Chris Mooney
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chriskmooney.bsky.social
Chris Mooney
@chriskmooney.bsky.social
they/them, non-binary, #wotcstaff Senior Game Designer, Great Designer Search 3
Lead for Avatar, SNC cmdr, LCI cmdr, Ponies the Galloping, and more
All opinions my own.
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Hey bluesky! I recently passed my 5 year anniversary as #wotcstaff, so I figure introducing myself here will also be a great chance to look back at all I've done over that time. Here's a thread of all* the Magic products I've worked on so far!

(*It's not even close to all, but I don't have all day)
Reposted by Chris Mooney
Please read this extremely thoughtful & careful post on Tim Walz, Anne Frank, & the US Holocaust Memorial Museum from Martin Shuster, philosopher, Isaac Swift Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, former Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellow, & scholar of genocide, the Holocaust, & authoritarianism:
January 30, 2026 at 1:24 AM
The 70th anniversary World of Color is the best World of Color since World of Color
February 1, 2026 at 5:38 AM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
life is a series of clubs - if you’re in, your misdeeds are written off as mistakes and indiscretions and you’re afforded infinite grace, and if you’re out a single fuckup will ruin your life

apparently the final form of this is pedophile club
I think what both the second Trump administration and the Epstein files have taught us is that there’s very little need of covertness or secrecy if everyone with power pretends you aren’t doing what you’re doing when you openly tell them what you’re doing
January 31, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
We are deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Magic legend Kai Budde. His achievements in the game and community go beyond what we could say in one post. Our thoughts go out to Kai's friends and family in this moment.

Remembering Kai Budde: magic.wizards.com/en/news/anno...
January 30, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
Someone on my blog asked what plane has the best pizza. One of the planes I chose was Ravnica, so another person asked which guild made the best pizza. It was “Another Day of R&D Productivity Lost” (for fans of my old “Tales from the Pit” comic).
#WotCStaff
January 29, 2026 at 6:30 PM
I am fueled by all reactions to Mathemagics.
January 28, 2026 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
Extremely funny that the champion of the revolutionary left/socialist boogeyman of Republicans everywhere is basically Leslie Knope.
One of the hardest things to do is bring campaign-level communications to the work of governance, and snowstorms are notoriously one of the biggest litmus tests that less-engaged voters use to judge mayoral administrations. This is an excellent way to communicate.
January 25, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Hot take/confession: Even as a film student, I do not understand when people say “in this movie, [the setting] is its own character” 🤷

Like is the setting important and unique? Sure. But it’s still not a character in function.

Anyone have good examples where they thing of the setting this way?
January 25, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Ever since Stranger Things ended I've been fascinated by why my family reacted so differently (we liked it ok) to the audience at large.

From my research, I've realized that y'all were WAY more into Stranger Things this whole time than we were lol. Expectations really do mean everything!
January 25, 2026 at 2:02 AM
I find all the Gen Z cast members on SNL to be the funniest. I can’t tell if this should make me feel young because clearly Gen Z humor is my thing, or old because I know what SNL is.
January 24, 2026 at 8:49 PM
The thing that keeps me hooked on the Bazaar is how drastically the runs can feel even with the fixed card pool. Like this Stelle run I had where Tempering allowed two items I think are usually weak (Cloud Tanker and Battle Drone) to take me all the way to a perfect 10 wins.
January 24, 2026 at 6:31 AM
I actually became a big Smosh fan over the last year or two, so seeing us partner with them is cool to me.

We've got Dropout and Smosh, now all we need is some kind of Starkid collab and the holy trinity will be complete.
January 23, 2026 at 6:15 PM
“I’d like to start a podcast with you”
"pick your brain" is obviously a gross expression but I'm not sure what the alternative is. open to suggestions. maybe we get even grosser? "hey I'd love to slurp up some of your thought-juice if you have time this week"
January 20, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested for “loitering,” Montgomery, Alabama, 1958

Photo by Charles Moore
January 15, 2026 at 4:44 PM
*USC Alum seeing everyone freaking out over Caleb Williams*
January 19, 2026 at 3:51 AM
Shoutout to everyone who (like me) opened a fine, not notable at all prerelease pool and piloted it to a solid 2-1 finish. I appreciate you even if you were not compelled to post your deck because it was so boring.
January 18, 2026 at 2:26 AM
1996 does feel like 30 years ago and 2006 does feel like 20 years ago. But 2016 feels like yesterday. It feels like tomorrow too. It’s been 2016 for a decade now.
January 15, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Brennan Lee Mulligan is such a trusted font of wisdom in my household that it was legitimately shocking to see him accidentally present the prisoners dilemma slightly wrong last week. It’s like the first time you realized as a child that an adult could be wrong.
January 12, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
If you are anxious and sad about the state of the world, that's fine, and there are plenty of strategies for dealing with that. But I think you already know that drive-by online dooming isn't a strategy. It's selfish and adolescent. It's a contagion that only spreads the worst of you, not the best.
January 8, 2026 at 3:51 AM
The Fallout show feels like if someone played the Fallout games and then said “let’s make a show based on this.”

Which sounds obvious but historically has been rare for video game adaptations.
January 10, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
IF I LEAVE THIS KLAN RALLY ALL THAT WILL BE LEFT ARE KLAN MEMBERS.
January 10, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Today I got a root canal. It’s been a roller coaster 48 hours.
January 6, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Chris Mooney
The extent to which Games Done Quick has helped to steer the larger speedrunning community - one of the most hardcore video game enthusiast subcultures there is - into becoming something so welcoming, inclusive and supportive astonishes me
January 4, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Today I was promoted at work. I am now a Principal Game Designer for Magic: the Gathering.
January 6, 2026 at 3:22 AM
The final episode of Stranger Things is literally just the last scenario of every Arkham Horror campaign.
January 5, 2026 at 1:32 AM