(Back of a Magic Card | Art by Jesper Myrfors, Christopher Rush)

To Universes… And Beyond!

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that Delighted Halfling is the only one-mana mana dork from a Universes Beyond set?)

As of the Ravnica: Clue Edition teaser, there are now 1,408 Universes Beyond cards featuring IPs from outside of Magic. Of those, 922 are new, unique printings of cards that have never before appeared in-game. By the time this article is actually published, I fully expect both those numbers to no longer be accurate. Such is the clip of never-ending spoiler season.

Which raises the question: Should these cards even be part of Magic: The Gathering?

Let me ask the question another way: Should we have stuck to Richard Garfield’s vision when it came to other intellectual property, and made Deckmaster a real thing?

For those not familiar, the idea of Deckmaster, and why it’s printed on the back of every Magic card, was to have an all-inclusive line of trading card games throughout various IPs that were all under one tent. I am playing a bit fast and loose with history here, as there were several old games made under the Deckmaster moniker that saw marginal success, and did not feature Magic‘s ruleset.

My question is: Should they have? There’s no denying that while there are some deep-rooted issues with Magic‘s gameplay, Magic has the staying power it has because of the robustness of the game’s core mechanics. The color pie especially has proven to be all-encompassing to a level where it’s being adopted by fantasy authors as a means of fleshing out their characters. Allying the mechanical dividing lines of the game in the colors with key actions in game was a stroke of genius. While not always handled well in the early days, this nonetheless laid the groundwork for why Magic has been the tradable card game for decades.

Put simply then, why did we import other universes into Magic, instead of exporting Magic to other universes?

Well, why not do it after the fact? 922 cards isn’t the most robust format to start with, but the card pool gets bigger every day. Besides which, aren’t many players looking for a slower version of Commander anyhow? Well, look no further. Universes Beyond’s card pool has:

Zero fast mana, or even two mana rocks
Zero efficient or non-specific tutors
One Llanowar Elf (Delighted Halfling)
One known infinite combo (Marneus Calgar & The Watcher in the Water), which arguably doesn’t even win you the game as there’s no fast mana or Lab Man to capitalize drawing your whole deck off of

In other words, we’re talking about a Commander environment where attempting to play any faster than Battlecruiser speeds is virtually impossible.

So, a low-power player’s delight of a format, just waiting for folks to discover it. New players can have leisurely gameplay with which to learn, and experienced players can revel in a newly limited card pool that makes building a challenge again. Speaking of which, let’s stop pretending this isn’t a Top Ten article series and take a look at that card pool, shall we?

Top 10 Universes Beyond Releases

Before you ask, yes, we have had that many Universes Beyond sets. Some of them have been small-scale Secret Lair Drops, but there has also already been one full set in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, which also featured a full Commander set within it, similar to those major Commander releases we got for Warhammer 40,000 and Doctor Who. Yet others have appeared as booster fun products, as we saw with Transformers appearing in The Brothers’ War set and collector boosters.

However they got here, however, there’s no question that there is enough of them now that if you wanted to make them their own format, you could do so. To exemplify exactly that, why not take a look at all of these releases of Universes Beyond content and see which ones are already seeing the most play?

Criteria: Sets designated as Universes Beyond. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score, although in this case, the rankings are based off of the most popular card from each set (pictures featured are the most popular three from each set).

10. Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

(Full Printing: 7 Cards, New Printings: 7 Cards)

Some of you were probably wondering when I was going through full sets that had been printed, why I said that the only full Universes Beyond set was Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, when there have been two full Dungeons & Dragons sets? Well, the answer is, Wizards of the Coast doesn’t consider Dungeons & Dragons to be Universes Beyond… except in the case of Honor Among Thieves, for some reason? I don’t know, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either. Regardless, there is an argument to be made that all of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) should be added to the Universes Beyond card pool, which would a little less than double the card pool of the Deckmaster format, adding 685 cards for a grand total of 1,607.

As such, let’s take a quick look at the top ten cards out of D&D, just to see what we’re missing out on, because Wizards wants to pretend that Elminster and Boo are going to show up in Ikoria any day now.

