10 Franchises Magic: The Gathering Should Collaborate With After Marvel

Love them or hate them, Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond collaborations seem like they’re here to stay, and these franchises would be a good fit for future sets. Some Universes Beyond collaborations like Fallout and Doctor Who proved that Magic isn’t just restricting itself to fantasy series that are in line with its original aesthetic. The three upcoming Marvel sets - previewed with a Secret Lair this year - also show that some of the biggest IPs in current pop culture aren’t off the table.

With there seemingly being no upper limit on the types of IPs Magic: The Gathering is able to collaborate with, there are a lot of exciting possibilities for future sets. Some of these Magic has already printed cards for previous sets, but it would be fun to see them expanded into full sets. Others are franchises that would fit nicely into the design elements of Magic sets.

10 Transformers Make Unique Magic Cards

Magic’s Current Double-Sided Transformers Cards Offer Flexibility In Play

Transformers is a franchise that Magic has collaborated with a few times for small releases. The first was a promotional card for the Dinobot Grimlock sold at HASCON in 2017. More recently, a Secret Lair and a small 15-card set of Transformers cards that popped up in booster packs for Magic’s set The Brothers’ War. Transformers is an easy IP for Magic to collaborate with because both properties are owned by the same parent company, Hasbro.

Apart from the easy logistics of creating Transformers cards, and the fact that some already exist, Transformers themselves happen to make pretty cool Magic cards. Playing off their ability to transform, the Transformer cards are all double-sided cards that can flip back and forth between forms using the appropriately named More Than Meets The Eye mechanic. This type of versatility can make cards perform better in Limited formats like Draft, and also makes them useful in a wider range of decks.

9 Game Of Thrones Characters Are Easy To Design Around

Game Of Thrones Characters Have Distinct Personalities And Convictions

Game of Thrones has several qualities that make it a great fit for a Magic set. Its fantasy setting makes it fit nicely alongside other Magic cards, a quality that players seemed to appreciate with the Lord of the Rings set from 2023. There is also a wide range of characters to adapt. Players would likely love a chance to play a deck helmed by Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. If Magic decided to use George R.R. Martin’s novels instead of the HBO show as inspiration, there would be even more characters to choose from.

The complex morality of Game of Thrones’ characters is also perfect for Magic, which features different colors of mana that represent different ideals. A cunning manipulator like Little Finger is the perfect representation of a blue and black card in Magic. This would give Magic’s designers a lot of direction when crafting cards.

Magic Has Already Made A Set Based On One Bethesda RPG

Having already adapted one of Bethesda’s RPG series, Fallout, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that Magic might follow it up with their other popular series, The Elder Scrolls. As a high fantasy setting, The Elder Scrolls also feels like an easier fit to adapt into Magic cards. Both games feature classic fantasy creatures like orcs and elves, and Magic’s Leonin are similar to The Elder Scrolls’ Khajit. A Magic set based on the series could be the perfect way for fans to bide their time as they eagerly await any news about The Elder Scrolls 6.

The different settings of The Elder Scrolls would also be perfect for Legendary Lands. Legendary Lands typically focus on specific regions or locations in Magic’s setting and have special abilities to go along with them. This could mean Legendary Lands featuring places like Skyrim and Black Marsh (which seems like the perfect name for a Magic card). Alternatively, this set could include Planescape cards for the different regions.

7 DC Might Be The Next Marvel

DC Is Getting Ready To Relaunch Its Movie Universe

Although it might seem too similar to Magic’s upcoming Marvel sets, there are a few reasons a DC set could be just as, if not more exciting. Part of this comes down to personal tastes, as some superhero fans prefer the DC Universe to Marvel’s. However, DC also has the added benefit of not being over-saturated the same way Marvel is.

DC’s largely disappointing movie performance may have hurt the studio, but it has stopped the brand from being slapped on as many products as Marvel has. While DC is by no means an unknown product, a lot of casual consumers of superhero media likely don’t know as many DC heroes beyond the big ones like Batman and Superman as they do obscure Marvel heroes now. This would allow a Magic set to introduce players to new heroes, instead of feeling like it's dragging out the ones they’re already sick of.

This could also be good timing to hop on the DC train with the new DC movie universe starting up next year. With an exciting new Superman trailer, and with interest in the MCU seemingly waning, DC could start to be a serious competitor to Marvel. Magic collaborating with DC within the next few years could be a good way to get in on the early hype.

6 Players Have Wanted Star Wars In Magic For A Long Time

There Are A Lot Of Fan-Made Star Wars Cards

Star Wars is a franchise that players have wanted to see recreated on Magic: The Gathering cards for a long time. There are a huge number of fan-made Magic cards featuring Star Wars characters, including an entire unofficial set that was designed to be drafted. Now that Magic is actually willing to make sets around outside IPs, it seems like the perfect chance to make fans’ Star Wars dreams a reality.

