Games You Should Play If You Like These Magic: The Gathering Sets

Have you ever found yourself utterly engrossed in the style and lore of a plane or set in Magic: The Gathering, only to be devastated when we suddenly get airlifted into a plane that’s completely different?

Sometimes the mechanics of a set are fun, but what you really want to bathe yourself in is the setting itself.

It’s happened to us a few times, so we’ve come up with a list of games that are in a similar setting to some of the MTG sets.

Eldritch Moon – Bloodborne

Eldritch Moon is all about Innistrad when Innistrad is being corrupted by the influence of unknowable multidimensional beings. It’s filled with horrors that not only sneak up on you, but burst out of other creatures and turn them into big old balls of tentacles.

Bloodborne is set in a world overrun by beasts, filled with blood (shockingly), and also there are old gods who get women pregnant and turn people into slugs and stuff. It’s a wonderful game, it’s incredibly hard, and you’ll probably want to throw it out of a window, but it’s also one of the best games ever made.

Theros – Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

Given that MTG regularly takes inspiration from our real-world lore and turns it into a plane, it’s no real surprise that it would have a couple of matches with the video game series that does the same. While it would also be very easy to talk about Amonkhet and Assassin’s Creed: Origins here, but we liked kicking people off of everything with Kassandra, so we chose this comparison instead.

While Theros has you taking down Gods, AC: Odyssey has you taking on larger-than-life real-world characters alongside a small sprinkling of mythological beings as well. It’s one of the best games in the series, and if you’re vibing with Greek mythology, we definitely recommend you check it out.

Theros Beyond Death – Hades

Yes the previous entry was also based on Theros, no we’re not bothered by it. Theros Beyond Death has things escaping the Lord of the Dead in order to be reborn as heroes. It’s a set that spawned Uro, the Mistake, and while you may have mixed feelings about it, it sure does remind us of a video game also all about escaping the underworld.

That’s right, we are, of course, talking about everyone’s favorite indie darling Hades. Hades has you playing as the son of the titular character, and you’ve got to punch, stab, and spear your way out of the underworld to try and solve a mystery and also be hot. We’re pretty sure that’s integral to the story.

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Kaldheim – God of War

The latest MTG set, at least at the time of writing, is Kaldheim. Kaldheim has finally brought the rich and varied mythos of Norse lore into the world of MTG, and it’s just kind of the best. There are so many great nods and inclusions in the set, and if you feel yourself wanting to get in a longboat and do some more exploration about things like The World Tree, then we definitely recommend the latest God of War game.

While the original God of War games had us delving into Greek myths, the latest game in the series puts Kratos and his anger issues into Norse mythology too. It’s a game about fatherhood, loss, and yeeting a magic axe at things.

New Phyrexia – Mass Effect

We all remember when New Phyrexia wasn’t a weird terrifying hellscape filled to the brim with corruption and pain, mostly when it wasn’t called New Phyrexia. Well, that’s not the case anymore, because the Phrexians infiltrated every color of mana and just really kind of trashed the place.

Well, Mass Effect is also about a spreading corruption inflicted about living creatures by a more robotic race, and you can fight against it over the course of three whole games which happen to be getting a remaster very soon.

Kamigawa – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

While Kamigawa can probably best be described as being divisve, there’s no denying that the lore of the world is pretty great. There are spirits everywhere, dragons, warriors, and all kinds of other great things.

While there are lots of games set in Japan, the one that we think has the most in common with Kamigawa is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Sekiro has you fighting through a world filled with spirits, demons, big old poop-throwing gorillas, and also pain. Also, there is literally a giant dragon spirit in it so it’s basically a perfect match.

Ixalan – Ark: Survival Evolved

Ixalan is a wonderful plane in MTG that has dinosaurs and pirates. It’s also the plane where Jace briefly got a little hench and kind of hot which confused a lot of people, but especially Vraska. It’s a hard one to find a perfect match for, but we think that Ark: Survival Evolved is pretty close.

Ark has you waking up on a mysterious island with a weird device in your arm, very few clothes on, and the ability to craft loads of stuff. Also, there are dinosaurs everywhere and you can tame them and ride them and they can be your best friends. Sure, it’s more likely that they’re gonna eat you, but you’ve got to take that chance.

Dragon’s Maze – Dragon’s Dogma

Dragon’s Maze has Niv-Mizzet laying down a challenge to the guilds in an attempt to rule the world or something. Honestly, we all know Niv-Mizzet likes their plans, but who really knows whether or not they make sense.

Anyway, Dragon’s Dogma has a dragon taking out your heart at the beginning of the game which leads to your journeying around a world climbing on monsters and stuff. It’s a nonsensical story, especially at the end, but it also has a dragon, and we just really like writing about it.

Fate Reforged – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Everyone loves a bit of time travel, but few love it quite as much as good old Sarkhan Vol, who travelled 1,280 years back in time to stop Nicol Bolas being a big old pain in the butt. As a result of this, the following set, Dragons of Tarkir, was very different to how the timeline was meant to be.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is also about time travel in the aid of changing the future, and while it doesn’t lead to the rise of Dragonlords, it does save a princess and give you a cool sword. Those are basically the same things.

Kaladesh – Dishonored

Kaladesh had one of the most entertaining limited formats in recent memory. Nothing will ever be as much fun as making an Electrostatic Pummeller impossibly large and then swinging in. It’s also a plane defined by a steampunk aesthetic, cool technology, and also the copycat combo.

While Dishonored doesn’t have the copycat combo, it is filled with a wonderful steampunk aesthetic, cool technology, and the mysterious abilities you gain that allow you to become an incredibly badass assassin who has to not kill things to avoid corrupting the world. It’s a great game, and so is the sequel, so dive on in.

Ikoria – Monster Hunter: World

If we ignore the Companion mechanic, Ikoria is just home to loads of absolute units (monsters) and also the cool Godzilla crossover cards. Facing off against gigantic beasts is hard work, and there are few games that show that off as well as the Monster Hunter series.

While Monster Hunter: Rise is coming to Switch in a few weeks, Monster Hunter: World is the current pinnacle of the series. In Monster Hunter, you are tasked with hunting down a wide variety of terrifying and imposing dragons, beasts, and other monstrosities in order to carve them up and make a nice hat out of them.

Throne of Eldraine – The Wolf Among Us

Finally, we have Throne of Eldraine. Eldraine is a fairy tale plane filled with more references to our favorite children’s stories than it’s possible to count. It’s magical, put simply, and finding a game that captures that same feeling was quite difficult, but we did it.

The Wolf Among Us is a game that’s getting on a bit, but it’s set in a universe made up of somewhat darker fairy tales. It’s a Telltale game, and that means it’s very story-focussed game, but the way it explores and subverts your expectations around the fantasy tropes is incredible.

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