MTG: Mark Rosewater talks Universes Beyond design & future Wizards of the CoastMark Rosewater has discussed the future of MTG\u2019s Universes Beyond products with us, we\u2019ll let you know what the future holds for Magic\u2019s most exciting crossovers We recently had the chance to talk with Mark Rosewater, Magic: The Gathering\u2019s lead designer. We wanted to know his thoughts on Universes Beyond\u2019s explosion of popularity, what sets we might see in the future, and more. Mark Rosewater on Universes Beyond\u2019s future Universes Beyond is Magic\u2019s crossover product. It kicked off originally with a limited drop of Walking Dead cards and has expanded to cover not only Lord of the Rings but Warhammer and Doctor Who. However, this has gone from a fairly decent chunk of time between releases. Rosewater says that the company is still discovering how to handle the increase in crossovers: \u201cWe\u2019re figuring it out, but we\u2019re iterating and trying to understand that. I mean, as we do things and as we learn things that will shape what we do, we\u2019re still finding our feet because it\u2019s early. \u201cI don\u2019t want to dictate what the future will bring. It\u2019s not like we\u2019ve been doing it for 10 years and know exactly what we\u2019re doing. We sort of figuring it out, but Universes Beyond will be a part of our future. We\u2019ve had huge success with it.\u201d This has never been more true, as, in a recent report, Hasbro had sold through $100 million worth of stock. However, Rosewater is focused on the fun aspect of it: \u201cWhat we\u2019ve learned is there\u2019s something magical about taking the game of Magic, which is awesome, and other things which are awesome, and putting them together and, you know, the fans like it when you pair the right things together.\u201d Doctor Who, Fallout, and Magic However, with recent announcements of themed cards that don\u2019t necessarily exist in a high fantasy setting, there\u2019s some worry that Magic could lose its spark. We asked the head developer why Wizards were partnering with things like Doctor Who: \u201cWe\u2019re trying to find sweet spots where Magic actually has some affinity there and there\u2019s a lot of them in Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings. \u201cThe second thing is, Magic is an awesome game. I would argue the best game ever. We\u2019re trying to find new ways to sort of speak to people, and I think trying IPs that people love.\u201d Wizards find that Universes Beyond brings in more players Rosewater goes on to explain that the partnerships with the Universes Beyond sets and cards aren\u2019t necessarily out of thematically fitting with the wider world of MTG. Instead, Wizards have found that more people are picking up the game after seeing something recognizable: \u201cI\u2019ve talked to numerous people who are like \u2018Look, I knew Magic existed and I, I guess it\u2019s maybe not for me.\u2019 And then the Lord of the Rings set came out. \u201cI love Lord of the Rings like \u2018Fine, fine, I\u2019ll try Magic.\u2019 And so I think Universes Beyond is another starting point for people to find that Magic is an awesome game. \u201cHey, if it takes an IP you love to help you sample it and realize how good a game it is.\u201d Wizards plans to continue Universes Beyond for the foreseeable future It\u2019s reassuring to know that careful thought goes into whether properties adapted for Universes Beyond will be a good fit with Magic: The Gathering. Though it seems as though the frequency of Universes Beyond is ramping up \u2013 With LOTR and Doctor Who this year, and Fallout and Assasins Creed arriving in 2024 \u2013 they are still recent additions to Magic\u2019s lengthy history. Once thought of as having a niche appeal, it\u2019s clear that Universes Beyond will be a big part of MTG moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MTG: Mark Rosewater talks Universes Beyond design & future Wizards of the CoastMark Rosewater has discussed the future of MTG\u2019s Universes Beyond products with us, we\u2019ll let you know what the future holds for Magic\u2019s most exciting crossovers We recently had the chance to talk with Mark Rosewater, Magic: The Gathering\u2019s lead designer. We wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}