Last updated on December 15, 2025
Lightning, Army of One | Illustration by Shiyu
2025 zipped by faster than a Ball Lightning wearing Swiftfoot Boots, and 2026 looks to be an extremely polarizing year given the number of Standard sets coming out, specifically Universes Beyond sets. We're going back to New York and the Final Frontier next year, but let's take a moment to appreciate the sets of 2025, which included some insane highs and one particularly notable low.
#7. Marvel's Spider-Man
Just can't get the taste of this one out of our mouths. We just got our first look at Marvel Super Heroes, but it's been tainted by the complete disaster that was Marvel's Spider-Man. This small-set-made-big was not just a poor outing that floundered Magic's first attempt at a Marvel cross-over, it might actually be the worst Standard set ever made.
People have noted poor card quality, rushed development, and a noticeable disconnect from Magic's fantasy backbone as reasons for this set flopping in the eyes of the public, not to mention the extremely sloppy licensing solution of reworking the set as Through the Omenpaths online. Spidey and the gang showcased the ugly side of Universes Beyond, and has people wary about the blockbuster summer set coming out next year.
Notable cards include 137 versions of Spider-Man, all-time fantasy bangers like Hot Dog Cart and Subway Train, and Magic's first infinity stone, The Soul Stone (okay, that last one's kind of cool).
- DO WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN—Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man swings into Magic: The Gathering with cards featuring your favorite Spider-Man characters, villains, and thematic new game mechanics
- SWING INTO THE GAME—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy, gorgeous art, fantastical stories, and a thriving fan community all together into a card game experience like no other
- BRING ME PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN —Keep your Spider-Senses primed for cards featuring special alternate frames and alternate art that leaps right off the page
- BEST BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Play Boosters are the best way to discover what Magic has to offer; they're perfect for building decks, playing games with friends, and are tons of fun to open
- COLLECT RARE CARDS and SHINING FOILS—Every Play Booster also includes at least 1 card with a shiny Traditional Foil treatment and at least 1 card of rarity Rare or higher (with a max of 4)
#6. Innistrad Remastered
“Wait, that came out this year?” Yup, Innistrad Remastered came and went like a Ball Lightning wearing Lightning Greaves. There's nothing especially wrong with this set, but it's a remaster, so it's not exactly a highlight of the year, and judging by how many people simply forgot it existed at all, it definitely wasn't a slam dunk reprint set. There's nothing offensive here, and it brought us some mega-reprints like Edgar Markov, Craterhoof Behemoth, and Liliana of the Veil for anyone still coping about that planeswalker in the 2020s.
You could argue Innistrad Remastered should be ranked higher than some of the other Standard sets this year, but it's hard for a reprint set to rank too much higher.
- NIGHT OF THE LIVING REPRINTS!—Return to the plane of glorious gothic horror and dig up fan-favorite reprints from every Innistrad set ever made
- FUN TO OPEN. FUN TO PLAY—Play Boosters are perfect for Limited play and fun to open, with a possibility of Art cards, alternate art, special frames, and additional Rares and/or Mythics
- RETRO CARD IN EVERY PACK—Feel the nostalgia with a Retro-frame card in every Innistrad Remastered Play Booster, including the possibility to claim one of the first ever double-faced Retro-frame cards
- ANGELIC RARES. DEMONIC SCARES.—In each Play Booster you’ll unearth 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher and may find hauntingly boo-tiful cards featuring spooky Showcase treatments or Borderless cards with all-new art
- SHINING FOIL IN EVERY PACK—Every Play Booster includes at least 1 Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll also get a Traditional Foil Land card to fill your decks with an extra wicked gleam
#5. Aetherdrift
Aetherdrift kicked off the year in poor fashion, dividing the player base between those who thought the set was “just fine” and those who actively hated the goofy aesthetic and vehicular theming. Billed as a “death race set” that takes place across three familiar Magic planes, the execution of this set was less than stellar. MTG's “Vehicle set” just didn't take itself seriously, and seemed more like a Saturday morning cartoon than a high-stakes romp through Avishkar, Amonkhet, and Muraganda.
It's not all bad though; we were introduced to some new Amonkhet gods with Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied and Ketramose, the New Dawn, we picked up a new cycle of 2-color Gearhulks and a batch of underwhelming-but-funny vanilla legendaries, and I'd say the experimentation with The Aetherspark went over well enough, as one of the most unique card designs this year.
Still, Aetherdrift didn't sit well coming off the heels of 2024, AKA “The Year of the Hat Sets”, and people were definitely tired of the humor-driven sets. And Loot, enough with the Loot. It didn't help that Aetherdrift‘s Limited format was sort of messy as well, with green firmly dominating the format for 2-3 weeks, and vehicles already being a finnicky card type for Limited gameplay.
