Magic: The Gathering Fans May Be in For a Bittersweet…

Magic: The Gathering has had an impressive slate of releases in 2025 so far, starting with Innistrad Remastered in January, then Aetherdrift in February, Tarkir: Dragonstorm in April, Final Fantasy in June, and soon Edge of Eternities on August 1. After Foundations in November 2024, Magic: The Gathering has undergone a few major changes to its release schedule and even how some formats operate, with one of the biggest being that Universes Beyond sets are now available in Standard and all formats. This was and still is a polarizing decision, with many fans calling it the death knell of the game and others agreeing with WotC because it allows more players to join the community.

Regardless of where each individual fan stands, it seems that Universes Beyond sets are not going anywhere, especially with the news that the Final Fantasy set made $200 million in one day, further proving that there is a strong interest in this kind of product. The fact that UB sets are here to stay may not come as a surprise, but Wizards of the Coast's own Mark Rosewater recently took to his blog to confirm that the controversial 50/50 split between in-multiverse sets and UB sets is staying for the near future.

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Magic: The Gathering's Change to 2025 In-Universe Sets is a Double-Edged Sword

Magic: The Gathering's 2025 release schedule and legality were shifted, and the remaining in-universe sets may undergo a controversial change.

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By Andrea Trama

Magic: The Gathering's 50/50 Set Split for 2026 is a Controversy Waiting to Happen

Mark Rosewater's wording makes it pretty clear that this is the plan for a while, not necessarily just 2026 now, but based on what is currently known, the release schedule for next year is going to be very similar to that of 2025. With Magic: The Gathering's Avatar set in November 2025, Wizards of the Coast will close the year with a bang and start 2026 with another, as the first set to come out is the hyped return to Lorwyn. There are three main sets confirmed for next year:

Lorwyn Eclipsed, scheduled for January 23, 2026
Secrets of Strixhaven (TBD, probably Q2, 2026)
A set codenamed "Ziplining" (TBD, probably Q3, 2026)

With Ziplining being the capstone of the current story arc, it's likely to be a big release for the game, and it's plausible that it will have a comparable release date to that of Edge of Eternities or Spider-Man in 2025. More importantly, these are three in-multiverse sets, which guarantees at least three more Universes Beyond sets in 2026 based on Mark Rosewater's comment. This means that not only will players have three Magic sets and three UB sets, but that the total will be at least six sets for the entire year.

Predicting Magic: The Gathering's 2026 Release Schedule

Wizards of the Coast also released Magic: The Gathering's Innistrad Remastered set in January of 2025, so there's a chance that 2026 will have a similar pattern. However, since Lorwyn Eclipsed is slated for a January launch, a seventh non-Standard legal MTG set may be released at a different time, if at all. Based on what is currently known, though, there is a possible schedule for 2026:

Lorwyn Eclisped - January
Unannounced UB set 1 - February
Secrets of Strixhaven - April
Unannounced UB set 2 - June
Ziplining - August or September
Unannounced UB set 3 - November

Things may change depending on whether a Remastered set is announced, but for example, it's quite unlikely that Secrets of Strixhaven will come out immediately after Lorwyn Eclipsed if WotC wants to maintain a similar cadence to that of this year, as the former would be in February and the latter in January. Magic: The Gathering's UB sets could be a great way to make these sets breathe a little, with the first UB set of 2026 coming in between. Still, the point stands: fans can and should expect three Universes Beyond releases next year.

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