It seems the further we stray into 2025, the more Magic’s endless spoiler season picks up speed. After a brief moment of quiet at the start of the year, MTG is now back to firing on all cylinders. Not only is Aetherdrift’s spoiler season still ongoing, but we’ve recently just had a series of major MTG announcements.
Well… Rather than overloading our senses with three MTG announcements all at once, Wizards has announced some upcoming announcements instead. While this might seem a touch disappointing compared to what could have been, there’s still a ton to look forward to. Between the release of Aetherdrift, and everything else going on, it seems we’re going to have a very busy February.
New Commander News
During the latest WeeklyMTG, Blake Rasmussen revealed the planned docked for the upcoming few live streams. For starters, next week, as usual, Rasmussen will be showcasing Aetherdrift ahead of prereleases beginning by cracking some packs. This will hopefully be a great opportunity to see what the First Place Foils look like in motion.
Following on from next week’s stream, on February 11th, Gavin Verhey will take over WeeklyMTG. According to Rasmussen, during this stream, Verhey will “share the latest information on Commander.” Following this exciting news, Rasmussen was quick to downplay what players should expect from this upcoming livestream.
“To set the stage before everyone goes off. We’re not announcing any bans or unbans at that time. No bans, no unbans. That’s not what the February 11th announcement discussion is.”
Blake Rasmussen
Instead of revealing the new and improved Commander banlist, Rasmussen stated they’d go over what the Commander Format Panel has been working on. Currently, it’s unclear what this means, however, we could potentially be getting an update on The Silver-Bordered Project.
Ultimately, there’s no telling what the Commander Format Panel has been working on as of yet. Subsequently, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens on February 11th. Hopefully, there will be a fair few exciting reveals, even if there aren’t any bans being revealed. If nothing else, insight into how the Commander format is being managed and handled is always a welcome treat.
MTG Final Fantasy First Look
Following on from news about the Commander format, we’ll be getting another very welcome surprise. On February 18th, Wizards will give us a First Look at the upcoming Final Fantasy MTG set. For many players, this is easily one of the most exciting releases in 2025, so it’s safe to say this is a big deal.
During this stream, according to Rasmussen, Gavin Verhey and Zakeel Gordon will talk about cards, art, and “the whole package.” Sadly, that’s all the information we’re getting for now, but we can make more presumptions about what we’ll see. Given First Looks are all about generating hype, we’re bound to see a fair few of Final Fantasy’s most iconic characters.
On Reddit, many players were quick to jokingly presume that we’ll see 16 versions of Cid. While this is technically a possibility, it admittedly doesn’t seem too likely, even if it would be very funny. Instead, we’ll likely see characters like Cloud Strife, Lightning, and Sephiroth who have more iconic status and mass appeal.
As well as seeing cards for iconic characters, Rasmussen also noted we’ll be seeing art treatments from the set. Given how popular Final Fantasy is in Japan, an anime-inspired treatment seems inevitable. I also wouldn’t put it past Wizards to make some retro-themed art, given the franchise’s 8-bit origins.
Ultimately, we’ll just have to wait and see what this Final Fantasy-themed livestream has in store come February 18th. Notably, it’ll be quite a wait for the set to release following this stream. Currently, the release date of the Final Fantasy MTG set is scheduled for June 13th, 2025.
MagicCon: Chicago
Last, but by no means least, Rasmussen revealed that the Preview Panel at MagicCon: Chicago will largely focus on “Dragons.” Obviously, this is a tease that we’ll be seeing plenty from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. This isn’t really a surprise given that it’s the next major MTG set on the horizon after Aetherdrift.
Alongside remarking about Dragons, Rasmussen also teased that plenty more will be in store. Thankfully, we already know what some of this is. Looking over at the preview for the Preview Panel, we can see that we’ll also be getting “another glimpse at Edge of Eternities.” As if that wasn’t enough, the panel’s blurb also promises “a couple other surprises.”
Given they’re surprises, there’s no telling what these final MTG announcements could be. Maybe we’ll get some teases about future Universes Beyond sets, or even the reveal of 2025’s final, currently unannounced, set. We’ll just have to wait and see what gets revealed on February 21st, 2025.
