It’s fair to say that Universes Beyond is beyond successful. The Lord of the Rings set Tales of Middle-earth was a record breaking set, and 2025’s Final Fantasy looks to have smashed that record already. The release features a Standard legal set, Collector Boosters, a Starter Kit and four Commander Decks – alongside the usual bundle and gift bundle.
We’ve already had a lot of fun drafting the set, and even as someone mostly new to Final Fantasy, I can say that the set on the whole seems very well executed. No wonder it’s selling like hot cakes.
UNIVERSES BEYOND KEEPS EXPANDING
It’s hard to say if another IP comes close to LotR and FF, so it remains to be seen whether that record is able to be smashed again. Either way, it’s a given that we’re going to get more Universes Beyond tie-ins down the road.
Later in 2025 we’ll get the Marvel Spider-man set, which will join the already formidable roster of crossovers which includes Fallout, Assassin’s Creed, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Warhammer 40,000, Street Fighter… and Spongebob Squarepants.
WHAT CROSSOVER SET DOES FINAL FANTASY OPEN THE DOOR TO?
As time goes on, we’re getting larger and larger releases. What started as Secret Lairs, Bonus Sheet cards and the odd set of Commander decks has progressed through mini sets to full on releases. While smaller tie-ins are still popular, it’s hard to argue with the payday Wizards are getting with their crossover sets and Commander releases. It’s hard to imagine that Universes Beyond doesn’t feature large booster sets regularly in the future.
That said, for there to be enough of a world to warrant a full set, any future IP has to have a rich tapestry of story and characters to draw from. Beyond Spider-man, what could be a good crossover in the future?
KINGDOM HEARTS
The first one – and perhaps the most obvious next place to go – is Kingdom Hearts. Arguably the original “big IP crossover” in the gaming sphere, KH looked at games like Marvel vs Capcom and Super Smash Bros and said “hold my paopu fruit”. The rather amusing story of Square Enix and Disney employees chatting in an elevator paved the way for one of the most ambitious crossover games in history.
We’ve already seen some characters that feature in KH on Magic cards with the FF set. While I don’t think it’s likely that we’ll see a full on booster product release, I could absolutely see some Secret Lair products or Commander decks in the future. Licensing with Disney properties is weird, but it turns out that they do in fact own the KH IP, including original characters like Sora, Roxas, and Xehanort. Given they’re working with Wizards to produces the Marvel cards, it’s not a huge stretch to imagine they might license KH, too.
After Final Fantasy, I’m all for more classic Tetsuya Nomura art on cards
If we get Commander decks, I could see them featuring Ansem and the Heartless, Xehanort and Organization XIII, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Axel, and other protagonists, and maybe a villains deck with classic Disney villains like Maleficent. The more Disney characters you add, the harder this probably is to pull off. Maybe it’ll just be Secret Lairs.
ATTACK ON TITAN
With Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Hatsune Miku and Final Fantasy proving that Japanese oriented sets are highly successful, the next obvious place to go is to Manga and Anime, and what better set to showcase here than one with just the right amount of conflict to show on trading cards.
Attack on Titan is a phenomenally popular IP, and it would translate really well to Magic. We already have Titans and Giants, and we have plenty of ways to showcase the various factions using equipment, vehicles, and typal pay-offs.
If we use the Commander deck setup as a starting point, you could easily have a Marley deck and an Eldia deck, alongside potentially a Scouts deck and a Titans deck. These would capture different time periods in the show’s universe. Personally, I feel like it would be even better to make this a draft set, as watermarks and draft synergies would work really well in a world like this.
Just let me have a deck with Erwin and Hange and Levi and the gang. It’d be so sick.
ELDEN RING / SOULSVERSE
One of the issues with Universes Beyond is the absolute glut of Legendary Creatures we keep getting with every set. While the universe of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Souls games would easily feature a bunch of Legendary Creatures (like Margitte, Malenia and “Let Me Solo Her”), there are also plenty of non-Legendary characters, including the player character, who is (in Elden Ring, for example) just another one of the Tarnished.
After having Final Fantasy on Magic cards, it’s obvious that other big and popular videogame franchises will be on the wishlist for treatment. The Miyazaki games are a great next step for a big Japanese franchise that could be very grounded in the world of Magic: the Gathering. It has the grimdark fantasy element with all of the right tropes and environments. The lands in particular would be gorgeous.
THE WITCHER
Speaking of more grim fantasy, the gritty world of The Witcher seems ideally suited to Magic: the Gathering. You’ve again got all of the right fantasy tropes, and you’ve got a world that slots in right alongside Dominaria and Kaldheim and, dare I say it, Tales of Middle-earth.
The world of The Witcher is vast, and one thing I think they could do with it that would potentially help it to be successful is base the set off of the whole IP, including the books. This worked in Tales of Middle-earth to allow the set to be more than just a bunch of memetic signifiers of Jackson’s iconic vision, and stand on its own two feet. I mean, I’d be happy too if they based it on solely on the videogames – anything but basing it on the (arguably) awful TV show.
Factions wise we quite handily get Witchers, Monsters, Sorcerers/Sorceresses, Northern Kingdoms, Nilfgaard, Skellige, Toussaint, Dijkstra & Novigrad, Scoia’tael, Dwarves, The Wild Hunt… that’s a lot of factions, with a lot to draw from. The Witcher seems the set most suited so far to having a main draftable set and additional Commander decks.
Geralt, Ciri, Witchers and their allies, Monsters, Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaard would make for four interesting Commander decks for sure.
END STEP
Honestly, the huge swathes of potential crossovers mean that any article covering the IPs we could see in Magic could go on forever. The four I’ve featured today seem like the obvious next steps for what to do after laying the groundwork with Tales of Middle-earth, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout and Final Fantasy. That said, if we’ve had Fallout, why not an Elder Scrolls game next?
Which franchise are you most hoping to see in Universes Beyond? 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.