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0 Wizards of the Coast may finally have found out when it is just too much. Overwhelmed fans and viewers were left mouth-opened when Blake Rasmussen, Mark Rosewater, Gavin Verhey, and company took the stage at MagicCon in Atlanta and shared a series of new products and announcements. The Magic: The Gathering community has now had some days to digest the information, and many content creators have come out with statements of their own. Let’s dig in, shall we?
Good News First
What were the announcements made during MagicCon Atlanta? Let’s start from the top, in January 2026, Magic players will at long last revisit the enchanting plane of Lorwyn. A beautiful, lush, and vibrant world full of Magic’s very own IP. Kithkins, hybrid mana, the evoke mechanic, and many other things that made this fairy tale land so rich and unique will return at the beginning of the year. Few sets are as memorable and have had the long-lasting impact on the art, play mechanics, lore, and the overall feel of MTG like Lorwyn has. The panelists were kind enough to offer fans a glimpse of what to expect. Lorwyn Eclipsed will surely be welcomed with open arms by both new and veteran players.
And Good News Second
The second in-house set of 2026 will be called Secrets of Strixhaven, where Magic players can revisit the magical school on the plane of Arcavios. A set that, in my opinion, was a bit derivative of Harry Potter and Hogwarts, but nonetheless offered great gameplay with powerful spells and fun new mechanics. With the announcement of Secrets of Strixhaven, they also revealed the first Magic: The Gathering novel since *checks notes* 2019! According to Rosewater, the stories of Lorwyn Eclipsed and Secrets of Strixhaven will be entwined as the freshly graduated students of Strixhaven explore the world outside of their school. It is refreshing to see Wizards of the Coast attempt to create a cohesive, connected, and continued storyline between sets like they used to.
The third set of 2026, following MTG’s own lore, will be called Reality Fracture. Very little is yet known about this set, but the set logo is reminiscent of Planar Chaos’s logo. Best guess, it’s a set focused on space and time travel between planes and the blind eternities.
Is MTG Losing Its Soul?
Unfortunately, there will be very little “Magic” in Magic after this, given that four out of seven sets in 2026 will be Universes Beyond. Meaning, the majority of content coming out of Magic: The Gathering next year won’t actually be from their own Intellectual Property. Instead of exploring new planes or revisiting old ones within MTG’s own world, we will get a Marvel Super Heroes set, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, The Hobbit set, and a Star Trek set. Let that sink in for a second. There will be more outside IP in MTG than actual MTG lore next year.
As was to be expected, many, if not most, Magic: The Gathering content creators have already made their opinion on this matter public. The MTG YouTuber with the most followers, The Professor from Tolarian Community College, explains in his video how far the game has strayed from its origins. The Nitpicking Nerds talk about how they couldn’t keep up with this year’s product schedule and how they feel overwhelmed just thinking of 2026. The Command Zone made a video called ‘What are we even doing? ‘ while UK’s very own Pleasant Kenobi is flabbergasted about the sheer amount of product coming our way next year. Seven standard sets instead of the usual four does feel like a lot.
Where Is The Magic?
As one of my personal favorite MTG players, Hall of Famer Brian Kibler, explains in his YouTube channel, do we really want cards called Subway Train, Hot Dog Card, or Bagel and Schmear in Magic: The Gathering? He argues that players dislike the mixing of real-life locations and things with their fantasy world. For example, it feels inconsistent, incoherent, and jarring to give haste to my legendary commander, The Ur-Dragon, with something like Taxi Driver.
We haven’t even addressed the avalanche of Secret Lair cards yet. It is officially out of control how many Secret Lairs are coming out. Furby, Kratos from God of War, Jaws the movie, Dwight from The Office, and many more are all getting their own Secret Lair cards. Sure, these Secret Lairs often serve more as “skins” of already existing cards. And if you don’t want to play with them, or they’re not your cup of tea, nobody is pointing a gun at your head forcing you to buy them. But many of these are brand new cards, often legendary creatures, playable in Magic’s most popular format, Commander. Very soon, there will be a table of friends playing Kratos, God of War, versus SpongeBob SquarePants, versus Sonic the Hedgehog, versus Dwight Schrute, Hay King.
Final Thoughts
One new term I have learned this year is: “Fortnitetification”. It seems we are living in a moment where crossovers, mini transactions, skins, season passes, and in-game currency have become more important than maintaining the spirit of the game. An excellent example of this is the Call of Duty franchise. For those too young to remember, COD started as a realistic, gritty, WWII first-person shooter game. Over the years, the game has certainly strayed from its roots. It is almost unrecognizable from those early years.
I believe the strong reaction from the many MTG content producers, comes from their deep fear that Magic: The Gathering is well on its path to become the next COD. A game that has fallen victim to the “Fortniteification” of everything, to the point that its business model now heavily relies on it.
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