Opinion: Universes Beyond Format feels like a "When", not an "If"

Over the past month, Universes Beyond has become the center of Magic: The Gathering controversy since the announcements at MagicCon Atlanta, where four new collaborations were announced, along with a dozen Secret Lairs, paving the way for a new, yet long-standing, discussion.

Since the release of Lord of the Rings and the announcement of the partnership with Marvel and Final Fantasy, there has been speculation among some in the community about a time when Magic would spin off Universes Beyond into its own format. However, when the sets were announced as Standard-legal, the discussion died down, as it was clear Wizards' plan was to make Beyond an essential part of the game's ecosystem.

However, circumstances have changed again. Between Pioneer's notable absence from the competitive ladder, community feedback for a less aggressive release window, and the inevitable rotation of crossovers starting in 2028, it seems more likely that Universes Beyond will eventually have its own non-rotating format.

One of the most common demands from the community lately has been to reduce the number of releases to a single year so that players can enjoy each new product. In 2025, Magic introduced six new sets, three from Universes Beyond and three from the MTG brand, plus a reprint set. The following year, the card game will have seven expansions, four from Beyond and three from Magic—which Mark Rosewater stated was an exception caused by contractual issues.

Magic has a unique track record of responding to consumer demands, especially regarding Universes Beyond. Like any company, Wizards of the Coast aims to grow its profits each year and, thus, gain more confidence in the stock market. It makes decisions based on how to increase revenue while seeking to please its consumer base and attract new potential buyers of its products.

Just look at the example above: Magic responded to feedback about fewer releases per year by limiting them to six expansions, but with two tradeoffs: each set would become Standard-legal, meaning more players would need to consume the product to stay current in the competitive landscape, and three sets per year would become Universes Beyond expansions, which would increase both the sales costs of these products and the number of potential consumers within and outside the Magic: The Gathering sphere.

This plan has currently worked brilliantly for Final Fantasy but failed miserably with Spider-Man, and the future of Avatar: The Last Airbender is still uncertain. However, Wizards of the Coast's approach was essentially to adapt audience demands and consumer feedback to the company's agenda, combining fewer releases in a year with a greater need for acquisitions and expanding its offerings to other markets that don't specifically exist because of Magic: The Gathering.

If the current demand is still for fewer releases so competitive players can keep up with all the products, and the risk is that this segment of the audience will have little or no interest in certain expansions if they aren't strong enough in a three-year Standard cycle—a result of another demand related to the format not providing "enough security to invest"—Wizards has some solutions, and a "new format" is the most assertive among them.

Otherwise, the options are reducing the number of releases but charging more for the sealed product, which would generate a terrific repercussion; reducing the number of sets in the Magic: The Gathering universe because Universes Beyond tends to sell more and guarantee greater reach, eliminating the game's sense of identity; or establishing a format where players don't need to keep up with everything but care enough to consume its main product line—if Universes Beyond has three or four releases per year, it makes sense that this would be the most logical and effective approach.

This way, those who don't want to go through the madness of a Standard release every 45-60 days can choose to consume only three or four expansions a year in a non-rotating format, but with the "trade-off" of a higher cost for the product, since every crossover has a "premium" pricing.

This solution wouldn't please the most vocal Magic fans who dislike the existence of crossovers in Standard—in recent weeks, a post even attempted to bring back the old "Type 2" by excluding Universes Beyond was made—but for WotC, it's essential that this product category remain the main driver of sales and revenue for Magic: The Gathering and a vehicle for keeping the card game in the mainstream culture.

It's impossible to address this topic without mentioning the current state of Pioneer. Conceived in 2019 by Wizards, the format was created as a "place to play Standard's rotating cards," not unlike Modern's original philosophy when it was born in 2011.

As the years and a global pandemic passed, Pioneer lost its place in the Magic ecosystem: sets like Modern Horizons became a fundamental gateway to Modern, Standard's set lifespan was extended to three years, and Pioneer was stuck in a limbo between the two. After all, if someone spent three years facing Sheoldred, the Apocalypse at competitive Standard tables, it's unlikely they'd want to do the same in Pioneer.

Furthermore, a format that was supposed to be stable and a place to play with older cards has become just another victim of waves of power creep. Except for a few specific staples like Treasure Cruise, Fatal Push, and Thoughtseize, most of the format has rotated year after year as more effective cards have been released, transforming it into a scenario all too similar to the worst Standard has offered lately.

The nail in the coffin came when, for the second year in a row, Magic excluded Pioneer from its major events. No Pro Tour or Spotlight Series will feature Pioneer as its main format, and the feeling within and outside the community is that it will suffer the same fate as the old Extended—to be discontinued from a competitive standpoint and forgotten by players when that happens.

The absence of Pioneer will eventually create room for the demand for a non-rotating format where cards leaving Standard can be used. And, in part, this needs to be accompanied by other demands to make sense and ensure that Magic doesn't make the same mistake of having a setting that's too mechanically similar to the three-year-old Standard, which makes it difficult for the format to develop a sense of its own identity—Universes Beyond helps with that.

By the end of 2026, Universes Beyond will have seven Standard-legal expansions: Final Fantasy, Spider-Man, Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hobbit, Marvel Super Heroes, and Star Trek. On Magic Arena, there will be eight UB sets released with The Lord of the Rings.

Eight sets are enough to pave the way for a format exclusive to Universes Beyond, especially considering how the most recent Standard releases have had nearly universal manafixers as part of the mana base between Starting Town in Final Fantasy and Multiversal Passage in Spider-Man. Together, the two lands already facilitate the construction of an efficient mana base for other formats, and we haven't even considered what other lands might emerge in the 2026 releases.

Furthermore, a format geared towards collabs has some additional attractions. It's the perfect opportunity to try again those characters you love but haven't had much success building a deck for in Standard. It also offers a home for Final Fantasy, Avatar, or Spider-Man cards that rotate starting in 2028, leaving a portion of the community without a place to enjoy the best cards from these sets and the crossovers that drop from 2029 onward.

Given the alignment of factors, it's impossible not to consider that Wizards is possibly paving the way for Universes Beyond to become its own space, but without removing it from Standard.

From the lack of Pioneer management to the number of expansions released in the same year, it's clear that there are reasons and even an unspecified demand for a scenario in which crossovers could be an ecosystem in their own right, creating an innovative experience that, in part, also allows fans of the brands that rotate from Standard to continue enjoying their favorite characters.

It won't be in 2026, after all, the path is still being paved, but the possibility of announcing a new format around Universes Beyond in late 2027 or early 2028 is slowly becoming a "when," not an "if."

Thanks for reading!