Magic's next set brings back Legends in a big way

Magic: the Gathering is starting the celebration for its 30th anniversary early at the end of this summer, and what better way to celebrate the past then going back to it? With Magic's next set Dominaria United—slated for release on September 9—the game returns to its home plane in the Magic multiverse for the first time since 2018's Dominaria. 

The story for the new set starts on August 10, and involves the planeswalker Karn peering back through the history of Dominaria. Wizards also says it will be spread “across four sets,” though it's not clear if that means there are more Dominaria-focused sets in the near future besides The Brothers War, which is coming this November. But more exciting than the set itself is what Wizards of the Coast has decided to put inside Collector's booster packs.

After uncovering long-forgotten cases of 1994's Legends expansion in a closing warehouse, Wizards decided they wanted to get this treasure trove of historical cardboard out into the world. The feeling of watching the team at Wizards open the packs to prepare them for their new life flips between adorable and reverent as everyone—clad in masks and gloves—tears open boosters and reminisces.

Legends itself was a critical set for Magic, garnering a 1994 GAMA award for best game accessory and introducing everything from the legendary type and multicolored gold cards to increasing the number of cards in booster packs to 15 from the paltry eight we got before. Nowadays there are countless powerhouse cards from Legends enshrined as staples. Mana Drain is a quintessential counterspell, while Moat and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale are control powerhouse (assuming you have thousands of dollars to spare). And now you'll have a shot to open one in a collector booster of Dominaria United.

And what about the rest of the set? We know the original Dominaria was packed with legendary creatures and cards when we last visited in 2018, and Wizards confirms that this will continue with a legendary card in every single Set, Draft, and Collector booster pack, making Dominaria United a boon for Commander players in search of new options to pick from between the over 40 legendary creatures in the set. Plus, Wizards has also said that there will be “surprising appearances for new and longtime fans to discover” so my ancient-magic-player spidey-sense is going off in the hopes we'll see more appearances from Garth or even Greensleeves from the original old canon novels.

But whether I'm right (like I was when I called that Garth would finally get a card in an interview with Mark Rosewater about rare Magic cards), or just as wrong as when I keep one land in opening hands, New Dominaria has me excited. We'll just have to wait until Wizards announcement on their Wizards Presents stream on August 18 to see the start of previews.