It’s no secret that Universes Beyond has had a bit of a troubled history in MTG. This product line has been plagued by controversy whenever a new development is announced. The first Secret Lair cards were slammed by fans, and the expansion to Commander decks, and now Standard decks, was similarly controversial. Despite this, sentiment around Universes Beyond is fairly positive nowadays.
After the Final Fantasy MTG set made $200,000,000 in one day, the success of these sets is now undeniable. We already know that Universes Beyond is here to stay, and that’s likely not going to change soon. That said, a newly revealed detail could put the future of Universes Beyond sets in an unusual spot of jeopardy.
Rising Royalties
With the MTG Spider Man set, a lot of MTG players are looking forward to the latest limited gameplay Magic has to offer. At the same time, a lot of players don’t want to touch this wet with a ten-foot pole thanks to the pick two format. Due to this, a lot of players are looking back at the other limited events on offer, and Wizards mostly doesn’t disappoint.
Yesterday, Slivers Eternal, on the MTGO Discord, noted that Final Fantasy isn’t available as a competitive Limited event. Instead, players have to choose between the 2025 in-universe sets, Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and Edge of Eternities. As Slivers Eternal comments, this is “not very high stakes,” but it was nonetheless an interesting detail.
Following up on this interest, MTGO developer Tony Mayer responded with a little added context. While it doesn’t tell us anything, this reveal might just have major implications for Magic going forward.
“FIN events incur royalties, plus we’d need to refigure price points.”
MTGO_Tony | Via: MTGO Discord
Judging by this statement, it seems Universes beyond sets may have smaller lifespans than traditional in-universe MTG sets. If Wizards have to pay each time they set up an event, even digitally, then costs could mount up quickly. This may lead Wizards to stop running Universes Beyond events sooner than expected, should interest, and return, fall off.
So far, we’ve got limited evidence of this happening, and there will be a ton of factors at play here. That said, this could easily become a growing trend from the sounds of things, which isn’t a good look. Even if Univeres Beyond sets are beloved by all, getting to play with them for less time stings quite a bit.
A Lot More Omenpaths?
While we’ve known that Universes Beyond licensing costs existed, having them tied to events like this is definitely unexpected. Potentially, this could be a big reason why Through the Omenpaths was created in the first place. We don’t know for certain, but Marvel could have wanted insane royalties for digital events, which wouldn’t have been viable.
Admittedly, it’s more likely that Marvel just didn’t want to compete with their own game like Marvel Snap. Still, Through the Omenpaths does provide a concrete solution to this potentially expensive problem. By creating a parallel in-universe MTG set, Wizards doesn’t have to worry about additional costs limiting a product’s lifespan.
In theory, this could lead Wizards of the Coast to create Through the Omenpaths sets for more than just Marvel. While there’s no expectation that every single MTG set will be available for Limited at all times, this solution would solve problems. That said, having to double up on art resources, while renaming cards too, isn’t exactly an insignificant amount of work.
Ultimately, we’ll likely get new Through the Omenpaths on a case-by-case basis, depending on the deal that gets made. While there are clearly costs associated with running Final Fantasy events, this system isn’t mandatory. After all, for some sets, Wizards may be able to negotiate no or lower event royalties.
Somewhat worryingly, there is another alternative solution to this problem. To combat the cost of running Universes Beyond events digitally, Wizards could increase prices. Right now, we can only hope that Wizards doesn’t go down this route. Given the Universes Beyond price bump for paper MTG, however, it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise.
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