Sadly, the Magic: The Gathering Content I Yearn For Only Comes Once in a Blue Moon

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I didn’t realize how involved collecting Magic: The Gathering would be when I first started. Growing up in Italy, I’d always enjoyed trading card games, so my parents weren’t entirely surprised when I wanted to collect these cards. I was one of the few kids at school who learned English early, and my teachers thought I was quite good at it. Actually, I was really motivated to learn English because the first Pokémon cards available in Italy were only in English, and I was a huge Pokémon fan as a kid!

As trading card games became more popular worldwide, cards were translated into many languages. Even when English packs were hard to find, I still preferred buying them. My love for TCGs didn’t fade-it actually grew as I learned more about creating effective decks. This eventually led me to *Magic: The Gathering*, which was everything I’d hoped for in a deckbuilding game.

I was new to the game and didn’t yet know how to build competitive decks. I do remember buying some packs from the Mirrodin set at a local store, and the very first pack I opened contained a Darksteel Colossus. I’d received Magic: The Gathering cards as gifts before, but it felt different to buy my own packs and pull a massive, indestructible 11/11 creature that cost 11 mana to cast.

After a few months, I was playing in drafts whenever possible. I even sold my old *Yu-Gi-Oh!* card collection to buy more *Magic: The Gathering* products. Even though I’m naturally shy, I made some friends at the local game store – both younger players and adults – so I could play more often. Luckily, some of my existing friends also started learning the game.

I quickly became obsessed with Magic: The Gathering. The Ravnica block, starting with City of Guilds in 2005, really solidified my love for the game. But lately, no set has quite captured that same magic – even the return to Ravnica with Murders at Karlov Manor didn’t do it for me. I also didn’t particularly enjoy sets like Outlaws of Thunder Junction, especially with the current lack of defined blocks.

MTG’s Ravnica Block Was a Dream Come True For Me

I really enjoyed playing Ravnica for several reasons. I was particularly impressed with how well-developed the color-based factions, guilds, storyline, and characters were – they added a lot more depth to the gameplay than any other trading card game I’d played. I always preferred playing blue, focusing on counterspells and control, and I had a lot of fun building a Dimir deck, even if it wasn’t the most powerful.

I really enjoyed the Ravnica: City of Guilds set. It wasn’t focused solely on humans or the city, but showcased a diverse range of creatures living there. I still have a Birds of Paradise card from that set – it’s a treasured item, even if it’s not as valuable as a Black Lotus. I also loved Guildpact and Dissension, though they didn’t quite capture the magic of discovering a completely new world and characters like City of Guilds did.

I used to build a green ramp deck for Magic: The Gathering, focusing on cards like Farseek and Chord of Calling. I later added black cards to the deck when I got a Dark Confidant and some other Golgari cards. I even played in a few tournaments, but I wasn’t very successful – likely because I always preferred building my own decks and I was only 14 years old at the time.

How Lorwyn Cemented My Love For MTG, and Why I Quit Shortly After

Following Ravnica, I really fell in love with the Lorwyn set. It was full of charming creatures like woodland animals, goblins, merfolk, and fairies. I especially appreciated that it told a complete and engaging story without including any humans-a big plus for someone like me who loves animals and tends to be introverted. I also became a fan of the follow-up set, Morningtide, thanks to memorable cards like Bitterblossom, Oona’s Blackguard, and Dewdrop Spy. This is why I recently enjoyed playing Orzhov Pixie decks in Standard MTG.

I stopped playing Magic: The Gathering shortly after the Zendikar set was released in 2009. Several factors contributed to my decision, including burnout from playing too much, the approaching end of my schooling, and the increasing financial strain of both playing the game and attending tournaments.

Why I Came Back to Magic: The Gathering After 15 Years

Fast forward fifteen years – a big jump, I realize, but we’re not writing a novel here! – and I found myself wanting to get back into trading card games. I checked out *Magic: The Gathering*, and it turned out the Bloomburrow set had just been announced, which was perfect timing. I’m still pretty shy, maybe even more so than when I was younger, and honestly, I’ve always preferred animals to people. So a set all about forest creatures, their communities, and different factions really appealed to me.

Beyond all that, the set really rekindled my excitement for Magic. I hadn’t actually lost interest during March of the Machine – I just wasn’t playing at the time. But Bloomburrow was exactly what I’d been hoping for in a Magic set. It delivered the kind of content I love, and introduced some of my all-time favorite cards, like Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, Flubs, the Fool, Valley Floodcaller, Wick, the Whorled Mind, and all the different creature types. I genuinely appreciate the flavor and design of every card in the set, even if some aren’t the strongest in terms of gameplay.

After Bloomburrow came out, the Magic: The Gathering cards Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger became very powerful and dominated the Standard format for a while.

Just a few months later, Wizards of the Coast decided to make Universes Beyond cards legal in the Standard format. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of this idea, and many others feel the same way. What bothers me most is that I was really enjoying the recent Bloomburrow and Duskmourn sets, and limiting future sets to only three different universes significantly reduces the chances of getting more creative sets like those two.

Magic: The Gathering is About to Start 2026 With a Bang For Me

I’m really looking forward to Lorwyn Eclipsed, planned for January 2026 – I enjoyed the original Lorwyn so much! However, it seems this will be a single, standalone set. With Bloomburrow coming out in August 2024 and Lorwyn Eclipsed in January 2026, I don’t anticipate seeing another set quite like them anytime soon – not even next year. Future Universes Beyond sets will probably focus on well-known franchises, making it unlikely Wizards of the Coast will release similar sets so quickly. Even when full blocks were common, there was about a year between Ravnica and Lorwyn. Now that blocks are rare, I expect my favorite types of sets will only appear every couple of years.

I’m disappointed, to be honest, especially if it means we’ll get more sets based on general themes instead of unique worlds that really feel like *Magic: The Gathering*. I do enjoy sets like Ravnica, Lorwyn, and Bloomburrow – there are always worlds like Edge of Eternities, Duskmourn, or Mirrodin that I still love. But sets focused on specific creature types, or groups, aren’t that frequent, and I’m surprised to see another one so quickly after Bloomburrow, as if Lorwyn is being revisited too soon.

Wilds of Eldraine, featuring cards like Blossoming Tortoise and Armory Mice, feels like the kind of set players have been hoping for. However, because a year passed between it and the previous themed set, Bloomburrow, it’s possible that these special sets-like those from Universes Beyond-might now only happen every two years, or even less frequently.

Magic: The Gathering has announced its 2026 release plans, which will include three sets that continue storylines across multiple universes, and three sets focused on the colors blue and black.

While the changes are a bit disappointing, I can at least start saving money for the new releases and maybe pick up things like Commander decks or special bundles – whatever Wizards of the Coast comes up with. Since there are six sets released each year and the price of Universes Beyond products has made Standard format too expensive for me unless I buy individual cards, I’d prefer to focus on collecting the sets I really enjoy. If the previews for Lorwyn Eclipsed look good, that’s what I’ll do next, though it might be a while before another set catches my interest.

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2025-09-15 00:12