MTG: Universes Beyond Reason
I am not going to go over every Secret Lair exclusive sets because they are typically reskinned cards which are simply for having fun. The following cards were available outside SL and have their own Commander Precons, Booster Packs, or were found in other major set boosters.
- Lord of the Rings: Major Set - Makes sense, Magic was based in high fantasy by a company selling high fantasy games. This set was based on the books not the films so many characters are included and visually differ from the film depictions.
- Assassins Creed: Small Set - This was an odd one, but works well in the game.
- Fallout: Collector Boosters and Commander Precons - Very large fanbase, post apocalyptic Sci-Fi. On theme.
- Dr Who: Commander Precons and SL - So many people love Dr Who. On theme because Magic lore includes time travel.
- Jurassic Park: Fun flavor cards for Ixalan and SL - They are fun because the set is dinosaurs but off theme for being included in a set.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Major Set - Again, high fantasy fits with the theme of Magic the Gathering. Helps that this is also owned by Wizards of the Coast. No brainer, expect more of this.
- Transformers: Like the Jurassic Park cards these had a SL and were put in Brothers War boosters. A Hasbro owned IP, not exactly on theme.
- Warhammer 40k: Commander Precons and Collector Boosters. These are very expensive. Kinda on theme, Age of Simgar would be better.
- Final Fantasy: Major Set - This is the first UB set that will be standard legal which is a huge deal because these cards will see play outside of Commander. Set is on theme for being high fantasy but odd to combine so many games into one set. See FFX and FF7 cards going for a premium.
- Spiderman: Major Set - Coming this year. Issues with this not being high fantasy or horror or magical realms or anything that would normally mesh well with Magic lore.
- Avatar the Last Airbender: Major Set - Last set of this year, major crossover for this is how well this IP meshes with the color system.
Future Speculation on upcoming sets.
Now, we don't know what the next sets will be for 2026 but Wizards develops these expansions years in advance. Whatever they are going to be is already wrapping up as we speak. However, it's still fun to guess what they could be.
This year was crazy because half of the sets are Universes Beyond and are now Standard legal. I assume this will be the case next year as well. Honestly, if I were making a card game with special IP sets like this I would do 1 per year but I'm not Hasbro's board of directors and they like to print money.
So here are my speculations for the next few years:
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - It's got the fantasy element and Wizards knows the IP sells well for them.
- Mistborn/Cosmere - They will start with a basic Sanderson IP if they pick one. Mark Rosewater will have a field day including allomancy in the game. The fanbase overlaps and Sanderson plays Magic. I expect something from the Cosmere in the next few years.
- Harry Potter - This will not go well.
- Skyrim/Elder Scrolls - They already did Fallout, there is a contract somewhere waiting to be signed. Making Elder Scrolls into serialized chase cards just like the One Ring will boost sales.
- Batman - Just New Capenna 2.
- World of Warcraft - This one would be odd because they already had a card game and as far as I now, Hearthstone is still online but who knows.
- Shrek - Because why not and at this point who cares.
- Dungeons & Dragons 2 - Some manner of Planeswalker Pathfinder mashup.
What extraneous IP do you think will get printed next year?