Universes Beyond

Universes Beyond (abbreviated as UB) is a “sub-brand” of Magic: The Gathering that exists in addition to, and alongside, the regular line of products. 
==Description==
Not unlike the original Deckmaster concept, Universes Beyond is a series that combines the gameplay of Magic: The Gathering with worlds, characters, and stories of other IPs. The series is branded slightly differently from regular products and has a specific look as a result. The card frame is distinct and has a triangular holofoil stamp that denotes them as non-canon cards. This holofoil stamp was first seen on cards of the Secret Lair Drop Series: The Walking Dead, and that set was grandfathered into the Universes Beyond series. Another border color for UB cards was dismissed, because R&D (and Sales) feared that the UB sets wouldn't get treated as “this is a different subset of Magic”, but rather as “this isn’t a real Magic card”.
==History==
The Universes Beyond series was announced by Chris Cocks in February, 2021 during the Hasbro 2021 Investor Event. At the time of their introduction, Mark Rosewater claimed that they would never be Standard-legal, but that they would be legal in eternal formats. 
In October 2024, it was announced that starting with the release of Final Fantasy in June 2025, Universes Beyond tentpole sets were made legal in all formats, including Standard, going forward. The goal was to make set legality simpler and easier to understand, and to continue to allow the designers to design sets with Standard in mind first, considering the impact that direct-to-Modern UB sets like The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth had had on eternal formats. This did not change the legality of Universes Beyond sets that had been released before that time. At the same time, the number of UB tentpole releases per year was increased to three, with the number of yearly Magic-universe tentpole releases being decreased to compensate, resulting in half of all premier sets being UB sets in 2025.
==Distribution and appearance==
Universes Beyond products are not only found in Secret Lair but are sold in the whole range of Magic products. Wizards of the Coast occasionally do associated Secret Lair products related to the main release, like the Secret Lair Godzilla lands when Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths came out. There also are occasional standalone products like The Walking Dead, but the intention is to typically make Universes Beyond as available as any other Magic product.
Wizards of the Coast is allowed to reprint Universes Beyond cards exactly as is, but have to follow the guidelines they agreed to with the licensor, which changes from property to property. They are also allowed to make in-multiverse versions of them, which might entail changing one-for-one property-specific terms with Magic terminology (i.e. unique, they wouldn’t just make it an already existing thing).
The company announced that on occasion they could utilize the treatment from the Ikoria Godzilla cards (existing Magic cards skinned 
with the alternate universe). But mostly, the sets are like The Walking Dead (alternate universe cards that stand on their own). According to Mark Rosewater, it is not feasible to have a Magic version for every new UB card, but R&D can make Magic versions of any UB card if the need arises. The other way around, Universes Beyond may feature straight reprints from original Magic sets with the same card name (but new art) and same mechanical cards but with a new name. It depends on how well the name fits the IP. If an original card has in-property words, R&D can print an in-universe version of it with substituted words and new art. Any Universes Beyond mechanics are fair game for other sets. Some might need a name change.
Commander sets and large UB draft sets like won't receive 1:1 in-multiverse (Universes Within) versions, but R&D reserves the right to make them for individual cards if the need arises. If a Universes Beyond card with an IP-specific creature type (e.g. astartes) would be rebranded, it would receive a brand new creature type in the Magic version. The <IP name> and <unique new creature type> would be one-for-one in the rules much like the names of the Godzilla skinned cards.
===Secret Lairs===
In June 2021, the statement that there normally wouldn't be In-Universe reprints was amended for Secret Lairs. It was announced that for upcoming Universes Beyond Secret Lairs, Wizards of the Coast planned to:
*Create and print rebranded versions of the mechanically unique Secret Lair Universes Beyond cards that are set in Magic 's Multiverse approximately six months (the exact time may vary) after their release in Secret Lair.
*Make the in-Magic versions available on The List, findable in Set Boosters for as long as players are still interested in opening them. To start, they'll appear on The List more frequently than other cards to make them easier to find. 
*Possibly reprint those cards in other products.
*Consider the non-canon cards and the canon cards' equivalent game pieces, meaning you can only play four copies (or one copy) of either the Magic version or Universes Beyond version in your deck. There will be a special card treatment that indicates that the cards are related.
WotC initially did not plan to go back and do this for the cards from The Walking Dead, nor did they plan to extend this treatment to the larger, non-Secret Lair, product releases. However, implementing something similar to this with The Walking Dead wasn’t off the table in the future. This came true in October 2021, when Wizards of the Coast decided that they would apply this to The Walking Dead as well.
In February 2024, Set Boosters were changed to Play Boosters. Mark Rosewater reaffirmed that Wizards of the Coast planned to make sure that mechanically unique Secret Lair cards, in some form, would find a home in randomized booster product. In November of that year, Rosewater explained that since The List and Set Boosters had been phased out, Wizards was in a conundrum: although they still wanted to create non-Secret Lair versions of mechanically unique cards, they could no longer guarantee that these would always be different from what the Secret Lair had offered. They might keep the same name and represent the same character, object, or location, meaning there wouldn't always be a "Universes Within" version.
===Booster inserts===
In 2022, for the first time, some Universes Beyond cards were distributed through a premier set, advertising another Hasbro brand. Transformers cards could be found in The Brothers' War Set Boosters, Collector Booster and Bundles. Note that these are original designs, and not skinned cards. When this type of set reappeared with the Jurassic World Collection in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, they were christened "Booster inserts". However, feedback/data research later showed that players prefer Universes Beyond cards to be separated from the in-universe Magic cards.
