Hasbro recently announced a multi-year licensing partnership with Warner Bros. to bring the world even more Harry Potter merch than it already has, a thing I struggle to believe is actually possible. The announcement promises “products featuring dolls, role play, action figures & collectibles, interactive plush, board games and more to be revealed later this year.”
This made Magic: The Gathering players a little concerned. We just had an Avatar: The Last Airbender set, and we’re three weeks out from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set. But while some of the crossovers called Universes Beyond have been embraced by players—almost every middle-aged Magic player I know bought a bunch of Avatar cards “for my kids,” no really—those aren’t ones created by a leading voice in anti-trans panic.
Responding to these concerns on Reddit, the Wizards of the Coast community team posted, “The Magic Multiverse has its own school of Magic at Strixhaven with plenty of secrets still to explore. Our Universes Beyond roadmap currently doesn’t have us visiting any others.”
Which is comforting to hear. Strixhaven is a magical university that was the subject of a Magic set released in 2021, as well as a Dungeons & Dragons supplement, an upcoming Magic set called Secrets of Strixhaven scheduled for April, and an upcoming YA novel called Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos by Seanan McGuire. As well as not being created by a figurehead of hate speech, the fact it’s a university rather than a high school means Strixhaven also dodges all that sketchy child endangerment stuff that makes Harry Potter seem like a satire of British boarding schools until you get about four books in and realize it’s actually a weird celebration of them instead.
As well as Secrets of Strixhaven, there’s another set that takes place in the Magic multiverse coming in October called Reality Fracture. On either side of it are sets based on The Hobbit and Star Trek, of course. Meanwhile, the licence for Harry Potter trading cards was recently acquired by Upper Deck, though that’s purely for collectibles rather than a game.
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