In 2025, the MTG release calendar is changing in a way that few players expected. It has been confirmed that only seven sets will be launching throughout the entire year. While this may seem like a lot, we’re getting three normal premier sets, three Universes Beyond sets, and a Remastered set.
Sadly, this jam-packed release schedule doesn’t leave much room for anything else. Technically, more sets could be crammed in, but Wizards is deliberately trying to cut back on constant releases. Worryingly, this may mean that future years will be lacking some of Magic’s most interesting and unique sets.
Thankfully, despite the lack of space on the content calendar, Wizards isn’t giving up on keeping things interesting. According to Head MTG Designer, Mark Rosewater, innovation products are very much still on the cards. They might just look a little bit different than what players are accustomed to.
Idolized Innovations
Innovation products, in the wide world of MTG, are some of the most interesting and least successful products around. Typically these sets offer new spins on Magic’s traditional gameplay through new mechanics, themes, and rules. The wildest and wackiest out of all of these is undoubtedly Un-Sets, which have had a very troubled existence.
Pushing the rules, flavor, and mechanics to the absolute extreme, Un-Sets are stupid, absurd, and wonderfully fun. Mechanics like Attractions, Contraptions, and Stickers have all pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in MTG. On top of this, many Un-Set cards are impossible to print anywhere else, like Phone a Friend or Photo Op.
Alongside Un-Sets providing the weirdness, other innovation products have offered completely different gameplay twists to MTG. Conspiracy, for instance, heavily played with the Draft process while Battlebond utilized the Two-Headed Giant format. Horizons sets, which arguably pushed power creep too far, are also supplemental innovation products, for better or worse.
Regardless of how you feel about each of these products, they each offered something new to MTG. Outside of Horizons sets they might not have sold well either, but they were still tons of fun. For many players, the existence of these weird and wonderful sets and products made Magic richer and more interesting overall.
Now, it seems we simply don’t have the space for these sets anymore. Making another Un-Set was already unlikely due to poor performance, but restricted release calendar space makes it seemingly impossible. That being said, thanks to new design space innovations, innovation products don’t have to die out completely.
A Saving Grace
Thankfully, Wizards has a trick up their sleeve to save some supplemental innovation products in MTG. As MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, pointed out on Blogatog, premier sets can house innovations of their own. Duskmourn: House of Horror, for example, brought back Archenemy with a unique Commander twist.
Before that, Murders at Karlov Manor did its own weird thing in Ravnica: Clue Edition. Looking even further back, Wizards even revived Planechase for both the Doctor Who decks and March of the Machine. As Mark Rosewater states, this past precedent proves there’s still room for innovation in the right places.
“We still do innovation products, but they are incorporated into the tentpole releases.”
Mark Rosewater
Thankfully for fans of Magic’s weirder sets and formats, this doesn’t mean they’re completely done and dusted going forward. Battlebond and Two-Headed Giant, for instance, could potentially return in a parallel product like Ravnica: Clue Edition. Similarly, Planechase and Archenemy could return time and time again in the right setting.
Sadly, Conspiracy, Horizons sets, and Un-Sets are more difficult to implement naturally alongside a tentpole release. Conspiracy sets in particular, are all about the Draft environment, which may be a step too far. Similarly, the sheer power of many Horizons cards wouldn’t really fit in a Standard-legal tentpole set.
Mercifully, reprint-based Masters sets will be one of the easiest supplemental products to integrate into tentpole releases. While they’re not a part of every set, Bonus Sheets can provide an invaluable source of desirable reprints. Theoretically, any set can benefit from a well-themed reprint-filled Bonus Sheet, even Universes Beyond sets.
Ultimately, there’s already hard evidence that Wizards has room to continue innovating and supplement supplemental sets. Hopefully, this can alleviate what otherwise appears to be a rather by-the-numbers release calendar.
A Full Featured Future
At the end of the day, we only know what’s going to happen in 2025. Even then, the vast majority of key details about the 2025 sets are still under wraps. As such, there’s no telling what supplemental sets and innovations may be tacked on the tentpole releases. Beyond that, Wizards of the Coast could go in any direction for 2026 and beyond.
While Wizards has stated their desire for simplicity, with fewer direct-to-Modern sets, they can still make what they want. As such, if Wizards wants to make Modern Horizons 4 instead of a premier or Universes Beyond set, they can. The same is true for a new Un-Set, although this seems less likely due to financial performance.
Even if Wizards doesn’t do another true tentpole supplemental set anytime soon, it’s been proven that innovation is possible. Thanks to this, we shouldn’t really have to worry about Magic’s weirder formats going the way of the dodo anytime soon.
