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With Murders at Karlov Manor out, and Fallout mostly revealed, Wizards of the Coast has shown off the first details of the next four of its upcomingMagic: The Gatheringat MagicCon: Chicago.
We got an early look at not just the next set, the Western-themed Outlaws of Thunder Junction, but also Modern Horizons 3, Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed, and Bloomburrow.
Outlaws Of Thunder Junction
June 29, 2025
The bulk of the panel’s time was spent on Outlaws of Thunder Junction, our next Standard set due out in April. This is Magic’s first Western-inspired set, focusing on the villains of the Magic Multiverse as they plan and pull off a heist of a mysterious vault.
As you’d expect, a big theme of the set is ‘crimes’. This is the term Wizards has given to effects that target either your opponent or their permanents, and so this set will be full of interaction, theft effects, and removal. In fact, one of the set’s two bonus sheets is entirely dedicated to this kind of spell, with cards like Thoughtseize and Crime//Punishment included in every pack.
Wizards was careful to work with cultural consultants for Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Instead of being a “frontier fantasy”, the set focuses on the conflicts between villains as they hunt down the Vault. A new character is also being introduced as part of Oko’s gang, the Navajo (or Diné) inspired Annie Flash.
The second bonus sheet is one that was revealed only a week ago, with the reveal that Outlaws of Thunder Junction was originally going to have its own epilogue mini-set, before the idea was scrapped following the negative reception to March of the Machine: The Aftermath.
This sheet, found only as part of The List, is called The Vault. These cards represent what Oko and his gang find when they crack open Thunder Junction’s vault. Unlike the Crimes sheet, these are all Standard-legal.
Finally, Wizards showed off the art treatments for the set. Wanted Posters are being used for the villains of the set, like Oko and Tinybones. Meanwhile, the Breaking News style is used for crime cards, and will likely be found on a large number of the crime bonus sheet cards.
Modern Horizons 3
Q2, 2024
Before Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth came along, Modern Horizons 2 was the best-selling Magic set of all time. Known for permanently changing the landscape of the Modern format, Horizons sets are powerful mixes of new cards reprints.
The big theme of Modern Horizons 3 is double-faced cards, showcasing Planeswalkers before and after their sparks had ignited, which is a theme we last saw in Magic Origins. The two we’ve seen so far for this are Ajani Goldmane and Tamiyo, with transforming cards that start off as legendary creatures before flipping into their sparked Planeswalker version.
On top of flip cards, the other theme for the set is, of course, the Eldrazi. Currently defeated or locked away in moons, Modern Horizons 3 brings not just the Titans themselves back (with a new version of Emrakul letting you steel every creature an opponent controls), but also lots of colourless mana and colourless-matters cards.
Though not an outright theme of the set, it will introduce a new cycle of five free-to-play cards. Instead of exiling a card like Force of Will or Force of Savagery, instead you’ll need to sacrifice a nontoken creature of the same colour as the spell you’re casting, making it an extra hoop to jump through but still potentially viable for a few formats.
The other big draw of a Horizons set is its reprints, which adds existing cards into the Modern format for the first time. Cards like Priest of Titania; Laelia, The Blade Reforged; and Psychic Frog will all be entering Modern for the first time.
As we all hoped, there is one thing Modern Horizons 3 is carrying over from 2, and will have fetchlands. Fetchlands are incredibly powerful, letting you quickly search your deck a land with a corresponding basic land type. As MH2 had the enemy-coloured fetchlands, MH3 will complete the cycle with the allied-colour ones instead.
For the first time for a Modern Horizons set, MH3 will also be fully available on MTG Arena – an interesting choice when neither Modern nor Commander are available in the game.
Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed
June 05, 2025
Seemingly designed for me specifically as both a Magic: The Gathering and Assassin’s Creed lover, this mini-set brings together names, faces, and places from across the entire Assassin’s Creed series.
Today’s previews didn’t explain a whole lot of the mechanical identity of the mini-set, other than Assassins will, of course, be a big creature type in it. It also teases a new mechanic called freerunning, but we don’t know what that means until closer to the time.
Instead, this teaser focused on the alternate art treatments. The Memory Corridor represents the Animus, the machine that allows you to relive the genetic memories of your Assassin ancestors. It looks just like the codex in more recent games like Valhalla and Mirage, and even makes use of Assassin’s Creed’s own font for the titles, which is a nice touch.
As AC is a series all about exploring history, we’ve got a few real-world names, like Leonardo da Vinci and Cleopatra, from AC2 and AC: Origins, respectively. Real people will be the recipients of this set’s serialised cards, which will only be available in their native language (or the closest modern equivalent). For instance, Cleopatra’s card is in Greek, while da Vinci’s is in Italian.
We also got confirmation that Assassin’s Creed will be the focal point for this year’s Starter decks, much like how last year was dedicated to Lord of the Rings. The decks pit Ezio Auditor and Eivor Varinsdottir against each other, with a blue/black and red/white deck that each feature an exclusive card for their respective face Assassins.
The last art treatment revealed is the return of borderless full-art Scene cards, last scene in Tales of Middle-earth. These can all be slotted together to produce a larger, panoramic scene, with he one card shown off being Ezio stood on the ledge of a building.
It’s unlikely we’ll get the Scene boxes Lord of the Rings did, considering it wasn’t on the product shot revealed at MagicCon, but they’ll still be available in booster packs.
Bloomburrow
Q3, 2024
Due out this Autumn, Bloomburrow was revealed last year as an animal-themed outing on a world with no humans. Full of woodland creatures off on adventures, it leans on tropes laid out by the likes of Redwall and The Mouse Guard.
The panel revealed that Bloomburrow will have a guild-like focus, with each of the animals occupying its own colour space. The art shown off confirms Mice, Badgers, Lizards, Frogs, Bats, Rabbits, Squirrels, Foxes, and Otters.
The last one is particularly interesting, as the Fox and Otter we were shown is none other than Jace Beleren and Ral Zarek, normally Human Planeswalkers. Humans and Human-ish people who travel to Bloomburrow are turned into animals on arrival, meaning we can still have established characters without compromising on the animal-only theme of the setting.
We weren’t shown any of Bloomburrow’s new mechanics, but we saw a handful of cards, such as the story’s protagonist Mabel, Heir to Cragflame, and Lumra, an giant ‘Calamity beast’ that is causing havoc in Bloomburrow. We also saw the set’s alt-art treatments, with the Woodland frame giving a delightfully Cottagecore style, and the Calamity beasts getting a Field Notes-esque treatment.
Full-art lands will also be getting a minor twist, with four versions to show off each season in Bloomborrow, further hammering in the cosy, cottagecore style of the set.
It’ll be a while before we hear more of Bloomburrow, as it doesn’t launch until this Autumn, when it triggersthis year’s Standard rotation.
