Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
27, Jan, 25

MTG Players Suspect Surprise Return to Ikoria Soon

Now more than ever, the future of MTG as we know it is shrouded in a thick soupy layer of mystery. Even with Wizards revealing sets at each year’s various MagicCon events, there has recently been a seismic future-changing shift. For better or worse, Universes Beyond sets now make up half of the MTG release calendar for 2025 and beyond.

Currently, it’s unclear if this massive change to the MTG product lineup will be a net positive. We will only have some understanding of that once 2025 is over and quarterly reports come out. Thankfully, before then, there are some things we know for certain, but that’s not exactly good news.

For starters, with fewer in-universe sets being released each year, the speed at which Magic’s story progresses has slowed. Similarly, fewer in-universe sets also means fewer in-universe planes, which have been the lifeblood of MTG until now. Anyone waiting for a long-overdue to their favorite world may now be faced with a lot longer wait.

Thankfully, in-universe planes aren’t going away entirely, and Wizards of the Coast has a lot up their sleeves. Last week, we saw fresh evidence of this as MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, revealed a surprising tidbit about Aetherdrift. This, in turn, has MTG players suspecting that a return to Ikoria could be on the cards sooner rather than later.

A Little Shake-Up

Lutri, the Spellchaser | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Lutri, the Spellchaser | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

At the start of last week, Mark Rosewater revealed their first Making Magic article looking into the development of Aetherdrift. As usual, this article was packed with interesting development details and stories, which are always a treat to read. At the time, however, we were all enamored with the latest spoilers and subsequently didn’t scrutinize anything too closely.

Once Aetherdrift spoilers slowed over the weekend, however, MTG players started to take stock of what had actually been revealed. This led players like Televangelis to notice that Muraganda wasn’t the first choice in Aetherdrift. Instead, during development, the original trio of MTG players that Aetherdrift visited were Avishkar, Amonkhet, and Ikoria.

According to Rosewater, Ikoria was one of the first two planes decided upon alongside Amonkhet. Both these sets utilized Cycling, which thematically fit the set, while Ikoria also brought Keyword counters. As Rosewater explains, this mechanic ideally should have helped to “represent vehicle customization.”

Despite all this seeming to work rather well, Rosewater recounts that there was a “little shake-up” during development. Specifically, the MTG arc planning team decided they wanted Ikoria for themselves because they had “a cool idea for what we could do with Ikoria.” Wizards decided to bump Ikoria to “keep our possibilities for the future open.”

From there, Wizards went back to the drawing team to find the third set, eventually landing on Muraganda. Currently, we’ve not really seen what this means for Aetherdrift, since the “cycle of vanilla legendary creatures,” Rosewater teased hasn’t materialized yet. Despite this, it’s nonetheless been a welcome treat given the plane has been largely unexplored until now.

An Obvious Return

Gemrazer | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Gemrazer | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

Judging by these comments from Mark Rosewater, it seems basically guaranteed that we’ll be seeing Ikoria again eventually. If this weren’t the case, then the arc planning team wouldn’t have had any reason to move things around. Subsequently, we can start wondering what Wizards has planned up their sleeves for this clearly planned return.

On Reddit, some MTG players speculated that Wizards might be planning another multi-plane travelogue set, given the phrasing. Furthering this idea, wildcard_gamer suggested that this could lead to a Kamigawa and Ikoria crossover set with mechs fighting kaiju. While this does sound like an awesome scenario, doing cool things with Ikoria doesn’t necessarily mean a multi-plane set.

Beyond not knowing the reason for our return to Ikoria, there’s also no telling which MTG mechanics will reappear. Given Rosewater’s statement, Keyword Counters could be a big part of the set, since that was planned for Aetherdrift. On top of this, many MTG players, like Important-Presence-9, are hoping to see Mutate once more.

On the surface, the prospects of Mutate return appear to be rather slim at best. Currently, this mechanic sits at a seven on the Storm Scale as it’s notoriously complex and confusing. With this in mind, Wizards has unsurprisingly been hesitant to bring the mechanic back, electing to ditch it for Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

Despite the problems that Mutate has caused, seeing it in a return to Ikoria isn’t out of the question. Since the mechanic is so intrinsic to the plane, Mutate has a special Storm Scale ranking of three when on Ikoria. With this in mind, there’s a very real chance the mechanic will return. Should this happen, Wizards will hopefully tune things to not make it too overpowered while ideally keeping things simple.

A Long Time Coming

Song of Creation | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Song of Creation | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

Ultimately, even if a return to Ikoria is basically guaranteed at this point, we don’t know when it will be happening. Sadly, thanks to the aforementioned Universes Beyond changes, we may be waiting for quite some time. Right now, the earliest we could be going back to Ikoria is technically late 2026, but that is very unlikely.

Looking ahead at the 2025 and 2026 release calendars, almost all the upcoming planes are already set in stone. In 2025, after Aetherdrift’s trio, we’ll be going to Tarkir, and then space in Edge of Eternties. Following on from this, 2026 will take us to Lorwyn and then back to Strixhaven. Currently, the final plane of 2026 is yet to be confirmed, but it’s unlikely that will be Ikoria.

With this in mind, it’s more likely that Ikoria will be on the menu at some point in 2027 or later. Sadly, later is a lot more likely in this scenario given that the arc planning team is only considering potential options. Rosewater has previously revealed that “the arc planning team is currently talking about the early 2030s,” so Ikoria might not return until then.

At the end of the day, we’re just going to have to sit tight and wait for now, as we’re a long way off from anything happening. It’ll only be once Wizards dials up the teasing or confirms anything officially that we’ll know what’s going on. 

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