Just shy of two weeks ago came a big announcement from the Mothership, or the official Magic website run by Wizards of the Coast. This announcement was for something called "Universes Beyond," and mentioned the eventual release of products themed around the properties of The Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000.

This has been met with a lot of mixed responses from the Magic community, especially in the wake of the Walking Dead Secret Lair last year. Fellow CoolStuffInc.com author Jay Annelli wrote a bit about the whole Universes Beyond thing, as well as the good and the bad of it, in his article posted this past Monday, so I'd recommend you check it out if you want to know more. The long and short of it has to do with a lot of things, though, and usually from the angle of "but...this doesn't feel like Magic." After all, as I more or less wrote in my explanation of the whole Walking Dead Secret Lair's issues, it's a bit jarring to break out a Legacy Humans deck and need to rock a copy of Rick, Steadfast Leader because he's just the best thing you could be doing on your top-end.

The reality is, though, this is a part of how Magic is now. It's being used more as a game engine than just its own IP - and I think that's fine, if a bit weird for now. After all, it provides a lot more opportunities to bring people into the game who might not otherwise touch it. There's a lot of good and bad potential that could be tapped into and I decided to take this week to talk about some of the external IPs that might get explored with Universes Beyond.

Let's dive right on in!

Harry Potter

Let's start off with one that I don't think we're going to see and get it out of the way: Harry Potter. In all frankness, we're at the best possible time for a Harry Potter tie-in right now with the upcoming Strixhaven: School of Mages set releasing in April. There's frankly no denying the parallels. Even though it's a pretty common trope, Harry Potter simply defines it - to the point that WotC has had to specify several times that this is Magic's take on the genre rather than any one series.

Despite that, I don't think it's particularly likely largely due to the negative press that's followed the series creator J.K. Rowling over the past few years. A lot of that press echoes the vibes of what we saw in the Magic world with artists such as Terese Nielsen and Noah Bradley, whom WotC has cut ties with due to controversies involving them. That said, I had heard rumblings that there was a chance Wizards had plans to do a collaboration with the IP for Strixhaven, but there was no way for anyone to back those claims.

That said, I still think it's a possibility for us to see this crossover. After all, it is still one of the world's largest franchises, has a big game coming out in the near future, and is continuing with the Fantastic Beasts series once the pandemic winds down. Getting Magic involved with this would likely increase the fanbase from the casual players it would draw in. Not to mention that it's not just "fantasy adjacent," as WotC is looking for with Universes Beyond, but rather it is about as fantasy as you might be able to get. WotC even had the rights to produce a card game for it at one point in the early days of the franchise, so there's even a little history as well. The only question is whether or not Wizards will want to risk the controversy that would no doubt arise.

Game of Thrones

There's one other big series that is pretty much pure fantasy but I'm not sure we'll see: Game of Thrones. If you somehow lived under a rock or else missed the whole craze, Game of Thrones was wildly popular during its run on HBO. It's actually based off a series of books by author George R. R. Martin, but took a bit of a different turn in the later seasons as the book series remains incomplete. It had several well recognized fantasy tropes including a medieval setting, knights, mercenaries, wolves, assassins, zombies, and of course - dragons.

There're a couple problems I see with this one, though. The first is that the television series ended nearly two years ago now, with the final episode airing mid-May 2019. As such, a lot of the hype and popularity has winded down considerably, especially following the particularly poor reception of the show's final season. The other issue was that the show was incredibly adult, between graphic depictions of violence, sex, and everything in between, and thus might not be something Wizards wants to approach with its Ages 13+ card game.

The best chance of us seeing something involving this is likely as a tie-in to future related products. George R. R. Martin has been famously tied up trying to finish the last books in his series. There has also been a lot of talk about the possibility of spin-offs for the original HBO series. It wouldn't be hard to put Game of Thrones-themed Magic products out around the time of release of either of those for the people who want them. Even just a Secret Lair to satisfy some of the die-hards without getting too deep into the sordid nature of the series might be plenty enough for a lot of people.

Now let's check out some of the items that have a little more meat to them, starting with a big one:

Star Wars

Oh yeah, we're going there. If Warhammer 40K is on the table for a Magic crossover, I'd be damn shocked if Star Wars wasn't as well. In fact, I think it's arguable that Star Wars as a series is much more of a fantasy story told in a sci-fi setting, which is one of the reasons it's been so endearing for so long. There's a ton of adventure, mysticism, and depth of lore to the franchise that could make for not one but several Star Wars releases in the future.

Most people would largely know Episodes 1-9, Rogue One, and The Mandalorian, but there's a much deeper well to go to as well. This includes popular video games such as Rogue Squadron, Battlefront, The Force Unleashed, and of course Knights of the Old Republic - all of which helped explore the universe of Star Wars in a way that's accessible to a mainstream audience. And beyond that, there's always the extended universe that can be tapped into as well.