===Commander sets===
Sets like Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks, Doctor Who, and Fallout are given the Commander treatment, with the main focus on several Commander decks.
===Draft sets===
Some IPs have room for a fully draftable set. Early examples are The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth and Final Fantasy. With the shift to Standard in 2025, all randomized booster releases will have a limited play component (which includes drafting as a big element).
===Beyond boosters===
Beyond Boosters were introduced for Assassin's Creed, as a variant on Epilogue Boosters. These mini-boosters aren't draftable. They contain both new cards and reprints. This product was considered a failure by Wizards of the Coast.
===Supplemental sets===
Ravnica: Clue Edition was the first self-contained supplemental set in the Universes Beyond range.
==Non-canon==
The Magic story will not be told through any of the Universes Beyond sets.
===Planeswalkers===
Wizards of the Coast originally said that Planeswalker cards in Universe Beyond sets wouldn’t represent actual planeswalkers as that concept doesn’t exist in most properties. R&D explored choosing a new word, but decided the confusion in gameplay wasn’t worth it as the cards act in a game-sense like planeswalker cards. As a joke, they did introduce the Universewalker for Heroes of the Realm.
Later, it was said that they were planning to do planeswalkers in Wizards-owned IPs only, and that Universes Beyond sets are not going to have planeswalkers. This is still true after the change to Standard legal UB sets in 2025.
==List of featured brands==
This is a list of featured IPs or "universes". 
IP 	Set(s) 	Secret Lair (s)	Year	Notes
The Walking Dead 	 	
*The Walking Dead	2020	Grandfathered in. Mechanically unique cards.
Stranger Things 	 	
*Stranger Things	2021	
Arcane 	 	
*Arcane
*Arcane Lands	2021	Exclusively reskins.
Street Fighter 	 	
*Street Fighter	2022	
Fortnite 	 	
*Fortnite 	2022	Exclusively reskins.
Warhammer 40,000 	Warhammer 40,000Commander decks 	
*Warhammer 40,000: Orks
*Warhammer Age of Sigmar
* Blood Bowl	2022	New cards in Command Precons. Exclusively reprints in Secret Lairs.
Transformers 	Transformers 	
*
*
* 	2022	New cards inserted in The Brothers' War. Exclusively reprints in Secret Lairs.
Dungeons & Dragons 	 	
* 	2023	Though Wizards of the Coast owns the rights for Dungeons & Dragons,the actors of the movie appear as their characters on the cards,making the drop UB in essence.
The Lord of the Rings 	Tales of Middle-EarthTales of Middle-earth Holiday release	
*More Adventures in Middle-earth	2023	
Creepshow 	 	
* 	2023	
Doctor Who 	Doctor Who 	
*Doctor Who: Dalek Lands
*Doctor Who: Weeping Angels
*Doctor Who: Regeneration	2023	The main set includes mechanically unique Planechase cards.Doctor Who: Regeneration cards are also mechanically unique.
Evil Dead 	 	
* 	2023	
The Princess Bride 	 	
* 	2023	
Jurassic Park / Jurassic World	Jurassic World 	
*
* 	2023	Mechanically unique booster inserts in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.Skinned cards themed around Dinosaurs.Skinned cards themed around Dr. Ian Malcolm.
Tomb Raider 	 	
* 	2023	Mechanically unique <c>Lara Croft, Tomb Raider</c> card, six skinned cards and a token.
Cluedo / Clue 	Ravnica: Clue Edition 	 	2024	Mechanically unique evidence cards.
Fallout 	Fallout 	
*
*
* 	2024	New cards in Fallout Commander Precons; Collector Boosters include nine skinned cards.The Vault Boy drop contains another skinned card.
Hatsune Miku 	 	
*
*
*
*One more Secret Lair drop.	2024	Both reskins and straight reprints.
Assassin's Creed 	Assassin's Creed 	
*Assassin's Creed: DaVinci's Designs
*Assassin's Creed: Lethal Legends	2024	100 mechanically unique cards in the main set.Five straight reprints and five skinned cards in the Secret Lairs.
Monty Python 	 	
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Vol. 1
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Vol. 2	2024	Exclusively reskins.
Ghostbusters 	 	
*Ghostbusters: Slimer
*The Real Ghostbusters	2024	Both reskins and straight reprints.
Child's Play 	 	
*Child's Play 	2024	Reskins.
Marvel 	 	
*Marvel Superdrop	2024	Five mechanically unique cards across five Secret Lair drops. Also includes seven reskins, thirteen straight reprints, and two tokens.
Marvel 	Marvel's Spider-Man 	 	2025	
Final Fantasy 	Final Fantasy 	 	2025	
SpongeBob SquarePants 	 	
*Secret Lair 	2025	
===Non-UB crossovers===
Note that the Dungeons & Dragons crossovers are not part of Universes Beyond, because Wizards of the Coast owns both the Magic and Dungeons & Dragons IPs.
*2021 Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms 
*2022 Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
Early Hasbro-owned cross-over products were the 2017 HASCON promos and 2019 Ponies: The Galloping. The latter had a follow-up with Secret Lair Drop Series: Ponies: The Galloping 2 - Extra Life 2023.
Crossovers that have the skin treatment can be part of Universes Beyond but some of them are not. For example, the Godzilla Series and the Dracula Series do not have the triangular holo foil stamp used for Universes Beyond.
Another crossover without the UB holo stamp are the five Outlaws of Thunder Junction Standard Showdown promos with Cowboy Bebop inspired art.
==References==
==External Links==
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