Magic: The Gathering is the single best trading card game to ever exist… If you don’t agree, there are plenty of other great articles on this website I suggest you go read, because I’m not playing around.
While my love for MTG runs deeper than Urza’s Mine, it has been a little bit of an existential crisis — and still a little hard to process — the fact that I can show up to my local card shop in 2025 and get destroyed by a SpongeBob SquarePants Commander deck. While the Universes Beyond and Secret Lair sets have been pretty controversial, there’s no denying that they are extremely fun. Some sets, like Lord of the Rings and Warhammer, have been perfect fits, while others, like Sonic the Hedgehog and My Little Pony, are fun but canonically all over the place. So I’ve taken it upon myself to come up with 3 different IP universes that I think should partner with Wizards of the Coast in 2026.
Star Wars
Last weekend, the newest MTG set Edge of Eternities dropped, offering a unique backdrop for the game that somewhat divided the community at large but excited sci-fi-loving Planeswalkers.
“The story of the set is located in outer space and is top-down inspired by space opera,” as described by Wizards of the Coast. This set primes the pump for what could be an insane collaboration if Magic: The Gathering were to ever create a Star Wars set.
Fan-made Star Wars MTG cards have been floating around hobby groups and Reddit threads for YEARS, even before Universes Beyond started — and for good reason. The characters in Star Wars are powerful, diverse, and beautiful to illustrate. Imagine how smoothly droids could be imagined as artifact creatures, Sith characters would integrate into black and red, or how natural Wookiees and Ewoks would feel in green. Lightsaber equipment cards. Legendary ships. The possibilities are endless.
Honestly, I’m getting more and more frustrated just thinking about this potential set, because who knows if we’ll ever get it. But with Disney-owned properties like Deadpool and Spider-Man already making the jump to Magic: The Gathering, maybe it’s only a matter of time before we get a Mandalorian and Grogu partner Commander deck.
Harry Potter
Now, I’m not even a Potterhead, but it seems ludicrous that we haven’t seen an official Harry Potter Secret Lair or Universes Beyond set.
You could argue that Strixhaven already feels like a royalty-free imagining of Harry Potter within the MTG universe — and you wouldn’t be wrong — but that’s all the more reason to make it official in 2026. The different wizard houses fit perfectly into the MTG color wheel. Spells and incantations could be reimagined as instants and sorceries. Legendary beasts, illusions, and whatever the heck Dobby was could all come together in an epic set that would 100% bring in a new, enthusiastic player base.
Pokémon
Now remember: I warned you. If you don’t think MTG is the best TCG on the planet, you probably should’ve skipped this article. But for those still reading — hear me out…
Yes, Pokémon is an iconic trading card franchise that’s wildly successful and still thriving. People are still getting trampled in Walmart for a chance to collect rare cards. But that’s the problem — Pokémon is notoriously fun to collect… and painfully lame to actually play.
If the stars could align, imagine the sheer pandemonium and shock value of mixing humanity’s two largest trading card games into one mind-blowing collaboration. You’d combine the cultural power and nostalgia of Pokémon with the mechanical brilliance of Magic. Pokémon Trainers like Ash could be insane Planeswalkers. The famous type-based strengths and weaknesses from Pokémon could be mapped to MTG’s color system. Fantasy battles between Charizard and Nicol Bolas? Karn vs. Regirock? Fans of both games would lose their minds. And finally, we’d give Pokémon fans something better to do with their cardboard than just stuffing them into plastic binders.
There you have it — three franchises I’d love to see pop up in a Secret Lair or Universes Beyond release. Maybe if we all hold hands and believe, we’ll see one or two of these sets by San Diego Comic-Con 2026
