After 30 Years In Development, Magic: The Gathering Legend Reveals His Next Card Game
Mark Rosewater, the lead designer of Magic: The Gathering for over three decades, has finally unveiled his long-rumored side project: Mood Swings, a new trading card game developed in secret for nearly 30 years.
The announcement was made at MagicCon Las Vegas 2026, where Wizards of the Coast revealed the project that had been previously teased on Rosewater’s personal blog in February with redacted details. Mood Swings represents Rosewater’s attempt to reimagine what a trading card game can be, moving beyond the traditional Magic formula.
The game features a unique design where each card is named after an emotion or mood—including Patience, Hostility, Cheer, and Bashfulness—with each card carrying corresponding power and point values. Players use a single 45-card deck drawn from a larger pool of over 100 cards available at launch, suggesting a more streamlined experience compared to Magic’s extensive deck-building requirements.
While some have described Mood Swings as a “Magic-lite” game, Rosewater’s vision appears more ambitious, targeting a fundamental reimagining of card game mechanics rather than simply a simplified version of his most famous work. The game was unveiled on the official Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair website, and pre-orders are expected to open soon.
This announcement marks a significant moment in Rosewater’s career, allowing him to share a personal creative project with the gaming community while continuing his role leading design on Magic’s upcoming Marvel Super Heroes expansion.