The number of legendary creatures in MTG sets could be set to decrease – at least according to head designer Mark Rosewater. “We’ve been talking about lowering the average of legendary creatures in Magic: The Gathering IP sets”, he writes in a personal blog post from July 31. Rosewater adds that some MTG sets like Universes Beyond will still feature a lot of legends “as the named characters of an IP are a big draw”.
The statement came in response to a question from Tumblr user Girlsnout, who asked how likely a set with minimal legendary creatures would be. “I feel like older magic had more of a ‘giant armies of monsters clashing’ flavor that it doesn’t quite have now”, they write. While Rosewater doesn’t comment on the current flavor of Magic: The Gathering, he does seem confident we’ll see fewer legendaries.
Commander is the most popular MTG format around, so you’d expect high demand for legendary creatures. But there’s a lot of support for Rosewater’s response in the comments on his blog.
“I love MTG Commander too”, says user Ennosytallo-blog, “but even I can see that the number of legendary creatures is way too big”. “Honestly, probably a good call”, agrees Hoondle. “I utterly adore Commander, but even I agree that the format is not wanting for Commander options.” “Important characters should have a card, but the more you do, the less it’s clear who is actually important”, adds Apo08.
Not everyone in the comments agrees (what comment section ever does?). However, with the suggestion from Rosewater’s blog and enough praise in the comments, a less legendary-filled future seems like a distinct possibility for MTG. The post comes not long after Wizards of the Coast announced it was reducing the number of planeswalkers in future sets, too.
For more of the latest news, keep a close eye on the MTG 2023 release schedule. There we cover all the latest upcoming set launches. If you prefer to play digitally, you may also want to keep an eye out for the best MTG Arena decks and MTG Arena codes.