Where I Think (and Hope) Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond Sets Are Headed in 2027

Wizards of the Coast (WotC) confirmed something that got my brain running overtime: 2027 is locked in for three more Universes Beyond (UB) sets, landing April 9, August 6, and November 19. No themes attached, no leaks, just three open slots on the calendar and a whole fanbase ready to speculate itself into a headache.

I've been sitting on predictions for a while, and I want to lay out what I think will happen with the next few crossover slots. Some are real predictions based on how WotC has operated, and some are what I'd sell a kidney for. I'll be upfront about which is which as we go.

Four franchises. Three real slots. Let's get into it.

Astonishing Spider-Man by Leroy Steinmann

Marvel: Skip the Obvious Pick and Go "What If...?"

Let's get the timeline straight first. Marvel's Spider-Man kicked things off back in September 2025. Then, quieter than you'd expect, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) slipped in through the Paramount side in early 2026.

In June 2026, Marvel Superheroes dropped a genuinely massive set stuffed with Avengers, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, even Squirrel Girl for the tribal deck-builders out there. Marvel in Magic isn't a hypothetical anymore. It's an active pipeline, and it's moving fast.

Here's the thing almost every MTG outlet is predicting for the next Marvel slot: X-Men. I get why X-Men characters were conspicuously missing from Marvel Superheroes, and it's one of the biggest properties in the entire Marvel library. It's the safe, obvious next step, and if I had to bet real money, I'd probably bet on it too.

Wolverine, Claws-Out by Ryan Pancoast

But safe and obvious isn't what I want. Going from Spider-Man to Avengers to X-Men in under two years starts to feel like WotC is just working down a checklist of "biggest teams" instead of doing something that actually plays and feels different from the previous two sets. I want them to zag.

My Pitch

Marvel's "What If...?" line. There's already a Disney+ show built around it and a long-running comic line to pull from, which means WotC wouldn't start from scratch; the premise is already proven, and it comes pre-loaded with built-in flexibility that a straightforward team set can't match.

To be clear, this is a different animal from Reality Fracture, the October 2026 "what if" set that's Magic's in-universe story built around Jace Beleren, and has nothing to do with Marvel at all. The actual Marvel "What If" concept is still completely unclaimed.

Captain America, Living Legend by Smirtouille

Think about what that premise unlocks. The entire pitch of "what if" storytelling is that anything can happen once, which means characters and combinations that would never make it into a normal set suddenly become fair game. Captain America, but he's actually the Punisher. Magik from X-Men taking over as Sorcerer Supreme instead of Doctor Strange. Even Conan the Barbarian gets a legitimate way in, since he's technically part of Marvel Comics continuity and this kind of alternate-timeline framing is exactly where a character like that could slot in without feeling forced.

There's Marvel Zombies, which might be the stronger pitch of the two. It's got its own Disney+ series and dedicated comic line, so the audience and the source material are already built. If WotC wanted to get aggressive with it, they could build a full set around zombified heroes and villains, plus survivors who haven't turned yet and are trying to make it through the fight. That's a built-in tension mechanic waiting to happen.

Even if a full set feels like too big of a swing, it is exactly the kind of concept that thrives as a Secret Lair drop. Selfishly, I'd love to see WotC lean into something visually darker for once. Marvel sets have leaned bright and heroic so far. Zombies would be a legitimate excuse to get a little scary with the art direction, and the game could use that shift.

Optimus Prime, Hero by Volta Creation

Transformers: The One I Actually Want Most

This is my personal favorite on this list, and it has the strongest evidence that it works. Magic already dipped a toe into Transformers back in 2022 — double-sided transforming cards showed up as inserts in The Brothers' War, and there were three separate Secret Lair drops on top of that, including the "Optimus Prime vs. Megatron" showdown. The "more than meets the eye" mechanic, where you pay a cost to flip the card into its converted form, already proved the concept looks great and how you'd want a Transformers card to play.

What's missing is the real thing. Not a handful of insert cards, not another Secret Lair, but a full standalone set that treats the property like it deserves. It's a no-brainer from a business standpoint: Hasbro owns Transformers. There's no outside licensing fee eating into the margins. It's about as close to free money as a UB set can get, and I don't understand why it hasn't happened yet at full scale.

Goldbug, Humanity's Hero by Volta Creation

If they do it right, here's what I want to see:

Multiple versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Give me five different takes on Prime and six different takes on Megatron across different eras: Generation 1, the Michael Bay movies, the newer animated stuff, all of it. There are five decades of material to pull redesigns from.

An actual card named Bumblebee. The existing card is named "Goldbug, Humanity's Ally," which is accurate to a specific era of the comics but isn't the name ninety percent of fans actually know him by. Give Bumblebee a named card.

