Spectral Chaos

Spectral Chaos was a Magic expansion set developed by Barry Reich for Wizards of the Coast in the early 1990s. It was never released. Parts of this set (e.g. Domain) were used in the design for Tempest and Invasion.

History
While helping design and playtest Ice Age and Alliances, Barry got the idea to develop a multicolored themed set, and was given the green light to begin work designing. Conceptual design was underway even before Alpha was released in 1993, and development and multiple rounds of playtesting continued over several years into the mid-1990s, as the newly popular company was finishing designs for Ice Age, Alliances, Mirage and other sets of the era. After four rounds of playtesting, Spectral Chaos was submitted to WotC in 1995 (and again in 1997). Apparently out of fear that the public wouldn’t want a multicolor-themed set right after Legends (which introduced multicolored spells to the world), WotC decided not to release the full Spectral Chaos set. Instead many of Barry’s ideas were incorporated into other early expansion sets.

The Spectral Chaos Project
Spectral Chaos was recovered, reconstructed, and reinterpreted in the Spectral Chaos Project by fans in 2020.