Last February, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast announced that they’re expanding the world of Magic: The Gathering with Universes Beyond— a series that fuses the gameplay of Magic: The Gathering with worlds, stories, and characters that are cherished by millions of fans around the world. The first two fantasy franchises getting a Universes Beyond crossover are The Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000. While many fans are excited to see iconic characters from these popular franchises featured in official MTG cards, some fans in the Magic community have criticized Hasbro and WotC’s decision to bring characters outside of MTG lore to the popular trading card game.
Mark Rosewater’s Thoughts on Universes Beyond
In a recent Blogatog post, Magic head designer Mark Rosewater responded to a fan’s comment about how Universes Beyond crossovers will be more accepted in the future. “I do believe five years in Universes Beyond will be far less off putting for the majority of players than some people predict,” Rosewater said.
Of course, some fans will likely still find it ridiculous to see non-Magic characters featured in black-bordered MTG cards, but only time will tell if Universes Beyond will be far less off-putting. When Universes Beyond was announced a couple of months ago, some fans re-shared a classic Cardboard Crack comic strip that poked fun at various characters from other IPs being mixed up in a game of Magic.
In a previous post, Rosewater addressed these criticisms.
“As someone whose job it is to picture future nightmare scenarios, I’ll be honest, it’s pretty tame versus other things that could happen. Let’s ignore the combinatorics of it happening when 95+% of the cards are Magic IP, and look at the core of the issue. Right now a Greek-style God, a mummy, two Squirrels and an animated gingerbread cookie with a ninja sword can jump into a car and attack. How far away is that from another IP or two mixed in? Magic, at its core, is about a multiverse of vastly different flavors mixing together. So no, I don’t see it as much of a ‘bad thing’ as you do.”
When a fan suggested that the Universes Beyond cards should be silver-bordered instead of black just like the Un-sets (Unhinged, Unglued, Unstable, and Unsanctioned), Rosewater responded in a separate post: “Cards are silver border for mechanical reasons, not for flavor.”
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Do you think Universes Beyond will be less “off putting” in five years? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
