Summary
Magic: The Gathering’supcoming Universes Beyond crossover sets with Final Fantasy and Spider-Man will be legal in the game’s premiere format, Standard.
This change comes as part of a wider simplification of set legality being rolled out in 2025 that will also make them legal in both Modern and, also for the first time, Pioneer.
Announced at the MagicCon Vegas preview panel, from 2025 every set will be divided into one of two categories. Either it is considered an eternal set, meaning it is only legal inCommander, Vintage, and Legacy, or it is all-formats legal, which includes Standard and its two non-rotating offshoots, Modern and Pioneer.
This is very different to now, which also includes direct-to-Modern sets that are also legal in the eternal formats. This year we had two such sets, in Modern Horizons 3 andUniverses Beyond: Assassin’s Creed, and the differing legality between them and the other sets launching around the time caused confusion for newer or less invested players.
Wizards has said it still wants to do the occasional Modern Horizons set, but without the pressure of Universes Beyond also effectively doing the same thing.
Future Universes Beyond sets will come under the second category, and be legal in every format. And so Wizards is making an unprecedented move with Universes Beyond and making it legal in Standard and Pioneer for the first time, starting with Final Fantasy in June 2025.
This change is not retroactive. Previous Universes Beyond releases will not be becoming legal in more formats than they already are.
Universes Beyond is Magic’s sub-brand dedicated to adapting properties Wizards of the Coast doesn’t own. Despite causing controversy within the community, they have consistently been among the best-selling Magic products, with Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth quickly becoming the best-selling set of all time when it launched in 2023.
In addition to becoming legal in more formats, the ratio of in-Magic-setting sets and crossover products will be changing. While each year since Universes Beyond has had one or two crossover products, from 2025 onwards it will be a rough 50/50 split between sets that use Magic’s own characters and worlds, and Universes Beyond releases.
This can be seen in the 2025 lineup, with Aetherdrift, Tarkir Dragonstorm, and Edge Of Eternities representing Magic, whileFinal Fantasy,Spider-Man, anda third unannounced projectrepresenting Universes Beyond.
A Broken Promise?
This is a huge change from the assurances made when Universes Beyond was announced in 2021, and is definitely going to cause much controversy for the community. At the time,Wizards categorically statedthat “Universes Beyond cards will not be Standard legal” and that they are “above and, well, beyond our normal Standard releases”.
Personally, while I’m not thrilled with the change, or with having one less in-universe set to enjoy each year, it’s hard to deny that Universes Beyond hasn’t been a net positive for Magic so far. Every single release for it has been stellar, ranging from the smaller ones like Transformers right up to Tales of Middle-earth. It’s also brought new players in with each new release.
The cards have been flavourful, the art great, and any concerns we’ve had of Rick Sanchez fighting Master Chief in a game haven’t yet come to fruition. They just exist in the same cardpool as everything else, in-universe or not.
There are still major questions to be answered by Wizards, though, such as how a higher frequency of Universes Beyond sets, and in more formats, could cause difficulties for reprints.
The next Universes Beyond release will be Final Fantasy, launching in June 2025.
Magic: The Gathering
Created by Richard Garfield in 1993, Magic: The Gathering (MTG) has become one of the biggest tabletop collectible card games in the world. Taking on the role of a Planeswalker, players build decks of cards and do battle with other players. In excess of 100 additional sets have added new cards to the library, while the brand has expanded into video games, comics, and more.
