The Terminus of ReturnThe Terminus of Return | art by Adam Paquette
Now that Magic: The Gathering is awash in Universes Beyond product, it's wild to recall the "Universes Beyond" concept was first announced just five years ago!
In the Beginning
In February, 2021 during a Hasbro investor event Chris Cocks (former President & CEO/COO of Wizards of the Coast, and current CEO of Hasbro) announced that Magic would be doing crossovers with popular properties such as Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000.
The year before, Magic had released The Walking Dead through Secret Lair, which featured mechanically unique cards for five popular characters from The Walking Dead TV show. This prompted a huge backlash from the Magic community since the only way to get these cards was through the Secret Lair portal for a very limited time (though at the time Secret Lair was print-to-demand, which was so much better than today). Wizards of the Coast (WotC) eventually said they would create "in-universe" versions of mechanically unique cards featured in Secret Lairs, and while they initially ruled out The Walking Dead they later reversed that decision.
That was actually a great idea! A significant segment of the Magic community truly loves the flavor of the Magic universe and also find these cards from other intellectual properties (IPs) discordant to play against, much less put in their own decks.
Gregor, Shrewd MagistrateGregor, Shrewd Magistrate is the in-universe version of Glenn, the Voice of CalmGlenn, the Voice of Calm; Cecily, Haunted MageCecily, Haunted Mage is the in-universe version of Eleven, the MageEleven, the Mage; Tadeas, Juniper AscendantTadeas, Juniper Ascendant is the in-universe version of Dhalsim, Pliable PacifistDhalsim, Pliable Pacifist. Aside from Gregor/Glenn, the in-universe versions are much more affordable to buy as singles.
For a while, WotC did just what they promised, releasing 30 "Universes Within" versions of mechanically unique cards from The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, D&D: Honor Among Thieves, and Street Fighter Secret Lairs... and then they stopped for some reason, which was incredibly disappointing to many Magic fans. Meanwhile, WotC kept churning out mechanically unique cards through Secret Lair; currently a whopping 70 of them in total.
Some of these have gotten insanely expensive!
It's upsetting that Jaws, Relentless PredatorJaws, Relentless Predator is north of $150! Jin Sakai, Ghost of TsushimaJin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima and The Fourteenth DoctorThe Fourteenth Doctor are more than $100! This has nothing to do with power level, it is pure scarcity.
Rainbow DashRainbow Dash, Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War, and Lara Croft, Tomb RaiderLara Croft, Tomb Raider are all around $50. These are all cards that are interesting Magic game pieces that many Commander fans would like to build around or put into their decks, but if they weren't able to jump into the Secret Lair queue (now infamously a truly awful experience) to buy them, or if they just didn't like the IP's flavor in their Magic decks, or unable/unwilling to pay a premium to buy the singles, they are just shut out of getting to use these game pieces.
It was nice to see the mechanically unique legendary cards they printed in the five Secret Lair x Marvel sets reprinted in the Marvel Super Heroes Source Material cards: Captain America, First AvengerCaptain America, First Avenger,Wolverine, Best There IsWolverine, Best There Is, Storm, Force of NatureStorm, Force of Nature, Black Panther, Wakandan KingBlack Panther, Wakandan King, and Iron Man, Titan of InnovationIron Man, Titan of Innovation. All of these reprints are significantly cheaper than the original Secret Lair versions except for Wolverine for some reason.
Warhammer 40,000
In the fall of 2022, WotC released a set of Commander decks built within the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The decks were powerful and chock full of really cool cards. Many of these have since become really expensive cards!
I can see how cards like Ghyrson Starn, KelermorphGhyrson Starn, Kelermorph might be difficult to create a Universes Within version since the creature type Tyranid is exclusive to the Warhammer 40,000 set. But BloodthirsterBloodthirster is a Demon with a name that could easily fit into numerous Magic universes; the same can be said for Celestine, the Living SaintCelestine, the Living Saint as an Human Warrior.
CryptothrallCryptothrall is a simple artifact creature Construct, and Commissar Severina RaineCommissar Severina Raine is a Human Soldier. Many of these cards would be an easy switch to the Magic universes; you could even use that "reskin" technology first deployed from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths to give the cards names better fitting the larger Magic universe.
But what about those creature types that are unique to Warhammer 40,000? In addition to Tyranids you have Astartes, Necrons, Custodes, Primarchs, and C'tan. I think it would be pretty easy to come up with a few Magic worlds that are in space/time flux that might be home to disparate creature types; reskin the names and have new art more inline with the Magic universe and I think you can solve that problem.
Doctor Who
A year later, in 2023 WotC followed up with another Universes Beyond Commander product based in the Doctor Who universe. Many of these cards have gotten quite expensive, too.
