The world of Magic: The Gathering is a multiversal fantasy setting, and the Universes Beyond formula has allowed MTG players to venture to the Upside Down (of Stranger Things), Cybertron (from the Transformers), Middle-Earth (from The Lord of the Rings), and the many worlds of Final Fantasy… but, after a couple of visits in the last few years, one place MTG fans seem to have gotten sick of is New York City.
During a buttoned-up investor call by its parent company Hasbro, overall CEO Chris Cocks revealed that they had heard complaints that their recent New York City-based settings weren’t fantasy enough for fans.
“I think the one thing I’ll say on the Universes Beyond partners that we have next year is, they’ll probably be a bit more fantasy adjacent,” Cocks says in the call (via MTG Rocks). “I don’t think any of them will take place in New York City because we definitely have gotten that feedback from some fans.“
In truth, he’s not wrong: NYC has been featured in two recent Marvel sets, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, and, going back two years, in the Ghostbuster cards. That being said, I doubt NYC will completely be out of MTG… it has offices in the city, and is a fixture of recent New York Comic Cons.
There are three ‘Universes Beyond’ sets planned for 2027, but none of them have been announced yet. It’s presumed at least one will be a continuation of the multi-year partnership with Marvel Comics.