‘Magic: The Gathering’ Releasing Seven Total Sets In 2026 – And Most Are ‘Universes Beyond’
In a one-two combo that feels almost scientifically engineered to aggravate the most amount of players, Wizards of the Coast has announced that not only will Magic: The Gathering receive one more full set release than usual in 2026, but also that most will be Universes Beyond crossovers rather than in-universe expansions.
As revealed during the opening day ceremonies for the annual MagicCon, itself taking place this weekend in Atlanta, GA, this year in Altlanta, GA, rather than the usual six, Magic: The Gathering will receive a total of seven new sets across the entirety of 2026, including:
- January 23rd: Lorwyn Eclipse – A return to the Lowryn plane, as told through the ever-surprised eyes of four Strixhaven students.
- March: Unannounced Universes Beyond – While official word remains out on just which IP will headline the year’s second set, a scheduled Nickelodeon x Magic: The Gathering panel at the upcoming New York Comic Con 2025 has current speculation leaning towards a forthcoming appearance by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- April: Secrets of Strixhaven – Class is back in session at the Strixhaven University, but rather than copying the proper Strixhaven set’s homework and hitting the books, this set will “be taking a closer look at off-campus life as these brave students explore what lies beyond the walls of their colleges.”
- June: Marvel Super Heroes – After an initial round of Secret Lair Drops and a full-blown Spider-Man set, the rest of the Marvel Universe’s colorful cast of heroes and villains are finally set to make their MTG debut (and hopefully with it, more widely available versions of the mechanically unique Marvel Secret Lair Drop commanders).
- August: The Hobbit – A follow-up to 2023’s massively successful The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set, this time focused on Bilbo Baggins’ journey to the Lonely Mountain, from his first smoke session with Gandalf to his eventual confrontation with Smaug.
- October: Reality Fracture – After three years, Jace’s plan to forcefully end the Magic multiverse’s endless cycle of conflict by essentially hitting the ‘reset’ button on existence will finally reach its climax – and whether or not he’ll be successful is, at this point, anyone’s guess.
- November: Star Trek – The second space-themed set in as many years, players can look forward to building upon their Edge of Eternities collections with “characters, stories, and (of course) spaceships from the entire [Star Trek]franchise”.
Thankfully, rather than ‘seven sets a year’ being the standard going forward – a cadence that would frustratingly cut the already short ‘life cycles’ of sets from two months to about a month and three weeks – WotC would later clarify via the official MTG website that 2026’s heavy schedule was a one-off occurrence:
“Yes, that means that 2026 will have seven Magic sets. This is a bit of a scheduling quirk and not the norm going forward, but we just had so much awesomeness we wanted to bring you that we couldn’t wait. In 2027, we’ll return to a cadence of six Magic sets.”
A bit less welcome is the fact that, with a final tally of 4-3, 2026 will see Universe Beyond releases outnumbering those focused on actual MTG lore.
Ever since its The Walking Dead-themed debut in 2020, the existence of the Universes Beyond imprint has been the subject of contentious player debate, with battle lines breaking down between those who welcome the addition of outside franchises like Final Fantasy, Doctor Who, or Sonic the Hedgehog and those who find their inclusion to be both immersion breaking and immature, as if to say ‘We don’t take MTG‘s identity seriously, why should you?’
And though head designer Mark Rosewater has claimed that the opposition to Universes Beyond “continually shrinks over time,” 2026’s uneven release schedule serves only to spark more understandable frustration – and a wave of unhelpful, anger-based back-and-forths – among players.
As noted above, the first full MTG set of 2026, Lorwyn Eclipsed, is set for official release on January 23rd.
NEXT: ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Devs “Will Likely Take Action” Against ‘Final Fantasy’ Terror ‘Vivi Ornitier’
