Magic: The Gathering has been tapping into pop culture for the past few years with varied success. However, they have had some huge winners. The Lord of the Rings set was one of the most popular amongst fans thanks to the large following of the books and movies. Wizards of the Coast is going all-in on these types of sets thanks to the success of the Tales of Middle Earth.
Magic: The Gathering & Lord Of The Rings
Magic: The Gathering will see many more huge intellectual properties come to the popular card game. Tales of Middle Earth was a smash hit, and the company started to look for more Lord of the Rings-level properties to target. CEO Chris Cocks talked about the plans with investors in early 2024.
“The first one’s going to be Fallout, which will come up in March. That won’t be at the same scale or size, but will do better than what a typical Commander set would do. But starting in 2025, we’re going to have two premiere Universes Beyond sets as part of our mix. And we believe the brands that will be shipping in 2025 have the same kind of carrying power as the Lord of the Rings. The one that we’ve announced will be in the front half of the year, and that’s Final Fantasy, which is just a juggernaut in role-playing games. We’ve announced partnerships with a host of other brands, Marvel being one of the last ones that we kind of talked about. There’ll be multiple sets associated with that. So for ’25 going forward, you should expect to see as part of our six premiere sets per year [that] two of them will be Universes Beyond-branded, and we think we’ll have a similar uplift to what we experienced with Lord of the Rings. […] That’s underlaying a lot of our bullishness on the growth for Magic.”
Magic: The Gathering is adding two extremely popular franchises, Final Fantasy and Marvel. While many skipped the Universes Beyond because it isn’t legal in many competitive formats, Lord of the Rings was different. Wizards of the Coast hopes for a similar response with these sets.
Concerns With Magic: The Gathering And Lord Of The Rings Success
There are some concerns about duplicating the Lord of the Rings set in Magic: The Gathering. One of the biggest reasons for the success was the hunt for the “One Ring.” The million-dollar bounty had even casual collectors hunting for the life-changing card. Other sets will not have this gimmick to them. The JRR Tolkien creation is also a special franchise. Generations of people have grown up with books and movies, making them unique in that regard.
There are concerns, but the company should feel good about moving forward with these sets. They have the potential to bring in new players. While Outlaws of Thunder Junction doesn’t appeal to some, collecting Marvel cards could bring new people into the game. If they get hooked, they are new customers for the game. It’s a gamble, but it is one the company hopes will pay off.
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