Fionn Reid-Kelly speaks out about the current state of Magic the Gathering, and how the company behind it is damaging the long term health of the game.
Magic the Gathering is a game that holds a special place in my heart. I love the lore of the game and how each plane feels lived in and full of adventure and stories. The gameplay is fun, yet complex. On top of all that the cards have amazing artwork, even if some of the older artwork is pure nightmare fuel.
This year half of the sets being released are from Universes Beyond. These three sets make it so that characters from Spider-Man, Final Fantasy, and Avatar the Last Airbender are included in the game. I feel that this growing reliance on outside creative properties is concerning.
Independently of Magic the Gathering I am a big fan of most of the creative properties that are now being brought into the game. There is a part of me that’s excited to see how the characters from Avatar the Last Airbender will be adapted into Magic the Gathering cards, and I can’t deny that I adore many of the cards from these sets from a gameplay and flavour perspective.
Universes Beyond was first introduced with the Walking Dead in 2020. Universes Beyond was originally limited to releases of small batches cards in Secret Lairs. Then the scope expanded to commander decks, and in 2023 MTG Tales of Middle-Earth was released as a whole set, and it was a massive success.
The success of Universes Beyond, seems to have sent a signal saying “more money this way” to Wizards of the Coast’s executives. Next year there are going to be a minimum of 3 more Universes Beyond sets, with one of them being Star Trek.
There is a financial argument to be had against these Universes Beyond sets. The cost to license these creative properties is reflected in the increased price of the Final Fantasy set. This set was designed for Magic the Gatherings standard format which has historically had the lowest prices. Compared to other standard sets Final Fantasy has been significantly more expensive.
In addition to the cost of licensing, an embarrassing issue has emerged. For the latest set featuring Spider-Man, Wizards of the Coast has only been granted the licence to make physical cards. This has led to the creation of in-universe, mechanically identical cards for MTG Arena which is the primary digital version of Magic the Gathering.
Though it may seem to be a minor issue at first, it reveals a major issue. In my opinion, it is utterly ridiculous that if you want to play between paper and online Magic the Gathering you now need to memorise two names for each card you play. Even if this ends up just being a Marvel issue, there is another set of Marvel licensed cards releasing next year, which is over 200 more cards to potentially memorise.
The main problem for me, is that these sets break with the artistic vision of Magic the Gathering. The sets in the game up until recently were all different flavours of fantasy. Even when you were playing with cards from different sets it still felt like you were firmly in the world of Magic the Gathering.
Now it's possible to see The Doctor, Leonardo da Vinci, Spider-Man, and Optimus Prime at the same table in a game of Magic the Gathering. If someone had told me that this was the future of the game that I had just started playing, I would have been speechless.
The first MTG set that I played was Ixalan, a plane that evoked the feeling of conquistadors arriving in the Americas. The conquistadors were vampires, the indigenous peoples were merfolk, and I almost forgot to mention the dinosaurs. Throw in some pirates for good measure and you have a fun and interesting plane in the Magic the Gathering universe.
Nowadays the sets that are actually in the Magic the Gathering universe feel as if they are taking a backseat. Wizards of the Coast seem to instead be favouring the seemingly more commercially successful Universes Beyond sets at their expense. With a Netflix show confirmed to be in the works, I hope its release from development hell might also breathe new life back into the game.
This era of Magic the Gathering seems to be less focused on creating new and interesting worlds and characters, and more on emptying out the neighbour’s toybox and calling it a day. The characters in this game used to be taken seriously, the story had weight and staying power. Priorities have shifted.