There's plenty of fantastic crossover potential, and lots of great opportunities to come up with tie-ins to an upcoming movie or series. Much like Harry Potter, Wizards even had the rights to produce the Star Wars Trading Card Game years and years ago. There's even a popular fan-made set called Star Wars: the Gathering (a few examples shown above) that's popped up online in the past, showing the potential of what could happen in the event of such a cross-over.

In a similar vein, I do also think it's possible to see something with the likes of Star Trek and Doctor Who as well. I'm not very knowledgeable about either series (largely by choice, as I have too many hobbies and interests as is), so I won't go on about them too much. That said, given what I do know about both series, as well as their overall popularity compared to the chart-topping nature of Star Wars, I think we'll see them playing second fiddle to that franchise.

DC/Marvel

Now comes the one that excites me a lot less: comic book franchises. Of all the things I'm covering today, these really feel like the least "fantasy adjacent" kind of thing. Some elements are, of course, quite fantastical. That's just the nature of superheroes. It's hard to go anywhere these days without hearing talk of characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Thanos, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and so many more. Hell, the internet has been ablaze the last few weeks with discussion over the recent WandaVision Marvel series, and DC has the Justice League Snyder Cut releasing soon as well.

When it comes down to it, though, I can't help but feel like many of these stories don't have quite the same degree of the fantasy-like feel of many of the things on this list. What's more, there's definitely a lot more of a use of realistic weapons and the like, even if they often get a slightly more sci-fi or fantasy-esque redesign. I feel like I've heard a lot of this sentiment echoed online - or at least the aspect of it just feeling overall kinda out of place in the game of Magic.

But take a step back and look at the world we live in today. These franchises are everywhere. Like, literally everywhere. It's hard to not step into a big retailer over the last decade without finding at the very least Marvel in your face in some form or fashion. It's a monstrous cultural phenomenon that would absolutely bring tons of fresh faces to the game and more money to Wizards' vaults. If we get any of these comic franchises, I'd definitely have to imagine it'd be more likely we get something from Marvel as a result, and possibly after Star Wars since I'd have to imagine that would come first.

Horror

I could also see some other non-Marvel, non-DC comic properties get used as well. Spawn and Hellboy both quickly come to mind here. Both are themed off of some really dark things, which leads me to my next thing I'd expect to see in future products: various horror franchises.

Let me just start off by saying that I absolutely love me a good horror movie. I tossed the image above from a bunch of posters for some of my favorites as well as some of the more popular or well-known films that have been released over the years. You might recognize a lot of them. Horror franchises are an endearing part of our popular culture, if on the darker side of things. Most people have seen The Exorcist and The Shining, and at least one of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street films. Even some of the lighter ones like The Ring, The Blair Witch Project, The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity, and so on have become popular favorites.

Whenever Halloween rolls around, it's almost a tradition to break out at least one or two odd favorites from among the slew of great horror films that have come out over the years. And then there's always the ever-popular Halloween Horror Nights at Universal theme parks that play off of several of these popular franchises. It's not uncommon to see the likes of Freddy or Jason popping out at you, after all. There's just something special about a lot of these for a lot of people, and many of these series have had crossovers in the past. We've had Freddy vs. Jason (and vs. Ash, of Evil Dead fame), Alien vs. Predator, as well as Michael Meyers, Leatherface, and Pinhead showing up in many places side-by-side with several of these iconic characters.

What's more, I've always felt horror as a genre to be more of a grounded dark fantasy. Like, whenever you watch a horror film, it never feels real, even though it takes place in a very real life setting. In fact, it's when they feel more real and less fantastical that they stop being fun and become a bit more, shall we say, revolting. But - as we've seen with Magic's Innistrad and to a lesser degree Homelands - horror can also be a lot of fun, and I think that can be brought to life well in a special card game release. It could even just be something like a Secret Lair or a Commander deck, but mark my words: it's coming sooner or later.

There's one specific branch of horror I fully expect to see, though, and it's Lovecraft.

Lovecraft

No doubt you've heard about Cthulhu in some form or fashion, and he's usually the big name for Lovecraftian horror. But there's also other notable eldritch figures like Shaggoth, Nylarlathotep, and Azathoth. There's even Dagon, a sea god worshipped by a fanatical cult of humans who live by the ocean and develop unusual fish-like characteristics. Boy, that sure sounds like a lot of what happens in the Shadows Over Innistrad story (which itself was named after the "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" story by H.P. Lovecraft that featured said cult).

H.P. Lovecraft was and is a highly contentious individual. While his works have continued to inspire generations of horror and fantasy creations, he himself was very, very racist - and it showed in a lot of his works. Unlike some of the other controversial folks mentioned in this piece, Lovecraft has been dead for almost 85 years now and his works have evolved a life of their own in the time since then. As such, and given the plethora of Lovecraft themed board games, card games, tabletop RPGs, short stories, fan art, and so much more, I feel like this one is going to happen sooner than later.

