MTG head designer explains the most difficult part of making Universes Beyond sets

There are few words more controversial in Magic: The Gathering right now than Universes Beyond. Ever since publisher Wizards of the Coast decided to crank up the volume of sets based on IPs outside the MTG universe, players have reacted in essentially two ways: criticizing this choice, and buying these products en masse. Final Fantasy was the best-selling MTG set ever, generating $200 million just on the first day of release. However, the choice to make these sets legal in the Standard formats generated many negative responses, especially after the card Vivi Ornitier completely took over the metagame. And MTG designers also have their struggles to face when it comes to Universes Beyond sets.

During a recent press event held at Wizards’ headquarters to introduce the upcoming Marvel’s Spider-Man set, MTG head designer Mark Rosewater answered questions regarding the challenge of adapting Magic’s own five-color system (the foundation of the game mechanics and lore) to universes that were not designed with this in mind. We pointed this out regarding the Avatar: The Last Airbender set that will come out in November: The Avatar universe is based on the four elements, and that’s a hard fit for Magic’s five-color pie.

Rosewater addressed this same issue: “It was one of the driving things that had to be solved in design,” he said during the press conference. “It was probably the number one problem to be solved. They did solve it. It’s very cool.” This is a problem that goes beyond Avatar, however. The entire Magic: The Gathering universe is built on the five colors of mana and their interaction, so how do you transfer that mechanically into a set that takes place in another universe?

“One of the big pushes Wizards has been doing for years now is Universes Beyond obviously,” Rosewater said, “with the embedded lore of Magic itself. It’s not necessarily easy, but you have kind of a built-in system for defining colors and stuff. The challenge has been to introduce this somewhat rigid, but somewhat flexible system into universes that were never designed with this in mind.” Rosewater further elaborated on the color pie, too: “One of the biggest challenges of doing Universes Beyond is making sure the color pie reflects what is going on in the way it reflects the property but doesn’t contradict the color pie. And, yeah, I think it’s one of the hardest things about doing Universes Beyond.”

Image: Dan Dos Santos/Wizards of the Coast

Some fans may disagree with that statement, but it’s interesting to note that MTG designers are at least aware of the challenges that come with adapting this beloved property to universes and lore that have nothing to do with it, in theory. Like it or not, Universes Beyond is here to stay.