Magic: The Gathering makes crossovers permanent: four are set for 2026

Wizards of the Coast has, for all practical purposes, turned its Universes Beyond crossover plan into a permanent part of Magic: The Gathering. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater put it as plainly as possible: “the toothpaste is out of the tube.”

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The bigger change is how crossover sets now look. Wizards seems to be building around a split model, usually targeting three in-universe sets and three Universes Beyond releases a year. For 2026, the current plan sits at seven total products, four of them crossover sets, including The Hobbit and Star Trek.

Starting in 2025, those releases are becoming legal across every format, Standard included. Wizards also says MTG Arena, Magic Online, and organized play in 2026 are moving in that same mixed direction.

If you play Magic a lot, keep an eye on this. By Wizards’ own account, Universes Beyond sells well, pulls in new players, brings old ones back, and gets current fans to spend more. But the push hasn’t quieted the concerns people keep raising: product fatigue, the game’s fantasy identity, less room for original worlds, licensing restrictions for artists, and simple affordability, especially in places like Latin America.

You’re going to see this shift everywhere: tabletop, MTG Arena, and Magic Online, as the next wave of releases lands.