Universes Beyond, introduced in 2021, labels cards from external IPs outside Magic: The Gathering's canonical storyline. Initially intended for non-competitive formats, this concept included characters such as those from The Walking Dead and Street Fighter. By 2025, it evolved into a significant part of Magic's releases and became legal in competitive formats, including Standard. This shift raised concerns about competitive gameplay and card pool management in a system where players must continuously adapt to new releases.
When Wizards of the Coast introduced the concept of Universes Beyond to Magic: The Gathering in 2021, there was a fair amount of skepticism and worry. Universes Beyond is the moniker used to label cards and sets printed for Magic: The Gathering that exist outside the canonical story of the planes and characters of Magic.
Though Universes Beyond could be seen as a sort of creativity-fostering catch-all, more often than not it simply allows Magic: The Gathering to explore different IPs that exist outside of its universe, while adapting those characters and concepts into mechanics and gameplay that fit right into the 30-year-old trading card game.
Fast forward to 2025, however, and Universes Beyond has evolved into a different beast. Not only does it make up half of Magic: The Gathering's tentpole set releases for the year, but with the release of the Final Fantasy set in June, Universes Beyond is now legal in all competitive formats of the game.
In Magic's Standard format, it's advantageous to learn the cardpool of legal cards to remain competitive. The format even employs a rotating system for released sets.
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