Launched in 1993 the Magic: the Gathering franchise has over 30 million fans worldwide, being published in 11 languages with players in over 70 countries and with over 80 sets and expansion released in its 20+ year run, it continues to amaze and grow with every new announcement. This year is a little over halfway over and it is already an impressive year in the Magic: the Gathering history books.
The first big step in the Magic community was the announcement of the online game Magic: the Gathering Arena. This online multiplayer free to play game follows all the same rules of the original game but is designed to be a more modern method of playing.
This year, Magic has impressed new and longtime fans, with the War of the Spark release earlier this year, fans have been raving about “the most ambitious Magic: the Gathering set ever” with 36 planeswalkers cards and a stunning and intense cinematic story unlike any they have ever done before, this release has impressed seasoned and new players alike. The cinematic trailer for the War of the Spark alone brought hundreds of new fans to look at both Arena and the classic card game we all know and love.
In March of this year, it was announced that there would be books released this year. The announcement of War of the Spark: Ravnica, came as a surprise seeing as it would be the first major paper novel after eight years of E-books for the franchise’s releases. Following the announcement of War of the Spark: Ravnica came the announcement of a sequel and a prequel. The prequel, The Gathering Storm, publishing 20 chapters on a weekly basis in the form of a newsletter, just published its 5th chapter as of July 3rd. The sequel to the War of the Spark: Ravnica, titled War of the Spark: Forsaken has a release date of November 5th, 2019.
Earlier this week the Magic franchise grew again with the release of the Core 2020 set. Fans are excited to see what comes next in the set of 280 cards consisting of; 112 commons, 80 uncommon, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares, 20 basic lands, and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. This set also includes new and reprinted cards. While this set doesn’t have a set story point it does have a small theme focusing on the life of the planeswalker Chandra Nalaar. On top of the new cards, there has also been a rule change. The new rule, the London Mulligan will be used for all play and changes the way players will mulligan their cards at the start of a game if they choose to mulligan.
Saving the best for last with the announcement of the Netflix Magic: the Gathering animated show. With rumors of the animated show focusing on the Planeswalkers the announcement of the longtime fans of the Magic franchise, the Russos brothers joining the project, fans couldn’t be more thrilled. Having previously worked on Avengers: Endgame, the Russos brothers have been confirmed to be the executive producers of the series alongside Henry Gilroy and Jose Molina as the lead writers and co-exec producers. As of right now the episode lengths and the length of the series is unknown, that being said fans have their fingers crossed for an intense cinematic experience like no other.
What do you think about all of the new content coming out for Magic the Gathering? Are you as excited as I am about the Netflix animated announcement? Let me know your thoughts!
TCG fairy 