Universes Within Booster Set - The Professor Predicts a Product for Magic: The Gathering 

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I want WotC to know that if I‘m given the chance to pick between a universes beyond and universes within version I will pick universes within every time.

An universe within set would be amazing, the amount of flavorful things that they can do with all the cards is gigantic

Given Universes Beyond is becoming increasingly prevalent in eternal formats like Legacy, Modern and Pauper, Universes Within could effectively be Eternal Masters II. Masters sets have typically sold well (at least the good ones), so I don't see why this wouldn't.

The key thing right at the end is the crux... "reasonably priced". A curated list of One Ring, Bowmasters, the Necron cards. Wizards will see that and their hearts will scream "This deserves Commander Master's Pricing"

He doesn't miss folks

Professor, I've gotta disagree, this is clearly never going to happen. Draft boosters don't exist anymore. It'd be Play Boosters. :)

Yeah, a "Masters Within" set in the not-so-near future seems _very_ likely. I just hope it isn't priced like a Masters product...

One thing I've noticed is a lot of the more powerful cards from Lord Of The Rings have fairly setting-neutral flavor. Delighted Halfling would be just as comfortable on Eldraine as they are in Meddle Earth, and Orcish Bowmasters can exist anywhere black-aligned otcs are.

The biggest hurdle to doing it as a set would be the lack of mechanical cohesion and how most of the in-demand cards are high complexity and would fill up the rare and mythic slots while probably needing new designs or unrelated reprints to fill out the commons and uncommons. One other option they have though is to just start sticking Universes Within bonus sheets in every set that doesn't have its own thematic bonus sheet.

This is such a great idea that Wizards will probably try this and end up dropping the ball in the most meaningless way possible.

I'm a new player who joined during wilds of eldraine. My current favorite sets are phyrexia and brothers war. I never got the chance to draft them, I hardly have any good cards from them, but their story and aesthetic were what drew me in. I went back and even read the original brothers war novel which i enjoyed thoroughly. Have faith in your IP WotC. 30 years of magic and we all fell in love with something in your universe. Let it shine!

Be interesting to see if universes within is going to be a thing now that Secret Lairs are limited run prints.

I've been waiting for something like this to get released ever since the first Universes Within was announced.

I buy a lot of universes beyond stuff already and I'd love a set like this.

I would love this. I'd love to assemble a universes within version of the tyranid commander deck. I love the deck, but I don't want to upgrade it since it would wreck the homogeny of the deck.

I see it more like a Mystery Booster than a stand alone set. A set where the contents can change over time and have a huge pool of cards. Sadly the need to commission art for everything makes this almost impossible unless they charge Magic 30 prices.

The parallel between Urza and Stark is a great starting point for a Secret Lair, and also for the UW reprints. Maybe not everything can be absorbed by Magic lore the same way, but it can help with a lot of characters.

I like the idea of a universes within set. My current favorite cards are ones with secret lair treatments, but were in-universe cards. The LoLx Arcane treatments of Path to Exile and Rystic Study are awesome, but I have a hard time getting into Slicer, Hired Muscle, because it is immersion breaking, not because it is a modern golem, but because the art style is different.

I think this is a brilliant idea as more and more desirable cards come out of universes beyond products it just makes sense to have a reprint set eventually and doing it as universes within makes everyone happy!

I love this idea! I’ve been loving the universes within designs and an entire reprint set would be amazing ❤️

The art and alternate names of your exemplary cards are just gorgeous

I love this idea. There have been some really cool Universes Beyond cards that came out that are really interesting mechanically and would fit, but so far it mostly has not felt right to mix them up. Some small excemption to this are some reprint cards like wedding ring/ farewell/ toxic deluge that are cheaper than their universes within counterparts. Normally, I keep Universes Beyond cards in a seperate binder and lesser value lotr cards in a seperate box. I'm keeping my 40k, lotr and dr. Who decks pure. This might change if I can get myself to care less about how strange mixing them feels, but would I prefer a universes within version of the one ring? Hell yes! And do I think that other players would be interested in this? You bet!

