Rosewater: 2025 to Feature Fewer "Main" Releases

Header Image Art from Edge of Eternities | Illus. Chris Rallis

Earlier this week, Magic: The Gathering Head Designer Mark Rosewater said via his "Blogatog" Tumblr that next year won't see as many releases as we had in 2024. 

This reveal comes as a welcome surprise for many who felt that 2024's slate of Magic releases overwhelmed. A Tumblr user asked Rosewater on Wednesday if there'd been any internal discussion regarding "product fatigue," to which Rosewater answered with this tidbit: "2024 had nine main products. 2025 has seven. We're making less."

Rosewater didn't answer the question directly, regarding the Tumblr user wondering if internal discussions about product fatigue at Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro have or have not occurred, and two fewer releases doesn't necessarily mean those discussions took place. However, 2024 saw 2,061 unique, non-reprint cards printed, and the 2,000-card threshhold had been crossed in 2022 as well.

If those discussions did occur, it's likely Rosewater wouldn't be able to address them publicly; in fact, he said as much in another Tumblr post earlier today, in which he responded to a user question regarding writing articles about the "legalities and/or corporate bureaucracy of making Magic" with "I'm (given) a lot of latitude to talk game design, but talking business decisions is a bit harder."

"The Fewer Your Possessions, The Fewer Your Worries."

So a smaller number in 2025 isn't a bad thing by any stretch, even if it's a return to 2023 numbers, which saw 1,923 new cards. To find a year that had fewer than 1,000 new cards printed, you'd have to go back to 2015.

Next year's slate of announced releases feature Aetherdrift (Feb. 14), Tarkir: Dragonstorm (April 11), Final Fantasy (June 13), Edge of Eternities (Aug. 1), with Marvel Spider-Man and a yet-to-be-revealed Universes Beyond release marked "TBA" for later in 2025, likely in Q4. That's six, if they all count as "main products." Or, in other words, room for one more as per Rosewater.

It was already announced that the previously revealed return to Lorwyn was "pushed back" to Q1 of 2026, and the upcoming Innistrad Remastered seems to not be considered one of the "main products" mentioned. 

It remains to be seen what 2025 will look like in terms of a concrete release schedule, but Commander's Herald will continue to be your source for up-to-date, verified information as it becomes available.