Top 10 Dungeons & Dragons Cards

Deadly Dispute
Decanter of Endless Water
Black Market Connections
Unexpected Windfall
Archivist of Oghma
Treasure Vault
Old Gnawbone
Grim Hireling
Wizard Class
Circle of Dreams Druid

Per the numbers, all of these inclusions wildly outclass the Honor Among Thieves examples, so I don’t feel too bad about glossing over them. Don’t get me wrong, with the limited card pool, every single one of our heroes from the movie will see some sort of play, but it’s also very possible that the seven mana fat dragon of a board wipe is going to be the most popular inclusion in the format, so let’s not get too carried away with the hype.

As to whether or not I feel that D&D at large should be included in the Deckmaster format, as a foreign IP to Magic: The Gathering, I would argue that it should, but I also think that things are complicated enough already when we just stick to what Wizards considers Universes Beyond. Combine that with the D&D sets introducing problem cards into the format like Displacer Kitten and Oswald Fiddlebender, and maybe it’s better that we follow Wizards wisdom here (while we’re actively attempting to circumvent it by creating a new fan format).

9. Jurassic World Collection

(Full Printing: 26 Cards, New Printings: 20 Cards)

With only 14 Dinosaurs in the format, it will be some time before Hunting Velociraptor does anything, but nonetheless, there are some decent additions to the format out of Jurassic World. For me, chief among them is the totally underappreciated one-drop, Dino DNA, which should become a format all-star as a cheap artifact that can exile creatures from the yard in the early game while making huge 6/6’s with excess mana in the late game. Don’t sleep on it, whether you’re playing Deckmaster or just normal Commander!

8. Street Fighter Secret Lair Drop

(Full Printing: 9 Cards, New Printings: 8 Cards)

The Street Fighter Secret Lair drop seems like almost a distant memory, but still features some extremely powerful commanders for both the command zone and the 99. At the top of the pile for the Deckmaster format, however, I think I would actually put Blanka, Ferocious Friend, rather than Chun-Li, Countless Kicks. Both are powerful commanders, without a doubt. However, Blanka has access to ramp via green in a format where there is very little, meaning that you’ll be able to get a more impactful creature down earlier and then feed him for the rest of the game. Chun-Li, on the other hand, will probably struggle to get enough mana to make her Multikicker impactful.

7. Doctor Who Commander Decks

(Full Printing: 358 Cards, New Printings: 229 Cards)

The second-largest “set” in Universes Beyond, Doctor Who had four commander decks with more than half of their cards each being brand new cards. On the creature and commander side of things, Who also provided the largest set of Partners since Commander Legends with the 15 Doctors and 29 Doctor Companions. In short, if we’re looking for a reason why this new format has suddenly become viable in the last six months, Doctor Who is it.

6. Transformers

(Full Printing: 15 Cards, New Printings: 15 Cards)

Another powerhouse of the format is sure to be Slicer, Hired Muscle. For those unaware of the splash Slicer made in cEDH last year, or who have never faced a Slicer deck in person, you might not think the mercenary bot reads like much. Let me assure you, he can single-handedly take down a table. Coming down early at three mana, it’s unlikely that the entire table will have blockers, so he immediately flips himself on turn one. From there, he begins handing himself around the table with double strike, dealing six to everyone except you if the table is feeling generous, but most times just crippling the opponent who was unfortunate enough not to have blockers. Then you untap and equip him with all sorts of nonsense, making that six into something a bit more ludicrous.

As for the rest of the Transformers release, they’re no slouches either. Personal favorites of mine that I’d love to build Deckmaster decks around are Ratchet, Field Medic, who can make a heck of an artifact brew, Goldbug, Humanity’s Ally, who will be particularly lethal with the large Human emphasis of the Jeskai Lord of the Rings commander deck, and Cyclonus, the Saboteur, who if I’m honest probably doesn’t have the card support to abuse his extra beginning phases yet, but is just too cool not to be playing around with.

