For better or worse, Wizards of the Coast makes a lot of MTG sets each year. You might think that this means MTG players get everything they could ever want. From countless reprints to powerful new staples, and some novelty sprinkled in for good measure, there’s surely space for it all… right? Sadly, as time has gone on, one of these three key wants has somewhat fallen by the wayside.
Looking back over Magic’s long past, many of the most memorable sets aren’t the Standard-legal premier sets. As enjoyable as they may be, these MTG sets don’t stand out compared to the likes of Conspiracy. Offering a truly unique Draft-focused experience, this set has long been beloved by players.
Unfortunately, despite being a memorable blast from Magic’s past, another sequel to this set is far from guaranteed. According to MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, chances of such a set being created are “Currently low.”
The Conspiracy of Conspiracy
Initially released way back in 2014, Conspiracy was lauded for doing some weird things with Draft. The aptly named Conspiracy cards massively mixed up Limited gameplay by having Draftable passive effects in the Command Zone. Advantageous Proclamation, for instance, reduced your minimum deck size by five.
As if that wasn’t weird enough, Lore Seeker allowed you to add a new Booster Pack to the Draft. It’s safe to say that playing Conspiracy was a weird and wonderful time for established MTG players. Due to this, it was little surprise the set got a sequel in Conspiracy: Take the Crown.
Released in 2016, this sequel set introduced 80 new spicy and thoroughly entertaining cards. Many of these cards continued the theme of mixing up Draft, while others were dedicated to the new Monarch mechanic. Just like its predecessor, there was a lot to love for franchised fans, but they apparently didn’t love it enough.
It’s been eight long years since Conspiracy: Take the Crown was released. In that time, we’ve obviously not had a sequel and haven’t heard much about the possibility of one. For as fun as Conspiracy sets were, it seems they didn’t sell enough to justify their existence. Thanks to this, whenever we hear about the future of Conspiracy now, it tends to be bad news.
The latest batch of this bad news was delivered recently by MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater. Speaking on Blogatog, Rosewater revealed that the chances for another Conspiracy set are “Currently low.” As Rosewater went on to explain, this is largely because “The bar for supplemental sets has gotten so high.”
Clearing the High Bar
As Hasbro’s money printing machine, Magic: The Gathering can’t really afford to miss. Well, realistically it absolutely could, but as a business with investors that’s not a viable strategy. Thanks to this, the most profitable ideas are often the ones that get made. Modern Horizons may be steeped in controversy, but we can’t deny that it sells insanely well.
Sadly, as we mentioned earlier, Conspiracy, and its sequel, didn’t exactly sell too well. The same is true of Un-sets, Planechase, and Battlebond. These sets may be the most unique things to release in their respective years, but they just don’t sell. This isn’t due to a lack of love, but rather due to a lack of players.
First and foremost, each of the aforementioned sets is focused, with little scope beyond that. Technically some of their cards can be played in Commander, but they’re hardly Commander Legends or Masters sets. Due to this, the potential audience for these products is dramatically reduced, with little demand for anything that’s not a Draftable Booster Box.
In comparison, Commander Masters can sell Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, Collector Boosters, and Commander decks, to a huge number of players. It’s no wonder Wizards would choose to print the latter over the former. This decision for Wizards has become that much easier now that Universes Beyond has become so big and successful.
With two major Universes Beyond sets released each year from 2025 onward, there’s little room for novelty supplemental sets anymore. The little room that is left is going to be fiercely competed over by proven quantities like Masters, Horizons, and Legends sets. This basically leaves no room for fun experiments like Unfinity unless Wizards takes a massive gamble.
Evening the Odds
With what we know about the future, it’s easy to consider MTG’s novelty sets dead forevermore. That being said, we have just been surprised by a Draft-focused novelty set that’s deliberately for a small subset of players. Debuted at Gen Con in 2024, Mystery Booster 2 is the novelty players have been craving brought to life.
Admittedly, the creation of this product wasn’t exactly typical. According to Rosewater, it was brought to life from the budget of the convention team, rather than the usual set development fund. This allows Mystery Booster 2 to exist as a product that’s almost exclusively available at conventions.
In theory, the same could happen for Magic’s other novelty sets. Once Mystery Booster 2 has run its course, the convention team could budget for Conspiracy 3 or any other novelty MTG set. While this would require more resources and balancing than a playtest card-filled reprint bonanza, it’s nonetheless a theoretical option.
More sensibly, Wizards could mix in elements of Magic’s novelty sets into future major releases. We’ve already seen this happen somewhat with Planechase cards appearing in March of the Machine’s Commander decks. Following on from this, Wizards is even bringing Archenemy back in Duskmourn: House of Horror’s Commander decks too.
Sadly, adding Conspiracy cards to a Standard-legal MTG set’s Draft environment is probably a step too far. Despite this, we’re not giving up hope yet. Magic’s unusual and novelty Draft-focused sets have long delighted players and deserve to return. We just hope that Wizards can find space to allow them to do just that.
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