As someone who was drawn into Magic by friends in highschool and then largely dropped it for a number of years, what really has been drawing me back to the game is its world and characters. Looking at all of the fantastical and interesting ideas and settings that Magic The Gathering has explored and how much space the way they've constructed that world gives them to expand in the future in interesting ways that all mesh together into a beautiful mosaic. Honestly I've never been a huge fan of the Universes beyond sets because it felt to me like what's happened to big budget movies in the last decade or so, big names that bring in all the draw but without the heart that original storytelling brings. To end my somewhat scattered rambling, I very much hope that "Universes Within" or something similar comes to pass, because it means that there will be even more of the Magic the Gathering world to explore without losing out on any of the very interesting and fun mechanics that might otherwise be trapped in a theme that can feel out of place. Sorry for rambling, and to whomever reads this, Have a lovely day.

I will always choose the in-universe versions where I can. Magic needs to feel like magic to me.

I would absolutely buy this. I avoid universes beyond (just not my thing) but man, if they really did this, I'd be first in line!

"True rizz comes from the soul, baby!" I am in agony.

DMU into BRO into ONE was - IMO - huge for essentially tying together a significant portion of the last 30 years. Three sets that went from Dominaria to Mirrodin in terms of flavour, which I felt was fantastic for showcasing very classic Magic worlds (my two favourite planes, so maybe my bias is showing). That all then got finished up very quickly with MOM which tried to do a bit of a Greatest Hits/Tasting Platter of every plane. And now we're still kind of continuing this Planar Road Trip into the start of the new arc by revisiting some fan-favourite planes: Eldraine first, then Ixalan, and on to Ravnica next. The "problem" here is that it still just feels like "hey remember this?" rather than "here's some important things that are happening now". I guess we're supposed to be following Kellan. I thought he featured pretty well in Eldraine but he may as well have not existed in LCI. The MKM previews seem to indicate that he's running around with Kaya to help solve the case, so hopefully he's relevant again. So, to me, each set feels very much like it's a separate & stand-alone experience that's not part of any sort of cohesive story. Meanwhile, between these sets we're getting UB products which are specifically created as separate & stand-alone experiences by design. I'm hanging on to hope that Thunder Junction will be the set that really starts to lay things out and feels like a proper Magic set. Give me a reason to care about the Omenpaths and what's going to happen next!

I would absolutely love a set like this mtgs art and themes are the reasons I fell in love with the game would love to see in-universe reprints

Universes Within for Secret Lairs has actually made me enjoy the Universes Beyond Lairs, because I know I'll be getting a version of the card I would actually play eventually. If they can somehow pull that off for Universes Beyond as a whole, that would be quite impressive.

Looks like a logical step ! 🤘🦁🤘

I love both the universes beyond and within cards. I genuinely hope they do a full set. I would absolutely be on the lookout for my favorite universes beyond cards in my favorite planes or characters. Also, still looking forward to the Behind the Campus video. It'll come eventually.

Heck yes!!! This is a great idea in my book!

Universes Within is a great idea. WOTC should thank you for the idea, if they haven’t already. You’re right. It’s a new Reserve List. If there’s one thing I hate more than poison counters, it’s the Reserve List.

My personal biggest fear with a potential 'Universes Within' set is the common slots! more specifically the potential downshifting of cards to fill in the slots that could warp formats like limited and especialy pauper!

Dope idea, would buy!

After thinking about this it makes so much sense. I'm not sure how likely it is to happen, but I would go out of my way to buy and support this product in a way I haven't before.

“Professors preposterous predictions!” 😂 that made me lol

8:00 Loving the shade-throwinf. Lol

I can definitely see this happening in some form. Another consideration is timing - a UW version of the LOTR set probably wouldn’t come out for another couple of years, giving them plenty of time to squeeze every drop out of the UB set.

I wonder how the Universes Within set would work with the Time Lord creatures from Doctor Who... Perhaps there could be a set of 13+ mysterious time entities, each only known by their number and their unique personalities!