5. Secret Lair x Walking Dead

(Full Printing: 6 Cards, New Printings: 6 Cards)

The most contentious of the Universes Beyond crew to date is the first set outside of silver border, Secret Lair x Walking Dead. With dubious decisions like renaming Zombies and featuring a notoriously bloody baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, there are lots out there that still have feelings about The Walking Dead specifically, even if they’ve accepted Universes Beyond at large. One of the primary selling points of Wizards trying to ease into things with The Walking Dead, however, was that the cards shouldn’t really be that good in any particular format, and that’s more or less held up to be true despite brief appearances from Rick, Steadfast Leader and Glenn, the Voice of Calm.

In Deckmaster, however, I would predict seeing those two throughout, with the large availability of Humans with Human synergies making Rick quite good, and with Glenn and the great equipment in the format being an easy card-draw engine. As for the rest, they continue to not be much to write home about, even in a limited card pool. Maybe you’ll end up playing Negan‘s mini-game a time or two, but otherwise, there are probably just better options.

4. Stranger Things Secret Lair Drop

(Full Printing: 8 Cards, New Printings: 8 Cards)

If you’re looking for a Secret Lair you’re probably going to be seeing a lot of in the command zone, however, then look no further than Stranger Things. While Arvinox, the Mind Flail and Hawkins National Laboratory are more likely to just be good stuff from the 99, every single other card from Stranger Things has Friends Forever, a Partner mechanic that only works with other cards that have Friends Forever. While most consider that restriction to make it much less good than original Partner, it’s still fairly strong. There’s even the option to play five colors with Eleven, the Mage and Mike, the Dungeon Master.
That particular combination is probably waiting for better dual lands to be introduced to the format, as far as Deckmaster is concerned. But there are more than enough two- and three-color combinations to make whatever good stuff deck you want, not to mention all of the Clue synergies that abound.

3. Tales of Middle-earth Commander

(Full Printing: 341 Cards, New Printings: 104 Cards)

The Commander decks from the Lord of the Rings don’t bring nearly as many cards as the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set does, but with those cards being made for Commander, many of them are going to be heavily utilized. An even bigger deal is the themes of those Commander decks being the strongest in the format, due to them being represented in both the Commander decks and the main set. This means that I would expect to be seeing a whole lot of Food, Orcs, Elves, and Humans, probably even in decks not fully dedicated to those themes. That’s all gonna be pretty temporary as more sets are printed (Fallout comes in March!), but suffice it to say that for now, you could do worse than grabbing an LOTR Commander deck and then “upgrading” it to be fully Universes Beyond.

2. Warhammer 40,000 Commander

(Full Printing: 286 Cards, New Printings: 168 Cards)

Warhammer 40,000 (40K) was the first smash hit of a Universes Beyond set, with extremely synergistic decks and loads of new cards featuring the 40K universe. Featuring most of the decent ramp in the entire format, along with some of the most powerful commanders, 40K also brings some excellent artifact and +1/+1 counter synergies that are sure to show up. Maybe the most important addition to the format as a whole, however, is Sceptre of Eternal Glory, being an amazingly efficient ramp piece for mono-color decks that are sure to be rampant.

1. Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth

(Full Printing: 289 Cards, New Printings: 281 Cards)

The only full Universes Beyond set to be released, there’s no doubt that The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the meat that makes the format go. And with the possibility that we may not see any more full sets until Marvel and Final Fantasy in 2025, that may stay true for a long time.

For now, it would be more or less impossible to put together a full Commander deck featuring only Universes Beyond cards without at least a quarter of it being cards from LotR. As for what the best cards are from the set, there’s really no contest. In fact, it’s so much no contest that I, as the architect of the Deckmaster format, am pre-emptively banning The One Ring. The reasons why should be fairly obvious. That banning pushes probably the easily second-best card, Orcish Bowmasters, up into the number three spot of the set (per EDHREC score). Between it and Mirkwood Bats, there will be many a brewer forcing Partner pairings into black just to make sure they have access to these extremely powerful cards. And who can blame them? Heck, throw in a Call of the Ring and nine Nazgûl while you’re at it. Can’t go wrong!

