Throughout the long history of Magic: The Gathering, the game’s designers have invented a wide variety of settings (or planes in Magic speak). We’ve seen sets based around rival factions on the planet-wide city of Ravnica, horror vibes in the gothic land of Innistrad, and warring clans in war-torn Tarkir. With so many to choose from, even the most popular planes can be abandoned for years as the game’s story moves on to explore new places, but Wizards of the Coast seems to have a new favorite setting. It’s not a plane at all, but New York City.
The first full Universes Beyond sets were based on the fantasy worlds of Dungeons & Dragons and The Lord of the Rings, but the Spider-Man set that launched on Sept. 26 focuses on Marvel Comics’ version of New York. So will the Avengers-focused Marvel Super Heroes set coming in June 2026, and the just announced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set launching on March 6. By the end of 2026, New York will have more Magic sets than Amonkhet, Stixhaven, Capenna, Duskmourn, Eldraine, Kaladesh, Kaldheim, and Ikoria, and be tied with Ixalan and Tarkir.
The Big Apple has a huge cultural impact, and the reason Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set there goes back to the franchise’s origins as a homage to Daredevil. But while Marvel Comics and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles give Magic’s developers plenty of popular characters to work with, the setting itself feels very limiting.
One place you can clearly see the strain is in the design for basic lands. These are often some of the most striking pieces of art in a set, which is why full-art lands are so popular. They’re a way to really establish the setting, whether they’re representing whole planets in Edge of Eternities or showing off the fractured landscape of Zendikar.
Marvel’s Spider-Man kept things pretty simple, using Spider-Man’s webs to form mana symbols displayed over backdrops of part of the city, with smokestacks representing mountains and Central Park for forests. Rather than reuse the same landscapes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles chose to represent Magic’s five iconic mana colors as… pizza toppings.
Pizza obviously looms large in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pantheon (Wizards is even selling a special Pizza Bundle), but these lands leave a lot to be desired. Sure, the wacky flavor combos do a good job of capturing some of the gross-sounding toppings the turtles tend to favor (green is kiwi, jalapenos, and broccoli). And whoever came up with the idea of representing blue with anchovies must have been very proud of themselves, even though Raphael went on a whole rant about how much he doesn’t want them in the 1990 film. I just wish they didn’t look so unappetizing — and so out of character for Magic: The Gathering.
Rather than being the sort of art I’d love to add to my collection, these messy slices look gross. A city setting doesn’t have to limit the possibilities of art – the metropolis lands in Streets of New Capenna are absolutely gorgeous. These pizza lands feel like a lazy solution to a problem created by an overpacked Universes Beyond release schedule. Hopefully, Wizards of the Coast will do better work in Marvel Super Heroes and then move on to a setting that it hasn’t worn out.
