Magic: The Gathering Reveals Marvel Universes Beyond Set

Universes Beyond has always sat in direct opposition to Magic: The Gathering’s homegrown multiverse sets in several key ways. While crossover expansions with Final Fantasy, Spider-Man, and Lord of the Rings all sold like hot lembas bread and brought new players into the fold, they lacked the intricate storytelling, original character design, and complex gameplay mechanics that the core game regularly delivers. In 2027, that is going to change.

Magic’s first Universes Beyond set of 2027, Darkhold Destiny, unites the best of both worlds in what feels like the most ambitious Universes Beyond set yet. Polygon spoke to the Darkhold Destiny team ahead of the set reveal at New York Comic Con 2026 to get a behind-the-scenes look. Here is what we learned about Marvel’s third crossover set.

An original story with an original character

Here is the biggest difference between Darkhold Destiny and previous Universes Beyond sets: Magic publisher Wizards of the Coast is using this one to tell an original story set within the Marvel sandbox. The story centers on the supervillains Hela and Dormammu getting their hands on the Darkhold and using it to unleash chaos across the Marvel multiverse. To save their worlds, a team of heroes including Thor, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, and other magic-focused characters will rise up and fight back against the forces of evil.

For Universes Beyond, this approach is a major shift. In-multiverse sets typically tell complex stories that play out over multiple years and culminate in epic event sets like Realty Fracture. By comparison, Universes Beyond releases usually feel like showcases for what another intellectual property would look like as Magic cards. Wizards is instead using Magic cards to tell an original story set in another beloved fantasy universe.

Wizards says the idea for an original story arose naturally over the years. At first, the team saved certain Marvel characters that felt aligned with the core Magic vibe for something special. Then they realized that something special could be an original story. Marvel was receptive and pushed Wizards to go further with the world and its characters than originally planned. To support the release, Marvel will publish a comic that tells the same story as the cards.

While mapping out the story of Darkhold Destiny, Wizards also realized they needed a type of character that did not yet exist in the Marvel universe. They pitched five ideas for original superheroes. Marvel picked one, which happened to line up with something the comics publisher had already been looking to develop internally.

Wizards is not revealing the new character yet, but they hope their creation will eventually show up in other Marvel stories. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater points to DC’s Harley Quinn as a similar example of a character created outside the comics for Batman: The Animated Series before becoming a key player in the broader DC universe.

That is a staple of how comics work. They work with different partners and the good ideas sort of make their way in.

Mark Rosewater

An expert-level Draft

Another recurring issue with Universes Beyond has been smaller set sizes due to the limited scope of the intellectual property being adapted. This often leads to less interesting gameplay in Limited formats like Draft and Sealed, where players create decks on the spot based on a pool of random cards.

That will not be an issue with Darkhold Destiny. Rosewater states that the set supports strategies for all 10 two-color combinations, which has not been the norm across Universes Beyond. Magic senior vice president of design and creative Aaron Forsyth adds that it will feel like an expert-level set.

It may be the most complex Universes Beyond set we have made because we knew that it was very aimed at Magic players. We think this is in their wheelhouse, so we wanted to pull out all the stops with artifacts, enchantments, and sorceries. It is not just wall-to-wall legendary creatures fighting each other.

Aaron Forsyth

The future of Universes Beyond

Wizards cannot reveal much about how this leap forward will affect future Universes Beyond sets. Because the company works on each release years in advance to navigate complex partnerships, the impact may take a while to appear. Still, this experience has left the team eager to try similar approaches with future crossovers.

Now that we have done it once, at least it is an idea that we now have. We would have to find the right partner, but doing anything the first time just makes the second time more likely.

Mark Rosewater

Source: Polygon