

• Episode 11 : Ten Things Every Game Needs
• Episode 27 : Bad Cards
• Episode 39 : Randomness
• Episode 60 : Comfort
• Episode 61 : Surprise
• Episode 62 : Completion
• Episode 68 : Piggybacking
• Episode 93 : Top Down Design
• Episode 95 : Emotional Connection
• Episode 107 : Design Skeleton
• Episode 122 : Repetition

Even if you're not interested in game design or Rosewater's podcast in general, these episodes can help you as a financier, as well. How, you ask? By having some insight into the design philosophy of Magic's head designer, you will have a better idea of what actions WOTC is or is not likely to take in the future.

For example, until the Onslaught fetch lands were reprinted in Khans of Tarkir, the community was generally split in its opinion of whether the allied fetches would ever be reprinted into a Modern-legal set. But readers of Blogatog and listeners of Drive to Work knew that R&D's most recent design philosophy is that, when possible, formats should have access to an equal number of allied- and enemy-colored lands. Knowing this may have caused you to be a little more cautious in acquiring Onslaught fetches, which saved you money once the reprint was revealed.

What Rosewater podcasts on game design are your favorites?