From Adam Prosak:

One of my greatest joys in working at Wizards is releasing cards that I’ve worked on for over a year.  First and foremost, seeing reactions to previews is just vindication that what I do actually matters.  I have nightmares of previewing a set, and nobody has anything to say about it.

I love both positive and negative feedback on cards, as it really helps me learn about the types of cards that you want to play with.  So keep it coming!

As for individual cards, we thought internally that Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy was one of the strongest cards in Magic Origins.  When it was previewed there was only a lukewarm reaction, which surprised us.  As it turned out, it did not take long for Jace to start having tournament success.

From Ian Duke:

We’re constantly reading forums, articles and social media looking for what’s going on in the community, and preview season is one of the most fun times for us. It’s great to get feedback on our work, and to see how our expectations match (or don’t match!) what’s exciting the community. There’s always a lot of energy in the preview seasons, and we love tapping in to that.

The card that surprised me most since I’ve been here was Aurelia’s Fury from Gatecrash. That was a card we expected to be exciting for booster draft, sealed deck or casual play, but not a competitive constructed tournament card. When Aurelia’s Fury was previewed, the community really started buzzing about it, Like REALLY! So I went and added some copies to my FFL decks to double check that we hadn’t missed anything. Ultimately there was no need for panic, because the card ended up not making huge waves in constructed.