Over the last few weeks, not much information has been released about the Great Designer Search 3 contest, a competition hosted by Wizards of the Coast to find a new intern designer for Magic: The Gathering. In an announcement yesterday, Wizards of the Coast revealed that the search was over and a new designer was selected.

In a surprising revelation, the winner was not one of the finalists. Instead, while the Great Designer Search finalists were visiting the Renton offices, a masked individual joined the contestants and submitted an entry as well. This individual did not enter with his real name, instead describing himself as the collective will of the Magic public.

We reached out to Wizards of the Coast and were able to arrange an interview with the head judge of the Great Designer Search, Mark Rosewater, as well as the winner of the contest, who only gave the pseudonym Multani.

“Multani,” Great Designer Search 3 Winner.

Hello, thank you for being taking the time out of what must be busy days to have this interview.

Mark: Hi.

Multani: Hi.

How were you able to compete in the contest, given that the eight finalists were already chosen?

Multani: It was surprisingly simple. I already lived near Renton, so when I found out the finalists were coming to visit I went down to Wizards of the Coast’s offices. I brought a few of my old designs that never saw print with me, and while I wasn’t able to meet with Mark Rosewater, I was able to show the rest of the judges and they seemed interested.

Mark: I heard about a ruggedly-handsome designer of mystery showing up when I was on break, and wasted no time in evaluating his card submissions. Without a doubt, I knew that they were what Magic needed and told the other judges that he would be entered into the finals. The designs resembled previous playtest cards that weren’t able to see the light of day, which told us that this designer had a lot of potential ahead. He also offered to make all the art for his cards, which was a plus.

What did you do for the previous stages of the GDS? Were you required to go through those stages?

Multani: When I arrived at Wizards of the Coast I was told that I wasn’t going to be able to join the contest, but Mark was able to convince the other judges that I should be given a chance to earn a spot. I was scheduled to take the multiple choice test after lunch with the other contestants, so I shared some stories with them and they talked about some of their ideas that could probably fit in Milk.

Mark: The multiple choice test that most people took was not the first one I wrote. I had previously written an entire separate test, but the other judges said it was too difficult, so I had to redo the test from the beginning. Since there was already another test ready to go, Multani took that one instead.

What was the hardest question in this version of the multiple choice test?

Multani: Not many people know this, but to become a writer for Roseanne there is also a multiple choice test. I did well on that when I had the opportunity to take it in the past, so I figured I would be able to do well on this test also. Turns out I was right, none of the questions seemed hard, though I could imagine some others getting tripped up on the question about what Mark Rosewater had in his pocket, but I just guessed based on what mine had.

Mark: I don’t think any of these questions ended up that difficult, and Multani was able to achieve a perfect score.

And the essay portion?

Multani: Why would I need to waste my time with the essays? Besides, I’ve written for years on Magic design, so it would be pointless to copy those answers over.

Multani: It’s not like any of us bothered reading the other essays anyways.

Do you have any concerns that letting someone who was never part of the contest win could damage faith in the way that the Great Designer Search was run?

Mark: I just pulled into the office, so I think I’ll need to end this interview.

Multani: Join me next week for stories about my first day.

Until then, may you always find what you search for.