Mike Elliott (sometimes credited as Michael Elliott) is a Seattle-based board game, card game and mobile game designer whose titles include Magic: The Gathering, Thunderstone, and Battle Spirits Trading Card Game. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater called him "one of the most prolific Magic designers in the history of the game."[1] He was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame at the 2017 Origins Game Fair. While living in Phoenix, Arizona in the early 1990s, Elliott and several of his friends were active bridge players and competed regularly in tournaments. One evening after a tournament, a friend introduced the group to the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. When Elliott returned home he purchased the game and began playing in Magictournaments. While at a Magic tournament at Arizona State University Elliott told two fellow attendees what he thought was wrong with the game. During the conversation they revealed that they worked for Wizards of the Coast. One of them, Joel Mick, invited Elliott to fly to Seattle and interview for a position with the company.