[Update]: MTG Arena will be getting the entirety of competitive Pioneer on December 10th, 2024!

In what is quite possibly going to be remembered as one of Magic: The Gathering's biggest and boldest steps, whether that be for good or bad, Wizards of the Coast have announced that all future cross-over sets will be legal in every single format. And yes, this does mean that 'Universes Beyond' sets like Final Fantasy or the various Marvel ones will be fully legal in Standard in both paper and on MTG Arena.

The reason for the change, besides the fact that this is going to print an obscene amount of money, is to help onboard new players into 60-card formats, which is a genuine issue. As it stands right now new players are all funneled into MTG Arena or into the four-player Commander format, thus leaving paper formats like Standard or Pioneer without the new blood they need to function.

However, while I can definitely understand the goods aspects of this decision, I still can't help but feel like we've just seen the start of Magic's decline - not as a card game, but as a universe. Would a setting like Bloomburrow ever be invented if the designers could simply get a Redwall crossover instead? How about Strixhaven? Surely a Harry Potter themed set would sell much better. And now that the floodgates have been opened, I highly doubt Wizards of the Coast will ever consider slowing down.

How long will it be before Magic sets are boiled down to retreads of familiar planes like Ravnica and Innistrad, and the rest is just a bunch of cross-overs? A year or two? I say this because I can't imagine the business side of Wizards of the Coast seeing Final Fantasy selling ten times more than Thunder Junction and then greenlighting another new set like it.

Whether I'm just paranoid of if Magic is about to become the Fortnite of card games, I suppose we'll see in due time. Whatever the case may be, I'll make sure to let you know once Wizards of the Coast announces anything major.

Until then, you can read more about the changes to Universes Beyond sets over at the official website.