The Gathering’ Draft May Bring More Crossover Sets

Spider-Man has just come to Magic: The Gathering, but the card game already has other crossovers planned, and different ways to implement them.

Just before the latest Universes Beyond set came to shelves, Magic senior game designer Corey Bowen broke down the new Pick Two Draft, a four-person format (as opposed to the standard eight) which sees players take two cards from their Play Boosters and pass them to their left and right. Bowen explained the developers chose this new way to play as away to help casual players coming into Magic and those linking up in four-person groups. But it also has the added bonus of facilitating smaller Universes Beyond sets in the future.

“How could we represent an amazing corner of the Marvel Universe without trying to fill over 300 card concepts?” wrote Bowen. “If we were focusing only on Spider-Man, there are tons of great stories, characters, and depth, but not enough to meet the demanding threshold of a full Magic set. We also believed solving this problem now would allow us to consider more partnerships that may not to fill the shoes of a full Magic set.”

That Bowen calls out “more partnerships” as a reason for Pick Two is interesting, since Magic: The Gathering has been pushing Universes Beyond collaborations hard in recent years with full sets based on major IP like Final Fantasy and Doctor Who. Days ago, we also learned New York Comic-Con will have a panel announcing a new team-up between Magic and Nicklodeon, its third following ones between Spongebob Squarepants (for Secret Lair) and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Not every Nick IP is as big now as they were back in the day (or are that deep), potentially providing a perfect use case for Pick Two.

The Nickelodeon x Magic panel will be held on October 10, where we’ll find out what it is and just how big. And if it’s not this that gets the Pick Two treatment, we’ll eventually learn what Universes Beyond crossover it’ll be.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.