Summary
Wizards of the Coast closed 2024 with a bang across the board by releasing two handbooks of the revised 5e forDungeons and Dragons, andMagic: The Gatheringlaunched its Foundations set that will remain in Standard for five years at least, if not in semi-perpetuity. There are many changes coming toMagic: The Gatheringover this year, and while sets like Bloomburrow and Foundations were very successful, the franchise’s popularity and sales have only gone up with the addition of the so-called Universes Beyond sets. These releases take characters, items, locations, and more from a given IP and make them intoMTGcards. 2025 will have three Universes Beyond sets, and one of them has not yet been announced - though there are likely candidates for what it could be.
Magic: The Gathering’s 2025 Universes Beyond setswill be legal in Standard, unlike past releases, and they are already confirmed to include Spider-Man and Final Fantasy.
So far, it’s confirmed thatMagic: The Gathering’sFinal Fantasycrossoverwill be released in June of this year, whereas the Spider-Man set has not been given a release date or window just yet. The last set of the year is also very much up in the air in terms of release date or window, but there are various possibilities regarding the IP it will cover.
Why Magic: The Gathering’s Third UB Set is Likely to Be Avatar: The Last Airbender
The most likely candidate forMagic: The Gathering’s next crossovermay be theAvatar: The Last AirbenderIP, which would make a lot of sense for various reasons. These are as follows:
As such, it seems quite likely thatAvatar: The Last Airbenderwill cross over withMagic: The Gathering, but there is no official confirmation just yet. Following past patterns, it’s likely that this UB set will be revealed sometime in Q2 of 2025.
Other Possible IPs For Magic: The Gathering’s Third 2025 Crossover
While this theory can seem convincing, there are other possible options for the IP that will get the third UB set of the year. For example,Magic: The Gathering’s Foundations Jumpstart packs contained anime cards representing unique characters, with one of them being Taeko, the Patient Avalanche. This card is Legendary Creature - Turtle Ninja, and it represents a veryTMNT-adjacent character. Considering that Nickelodeon owns the rights toTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesas well, the IP could cross over withMTGthis year or in the near future. Another fan-favorite IP that would do well as Universes Beyond in the game isStar Wars, but there have been no particular hints to this hypothesis.
