MAGIC'S VOYAGES TO UNIVERSES BEYOND
Posted in
News on February 25, 2021
By Wizards of the Coast
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Earlier today, we revealed an exciting expansion of
Magic: The Gathering into the realms of
Universes Beyond—a series that combines the gameplay of
Magic: The Gathering with worlds, characters, and stories that are cherished by millions of fans around the world.
Among those worlds are the expansive universes of
Warhammer 40,000 and
The Lord of the Rings, with others set to join as our
Universes Beyond expands.
This expansion of the
Magic game system to other universes is exciting and new, and certainly raises questions for many of our longstanding fans, so today we're going to answer many of those questions as we look toward the
Universes Beyond release in 2022 and further.
Universes Beyond will act as a brand within
Magic: The Gathering—existing in addition to and alongside our existing line of products.
Universes Beyond came about thanks to a simple thought—
if we can expand our story beyond the game system to things like comics, novels, and other games, then surely we can expand the game system to let players explore worlds outside of the worlds of Magic.
We are all fans of these other universes. Many of us imagined what it might be like to play a game of
Magic with Gandalf the Grey, sketched out how we might translate the One Ring to
Magic, or wanted to build a deck around the mighty Space Marines. In many ways,
Universes Beyond is us living out those dreams of our own.
But we also hope that
Universes Beyond will bring the game we love to more people who might not have otherwise found us. We hope fans of these worlds and characters will find our game through
Universes Beyond—and we hope they'll stay a while and become part of our amazing community.
We know you're curious about
Universes Beyond. We can't answer everything you may be asking, but we are thrilled to set the table on a number of topics today.
First,
Universes Beyond will be branded slightly differently and will have a specific look as a result. These are still
Magic cards, through and through, but the frame will be distinct and cards will have a holofoil stamp that denotes them as being from
Universes Beyond. It will look like this:
If that stamp looks familiar, it's because it already exists on
Secret Lair X The Walking Dead cards, which will be grandfathered into
Universes Beyond.
On that note,
Universes Beyond products will generally be sold in all
Magic channels—these will not be strictly
Secret Lair products. The
Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks, for example, will be available everywhere we currently sell Commander decks, as will
The Lord of the Rings product. We may occasionally do associated
Secret Lair products related to the main release, like the
Secret Lair Godzilla lands when
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths came out. There will also be the occasional standalone product like
The Walking Dead, but the intention is to typically make
Universes Beyond as available as any other
Magic product.
That said,
Universes Beyond cards will not be Standard legal. We strive to make
Magic cards that are widely useful, but
Universes Beyond will be above and, well, beyond our normal Standard releases. So nothing much is changing with our normal cadence of releases for Standard. This is purely a cool thing we're doing in addition to all the other cool things we're already doing.
To that end, it's worth noting that the upcoming
Magic set
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is
not part of
Universes Beyond. For now, we're reserving the
Universes Beyond branding for worlds outside those built by Wizards of the Coast. As to whether the Forgotten Realms are now canonically part of
Magic's Multiverse, for now, the answer is no. But we may change our minds in the future if it makes sense and is a fun net positive for
Magic and D&D.
Finally, fans who have seen us try out a variety of treatments for cards featuring characters from other universes might wonder if we're utilizing the treatment from the
Ikoria Godzilla cards—existing
Magic cards skinned with the alternate universe—or the treatment used for
The Walking Dead—alternate universe cards that stand on their own. The answer is "both," but often we'll default to letting these cards stand on their own. We may find charming opportunities to do the reskinned versions of existing cards and will continue to balance between the two as we move forward.
Universes Beyond represents an exciting, new, and, yes, different take on
Magic. We're ecstatic to geek out over some of our favorite stories, characters, and fandoms alongside all of you, and we look forward to sharing more on
Universes Beyond as we get closer.
