In the past few years, Wizards of the Coast has ushered in multiple major innovations to MTG. Recently, we’ve seen a major change to the Standard rotation schedule and the immense rise of Universes Beyond. Even Secret Lair has been getting in on the action with Chaos Vault and the shift to limited-run printings.
Unsurprisingly, the changes don’t stop here. Following a statement by MTG’s Head Designer, it seems that even the MTG announcement schedule is being changed somewhat. Any MTG players hoping for another massive announcement detailing future plans may soon be left disappointed. While this change might not be the biggest in Magic’s history, it’s nonetheless a major shift in how we see the future.
No New Massive Annoucements
Back in 2023, at Gen Con, Wizards of the Coast announced three years of upcoming MTG sets. Showing off everything from 2025’s Innistrad Remastered to 2026’s arc ending Ziplining set, a huge amount was set up. As you can imagine, this was hugely exciting at the time, especially since it revealed the long-awaited return to Lorwyn.
Now that Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been released, we’re coming toward the end of what was properly revealed at Gen Con. While Wizards technically revealed the 2026 set lineup, details were very few and far between. Edge of Eternities, then just known as “Volleyball,” was the last set we got any real concrete information about.
Outside of the knowledge that we’re going to Lorwyn, Arcavios, and somewhere in Ziplining, the future is once again rather mysterious. This may make think think that another major announcement is on the way soon. At the very least, once 2026 is wrapped up, we’ll surely get another major three-year arc reveal, right?
For better or worse, it appears that won’t be happening anytime soon. Taking to Blogatog, Tumblr user Kidcincinnati recently asked Mark Rosewater how the last major three-year MTG announcement played out. Somewhat surprisingly, it seems the majority of MTG players weren’t too happy about Wizards’ showing so much.
“Kidcincinnati: As we come closer and closer to the end of the massive arc of set announcements, can you speak to how folks felt about talking that far out? I personally really enjoyed it, but I was wondering if we’ll again get little snippets of what’s to come as far out as something like Return to Arcavios last time.
Mark Rosewater: I think it was an interesting experiment, but the feedback seems to be it went a little too far into the future.”
Via: Blogatog
Too Little About Too Much
Since Mark Rosewater has the feedback at their fingertips, it seems Wizards already knows what’s best. If players weren’t too fond of this massive reveal overall, it’s unlikely to be repeated. While Rosewater didn’t explicitly state this, we know Wizards isn’t in the business of repeating past mistakes or failed experiments.
Despite this being decided, many MTG players continued to discuss in the Blogatog post’s comments. Unsurprisingly, the majority of players agreed with the feedback that Wizards have already received. Some players like Bravelion83, however, commented, “I would like to go even further into the future if possible.”
For most players, however, Wizards revealed too little about too much when looking ahead. As nice as it was to know that we’re finally going back to Lorwyn, the lack of concrete information makes it difficult to get excited about it. Some players even reported that the ultra-brief teases we saw actually gave the wrong impressions about some sets.
“The announcements for years 2 and 3 didn’t feel all that exciting, simply because none of it was all that fleshed out. Edge of Eternities is my most anticipated set of the year, but when it was initially teased, I wasn’t excited about it at all. So, since the de-facto announcements still have to happen, I see no reason to take the wind out of its sails so early.”
Singerofw
Personally, it definitely feels like this type of mega-announcement messes with expectations negatively. Even the reveal that Ziplining is another arc-ending Capstone set like March of the Machine told us what to expect from the story. Now, we’re second-guessing every move by Jace, Valgavoth, and Nicol Bolas, trying to predict where the story goes, rather than just enjoying it.
The New Normal
At the end of the day, this probably isn’t the biggest revelation in the grand scheme of MTG. It’s not often that a milestone like Magic’s 30th anniversary comes around, after all. As a result, Wizards of the Coast doesn’t often have the opportunity to show off so much in spectacular fashion.
Instead of having one major announcement each year, Wizards is now showing off fewer sets are more regular intervals. Specifically, the Preview Panels at MagicCons around the world are being used to show what’s up next. The next one of these is MagicCon: Las Vegas on June 20th, which should show off Edge of Eternities and more.
So far, it seems that this new announcement system has been going down smoothly. New information is revealed at what feels like a healthy pace, yet players aren’t constantly overwhelmed by new sets. Outside of the occasional muddled-up set reveal, Wizards is working like a well-oiled announcement machine.
Ultimately, while Wizards is unlikely to repeat the massive reveal at Gen Con in 2023, big announcements haven’t been ruled out entirely. Judging by Rosewater’s statement, there’s a non-zero chance that we could still get major multi-year announcements. Just don’t expect to three years being revealed all at once anytime soon.