Battle Brawler | Illustration by Karl Kopinski
The main aspect that bothers MTG players about Universes Beyond (UB) is the fact that most of those sets don’t feel like MTG. In a recent declaration, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks told us important things about the future of UB: They “will be a bit more fantasy adjacent,” and that “none of them take place in New York City.”
Recently, D&D announced a D&D: World of Warcraft product, which makes me think: Should MTG have a World of Warcraft set (or simply Warcraft)? Maybe Chris Cocks could have said: “Are you guys familiar with the world of Azeroth?”
Today, I’m bringing you 10 reasons why MTG Warcraft could very well be the best UB set ever, and one of MTG’s all-time great sets. That would be excellent for WotC, Blizzard Entertainment, and MTG players alike.
Let’s dive into it!
#1. The “World of Warcraft” Is Very Similar to MTG’s Best Planes
When I think about MTG adapting Warcraft, I'm reminded of planes like Ravnica, Tarkir, and Innistrad, which draw from the same things that make Warcraft great.
The plane of Innistrad would be excellent to run an MMO like WoW, and Azeroth has many similarities to Ravnica. At its core, WoW is a warring faction realm, very similar to Khans of Tarkir, with similar technology and fantasy elements. Just tell me that Zurgo Helmsmasher wouldn’t be a Horde character.
The first Warcraft games were a battle between Orcs and Humans, and WoW has the Alliance x Horde. Warcraft III branched out a bit more with Night Elves and Undead. In WoW, there are plenty of playable races, so there’s more than one candidate for each color of mana, and that has great implications for an MTG adaptation.
#2. WoW Has Incredible Legendary Characters
Look, if there’s one thing I truly hate about Universes Beyond, it’s that some sets have very few meaningful characters, so they’ll design way too many versions of the same exact character.
Like, how many Leonardos does a given MTG set need? Just Marvel Super Heroes–related products have almost 400 legendary creature cards, twice the number of legendary creatures from Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy Commander. Warhammer 40k did it right, in my opinion, with just 24 legendary cards spread across four Commander precons, and Warcraft would fit in between these extremes.
Warcraft lore supports plenty of cards that can be used as simple creatures across all rarities. An Orcish Grunt, a Dalaran mage, a Dwarven sharpshooter, a Wyvern raider – none of these need to be legendaries, and they can carry a set, with your obvious Jaina Proudmoore and Warchief Thrall as higher-rarity legendary creatures. As with Warhammer 40k, these are natural troop commanders, so they make more sense as legends than April O’Neal or Aunt May.
#3. Warcraft Is Perfect for Commander Precons
If you want to build Commander precons, you can choose between Horde x Alliance, or use the magical number for Commander precons (4) and have them be Humans, Orcs, Night Elves, and Undead, the four playable Warcraft III races. There’s plenty of material to base the playable archetypes on, from typal decks to spellslinging decks and graveyard-related archetypes. What’s more, the conflict between these factions is meaningful, so if I’m playing my humans Commander deck and you’re playing your orcs EDH deck, it has a theme that transcends the game but that isn’t always so easily replicable with other IPs.
#4. Warcraft Has Remained Remarkably Consistent Over the Years
Since the beginning, Warcraft has always been a medieval setting with some 16th-century technology and magic, similar to Ixalan in a way, whether we’re discussing the RTS games or WoW. That’s perfect for a single Universes Beyond MTG set that wants to capture the franchise’s highlights. If there’s one thing the Final Fantasy set was criticized for, it was that different games (mainly 6 and 7) got much more attention through Commander decks and plenty of card designs. Also, FF’s different games have different themes, settings, and technological levels, so it’s hard to make a consistent adaptation when we’re mixing cars, horses, aliens, and flying boats.
#5. Warcraft Is Grounded in Creature Combat
At its heart, Warcraft is a franchise about creature combat. No matter if you’re playing PVP, PVE, or RTS, troops will be on the battlefield fighting. In fact, as the player, your role is very similar to an MTG mage using mana to summon powerful creatures to do battle; the only change is the resources involved. Like the innovation of battles in March of the Machine and summons in Final Fantasy, Magic can adapt WoW's combat in so many ways, from fortifications to towers and siege weapons.
#6. Warcraft Characters Have Meaningful Transformations
One of my favorite designs from MTG’s Final Fantasy set is Cecil, Dark Knight / Cecil, Redeemed Paladin, a very cool and meaningful way to show a character’s in-game transformation. Warcraft has that in spades. Just to cite a few: Arthas, Illidan, Thrall, and Gul’dan. Almost 30 Final Fantasy cards are DFCs, and these Warcraft characters could be flavor wins in top-down design and would no doubt be power outliers in the set.
#7. Warcraft Has a Deep, Rich Lore
If three RTS games with long campaigns weren’t enough, Warcraft has plenty of published books, and the many years of WoW expand upon those stories. Those are perfect material for sagas, modal cards, flavor text, and art in general.
#8. Warcraft Is Standard Compatible
The Hobbit has just released in MTG, and we’ve seen a fair share of orcs, goblins, dwarves, and the like being printed and played in Standard-legal decks. That’s also exactly what I'd expect from a Warcraft set. If WotC wants to weave the themes of their different sets into a cohesive Standard, the tools are there.
#9. Warcraft Could Push MTG Into New Design Space
MTG hasn’t adapted an RTS or an MMO yet, and these gaming genres have unique characteristics. Raids could be adapted into an introductory multiplayer product, while we could have cards that are buildings and create units, or something like that. Even mechanics that are already used in MTG, like sidequests, battles, party, and craft, could have some variants. Two fortification cards exist in MTG; one of them is from the Fallout UB set, so why not have more of that?
#10. It Will Draw Hearthstone Players into MTG and Vice-Versa
For the first time, MTG would adapt an IP that already has a vibrant and popular card game. From a business perspective, it may look like MTG and Hearthstone (HS) are bloody rivals and fierce competitors, but many people play both card games, or migrate between them. Many MTG players started in HS, and many HS players started in MTG. Either way, it’s a move that will bring profits to both WotC and Blizzard, and it would strengthen the TCG scene as a whole. Besides, the two card games keep evolving together, considering that Hearthstone adapted a lot of stuff from MTG, and in return, MTG Arena takes some cues to adapt mechanics from HS.
Wrap Up
Master Warcraft | Illustration by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
And that’s my take on Warcraft Universes Beyond, guys. I don’t think Hearthstone existing would be a great impediment, and the more I think about it, the more I realize it’s gonna happen. Unfortunately, I also think that Warcraft could have more than one set, but that’s true of many MTG sets nowadays. I’ll be happy if that happens, and a large set plus some Commander precons would be much better than nothing.
What do you think of a potential Warcraft Magic crossover, guys? Do you want to see a specific aspect of Warcraft adapted to MTG or as a legendary character? Let me know in the comments section below, or let’s discuss it over in the Draftsim Discord. For any news on future sets, The Daily Upkeep newsletter is a great way to stay in the know!
Until next time, stay safe!
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