Summary
With Aetherdrift now in the stores and already being played in Standard and other formats, as well as five more Standard-legal sets coming out this year, 2025 is going to be big forMagic: The Gatheringfans. Just recently,Magic: The Gathering’s collab withAvatar: The Last Airbenderwas officially announced, coming as 2025’s third and last Universes Beyond set on November 21, but Wizards of the Coast is already working on reveals and pre-orders for earlier sets. This includes the upcoming Tarkir: Dragonstorms and the extremely popular UB set dedicated toFinal Fantasy. As much as the hype is growing,MTGxFFproducts have a massive downside that could easily backfire.
It is no mystery that many fans and longtime players of the game are not pleased with Wizards of the Coast’s decision to reduce the number ofMagic: The Gatheringin-universe sets in favor of Universes Beyond. This was exacerbated at the end of 2024 when WotC announced that not only there would be 3MagicMultiverse and 3 UB sets in 2025, but that UB sets would become Standard-legal for the first time. Now, this seems to be all the more problematic for the health of the game considering the ridiculous prices that theMTGxFinal Fantasyproducts are going for.
One of the reasons why Universes Beyond was initially popular is that theLord of the Ringsfranchise is arguably one of the single best IPs that could cross over intoMagic: The Gathering, so it made sense to many fans. Not only that, but its in-game legality didn’t raise concerns, and the fact that it was very expensive was fine considering this and also the fact that it was a premium set, meaning it had very strong and valuable cards that in turn increased the value of each pack. However,MTGxFFproductsseem to be priced much likeLotR, if not with higher pricetags overall, for a set that is not premium and is supposed to be Standard-legal.
One could argue that if Commander is the face ofMagic: The Gathering, Standard is one of its most played and iconic formats for two players and with 20 life per game. It can also be the hardest to keep up with because of its nature, as only a handful of sets are legal in Standard inMTGat a time, and some rotate out each year. As such, 2025 was already going to be stacked for fans due tosix Standard-legal sets, but the prices of theFinal Fantasyproducts may just kill the format for many.
As it stands, based on Amazon pre-orders and considering that most products are already sold out, the prices are some of the highestMTGhas ever seen. They are as follows:
These prices are about to close off a lot of fans, as it’s unlikely that all Standard players will be able to afford these products if they can even manage to buy them before they are sold out. On top of that, the Play Booster Boxes will contain six fewer packs than before - something that was introduced withMagic: The Gathering’s new Aetherdrift set. Now, players only get 30 packs as opposed to 36.
As such, players who don’t want to buy singles and would rather open a few booster packs of these products, be it newcomers who got intoMTGthanks to the crossovers andFinal Fantasyitself or veterans who have been around for a long time, have to pay more to get less than usual. This also sets a dangerous precedent for the game, as it could seem as if WotC was trying to make customers pay for the license.
Even if that is not the case, these prices don’t build goodwill with the community, and not only are they for a non-premium set, but for one of six Standard-legal sets and the first of threeUB sets inMagic: The Gathering. These prices could easily be the new norm for UB sets, and with such a packed release schedule in a single year, they don’t seem to be here to favor the consumers at all.
