In case you’ve somehow not noticed already, each year, Wizards of the Coast releases a lot of MTG products. Even if we’re only to look at major releases, players still have practically one a month to digest. As if this wasn’t already a remarkable amount of MTG content, major sets are only the tip of the iceberg.
Between major sets, Secret Lair drops, collaborations, promotions, events, and actually playing the game, there’s far too much to keep track of. Thanks to this, it’s no wonder that players often struggle to remember every tiny tidbit. Luckily, to aid your memory, we’re here to help, but remarkably, MTG players aren’t the only ones struggling to keep up.
Due to the litany of sets being produced, Wizards of the Coast’s announcement schedule is a total mess. Over the past few weeks alone, we’ve seen a multitude of overlapping announcements frustratingly treading on one another’s toes. While obviously annoying, miraculously this isn’t the biggest issue, as, it seems Wizards managed to forget about an entire set!
Finally, a Release Date
Back in August, on the 30th Anniversary of MTG’s original release, Wizards released a phenomenal slew of details. Occurring during Gen Con 2023, this announcement revealed details about sets as far away as 2026! Obviously, considering this hadn’t happened before, players were incredibly excited. Unfortunately, however, there may have been a bit too much going on.
With all eyes fixed on the future, one of the earliest announcements managed to slip under the radar somewhat. Launching exclusively on MTG Arena this year, Wizards debuted Khans of Tarkir… again. After this, however, it seems the set was almost entirely forgotten about.
Missing from MTG Arena announcement posts, and news posts in general, details about Khans of Tarkir were certainly rather sparse. Saying that, however, we do know all the set’s cards already, since this MTG Arena release is a perfect copy of the 2014 paper set. Thanks to this, the set doesn’t really need a full spoiler season, however, any information would be nice.
While it’s unsurprising that Wizards didn’t reveal everything at once, several major details have been miraculously missing. The legality of certain cards, for instance, has been a hot-button issue that players have been clamoring for information about. Before this, however, we’d quite like to know when Khans of Tarkir was actually going to be released on MTG Arena!
Thankfully, as the year draws to a close, we’ve finally been given the information we’ve been waiting for. In a recent news post, Wizards revealed, for the first time, that Khans of Tarkir will launch on December 12, 2023.
Wait… That’s It?
Since we’ve been waiting for so long, it’s definitely nice to finally have Khans of Tarkir’s release date. All the more so now that the set is just over a month away from release at the time of writing. Despite this new detail, however, it still appears that the massively important set has been practically forgotten about.
Rather than getting its own major announcement, with plenty of fanfare and excitement, the new information was merely tacked onto another post. Only Mentioned in passing while discussing errata changes coming with the sets release, it seems Wizards has missed a step. To many players, myself included, it looked like Wizards forgot they didn’t announce the release date officially already!
“Coming with the Magic: The Gathering Arena rollout of Khans of Tarkir on December 12, new Rakshasa card art will follow updated creative guidelines, and we are removing “Cat” as a subtype for the creatures below”
Wizards of the Coast
Considering this is the first time the release date has been revealed, you might be wondering, why..? Unfortunately, since we’re not inside Wizards’ walls, we don’t know for sure, but Khans of Tarkir definitely has a problem child. As alluded to earlier, Fetch Lands will be introduced to MTG Arena with this set, and they have absolutely massive implications.
Potentially warping the Historic format beyond recognition, Fetch Lands are obviously a very big deal. So much so, in fact, that Wizards supposedly hasn’t decided on whether or not they’ll be banned in Historic. Due to this uncertainty, it seems possible Wizards is delaying the set’s debut or next announcement until they know for sure.
If you ask us, we’d much prefer that Fetch Lands are pre-banned in Historic, however, only with a catch. Should they be pre-banned, Wizards should accelerate plans to implement a Vintage-esque format onto Arena. Not only would this keep Historic safe and enjoyable, but it’ll give banned cards a home on the platform.
The Wait Continues
Ultimately, while we now have a release date for Khans of Tarkir on MTG Arena, there’s still a lot we don’t know. The status of Fetch Lands, for starters, is obviously a major talking point. Beyond this, there’s no word about cosmetics, card styles, or any other collectible features that could be arriving too. Sadly, we’re just sitting here waiting and hoping to find out more soon.
Knowing my track record of writing these types of articles, there’s a very real chance Wizards will announce more today. As much as I’d like to claim I’m a soothsayer, however, there’s sadly no guarantee of this. The only actual date we have to look forward to is December 12th now and it’s very possible we won’t hear much of anything until then.
Read More: Bizarre MTG Promotion Offers Beach Towels to Event Winners?!
