Magic: The Gathering’s 30th anniversary is shaping up to be one of the most important years in the game’s rich history.
With the Lord of the Rings set having brought a massive amount of attention and new players to the game (as well as providing Post Malone with a one-of-a-kind The One Ring card, which he bought for an undisclosed, likely seven figure sum) and Doctor Who Commander Decks incoming – not to mention more traditional MTG releases on their way by the end of the year – it’s arguably never been a better time to be a fan of the original Collectable Card Game.
Now, coinciding with Gen Con 2023 – with Gen Con being the largest tabletop gaming convention in America, if not the world – MTG publisher Wizards of the Coast have made some exciting announcements regarding new sets, which will be released in the next few years.
That’s right – these announcements reveal sets that may not be due for release until 2026.
So what sets are coming – and when can we eager MTG fans get our hands on them?
Let’s take a look!
1. Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy
Universes Beyond has been cleverly used to bring numerous franchises to Magic: The Gathering, with the aforementioned, ground breaking Lord of the Rings: Adventures in Middle-Earth being the biggest set to bear this branding so far.
Warhammer 40K and the upcoming Doctor Who sets are also both labelled as Universes Beyond, but the newly announced set to bear the branding looks set to blow almost all prior Universes Beyond sets out of the water in terms of popularity, likely being only second to Lord of the Rings in terms of popularity.
Though details are thin on the ground at this stage, Final Fantasy is coming to MTG as a ‘tentpole booster release’.
This means that we’re likely to see the Final Fantasy set get the same wide-ranging, lavish treatment as the Lord of the Rings products.
Unlike, say, Doctor Who, which is merely receiving pre-constructed Commander Decks and Collector Boosters, Final Fantasy’s tentpole status will no doubt see a much better and wider range of MTG products, so that it’s essentially a full MTG set release.
With the potential for Final Fantasy – again, in comparison to Lord of the Rings – to bring in a large audience of new players to MTG, hopefully this will also mean 2-Player Starter Sets and Jumpstart Boosters, so that new or lapsed players can get on with exploring the numerous worlds featured in the Final Fantasy video games.
Interestingly, we do know that the set will encompass each main Final Fantasy game to date – so we’ll be seeing settings and characters from the very first Final Fantasy game, all the way up to Final Fantasy XVI.
We also know that this set will be made available on Magic: The Gathering Arena, so players need not fret if they don’t have opponents to play with locally – they can take their JRPG-flavoured MTG games back into the digital realm from whence they originated!
Due for launch in 2025, there’s still quite a wait for Final Fantasy fans to get their hands on what is sure to be a highly sought after set.
2. Fallout
Another video game property is heading to MTG – with beloved post-apocalyptic RPG series Fallout receiving a set of Commander Decks in March 2024.
All we know so far is that a set of pre-constructed Commander Decks will bring the super mutants, raiders and monsters of Fallout’s alternate reality future to MTG.
However, we here at Card Gamer don’t think it’s unreasonable to speculate that, just like Doctor Who, these will be supported by some form of booster product so that there’s another way to acquire Fallout cards.
3. Modern Horizons 3
The first two Modern Horizons sets were hugely popular, bringing popular old cards back to MTG alongside new creations; with some older cards being slightly remixed to assist with the more contemporary design and gameplay philosophies of latter day MTG.
So it’s no surprise to see a third set announced – with Modern Horizons 3 due for release in 2024.
Promising the same rewarding draft format and nostalgic callbacks as the first two sets, Modern Horizons 3 is also set to feature numerous fan favourite characters – including double-faced cards (you can check out our how to use double-faced cards in Magic: The Gathering article for more on those!) and Planeswalkers.
4. Ravnica Remastered
Set for release in the first quarter of 2024, Ravnica Remastered takes players back to the Guild-focused Plane of Ravnica – which first debuted in MTG all the way back in 2005.
Having recently spun off into Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons line as a full, richly detailed setting for the world’s premier tabletop roleplaying game, it’s clear that Ravnica is still massively popular, nearly 20 years after it initially emerged in the CCG.
The ten Guilds of Ravnica are each governed by two of MTG’s five colours – and this forms the basis for the very names of each two colour combination in MTG in general. You can find out more on that in our MTG colour combo names article!
This Remastered release will be a massive hit of nostalgia for long term MTG fans, as it’ll be a collection of cards from the Plane of Ravnica, strongly emphasising the Guilds – and with cards from each Ravnica block release included too.
5. Murders at Karlov Manor
Another release due for the first quarter of 2024, Murders at Karlov Manor sounds very intriguing – but doesn’t seem to be a traditional MTG set at all.
Instead, Murders at Karlov Manor has been revealed as MTG’s spin on the detective genre – featuring clues, secrets, hidden identities and mysteries to unravel.
Interestingly, MTG’s announcement characterises Murders at Karlov Manor as a ‘top-down, archetypal, whodunit murder mystery’ – and promises also that ‘fans will need to use their sleuthing skills to solve an innovative puzzle to escape.’
6. Ravnica: Clue Edition
Yes, Wizards of the Coast really are pushing their Ravnica products in Q1 2024 – here’s another!
Unlike the lack of details to clarify what exactly Murders at Karlov manner actually is, the announcement of Ravnica: Clue Edition does tell us that it’s a standalone, self-contained experience.
Clue, of course, being known as Cluedo outside of North America, is a classic murder mystery game – so it would seem that this is likely to be a rethemed and slightly refined version of the iconic tabletop murder mystery.
7. Outlaws of Thunder Junction
Moving away from Ravnica altogether, the Wild West (or, perhaps more accurately, Weird West) themed Outlaws of Thunder Junction has also been announced for the second quarter of 2024.
Nothing is known beyond the fact that this is an ‘action-packed, frontier fantasy that reimagines the western genre’ – and that it’s an entirely new world for MTG, albeit one that’ll feature some of the CCG’s most notorious villains.
8. Bloomburrow
The third quarter of 2024 will see the launch of Bloomburrow, perhaps the first MTG set that won’t feature any humans at all.
Instead, the world of Bloomburrow is populated by anthropomorphic animals – the announcement mentions squirrels, frogs, rats and rabbits, but there’ll no doubt be plenty more – that will need to band together on an important quest.
Bloomburrow itself is described as a ‘cute and cosy’ setting – this is one MTG set that we can’t wait to see more information on as the release date nears.
9. Duskmourn: House of Horror
Set for release in late 2024, even less is known of Duskmourn: House of Horror, save for the fact that it’s set within a haunted mansion.
Oh – and also there’s the fact that it draws inspiration from horror movies, games and other media from the 80s.
So this has the potential to be a Stranger Things-style experience in MTG.
Though Stranger Things has appeared in MTG before – thanks to a small, nine-card, extremely limited edition Secret Lair set – Duskmourn has the chance to carve out a similar niche while bringing its own ideas to the table.
So there you have it; these are the biggest and most exciting MTG announcements from Gen Con. You can check out the full panel on the MTG YouTube Channel if you want to hear further info, straight from the enchanted horse’s mouth!
