Magic’s Newest Expansion Heads to a Galaxy Far Away (But Not the One You’re Thinking Of)

On the edge of the known multiverse sits a solar system made up of five planets, each completely covered in a single, distinct terrain.

Like Star Wars with its desert and ocean planets (Tatooine and Kamino, respectively), Magic: The Gathering’s latest expansion leans heavily into a classic science fiction trope: the single-biome planet. But while the comparisons may seem obvious, lead designer Ethan Fleischer insists this space opera set, titled Edge of Eternities, isn’t just a reskinned version of everyone’s favorite galaxy far, far away.

“We have a product line called Universes Beyond, where we make licensed Magic sets — Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, and maybe one day Star Wars or Star Trek,” Fleischer tells Inverse. “So it seemed foolish to make a Star Wars-style set with a coat of paint and call it Magic’s version, especially if we might one day do the real thing. Why make budget Darth Vader when you might want to make real Darth Vader?”

Edge of Eternities is definitely its own thing, mixing classic sci-fi tropes with Magic: The Gathering creatures and archetypes. To mark the new sets release — and the introduction of a brand new setting — Inverse spoke to Fleischer about the pop culture history that inspired this set, how they designed “spacecraft” cards, and the science fiction Easter egg that he hopes fans don’t overlook.

‘A retro sci-fi vision’

Fleischer has been working for MTG publisher Wizards of the Coast for 14 years, and for most of that time, he’s been trying to make Edge of Eternities. His original concept was inspired by the classic Flash Gordon comics published in the 1930s and ‘40s, with an Art Deco style to match.

“I had a retro sci-fi vision,” Fleischer recalls. “People said, ‘It’s not quite right yet.’ But I kept pitching it. I knew eventually we'd get there.”

A little over a decade later, Magic has changed dramatically. Universes Beyond pushed the game further into the science fiction territory thanks to crossovers like Doctor Who. That shift, combined with an increase in overall production (Wizards now publishes roughly six new sets per year), meant the time was ripe for an MTG space opera.

“It seemed foolish to make a Star Wars-style set with a coat of paint and call it Magic’s version, especially if we might one day do the real thing. Why make budget Darth Vader when you might want to make real Darth Vader?”

The result wasn’t exactly what Fleischer originally imagined. Another recent Magic set, Streets of New Capenna, had already leaned into the Art Deco style. So Edge of Eternities pivoted to a more contemporary and original direction.

“If I’d been in charge of the art, it might have looked more familiar, and maybe not as cool,” Fleischer says.

However, his retro vision lives on in some of the special card variants included in Edge of Eternities. These borrow equally from NASA’s 1930s-style space travel posters and the paperback covers of the ‘60s and ‘70s, an era which helped propel the science fiction into the zeitgeist.

“Sci-fi really took off in the mainstream when cheap paperbacks hit shelves in the ’60s,” Fleischer says. “Those paperback-style covers are very representative of that time.”

‘We wanted something new’

Edge of Eternities’ biggest addition to the game itself is, without a doubt, the Spacecraft, a new type of card invented for the set. Spacecrafts enter the battlefield as powerless “artifacts,” but you can use your other creatures to fuel them up (or “station” them in MTG speak) until they transform into massive battleships with dynamic abilities.

For Fleischer, there was never any question of whether spaceships would be a central part of Eternities. The only question was how Wizards could make it happen.

“We knew we wanted giant space battleships,” he says. “That’s essential to space opera — naval battles in space. Magic already has Vehicles, which is a similar concept, but we wanted something new, something bigger.”

That last part was almost literal. During the early design process, Fleischer and his team considered introducing giant Magic cards twice the size of regular ones as part of the set.

“We called them ‘Cosmic’ cards,” he says. “They represented anything gargantuan: spaceships, planets, stars, moons.”

“We had a track on the card where you’d move a counter to unlock abilities,” he continues. “It worked well. We loved it. But the production costs were too high. Booster pack prices would’ve had to go up, and that wouldn’t be popular.”

Wizards considered several options — including oversized booster packs to fit extra-large cards, and another version that could fold up to fit in a regular pack — but ultimately, the design team landed on the current version, which fits each spacecraft into a regular-sized Magic card.

Edge of Eternities is unsurprisingly full of spacecraft cards, including a handful of Legendary ships that can now lead Commander decks, thanks to an official rule change announced in tandem with the set. Among the list of options is one obvious standout: Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought.

With the ability to zap any of your opponent’s creatures for a whopping 100 damage and fly in for lethal damage in most formats of the game, the Dawnsire is a shockingly powerful card. Fleischer reveals that the original plan was to create five similar spacecrafts (one to represent each of the set’s five warring factions) but not all of them made it through the development process. He also admits that, in this case, he may have borrowed some inspiration from Star Wars, and the Death Star in particular.

“Yes, it has a giant laser beam,” he says. “I won’t deny the resemblance.”

What’s Next for Edge of Eternities

Beyond its spacecrafts and single-biome planets, Edge of Eternities is full of otherworldly possibilities. There are iconic Magic monsters like the hive-mind Slivers and the eldritch Eldrazi hiding in the shadows, a teaser at what’s to come if (or when) Wizards returns to this space opera setting.

“A few one-offs hint at the broader world,” Fleischer says. “This solar system is bigger than any other Magic setting. We wanted room to expand. That kind of scale shift helps create the sense of wonder central to space opera.”

For now, however, Ethan Fleischer is just happy to have finally brought his vision of an epic sci-fi story within the world of Magic: The Gathering to life. And when I ask what his favorite creation is from Edge of Eternities, his answer is true to form, highlighting the set’s classic genre roots while also revealing one more subtle sci-fi Easter egg hidden within the set’s 399 new cards.

“I’m very happy with the Dominion Bracelet,” he says. “It’s a reference to one of those old pulp novels I love, but I’ll let fans solve that puzzle.”