New Joke Of A 'Magic: The Gathering' Set Wants To Destroy Cards

Game designers can have a little destruction, as a treat. But this set might be taking that too far. Magic: The Gathering debuted in 1993 and has been growing in popularity ever since. Each year, MTG’s designers crank out a ton of cards to add to the over twenty thousand cardboard wonders currently in existence. Somehow, they still manage to make (almost) every new set feel fresh and innovative. But when they have an idea for a mechanic that’s too game breaking, that’s too wacky, that’s too unplayable, they put it in an “Un” set. The first Un set debuted in 1998 as a joke set and the most recent set Unfinity, debuts on October 7th. This set wants to break the game… and ruin your cards.

For the first time ever, some of the cards from an Un set will be playable in Commander, the game’s most popular format. They’ll also be playable in Eternal formats, which allow every black bordered card ever printed. How are they going to ruin your cards? They want to put stickers all over them. Unfinity is set in a carnival themed space station and the inclusion of stickers adds to the festive, fun vibe that Wizards of the Coast is going for. Essentially, they’re going to function as more fiddly counters. Players can use stickers to pump up a creature, change its art, change its name, or give it abilities. They say that the stickers are reusable and won’t damage your cards, likening the adhesive to a sticky note’s lightly adhesive glue. But for the love of Urza, sleeve your cards before putting a sticker on them. 

Allowing cards from this traditionally “jokes only” set is going to change the formats it’s playable in. But that happens with every new set. The game is meant to change and grow by design. Plus, this is a great way for Wizards of the Coast to incentivize players to actually buy these sets. Previously, the biggest reason for “serious” Magic players to snap up these cards were the gorgeous full art lands. This set includes the most gorgeous lands yet and they’ll surely be rocketing in price as soon as the set releases. But whether these stickers last more than two games and don’t damage your cards at all… only time will tell.