I feel like Cybermen SquadronCybermen Squadron could easily be reprinted in a Magic set unless that Cyberman creature type is too weird. Alien Soldier of Auton SoldierAuton Soldier and of course Dinosaur for Dinosaurs on a SpaceshipDinosaurs on a Spaceship are perfectly fine cards to print in-universe.
Nanogene ConversionNanogene Conversion is just a weird name for the ears of non-Doctor Who fans, so I think it could slip into a Magic universe set without an issue, and Quantum MisalignmentQuantum Misalignment just got a reprint in the Marvel Super Heroes Commander decks and is now less than half of the cost of the original printing.
Universes Beyond Explodes into Magic
Over the past five years Universes Beyond has exploded into Magic: The Gathering. From Secret Lairs to Commander sets to full-blown sets that are part of the Standard set rotation, you can't really get away from it even if you wanted to. Some of these sets fit the fantasy flavor of Magic decently enough: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (and the upcoming The Hobbit), Final Fantasy, and even Avatar: The Last Airbender. Many of the popular cards from these sets could easily be reprinted into a future Commander set flavor-wise, though I suppose there might be contract issues depending on the IP agreements that were struck when the collaboration deal was made.
But then we have Marvel's Spider-Man, Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel Super Heroes, and the upcoming Star Trek. Many if not most of these cards are not at all easy to reprint into a regular Magic universe set. Which led my editor to ask me, "Is Universes Beyond the new Reserved List?" Meaning, are these cards just going to skyrocket in price as the years go by because WotC is unable to really reprint these?
The answer, I think, is a product that could be called "Universes Within Masters."
The Failure of the Micro Booster Products
Let's take a quick aside before I continue. WotC has experimented with mini-booster packs that aren't made to draft, starting with the "epilogue booster" product March of the Machine: Aftermath. Each 5-card epilogue booster contained 1 to 3 cards of rarity rare or higher, and the remainder were uncommon. 1 or 2 of the cards were traditional foil, and one was in the set's showcase frame. The set was very negatively received by the Magic community for their small size and high price point, to the point that they scrapped plans for The Big Score being an epilogue set to Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and it was instead added to the main set. Assassin's Creed tweaked the concept as "Beyond Boosters" with a few more cards, but was also considered a failure, and WotC abandoned the idea of these micro booster sets.
A Micro Booster with Promise: Universes Within Masters!
I think a micro booster set featuring many of the popular Universes Beyond cards reskinned as in-Universe versions could hit a sweet spot that the previous attempts failed. It would provide a much needed relief valve for Magic fans that just can't get behind the Universes Beyond products that are so outside the fantasy flavor of Magic: The Gathering. They would need to ensure enough value in cards to the price point to make it worth buying and cracking packs since it wouldn't be a draft product. That means that you'd need to have cards people would want reskinned outside of just mythic rare, and not be filled with trash rares and uncommons nobody wants. Value is the key, rather than making them just another lottery ticket/loot box.
While there wouldn't be need of resources dedicated to card design for these sets, WotC would need creative manpower for in-universe flavor names and art, so they could start off the set relatively small but with plenty of bangers to get people excited about. They even have a jump start here with the in-universe versions of Marvel's Spider Man they created in Magic Arena as Through the Omenpaths. In addition to buying Universes Within Masters boosters from the shelves of stores, I'd like to see these as prizes given away at Magic Cons, included in Secret Lairs, Buy-A-Box promos, and more. Really spread them around out there!
Assuming success, over time you could rotate cards off and add new versions to keep it fresh, or just cook up a new set list and call it Universes Within Masters 2, Universes Within Masters 3, etc. Since it is obvious that Universes Beyond is going to continue to be a big part of Magic: The Gathering, we're going to have a continuous pipeline of new cards to reimagine and populate Universes Within Masters for years to come. And most importantly, this will allow WotC to keep that promise they made to the Magic community when they first started down the Universes Beyond road, a promise they have mostly abandoned. Restoring goodwill while also making extra money is a win-win!
What do you think?
Read more:
Bennie Smith
Bennie's played Magic since 1994 and has been writing about it nearly as long. Commander is his favorite format, but he's been known to put on his competitive hat to play Standard and Pioneer. Recently he's dabbled in Oathbreaker and Pendragon.
Your opinions are welcome. We love hearing what you think about Magic! We ask that you are always respectful when commenting. Please keep in mind how your comments could be interpreted by others. Personal attacks on our writers or other commenters will not be tolerated. Your comments may be removed if your language could be interpreted as aggressive or disrespectful. You may also be banned from writing further comments.