Universes Beyond Should Exclusively Be a Commander Product

Last updated on February 27, 2026

Splinter, the Mentor | Illustration by Andrea Tentori Montalto

Universes Beyond has unarguably been big for Magic. The three most sold sets are Final Fantasy, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, and Avatar: the Last Airbender. Hasbro’s 2025 Q4 earnings call reported over a million unique players and a sales growth of 60%. But sales are only a fraction of the story.

Marvel’s Spider-Man (SPM)’ reception might have been planned by J. Jonah Jameson. Prerelease sales were down, Collector Booster box prices plummeted, and WotC implied SPM was a dud with a survey question targeted at influencers. The upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMT) isn’t faring much better, with no commander currently surpassing 1000 built decks on EDHREC at time of writing and players expressing a general disdain for pizza-filled, cartoony art.

Too Many Turtles

Heroes in a Half Shell | Illustration by Victor Maury

Despite these being smaller sets than average (SPM has 286 cards, TMT 320, not including source material cards, Commander products, etc; this is a steep drop compared to TLA at 394 and Lorwyn Eclipsed at 408), SPM and TMT feel repetitive due to how many legendary creatures of the same or similar names get jammed into the set. TMT especially suffers from this; pick any of the four main ninja turtles, and you’ll find 10-12 legendary creatures across the main sets and its Commander deck Turtle Power! (TMC) at multiple rarities, and in team-up cards.

This suggests the concept is spread too thin. It’s not like other Universes Beyond sets haven’t dipped into upcycles of characters like Gandalf, or represented the same character multiple times; but TMT and SPM don’t have much besides brand recognition. TMT relies heavily on the four protagonists appearing in every pack, to the set’s detriment. The solution to this, if we must have Spider-Man and Leonardo in Magic, seems simple: Bring back Universes Beyond Commander sets.

Commander Decks Vs. Full Sets

Insatiable Avarice | Illustration by Scott Murphy

From a financial standpoint, Wizards is interested in pushing full sets of Universes Beyond. Printing SPM into Standard (despite being told it wouldn’t happen) incentivizes (or forces) players to pick up packs to keep up with the meta. The more formats cards are printed into, the more potential they have to spike demand for the set. Printing these as draftable sets has a similar upside, as LGSs might use them for Friday Night Magic drafts. The success of sets like LTR, FIN, and TLA suggest this approach does rake in the big bucks.

But Commander decks have a big boon: concision. You can only print so many cards into a Commander deck —around 60-70, considering the need to include lands. As proven by sets like Doctor Who and Fallout, this doesn’t prevent Wizards from developing new mechanics, or representing many of the most popular characters/moments from the franchises.

Imagine, instead of TMT forcing its way through Standard, three decks: Turtle Power!, in all its glory; a Shredder/Foot Clan deck; and a mutants & aliens deck to tie the rest together. SPM could similarly benefit from this. Maybe just two decks, with the natural marketing that comes from Spider-Man versus his greatest villains. Maybe you could squeeze out three, a classic Spider-Man, a Spider-Verse deck, and a villain deck. One, maybe two, good representations of a character is worth more than over a half dozen desperately trying to appeal to your nostalgia or drawing in new players. Transitioning back towards Commander decks could also help with the product fatigue many players are feeling, especially when it comes to Universes Beyond.

More Universes Beyond Than Magic

Selective Memory | Illustration by Chippy

Magic’s 2026 line-up is filled includes seven premiere sets running through Standard, of which four are UB and three in-universe—the first year that UB exceeds the in-universe cards. The project has always been contentious, and there are complaints about product fatigue—though Wizards has claimed it’s mostly online.

Reintroducing Commander decks could alleviate some of this fatigue. There would be more room for players uninterested in UB to find spaces to play at, and the overall reception of UB sets could improve if they were good. Some players will always be staunchly against the project, and you can’t please everyone. But more concise crossovers that feel intentional rather than bloated could improve the perception of the whole.

All of this isn’t to say that Wizards should never print another full Magic set. I enjoyed the Big Three, both for their impact on Standard and their quality as Limited formats (and I don’t even hate Superior Spider-Man reanimator). They can be both financially successful and a good play experience. But the reception of SPM and TMT suggests that a big property isn’t enough to be a success, and the Wizards should consider the best way to represent a property for the players rather than swinging for the next Final Fantasy.