Magic: the Gatheringwill get two major crossovers a year starting in 2025, on the same scale as Tales of Middle-earth. The first two to kick it all off will beMarvelandFinal Fantasy, both of which have already beenannouncedfor 2025.
While we already knew that these huge crossovers were on the way,Hasbrohas now confirmed that this will be part of an ongoing strategy, with the company seemingly setting up a regular release schedule. It also means that we shouldn’t expect that schedule to kick off this year, leaving some time between the next crossover and the campaigns we’ve just had in 2023.
This development was spotted byDicebreaker, and comes from CEO Chris Cocks, speaking with Hasbro investors earlier today. Here, he said that two of the five MTG sets that Hasbro will drop every year will be dedicated to these huge crossovers, following on from the success it found with itsLord of the Ringsrange.
While he doesn’t explicitly state which franchises will kick things off in 2025, we already know that this is the planned release window for the Final Fantasy and Marvel sets, and that’s certainly enough to rival Lord of the Rings. As Cocks explains to investors, this will be the new benchmark going forward.
Saying that he believes these brands will have the same “carrying power” as Lord of the Rings, Cocks continues: “We think we’ll have a similar uplift as we did for Lord of the Rings, and that’s underlying a lot of our bullishness on the growth of Magic.”
The Tales of Middle-earth MTG set was certainly a success in terms of publicity. The Lord of the Rings was always bound to get a lot of attention, but it was The One Ring card that we couldn’t get enough of. In case you missed it,MTG released a one-of-a-kind card - The One Ring - in a random pack, sparking a weeks-long race to be the first to unwrap it. It waseventually found on June 30, and wassold to rapper Post Malone shortly afterfor an eyewatering $2.6 million.
Needless to say, we probably won’t see this exact story replicated with the Marvel and Final Fantasy sets, but it shows just how much attention these big crossovers can attract. It’s unsurprising that Hasbro is hoping to release these sets more regularly, so we’ll just have to wait and see how that pans out.