- IT’S ONLY A DEATH RACE IF YOU DIE—Buckle up for a death race across the Multiverse full of high-octane action and adrenaline-fueled Magic gameplay
- BEST BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Play Boosters are the best way to discover what Magic: The Gathering has to offer; they're perfect for building decks, playing Limited games with friends, and are tons of fun to open
- 2 FOIL BOX TOPPER CARDS—A tantalizing prize for a high-stakes match, with every booster box you’ll score a Box Topper containing 2 cards gleaming with a brand new foil treatment
- PACKS MAY CONTAIN MULTIPLE RARES—Each Play Booster contains 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of Special Guest Mythic Rare from Magic’s history featuring new Borderless art
- SHINING FOIL IN EVERY PACK—Every booster also includes at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll also find a Traditional Foil Land card
#4. Edge of Eternities
This is the point on the list where I'd say everything about the sets is mostly positive. In fact, some people might even rank Edge of Eternities as the #1 set of the year, given the beautiful art direction and card quality on display. The worldbuilding here was excellent, and a great proof-of-concept that “Magic in Space!” can work just fine, even if it now feels like a litmus test for Star Trek next year.
EOE introduced some powerhouse cards to Magic, including Cosmogrand Zenith, Ouroboroid, and Quantum Riddler, all of which have been making waves in Constructed formats. You've even got what I imagine has to be the standout Pauper card of the year with Cryogen Relic.
If you turn your attention to the Stellar Sights bonus sheet, you'll see some inspired art and value reprints like Gemstone Caverns, Ancient Tomb, and Strip Mine, though there are some obvious duds with lands like Meteor Crater and Crystal Quarry.
Unforuntately, this set presented a pretty stale Limited format. As the only set this year that didn't feature a cycle of low-rarity dual lands, it felt somewhat stagnant. Spacecraft was a huge headliner mechanic that you were mostly meant to ignore outside of the absolute best spacecraft, and UG absolutely crushed the first weeks of the format (though I believe it evened out as people played the set more). On the flip side, warp was an awesome new mechanic that I hope comes back up in Star Trek next year.
- BATTLE FOR THE FATE OF A DYING STAR—Explore distant planets, wield dazzling magic, and wage war with alien factions
- BEST BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Play Boosters are the best way to discover what Magic: The Gathering has to offer; they're perfect for building decks, playing Limited games with friends, and are tons of fun to open
- LAUNCH YOUR COSMIC COLLECTION—Each Play Booster contains 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of Special Guest Mythic Rare from Magic’s history featuring new Borderless art
- SHINING FOIL IN EVERY PACK—Every booster also includes at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll also find a Traditional Foil Land card
- PLAY BOOSTER BOX CONTENTS—30 Edge of Eternities Play Boosters, each containing 14 MTG cards and 1 Token
#3. Avatar: The Last Airbender
It's not even the biggest Universes Beyond set of 2025, but Avatar: The Last Airbender proves that Universes Beyond works when done right. You can just tell a lot of love was poured into this set, and it was developed by people who love the source material. It also fits the general lexicon of MTG with its elemental bending, so it feels like a Magic set, something Marvel's Spider-Man could never do.
TLA is not without its flaws. It has absolutely flooded Standard with a bunch of combo decks, some involving airbending, others the egregious Badgermole Cub, and we just saw a bunch of uncommon lessons win the World Championship this year. If Secrets of Strixhaven does in fact bring back the learn mechanic, we might look back at TLA as a mistake, given the sheer quality of the lessons in this set.
We also can't objectively review Avatar without looking at the Cruel Tutor in the room. Card choices aside, Avatar‘s Source Material bonus sheet is the worst bonus sheet we've seen by far. I rarely call anything MTG-related “lazy”, but this fits the bill, and has produced some of the ugliest MTG cards ever printed. Still, you have more people saying they watched the show because this set exists, which is a ringing endorsement for how Universes Beyond can succeed when executed correctly.
- WATER. EARTH. FIRE. AIR… MAGIC—Wield the power of the elements as Avatar: The Last Airbender teams up with Magic: The Gathering! Climb atop a sky bison and travel from the walls of Ba Sing Se to the heart of the Fire Nation and restore balance to the world—or conquer it
- BEND THE ELEMENTS LIKE A MASTER—Relive the series with iconic scenes, collect cards featuring your favorite characters, and master Avatar: The Last Airbender-themed game mechanics
- JOIN TEAM AVATAR!—Join the fray with powerful bending masters, hybrid animals, and unforgettable allies wielding blades, boomerangs, and the occasional cabbage
- FOIL & RARE IN EVERY PACK—Each Play Booster contains at least 1 shiny Traditional Foil card and 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of special cards featuring beautiful borderless alternate art
- BEST BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Play Boosters are the best way to discover what Magic has to offer; they're perfect for building decks, playing Limited games with friends, and are tons of fun to open
#2. Tarkir: Dragonstorm
Like Edge of Eternities, Tarkir: Dragonstorm would probably rank lower on many peoples' lists. The player base seemed divided on this one, with many enjoying the return to the beloved plane of Tarkir, and others not really feeling like the set delivered.
