Goblins and the poorly conceived Starter Set.Īlso, Iconic Masters seems to fall short on its premise, having odd tribes such as Sphinxes dominate the draft archetypes. 2017 was already busy with its other, more serious sets and other releases such as Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. That seems like plenty of room for an Un-set during those long spring and summer months to keep things fresh. Couldn’t Unstable wait until the following spring or summer to pace things better? So far, 2018 has Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and Core Set 2019 between January and July. The novelty of a set like Unstable can taper off quickly, which meant that both Ixalan and Iconic Masters, both proper draft sets with value cards, were edged out for a gimmick. But Iconic Masters barely came out when another highly-anticipated set released, and Unstable drew a lot of attention and overlapped heavily with Iconic Masters‘s life span. Being a Masters set, and therefore loaded with value cards and designed for optimal draft, it threatened to edge out Ixalan draft in November, the halfway point until Rivals of Ixalan would change the Ixalan draft environment. The Ixalan set had the most breathing room for draft, one and a half months, until Iconic Masters released. The end of 2017 was the busiest time for releases. Like with earlier core sets, it will contain both reprinted and new cards geared toward beginners.

The core set series, which had ended with the Magic Origins set, will be revived with Core Set 2019, to be released July 20. About five weeks later, on April 27, the standalone Dominaria set, the first-ever one-set block, is set to release as part of the new release method. Like Iconic Masters, this set celebrates the 25-year anniversary of Magic: the Gathering, acting as a sequel of sorts for November’s Masters set. 19, and another Masters set, 25 Masters, comes out on March 16. 8, the third Un-set, Unstable, released, a parody set designed for draft with limited value, having no reprints of regular Magic cards (only tournament-illegal silver-bordered cards).Ģ018 starts with Rivals of Ixalan on Jan. 17, 2017, a draft-only set with reprints across Magic: the Gathering’s history, such as Mana Drain, Horizon Canopy, and the five Praetors from New Phyrexia. A month and a half later, the newest Masters set, Iconic Masters, launched on Nov.

29, 2017, introducing the Dinosaur and Pirate tribe while expanding on the game’s lore with the Ixalan plane, and characters and items such as Jace Beleren, Vraska, Nicol Bolas (behind the scenes), Huatli, and the Immortal Sun. One month later, the Ixalan set launched on Sept. The Commander 2017 pre-con deck cycle released on Aug.

Here is a recent chronology of Magic: the Gathering releases. In between all these expansion sets are a veritable glut of extra products and material, and it seems to have reached a new height to the point of excess. Starting in 2017, though, Wizards of the Coast pushed this to 11, and it can be overwhelming for the average player and can stretch creative and financial value thin.Ģ0 mark the conclusion of the two-set block model with Ixalan and Amonkhet, switching to a single-block model only, starting with April 2018’s Dominaria large set. Core sets, block expansions, Duel Decks, and as of 2011 onwards, Commander pre-constructed decks, more or less satisfied this broad audience. Magic: the Gathering has always been good at this, printing cards and products for everything from “kitchen table” casual games and Booster Draft, all the way to Legacy, Commander, and non-players such as dedicated card collectors. To be fair, having a lot of options is a major boon for a game franchise, catering to as broad an audience as possible for price, play style, lore, level of competition, and more.

Quick draft rivals of ixalan