It’s hard to name many modern games that have endured as long as Magic: The Gathering. For nearly 30 years, the trading card game that started them all has been releasing new sets, telling new stories, introducing new locations to its multiverse, and even cameoing in other classic tabletop games. More recently, though, Magic hasn’t just been surviving – it’s been thriving like never before. Amidst waves of new players, well-received new sets, and unprecedented financial success, there’s also a lingering anxiety permeating the conversations of its fans about what the future might hold. Magic is growing, but it’s also changing.
In late August, Magic developer Wizards of the Coast laid out its 2022 plans for Magic in a showcase video, which included a cyberpunk-themed set called Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and more non-canon, third-party crossovers as part of its Universes Beyond initiative, including one with Fortnite and another with Street Fighter – not to mention the Stranger Things crossover that launches next week. The reaction to these announcements online was varied. Many players voiced excitement for what a more futuristic setting might look like in Magic’s traditionally fantasy-leaning world, while a few others saw it as too big a departure. Universes Beyond’s broader appeal and previous success was similarly tempered by renewed fears that profitable crossovers might one day smother Magic’s own identity, while some players just couldn’t believe how much new content was coming.
Whether recent announcements left you concerned, excited, or somewhere in between, Magic is heading toward what VP of Design Aaron Forsythe describes to me as a “watershed moment.” I spent the last two months talking to dozens of players about their own reactions to what’s coming – from Hall of Fame pros to the most popular creators on YouTube to both casual and hardcore folk alike at my friendly local game shop – as well as the team at Wizards of the Coast about how they’re shaping the future of this well-loved game. The picture I came away with is a nuanced one. It’s one of a community full of cautious optimism living alongside genuine concern, fueled by uncertainty and a passion for a shared hobby. What's certain, however is that everyone can see Magic changing, and WOTC isn’t afraid to let it change.
Space Wizards
While we haven’t been shown much of 2022’s first set yet, the cyberpunk-inspired aesthetic and neon billboards of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty are already unlike anything Magic has seen before. Part of the appeal of having a multiverse is that you can theoretically go anywhere and do anything, and past sets have certainly explored unexpected territory – whether they were themed around Lovecraftian horror, greek gods, a magical university, or classic fairy tales.
But through all that, Magic has (more or less) been rooted in fantasy tropes, full of goblins and wizards with a distinctly Magic-flavored twist. Neon Dynasty could certainly maintain that as it returns to the nearly two-decade old plane of Kamigawa, Magic’s take on Japanese mythology, but cyberpunk is a much further step than any of the techno-magical flavor the game has previously played with. Couple that with the space-themed Unfinity (the next of Magic’s silver-bordered joke sets that aren’t meant for serious play) that will add official lands with cosmic art, as well as a Universes Beyond crossover with Warhammer 40k, and 2022 is suddenly bringing a whole lot of sci-fi chocolate to Magic’s fantasy peanut butter.
“I think it is a leap of faith, but it's a leap of faith that makes a lot of sense,” says Sam, creator of the YouTube channel Rhystic Studies which produces longform essays about Magic. He attributes at least some of Magic’s longevity to its willingness to experiment with the unexpected, even saying it’s “long overdue that we go to space because I think space works, even if its aesthetics are totally different.” He also points out that sci-fi and fantasy can certainly be blended in successful ways, using the Jedi from Star Wars as a specific example of a “Space Wizards” middle point that Magic could theoretically look to emulate.
“The whole idea behind the planes and jumping to them has always allowed [Magic] to basically flex into whatever world and setting they want to,” explains Jimmy Wong, co-host of The Command Zone podcast and one of the hosts during that 2022 announcement in August. “The thing that only matters to me is whether or not the game design is going to contribute to a better time overall for people that enjoy the format that I'm playing, or if the game design is going to ruin it in a certain way. And that's something that I think, at the core of Magic, [WOTC is] always very, very conscious of.”
“The creative elements are like the spark by which we start cranking out card designs,” says Forsythe, explaining that while there was never an explicit rule keeping them from exploring sci-fi, there was a bit of an internal fear to do so previously – but WOTC says those worries have generally given way to taking more creative risks in recent years. “We've allowed ourselves to follow our own excitement a little bit more,” says Product Architect Mark Heggen, “to be honest about realizing if something makes us smile and gets us excited that maybe we're onto something.”
Heggen says there’s been a natural shift in WOTC’s culture toward more of a “why not?” outlook when determining where to go next. That innovation may have been driven somewhat by necessity, too, as the design team has been producing more sets annually than ever before. In recent years, Magic has switched toward a model of visiting a different plane with each set as well, no longer sticking around on the same one for two or three. That’s naturally pushed them to branch out and explore new ground as they feature more locations in a given year.
“I think a lot of the people who really love Magic are probably more on the fantasy side,” says Luis Scott-Vargas, a Hall of Fame pro player and co-founder of ChannelFireball (as well as current VP of Marketing for Storybook Brawl). “That’s what they’ve cultivated for the last 25 years, but I have no worries about [WOTC] trying new things. They can try what they want and if it works then we might see more of it. If it doesn’t, Magic will be able to withstand whatever it is.”
Some see this branching out as a logical next step for Magic’s world too – Hall of Fame pro player Gabriel Nassif admits flavor is less important to him, but points out that “I don't know if it's realistic for them to just [make] Serra Angels and Llanowar Elves for 50 years.” But there are others who see the idea of something like a cyberpunk setting as a step too far. Brian Lewis – better known simply as “The Professor,” and the man behind the most subscribed Magic-focused channel on YouTube, Tolarian Community College – says he feels the shift away from more classic fantasy is “immersion breaking.”