All-in-all, TDM is a very simple set. It's a 3-color wedge set with simple new mechanics for each of the clans, and a bunch of dragons. That's basically it. Many players were turned off by the binary nature of the Limited format, which boiled down to 45% blistering fast Boros decks, 45% 4- or 5-color dragon decks, and a 10% smattering of other decks that you could sometimes draft. It really wasn't a great showcase of the actual clans, although I'd argue the gameplay loops were really fun.
The card quality's pretty high here, though, with standouts like Marang River Regent, Elspeth, Storm Slayer, Ugin, Eye of the Storms, and Surrak, Elusive Hunter all showing up in Constructed. It temporarily broke Magic with Cori-Steel Cutter (which I'd argue is a very fun but overtuned card), and we even got a Craterhoof Behemoth reprint to finally tank that card's price into the ground.
- FIGHT DRAGONS WITH DRAGONS—Return to Tarkir for an epic battle between dragons and clans; discover which clan fits your playstyle with distinct three-color gameplay, and add draconic power to your collection
- BEST BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Play Boosters are the best way to discover what Magic: The Gathering has to offer; they're perfect for building decks, playing Limited games with friends, and are tons of fun to open
- A DRAGON’S HOARD OF TARKIR TREASURES—Each Play Booster contains 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of a Special Guest Mythic Rare from Magic’s history featuring new Borderless art
- SHINING FOIL IN EVERY PACK—Every booster also includes at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll add an additional shiny card to your hoard with a Traditional Foil Land
- MAY CONTAIN ART CARDS—Found only in Play Boosters, some packs contain an Art card showcasing a piece of art from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm set and may even feature a foil signature from the artist
#1. Final Fantasy
I don't really see any reason why you wouldn't call Final Fantasy the #1 set of the year unless you were just being a contrarian. This mega-MTG set broke every record in the book, had an incredible Limited format, and set the stage for future video game crossovers. You could argue it tried to do too much by squeezing 16 mainline Final Fantasy games into one set, but with all the crossover products, precons, bonus sheets, and so forth, it managed to give almost every character from the franchise its due.
Final Fantasy is the set that's locked in Universes Beyond for the foreseeable future. If you want to point to any negatives here, you could mention the inflated Collector Booster box prices that resulted from the serialized Golden Chocobos, or the fact that there really weren't any flashy new mechanics in the set, but I'd say that second part worked in its favor and helped produce a memorable Limited environment where almost everything just kind of worked. Plus, we got moogles in Magic, baby!
- ALL FANTASY FINAL SAGA IS NOW AVAILABLE - Bring unforgettable stories from the 16 major impressions of the FINAL FANTASY series to your gaming table and experience them again during the strategy batch of the card game.
- PLAY THE MELODIY OF THE WINNING - With graphics cards and rules inspired by the FINAL FANTASY series, you can cast powerful spells, meet famous characters, and visit familiar places on the back of the Chocobo bird.
- BEST PACKS TO PLAY IN THE GENE OF THE BEST - Quickly and easily discover the best of Magic. They are ideal if you want to create a deck, play a Limited batch with friends or just feel fun exploring surprises.
- COLLECT RARE CARDS - Each play pack contains 1-4 rare or better cards. You can also find special cards with a delightful alternative borderless graphics.
- With a FOIL COATING CARD in every SECEPTOR Each play pack also includes at least 1 card with a glossy traditional foil coating. In addition, 20% of the sachets contain a land card with a traditional foil coating.
Looking Forward to 2026
I am extremely weary of next year. Lorwyn Eclipsed has me incredibly excited, and I'm curious about Reality Fracture. Secrets of Strixhaven also has my attention, and I'm fine with a return to Middle-earth with The Hobbit, but I'm less than enthused about the rest of the year. TMNT and Star Trek feel like non-starters to me, and Marvel Super Heroes has a lot to prove to make up for Spooderman this year. We'll see how it all pans out starting with ECL in January.
As for 2025, it was a mixed bag that somehow produced the biggest and worst sets of all time in the same year, with plenty in between to still be excited about.
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