Universes Beyond might be half of MTG’s release schedule in 2025, but it is still a relatively new addition to the game. Since their inception, Universes Beyond cards have looked a little different to help players identify what cards weren’t part of Magic’s original IP. Sporting a unique metallic-ish border and an inverted triangle as a rarity stamp, Universes Beyond cards were easily distinguishable from normal MTG cards.
These identifiers persisted over the years and were even visible during the recent Final Fantasy first look. That said, the first spoilers from the MTG X Spider-Man crossover have revealed that these unique Universes Beyond features are now a thing of the past.
MTG Spider-Man Removes UB Borders and Stamps
Magic and Marvel’s crossover has given the MTG community shock after shock this week. We first learned that MTG X Spider-Man would have no Commander preconstructed decks – a decision few players can understand. Now, following surprise spoilers on March 1st, Wizards of the Coast has revealed that Universes Beyond stamps and borders are being retired:
“As part of our continued efforts to reduce complexity, we are retiring the Universes Beyond frame and unifying all Magic: The Gathering frames within the standard Magic style. Eagle-eyed fans out there will notice that, starting with Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man, Universes Beyond cards will no longer have the inverted triangle replacing the standard oval security stamp for rare and mythic rare cards, as well as the stamp printed in silver on common and uncommon Universes Beyond cards.”
Wizards of the Coast
So, the unique border and stamp commonly seen with Universes Beyond cards will be discontinued as of MTG X Spider-Man. Notably, this change does not apply to the upcoming MTG X Final Fantasy crossover.
This means that, aside from looking at set symbols and set information found at the bottom of the card, there will be no way of easily distinguishing Universes Beyond cards from different IPs from MTG ones.
Wizards of the Coast has decided to make this change to reduce complexity, but players aren’t convinced that the reasoning holds water.
Complexity As an Excuse?
At worst, these features are used to denote the legality of an MTG card, which we’ve seen in the Acorn stamp. While this was an extra feature to look out for in Unfinity, Universes Beyond didn’t have the same problem. Instead, the inverted triangle stamp simply denoted this card’s origins, and nothing more, which is hardly a complexity spike.
That being said, different borders do have a history of denoting different legality. Silver-bordered cards, for instance, can’t be played in any constructed, or even casual, format. The same is true of Gold-bordered cards, which were used on non-tournament legal reprints. While this was all fairly straightforward back in the day, Wizards has been pushing potentially problematic boundaries recently.
Recently, Wizards has brought back the white border in Mystery Booster 2, and ‘gold’ borders in Aetherdrift. The latter was used on the First Place Finish treatment and notably looks different from the original Gold-bordered cards. Nevertheless, there’s the potential for confusion thanks to these similar treatments, which is a clear complexity spike.
While different borders were once the go-to method of denoting legality, that job has now fallen upon set symbols and collector information. Within the Spider-Man set, for instance, we have SPM for the main set, and SPE for the Commander cards, which we saw a bunch of recently. Thankfully, MTG players have mostly gotten to grips with this system, which is especially important when Commander cards appear in Play Boosters.
Although players are used to this system, it still requires paying close attention to each card. If simplicity and ease of use were the main goals, having different borders would be a far simpler, albeit more garish, solution. With this in mind, it seems Wizards was more worried about making Universes Beyond cards fit in, rather than genuine complexity.
Players Mostly Hate This
There are some seriously mixed opinions about this change to Universes Beyond cards, but most players seem upset about it. Notably, a large crowd of players recently requested the removal of the Universes Beyond border. The metallic nature of the border was a stark contrast to the high fantasy settings in many of Magic’s crossovers. Some players went as far as not playing any cards with metallic borders because of how bad they looked.
While some players will be happy to see the end of the Universes Beyond border, the stamp is a different story.
“To be honest, I do agree with the frames. The UB frames don’t work well with fantasy properties – so I’d be very much on board with using the regular frames. The stamp is another matter, though.“
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Between the two features, the rarity stamp was a much more eye-catching feature of Universes Beyond cards. It easily allowed players to identify what MTG cards were not part of the main IP. Not everyone is familiar with every intellectual property that MTG crosses over with, so this can help players figure out whether or not a character is from Magic or from somewhere else. Now, Magic’s overall identity is going to become murkier, especially to a newer player.
While many players aren’t fans of these changes, uniformity is an important distinction to make, as well. These Universes Beyond aesthetics served no functional purpose besides making it clear that the characters and actions were not part of the MTG universe. Since these do not have rules-based action, cleaning them up can clear up some confusion for newer players.
Border Can Go, But Stamp Should Stay
While there will always be exceptions to the rule, MTG players overall seem to share an overall sentiment that Universes Beyond borders had to go, but the stamp should have remained as a way to identify cards from different IPs. Like it or not, these changes have been made, and it seems very unlikely that we will go back.
As much as players may complain now, and inevitably in the future, Wizards has clearly made up their minds. This decision has been made for Spider-Man, and it will be incredibly hard to go back once this change sees print. Given how far in advance MTG sets are printed, there may be no time for a last-minute reactionary change.
Right now, this change is annoying and disappointing to a lot of players, but it’s not the end of the world. Problems may arise in the future, however, should a Universes-Beyond free format really take off. Now, such a format would need a much more extensive ban list, rather than just stating ‘no inverted triangle security stamps.’
Ultimately, while many MTG players are upset with this change, it’s worth remembering that Magic has a massive casual audience. For us, a different security stamp or border is incredibly easy to parse, but new Magic players may genuinely be struggling with it. As such, this change could truly be made in the best interest of players, but we don’t have that data and feedback to hand.
Regardless of whether you love or hate the new border, MTG X Spider-Man is scheduled to release on September 26th.