The Witwicky family, all of them. Sam, Spike, Sparkplug, Daniel, and pair Daniel with Hot Rod, since that's a defining relationship from the cartoon that fans would immediately recognize.

The crossover Easter eggs. Generation 1 had exactly one real crossover with G.I. Joe, bringing in Cobra Commander, and that kind of one-time event is perfect Secret Lair or bonus-card material. Same goes for Hector Ramirez, the recurring newscaster who showed up in both shows; a deep-cut reference like that is exactly what makes longtime fans feel seen. There's a real argument that Jem and the Holograms and Inhumanoids share continuity with the original Transformers cartoon too, which opens the door even wider if WotC wanted to get ambitious.

Beast, Erudite Aerialist by Bachzim

Beast Wars, even if it's just a Commander deck rather than a full set, there's more than enough fan demand to support it on its own.

Unicron. One card. Something on the level of the old meld mechanic — Bruna, the Fading Light and Gisela, the Broken Blade, though I wouldn't actually bring meld back. The effect should be simple: something along the lines of "you win the game." Nothing else needs to be written on the card. Unicron doesn't need extra text to be terrifying. The name alone should do the work.

KPop Demon Hunters: Give It the Full Commander Treatment

This one already happened, sort of. Hasbro's CEO confirmed a KPop Demon Hunters Secret Lair drop back in 2025, and it hit shelves in 2026, and by all accounts it's performing exactly the way you'd expect from one of the biggest movies of the past few years. I'll take the small win of calling that one before it was officially confirmed. So more likely it will come out around Christmas time

A Secret Lair drop and a real Commander product are two different things. Secret Lair is limited: no boosters, no full retail rollout at your local game store the way Final Fantasy and the Doctor Who Commander decks got. That's underselling what KPop Demon Hunters property could actually do.

Tiger Shark, Abyssal Hunter by April Prime

One movie isn't enough material to justify a full booster set, and I don't think anyone's arguing for that. But it's more than enough for a genuinely great Commander deck, maybe even two. Give me Rumi, Zoey, and Mira as a legendary trio at the head of the deck. Give me Jinu and the Saja Boys as the rival commander option. Build in support pieces around the tiger and the bird from the movie's world, and you've got a deck with real mechanical identity, not just a reskin.

The more significant reason I want this to happen is what it could do for the game. This is exactly the kind of property that pulls in an audience Magic hasn't traditionally reached: women, younger fans, people who've never picked up a pack in their life but love this movie enough to buy in. That's the kind of growth opportunity you don't get often.

My real ask is that WotC learns from the Doctor Who Commander decks and prints enough copies to actually meet demand instead of creating another situation where the secondary market prices everyone out before the ink's dry.

The Tenth Doctor by Luisa J. Preissler

Nicktoons: My Total Wildcard

I want to be upfront: this is pure speculation. No leaks, no inside sources, nothing to back it up except me connecting dots I find interesting. But here's the thing: the dots are actually there to connect. Avatar: The Last Airbender landed in November 2025, and TMNT followed in early 2026, both through the Paramount and Nickelodeon relationship. That's not a hypothetical partnership; it's already shipped product twice.

So why stop there? Nickelodeon's back catalog is enormous. Doug, Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, Jimmy Neutron, The Fairly OddParents — that's an entire generation's childhood sitting untouched, and the crossover appeal writes itself. Even the old Nickelodeon game shows could get a second life as Planechase cards, which honestly feels like a perfect fit for that chaotic, anything-goes format.

Since we're already talking about Paramount's broader library, I don't think it's crazy to imagine them reaching further into their catalog: Cheers, Andy Griffith, Full House, that whole classic-sitcom lane. I still half-believe Cheers was secretly set in a holodeck the whole time, so a crossover with Star Trek practically writes its own joke. If that's too far off the board, there's an easier and arguably more commercially sound swing sitting right there: a Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone set. Different tone entirely, but it's got a massive built-in audience, and it's squarely inside Paramount's wheelhouse.

Spock, Logical Choice by Bastien Jez

Where That Leaves Us

Three open slots, four pitches, and I'd genuinely be thrilled to see any of them land. Marvel's "What If...?" gives WotC a way to zag instead of following the obvious X-Men path everyone's expecting. Transformers is sitting there as essentially free IP with a proven mechanic already waiting to be scaled up. KPop Demon Hunters already showed it can move product; now it deserves the real Commander treatment instead of just a Secret Lair moment. And Nicktoons is my long shot, but less so than it looked a few months ago.

We'll find out soon enough what WotC actually has planned. Until then, I'm sticking with this list.