Avatar

Next, I want to talk about Avatar. Yes, by the way, I'm talking about that Avatar. But I'm also talking about that Avatar.

Huh?

Really, I'm talking the most about Avatar: the Last Airbender and the world and franchise that's been born from it over the years. Since that series' release in the 2000's, we had the release of The Legend of Korra, which had a middling reception because of how it was handled by Nickelodeon. However, they recently ended up creating Avatar Studios to create more productions using the world by that series. This could lead to excellent tie-in opportunities in the future.

As it turns out, the world of Avatar already uses four elements that could no doubt be easily converted, especially when it's not always clear cut on the separation of the elements. For example, while Sokka comes from the Water Tribe and has a lot of Blue affiliation as a result, he's also tremendously hotheaded and works on mechanical devices throughout the show. This would put him in Red's color pie, thus making for a bit of multicolored aspects in the mix. And that's just one example, too.

The real beauty of this one, though, is that it's a deeply realized world that's traveled over a long period of time by the characters and is only going to get expanded in the future.

As for the other Avatar, though, yes, I'm absolutely talking about the blue people.

Love it or hate it, Avatar was the biggest box office smash pretty much of all time. A lot of that was arguably more for the sheer spectacle and use of 3D technology at the time. Once again, this one's big because of the fact that it was very much a fantastical world that had a sci-fi background from the space exploration aspect.

This already makes it a solidly approachable premise, but there's another important detail to consider. That detail is the fact that the sequels for Avatar are finally coming. After years of delays, filming finally wrapped last year for Avatar 2 and 3, which were both being shot simultaneously. When the editing process finishes up, it's expected that we'll get the first sequel in 2022 - next year. It's not a stretch to imagine Wizards and Hasbro trying to get in on this likely cash cow franchise and attempt to tie into the merchandising a bit.

Anime

Beyond those, I definitely feel like we've got something anime-esque coming in our future. I don't know what, how, or when, but after the strongly positive reception of the manga art Japanese planeswalkers of War of the Spark, it just feels like it's a matter of time. Exactly which one it'll be, I'm not entirely sure. I will say that I personally don't think it'll involve Dragonball, which would likely be the first thing that would jump to many peoples' minds.

If anything, I'd expect something in the realm of like One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, or My Hero Academia. Given how many of these properties are held under the Shonen Jump banner, it's even possible that there could be a collaboration of many of these things to be done all at once, thus ensuring there's something for everyone. It could even be something like one year we get a series of Commander decks where each one is a different franchise that does battle against one another.

Of those properties, though, you definitely won't see Yu-Gi-Oh!, as it's a pretty notable competitor to Magic. This does bring me to one of the last real possibilities I want to get into, though: video games.

Video Games

Video games have a ton of super fantastical settings that can readily be pulled from. God of War, Dark Souls, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Fallout, Bioshock, and so on all make up just a fraction of the possibilities in this field. Final Fantasy especially comes to mind, in part because of the name, but also because there's tremendous brand recognition with mega popular inclusions like Final Fantasy VII (and the recent remake) as well as the popular MMO Final Fantasy XIV.

But my mind goes to three of the biggest ones on the market: League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Pokemon. People want these. I wouldn't even be terribly object to it because they can all be made to work well within their respective universes for the mechanics of Magic. The problem? Well, each one has their own card game already! League has Legends of Runeterra, WoW has Hearthstone, and Pokemon has, well, Pokemon, and each of them is fairly successful. That might make it a bit hard to develop a collaborative effort between companies.

It's even harder with Pokemon, too, because Wizards' relationship with Nintendo soured really badly at the end of Wizards' time with the game. In 2003, The Pokemon Company ended up starting production on a new set of cards at the time prior to Wizards' agreements expiring. This led to Wizards suing Nintendo, a very small print run on the final WotC sets, and eventually the two settling out of court.

It's unknown just how much bad blood remains between the two companies and there hasn't been much by way of collaborations since then. We are, however, seeing the first true straight reprints of original Base Set cards from the WotC era for the first time since those days as oversized cards, so maybe they did some work with one another after all. I do hope those ties mend, because I truly have one real need in my life as far as crossovers go: Legend of Zelda.

This is just a small taste of the possible options that are out there, though, and I'm sure we'll be surprised at the many different kinds of crossovers we see over the years. I know I certainly wasn't expecting to see Godzilla on a Magic card before a year ago, but once I saw it and the context it was in, I was fully on board. I'm still a bit cagey about the whole idea after the Walking Dead Secret Lair, but if it gets people into the game, then I'm on board.

What properties do you think Magic will explore in the future?

Kendra Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

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