Mark Rosewater, the Head Designer for Magic: The Gathering, announced on Tuesday that he would be unveiling a new game made by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) at MagicCon: Las Vegas this May.
The game, which he refers to as [REDACTED], will only be available via Secret Lair with special events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of MagicCon: Las Vegas. According to Rosewater’s blog post where he announced the event, it’s a “fast, experimental play experience.” In that post, Rosewater said he created it, but a line later states that it is an entirely new card game created by WotC.
Despite the game debuting at MagicCon: Las Vegas, being created by WotC, and being available only from Secret Lair, Rosewater reiterates it is a non-Magic game. Which leads to the question, what can it be?
Early speculation is the game is a polished and produced version of Rosewater’s game Mood Swings, which he designed in 1998. Followers of Rosewater will note that he has talked about this game and his goal of having it published for close to 30 years. The earliest mention of the game, that I can find, comes from Rosewater’s articles “80,000 Words” and “80,000 Words (With Director’s Commentary), Part 2” which were published under his Making Magic column on the mothership in 2006, where he gave a tour of WotC headquarters through a series of pictures.
The follow-up article allowed Rosewater to expound on all the images, including the picture above. This is where he points out the box behind his hand with the words “Mood Swings” written on the top. He wrote, “Behind my hand you can see my box of Mood Swings. I still play it every week (mostly with my wife).”
Over the years, Rosewater has talked about the game in interviews and articles, often lamenting on how it will probably never be published. In an interview with Ted Knutson, published here on Star City Games back in 2010, Rosewater said in his personal time he has been, “playing and fiddling with Mood Swings, my mass market TCG that will probably never see the light of day.”
In 2016, Rosewater answered a question about Mood Swings on his blog, where he described the game in more detail, even noting that it can support constructed and limited play — a huge tidbit that could possibly hint at it being the game he’s showing off in May. Rosewater states it is a mass market TCG and the cards represent emotions. The game requires no deck building and games take about five minutes to play.
In 2024, the game came up on his blog again, this time with Rosewater writing that he can’t put it on Kickstarter, but his plan is to get it to print someday.
After Rosewater’s announcement on Tuesday, the legendary game designer/blogger has been hounded with questions about the event being the long-awaited publishing of Mood Swings. Rosewater has been careful with his answer, but in his trademark style, he is very excited about the game. One of his answer’s notes that it is a “very Rosewater game,” which fits with the game potentially being his creation from almost 30 years ago.
One question tries to pin Rosewater down under the technicality of it being a “new game” and what that means. Rosewater’s answer defines “new” as a game that the public has never played, which again could point to Mood Swings, as Rosewater only tends to mention it being played with friends and family.
In another post, Rosewater clarifies that the balancing of the [REDACTED] game was aided by other people. With the game being a product from WotC and Secret Lair, it makes sense the game would be worked on collaboratively.
Two more questions are pretty blunt in trying to get Rosewater to confirm the game. He does leave one question with the response that “there’s always a chance :)” the public will get to see Mood Swings.
Of course, with no confirmation from WotC or Rosewater we will all have to wait for more details before we know what the game is. There is potential for it to be a completely different game, but much of the evidence points toward it being a dream come true for Rosewater and a new game for fans of Magic and TCGs.
Either way, the game will be revealed in time with the first session on May 1.
