Magic: the Gathering is introducing "Universes Beyond", a new initiative to go heavily into cross-overs with other franchises. The first new products will be Warhammer 40k and Lord of the Rings.
Here's the announcement.
Such cards will be mechanically unique, look exactly like regular Magic cards and will be tournament-legal, at least in the non-rotating formats. Wizards did this last year with a special package of 5 cards from the television show The Walking Dead.
Needless to say, the enfranchised fans on in the internet are not happy.
I don't know, maybe it will work out for Wizards. Maybe they'll get more new people to buy in on the strength of the external IP, and most enfranchised players will stick with it.
Personally, though, this feels to me like the moment Magic jumps the shark.
A funny comic from Cardboard Crack:
I figured M:tG jumped the shark over a decade ago, but they're still here and kicking.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I believe the smash-up nature of these packs annoys some of those fans who believe in the "stay in your lane, bro" approach to fandom. And boy do a substantial number of Tolkien fans (note: I am one) buy into that.
What happened 10 years ago? Planeswalkers? Mythic rares?
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