2026 is upon us, and we’ve a whole new year of Magic to get excited about. Seven major sets is gonna make for quite the year. Kristen sits down to share some of her hopes for the year ahead.
Putting together a wishlist is always fun, but first, let’s look back at 2025’s Wishlist to see how things ended up.
WHAT CAME TRUE IN 2025
In 2025, I hoped for:
- Fewer Legendary Creatures
- More Hatebears
- A Good Multicolor Angels Commander
- Some Fixed Approaches to Cards like Jeweled Lotus
- More Mono Color Incentives
- A better framework for Pre-game chats
Tannuk, Memorial Ensign | Electro, Assaulting Battery | Haliya, Guided by Light | Knuckles the Echidna
Let’s check in and see how we got on, eh? First up, with Legendary Creature counts. We got 479 this year, up from 321 in 2024, which is a significant increase. Was I kidding myself by asking for this? Well, not exactly, because a wishlist can still be a wishlist even with an outlandish wish. There’s no doubt that the increase in mechanically unique Secret Lair products and Universes Beyond main sets ballooned this total, and it doesn’t feel great.
Still, when you look at a set like Edge of Eternities, there are only fifteen Legendary Creatures, with a good amount of those being the same character at different points in the story. This is a positive development. Tarkir: Dragonstorm was similar with sixteen. Just look back at Aetherdrift’s 29, or Outlaws’ massive 49. That’s on the decline for sure.
More hatebears was on my wishlist for 2025, and we didn’t really get close to seeing any. Voice of Victory is amazing, sure, but it’s the only real one worth a mention. Spider-Woman is decent enough in UW decks, yes, but Wizened Mentor isn’t exactly much to write home about. We still need some more ways to hurt velocity in Commander, or hatebears are going to become a thing of the past. Two of the three this year are way more about protecting you than disruption as it is.
Next, I desired a good multicolor Angels Commander. We didn’t come close, so Giada pilots will be piloting the same deck for a bit longer at least. Right now we have Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn on the horizon for 2026, but if that’s all the year has to offer, then Angel fans are again going to be left playing the same tired decks.
One thing I hoped for in 2025 was some “fixed” versions of cards like Jeweled Lotus, particularly angled towards mana-intensive Commanders. While we got a bunch of interesting mana rocks (Radiant Lotus and Herd Heirloom amongst the most exciting), we didn’t really get anything else along the veins of fast(ish) mana. Mox Jasper, for Dragons, was a bit of a trap, to be honest.
When it comes to cards like Stinging Study, the closest we arguably got was Will of the Temur, caring about greatest mana value. It’s a decent enough card, but not really in the same vein.
More mono-color incentives were scarce, too, with creature typal being the incentive of the year – from 2024’s Three Tree City through to White Lotus Tile in Avatar, the focus has been much more on typal support. Things really didn’t seem to work out for my 2025 wishlist, eh?
Finally, I asked for a better framework for pre-game chats. This one is a bit of a “gimme” considering I was working on it literally as I wrote last year’s article, but the Commander Brackets Beta has evolved to the point that pre-game chats in untrusted playgroups have gotten a lot easier and more straightforward.
So, going into this year’s wishlist, we’re at 1 out of 5? That’s not great odds.
2026 COMMANDER WISHLIST
So, what would I like to see in 2026?
FEWER PRECONS
I don’t want to see a precon with every set, and I really enjoyed having a break from precons for Spider-Man and Avatar. Precons used to be really special, and making them special again would be fantastic. While I don’t think we’ll ever go back to the yearly Commander precon set as the only release, I do think meeting halfway would be beneficial. Product fatigue is real.
MORE MULTIPLAYER FOCUSED DESIGNS
Multiplayer focused designs can be a lot of fun, and cards like Coveted Jewel still see a lot of play. I’d love to see more Commanders focused on ways to take advantage of games having multiple different opponents, and not just by printing Group Hug or Goad cards. What I’d really love is another Battlebond or Conspiracy set, but that feels like something for 2027 or even later at this point – if we get one at all.
There’s a lot of design space left that can be used here, and I want to see some more designs and mechanics that lean into having four people at a table.
MORE BIG EVENTS OUTSIDE OF THE US
Currently, the MagicCon schedule features three dates for 2026 – Vegas, Amsterdam, and Atlanta. Seeing as we didn’t even get a Europe event in 2025, I am very keen to attend one again in 2026. The wider Magic event schedule still favors the US heavily, and for a game that is marketed globally, there is still an ongoing failure in holding and promoting events outside of the US. When was the last major Canada event, even?
GPs used to fill this role, and although we have had some return to events with smaller Commandfest or Series events like the Modern Series, having the Magic playerbase splintered between events just makes the schedule seem even less enticing for invested players who can only really justify a few events a year. It also means that none of the smaller events come close to a MagicCon, and they tend to attract fewer vendors, artists and side events too.
REVISITING THE WIDER MAGIC CAST
The wider Magic cast have been somewhat sidelined with the whole desparking and move to featuring Universes Beyond in Standard. This has meant that classic characters like Sorin, Nahiri, Nissa, Liliana and many more have been put on ice until they’re needed. With fewer mainline Magic sets annually due to UB competition, there are fewer chances to see how the famous protagonist and antagonists we grew to love are getting on.
I want products that give us more of these characters and their stories. The demand is there, with readership of the comics and graphic novels showing a desire to see more.
A PLAYABLE WANDERING EMPEROR FOR THE COMMAND ZONE
One of the coolest new Magic heroes for those who love all things warriors, knights, samurai and swords (and Kamigawa), The Wandering Emperor has become a firm favorite. That said, we still haven’t had a version of her that provides an attractive Commander. The Wandering Rescuer is the only creature version so far, and she’s not much to get excited about. As a trick in the 99 she’s great, but I really want to see one I am hyped to put in the ‘zone.
SOME OF MY 2025 ASKS
New wishlist entries aside, I really hope some of my 2025 asks get answered in 2026. I’m still really interested in a new multicolor Angels Commander that’s as powerful and interesting as some other typal Commanders; I’m hoping we get more mono-colored support, and I’m hoping that we get some fixed version of cards like Jeweled Lotus (and some more support for high mana value Commanders).
I think it’s too much to hope for fewer Legendaries, but I’ll take it if they at least reduce the amount on non-UB product.
END STEP
So, that’s my Commander Wishlist for 2026. What are you hoping for? Let us know on socials.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.