Magic’s foray into other intellectual properties is commonly a controversial topic within the community. Magic’s own IP feels a lot like a modern-day Monopoly. This makes a lot of sense considering Hasbro owns both brands. The game remains the same, but we’re constantly diving into IPs that are unrelated to Magic’s. From Stranger Things to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, anything can appear within the Universes Beyond products nowadays.
There’s certainly an argument that pushing into so many different IPs is weakening Magic’s own IP. From that perspective, many players seem to be against Magic’s push into other properties instead of trying to strengthen its own. That said, according to Magic designer Mark Rosewater, the actual amount of people entirely against the idea of Universes Beyond may be smaller than expected.
Only 7%?
Recently, Tumblr user Jambrose expressed their discontent to make clear how they feel about Universes Beyond. Jambrose stated they don’t mind reskins of existing cards, but strongly feel that mechanically unique cards should not exist outside of Magic’s IP. They “Dislike being forced to use those ips to get certain mechanical advantages.”
In response to this, Rosewater revealed the information that they have regarding how many players want absolutely nothing to do with the Universes Beyond movement. The percentage of players is smaller than many players may expect.
“We have done a lot of market research on Universes Beyond. The group of “I don’t like Universes Beyond and want you to never to do it” is roughly 7%.”
Mark Rosewater
This is an incredibly small percentage of the Magic community. Even if the percentage of this group was 10-20%, Wizards of the Coast would have little reason not to go forward with the Universes Beyond product line. Wizards of the Coast has not been shy about sharing their ‘buffet’ philosophy regarding MTG products. Not every MTG product is for you, and Wizards of the Coast creates different products for other subsections of their audience.
The 7% of Magic players who are vehemently against Universes Beyond still have plenty of in-Universe products to enjoy. The flagship Standard offerings are almost always done in-Universe, as are a majority of Magic’s draftable sets. Sadly, for the few who do hate mechanically unique Universes Beyond cards, there are a lot of formats being impacted by this category of cards.
Of all of Magic’s formats, none are as heavily impacted as the Commander format. A majority of recent Universes Beyond crossovers are legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage. The recent Fallout and Doctor Who crossovers are strong examples of this. Within both products, there are powerful cards that offer no in-universe alternative. Warhammer 40,000 has the same issue.
No cards highlight this problem, however, more than Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring from the best-selling MTG set Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. The One Ring is a super-staple in almost every format it’s legal in, including Modern, and Commander. Orcish Bowmasters is omnipresent in Commander, Modern and Legacy.
In these formats, being unwilling to play these two cards because they are not in-universe grants a major disadvantage. You can choose to play archetypes in Modern and Legacy that do not include these cards (though that might be difficult), but in Commander, there’s little to no reason not to play these cards.
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Future of In-Universe Variants
Since the presented problem revolves around mechanically unique MTG cards that do not have in-universe variants, the conversation naturally shifts to discussion regarding in-universe variants of Universes Beyond cards. Initially, Universes Within variants of Secret Lair cards were promised, however, this didn’t extend to full sets. There are simply far too many mechanically unique Universes Beyond cards to do this now.
That doesn’t mean that no new mechanically unique Universes Beyond cards will get in-universe reprints, however. As part of his response to the question posed at the beginning of this article, Rosewater reminds players that Wizards of the Coast “have the ability to do an equivalent Magic Within version for any card we need to.” For those concerned that Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring will never see reprints because of their printings in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, this can ease your burden. They can reprint these cards in in-universe variants as they see fit.
Following this, it makes sense that any cards that any Universes Beyond card that impacts formats on the level of The One Ring or Orcish Bowmasters can see in-universe variants sometime in the future. While this is not a promise, it is always a possibility.
What Does This Mean?
Universes Beyond MTG products will not be going anywhere. If you’re among the camp that genuinely dislikes everything attached to Universes Beyond products, you are part of a surprisingly small minority. It’s not uncommon for players to dislike some Universes Beyond products, but it is unusual for players to dislike the entire movement. After all, even if you aren’t a Lord of the Rings fan, you may be a Final Fantasy or Stranger Things fan.
When discussing whether or not players like individual Universes Beyond products, Rosewater revealed three incredibly important metrics: Are players fans of the IP? Does Magic’s adaptation of the IP do justice to it? Do players feel like the crossover fits Magic when they think about Magic?
We all knew that Universes Beyond wasn’t going to disappear overnight. With tentpole sets for Final Fantasy and Marvel on their way, the biggest Universes Beyond crossovers might not have made it to shelves yet.
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