Honorable Mentions

First off, I would like to thank the patient readers that have been biting their tongues while I spout on about what cards will be the best of format in a format that doesn’t exist and that I’m making up entirely. Except… I really don’t think that I am. The announcement of “Beyond Boosters” as a feature incoming with Assassin’s Creed next year seems to more or less guarantee that Wizards is poking their heads in this direction, and with the inclusion of all Universes Beyond sets in Arena, it’s as easy as the press of a button to declare “Beyond” a format. Whether or not Wizards will go with my interpretation that only includes strictly Universes Beyond original cards, as opposed to reprints, is anyone’s guess, but I for one do think that’s the more healthy version of the format long term.

Starting off a format, whether it be a Commander variant or just another version of Modern, with Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Mind Stone, Thought Vessel, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Three Visits, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Birds of Paradise, Brainstorm, and Dark Ritual is going to result in a broken format right from the get-go.

So, if I’m right, and a “Beyond” format is incoming anyhow, what sets are upcoming that will get this burgeoning format’s card pool to be a bit more robust?

2024

Ravnica: Clue Edition, January 2024: In the running for weirdest Magic product ever (and there have been some weird ones) is Ravnica: Clue Edition, a mashup of Jumpstart and the board-game Clue, only without a board and also a game of Magic, question mark? It’s all way out there and I have no idea what to expect despite most of the cards already being known, which is saying something.
Fallout Commander Decks, March 2024: At this point, the Commander deck model is old hat, so we more or less know that we’re going to end up with between 100 and 200 cards inserted into the card pool. We also already know some of the mechanics, from Rad counters to Food yet again to the new Junk tokens to the old Energy counters. In short, it should be a fun romp through the retro apocalypse.
Assassin’s Creed, July 2024: We don’t know much yet outside of the introduction of “Beyond Boosters”, which are almost certainly exactly what they sound like.

2025

Final Fantasy: Full set

Marvel: Full set

Even less is known about the 2025 lineup, but with two full sets already known, by the end of that year we should easily be looking at a format that has its own boosters and at least 2,000 cards in the card pool. Again, I would not be surprised to see that this becomes a format Wizards ends up promoting.

As for what it looks like right now? I took the liberty of making a few decks to find out.

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Due to the limited mana fixing, mono-color decks seem like the way to go, but I did have some concern that decks with a dedicated theme would have a bit of trouble with the limited card pool. For instance, I was able to make this Glóin, Dwarf Emissary brew fairly easily with Historic spells in mind, but if I had tried to go full artifacts, well, this Historic deck already tapped that well. With that in mind, I think that people who want to play at a bit higher power may be forced to go into two-color.

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A strange feature of the format is that every color combination I’ve tried so far has had no problem with drawing cards, but what is an exclusive feature of green is the ability to ramp effectively. So with that, I figured why not really try to lean into that advantage and also have a blue creature in the command zone that can also ramp? While I had hoped this would result in a more competitive brew, it ended up being a great example of what mid-powered Deckmaster probably looks like.

As for what the cream of the crop looks like for this format, that will be up to the brewers. I did take the obvious crack at it, though.

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As previously stated, The War Doctor goes nuts with Cascade, as it checks each card individually and therefore triggers him individually. This ends up not being that great with the existing card pool for the most part, as the Cascade cards are expensive and will probably only flip two to three cards for two to three counters. What does break it, however, is TARDIS and Dark Apostle, which allow you to Cascade your entire deck by casting one mana spells in a format that has no zero-cost, non-land cards. Combine that with a plethora of efficient aggro creatures in Boros, and this deck will have you knocking out players early and often. In other words, this serves as the early aggro deck that sets the meta. You guys can take it from here.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

And finally, what’s your favorite Universes Beyond release? Have you ever built a deck entirely out of UB cards?

Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you at the Hello Kitty table.

Read more:

The Gatherers – The Truth About Universes Beyond

Myth Realized – What If Something Was Unbanned For The Holidays?

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