Hasbro, the parent company of Wizards of the Coast, reported its Q1 earnings today. Despite the massive tariff drama with China causing trouble at Hasbro, MTG largely remains unaffected. Considering how well Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Final Fantasy preorders have done, a big jump in revenue shouldn’t be too surprising. That said, according to Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, the biggest contributor to Magic’s 45% increase isn’t related to either of these sets.
MTG’s Biggest Q1 Contributors
A 45% revenue increase for MTG was above the expectations for Hasbro coming into this quarter. As such, Hasbro unsurprisingly fielded some questions regarding the reasoning for this increase. Cocks’ response revealed that, while early ordering for Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s was a big deal, it wasn’t the biggest contributor to MTG’s success.
That, instead, was the MTG backlist. A backlist refers to older products that are already in print. In other words, previous sets, like Aetherdrift, Duskmourn: House of Horrors, have overperformed as a collective during Q1 of 2025. This overperformance was the biggest contributor to the 45% revenue increase for MTG.
“Probably the biggest thing was the backlist overperformance. Secret Lair has actually been doing pretty well.”
Chris Cocks
Cocks also mentions Secret Lair and Tarkir: Dragonstorm in his list of overperformers for Q1, and expects another huge quarter for MTG coming up. This is thanks to Final Fantasy, which Cocks states “will be the best-selling MTG set ever day one.” Extremely successful preorders have already suggested this to be true. To further boost Q2 sales, we’ll also see the strong performance of Tarkir: Dragonstorm during the next quarter.
Otherwise, Cocks mentions that Innistrad: Remastered’s release essentially meant that Q1 had an extra ‘half-set’ for Magic. That said, speculating from other statements, it does not appear that Innistrad: Remastered performed above expectations.
What About MTG and Tariffs?
Most of today’s investor call discussed how the tariff situation looks for Hasbro. This included strategy changes they are implementing to position themselves in the best way possible to weather the storm. For Wizards of the Coast, Cocks confirmed that Dungeons & Dragons is the only game being affected by the massive Chinese tariffs. In Magic’s case, production is mostly done in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, so tariffs aren’t a major problem.
Tariffs will, however, still affect players in a more roundabout way. BCW recently announced a new tariff surcharge for wholesale sellers for card-related merchandise. Any product BCW creates in China will implement a 34% tariff surcharge. In other words, while cards themselves aren’t subject to tariffs in the U.S., items like binders, sleeves, and more could be affected. This is less than ideal, but overall, MTG players can rest assured that the tariff situation won’t affect them much.
Overall, this conference call is great news for MTG players. Past preorders overperforming for multiple sets suggests that MTG isn’t just thriving, it’s growing. In Cocks’ opinion, all of these overperformances across the entire MTG landscape instead suggests that Universes Beyond is doing its work. The player base for Magic is expanding, which grants a ton of opportunities for Hasbro to cash in.
“Really, what I think we’re seeing on Magic is an expansion of the playerbase, and when you expand a playerbase, it’s a great opportunity to engage them with more products and create a network effect amongst the players and the collecting community”
Chris Cocks
