Looking Back

Hapless Researcher card art

2025 is nearly in the books; it is time to take a look back at the year in Magic.

Wizards kept to a blazing pace, releasing a lot of product in 2025. Ignoring the digital-only releases on Arena, the main releases this year were as follows (with 'regular' expansions in Italics):

The Sets

- Innistrad Remastered: January 24 (compilation set)
- Aetherdrift: February 14
- Tarkir Dragonstorm: April 11
- Final Fantasy: June 13
- Edge of Eternities: August 1
- Marvel's Spider-man: September 26
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: November 21

This year was a little 'simpler' to follow in that only the first release was a non-expansion; the rest were 'traditional' in the sense that they were released as regular expansions with typical products (booster packs/etc.) and legal in Standard.

The big trend this year was the Universes Beyond (UB) sets. Three of the final four releases (in red above) were from intellectual property outside the Magic universe. Expect that to continue (more on that next year). 

I didn't play a ton of Standard (or limited) this year, so I didn't explore these sets as much as I would have liked. But many of them didn't grab me, either. Going set by set:

- Innistrad: I liked and collected the originals; I got a box of this for Christmas and enjoy it.

- Aetherdrift: I couldn't get into the theme. This is basically Mario Kart with a Magic spin to it. Didn't seem like it belonged.

- Tarkir: Nice to return to this plane, and who doesn't love dragons? This one was okay.

- Final Fantasy: I didn't play the games, so this didn't do much for me, though it seems well-received in general.

- Edge of Eternities: Magic in space. Same with Aetherdrift; it felt out of place to me.

- Spider-man: this under-powered set was underwhelming (though fun for Spidey fans).

- Avatar: this is a good one; the universe lends itself well to Magic's mechanics.

According to Magic head designer Mark Rosewater, the two best-selling sets were Final Fantasy and Avatar, respectively. The best-selling in-universe set was Tarkir. The worst-selling was Aetherdrift.

The Singles

CoolStuffInc showed their bestsellers from each expansion and each rarity (the latter was regardless of release year).

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I didn't see a TCGPlayer article on annual bestsellers. According to AI, here are the most-sold singles in 2025 (with rarity, color, and set following):

The One Ring (mythic, colorless, Tales of Middle Earth)

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary (mythic, white, Final Fantasy)

Tifa Lockhart (rare, green, Final Fantasy)

Sazh's Chocobo (uncommon, green, Final Fantasy)

Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon (rare, land, Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

Sol Ring (uncommon, colorless, many sets)

Craterhoof Behemoth (mythic, green, many sets)

Ledger Shredder (rare, blue, Streets of New Capenna)

Note that half of these are not from 2025 releases.

Personal Thoughts

Magic is getting more 'commercial' by decreasing their in-universe sets and focusing on external properties. The two best-selling sets being UB means this will continue. I wonder if the days of original Magic content are diminishing.

Personally, my year in Magic centered on the continued reduction and organization of my collection. The last quarter of the year I focused on making fun (or improved) Commander decks; after a series of posts I did on the types of cards to include, I realized that some of my earliest creations were terrible. I am correcting that.

What will next year hold? More on that in January.