Of course, there are a few obstacles that Magic would probably have to contend with here. First, it would have to be very careful not to recreate any of the fan-made content for legal purposes. The abundance of fan-made Star Wars cards could therefore limit the design of the set. Star Wars also already has a somewhat recently released Trading Card Game, Star Wars: Unlimited, so parent company Disney might worry about cannibalizing sales of the game by over-licensing its IP.

5 Magic Already Proved It Can Do Cyberpunk Well

Magic’s Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Set Showed The Game Understands The Genre’s Look

The futuristic world of the Cyberpunk franchise might seem like an odd fit for Magic: The Gathering, but Wizards of the Coast has already proved it could do the genre justice. The 2022 set, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, showed an updated version of Magic’s Kamigawa plane which has developed into a futuristic setting reminiscent of Cyberpunk. The set did a great job capturing the feeling of the setting through its artwork and through the use of unique treatments like its Neon Ink card styles.

While Magic has already made a similar set, there are a lot of unique features of Cyberpunk’s Night City that would make it worth having its own set. Cyberware weapons like the Mantis Blades and Gorilla Arms seem perfectly suited to equipment cards in Magic. There is also probably some interesting design space to be tapped to make sure the flavor of these pieces of equipment being installed in the user’s body stays intact. Night City’s legends also seem like the perfect fit for Legendary Creature cards.

4 Magic Should Complete Its My Little Pony Set

Magic’s My Little Pony Cards Are Perfect For A Casual Set

Magic: The Gathering has done two collaborations with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The first Ponies the Galloping set came out in 2019 and was followed by a second set in 2023. These small sets included the Mane 6 from Friendship is Magic and some fun - if game-breaking - mechanics. While these cards wouldn’t work in Standard like other Universes Beyond sets, My Little Pony could make for an excellent silver-bordered Universes Beyond set.

Silver-border sets in Magic are comical sets that include cards with game-bending mechanics that are too wacky and/or too powerful to be legal in any Constructed format. These sets are only meant to be played casually or in Limited formats. A silver-bordered My Little Pony set wouldn’t just help continue the silly mechanics introduced in the current slate of My Little Pony cards, it would also give players a chance to get reprints of them. The first Ponies the Galloping set is selling for around $300, so a reprint would help make them more accessible.

3 Naruto Could Let Magic Expand Its Anime-Style Cards

Magic Has Made Some Anime-Style Cards, So A Whole Set Would Be The Next Step

Magic: The Gathering has featured anime-style cards in a variety of sets, like War of the Spark, March of the Machine, and most recently Duskmourn. It has even collaborated with big-name Japanese artists like Junji Ito for some cards. MTG should take things a step further by making an entire set based on a popular anime. Naruto seems like a good choice for several reasons.

Naruto’s big roster of characters, each with their own unique abilities, is perfect for designing a trading card game around. While this is by no means a quality unique to Naruto, other popular shonen anime like Dragon Ball Z and One Piece already have their own card games. While there was a collectible Naruto card game, it went out of print in 2013, so Magic wouldn’t have to worry about competition from an official TCG based on it.

2 Elden Ring Includes Every Element A Magic Set Would Need

Elden Ring’s World Has Creative Creatures, Equipment, And Characters

Elden Ring has a lot of elements that would make it perfect for a Magic: The Gathering set. Its enemy variety, powerful bosses, and memorable characters would all work well in Magic card form. The game’s unique weapon designs would also make for some awesome equipment cards. This would be a mechanically thematic way to buff up smaller creatures like a Tarnished character to the level where they are ready to take on one of the game’s bosses. Thanks to its large map, Elden Ring also has a lot of notable locations that could be used to create Legendary Lands.

While a lot of the games in the Soulsborne catalog could feasibly have a Magic: The Gathering set designed after them, Elden Ring seems like the best choice due to its scale. This would give Magic’s designers the most source material to work with when designing cards. Elden Ring also has recency bias on its side, making it more popular than previous FromSoftware games. Who knows, it could also give players a new overpowered ring card now that The One Ring has been banned in Magic.

1 The Stormlight Archive’s Author Is A Magic Fan

Brandon Sanderson Has Worked With Magic: The Gathering Before

Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive might not have the same cultural cachet as something like The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, but it is easily one of the more unique high fantasy settings. A Magic set based on Roshar and its inhabitants would therefore stand out visually from other sets while still retaining the game’s fantasy origins. It would also do wonders for the Crab creature type, as many inhabitants of the world have crab-like features.

Sanderson is also well-known for creating hard magic systems in his novels, which fit perfectly into a game like Magic. While reading about how characters absorb Stormlight from spheres, it’s not hard to guess that Sanderson is a fan of Magic. He has even written a book for Wizards of the Coast set in the world of Magic: The Gathering. However, the company did go against Sanderson’s wishes for Children of the Nameless to remain freely available to readers, so he may be understandably cautious about working with them again.