My main concern with UW is how it will impact deck building. Its going to be real easy to accidentally build an illegal deck when the only thing that tells you 2 cards are actually the same card is 3 tiny numbers in the bottom corner. It's not a huge issue now, but it will be once we have hundred or thousands of UW cards. WOTC shouldve negotiated the rights to use the card names perpetually so they could give UW cards the Godzilla treatment

A little bird told me that wotc are very specifically looking at bringing something like this to arena at the very least, in fact they actually already have art lined up for several UB that were featured in bonus sheets 😉

I would definitely love to see some Magic universe versions of many of the cards from the various Universe Beyond products so I can make the themes of my Commander decks more on point.

Ah yes, the classic "make up a problem and then sell you the solution"

I hope the assassins creed boosters are like Jumpstart. One for each of the main line games.

What a fantastic idea! Preach Prof!

Love the hell outta this idea! Hope this video proves to be a good pitch for the product

Thanks again

Great idea as some of want some of the Universe Beyond cards within the Magic Universe. WoTc take note please. Great video as always Prof and looking forward to the next Shuffle up and Play

I would love this. Absolutely love it.

Brilliant! I hope that when they do this, they also credit you with the same level of honour as with FAB and make sure you appear in the set.

Part of the hype for seeing new UB stuff was theorycrafting what the UW variants would look like. That said, I feel like the Legacy/Commander-only cards have less priority when it comes to making IW versions than say, the LoTR stuff that was printed Modern-legal. Some of my favorite cards would only need an art change if ported over though, Reprieve and Cast into the Fire are such great designs.

i've been thinking this would happen for a while now are really hope it does as it will probably be my favorite set

Personally, I really enjoy the world of magic as I'm very excited for the new in universe sets this year, but I also really enjoy seeing universe beyond because the idea of using all these iconic characters from other universes I love in the amazing format of magic is just so fun for me and my friends. I buy universe beyond for the ip it represents not really the actual power of the cards, but I do 100% agree there should always be in universe versions too.

I certainly would be happier with a universes within. The wider access to some of the genuinely cool cards i would like to brew with like Abbadon, blood for the blood god, the several doctors Ect. in a style I personally would be awesome

Would love a universes within set like this

Universes Within versions of every Universes Beyond card we’ve gotten beyond thus far would be amazing. Maybe like a year or two after every Universes Beyond Set we can get a reprint set of it.

The opening to that Keeps advert, precious😂 We’r all so gorgeous that we must’v all come from Universe Beyond

I like the idea prof, definitely a good way to allow reprints if universes beyond cards are highly desirable

Been thinking this would be a thing too myself when I was thinking of how they handled the beyond cards to get them in universe with the first secret lairs

I love the Secret Lair and Universes Beyond sets, AND I love the reprints with MTG skins for traditional fans.

I like Universes Beyond and love the idea of Universes Within! Seems like a win win.

Definitely an interesting idea

I would both love and hate this! I'm currently trying to make a commander deck for all the universe within cards.

The only problem that i see with universes beyond is the lack of ingame information about it. I once open a strange card in the list that i didn't know with the secret lair logo, I searched about it by typing the name and didn t really found much ( I didn t search more). Later on, by total randomness while watching mtg gameplay I discover that a secret lair stranger thing card has, strangely the same effect, and then I understood the universe beyond thing when I found my card in a binder later on. Something that I do like however, is the godzilla format , the cards with a box right beneath the name that clarified wich "real" card it really is. I can understand that it makes the card look "less clean" or "less magic-like", but for me it's seems like the most viable. That or I want a clear official list easily findable with every universe beyond card with their equivalent in universe

Bro killed that “Keeps” commercial. Thats good advertisement. 👍

This would be so dope

I hadn't thought about it before but it does honestly feel like a no-brainer product to make. Lower effort on their end, while still providing a lot of needed reprints (even if they only focus on the expensive/meta cards, but I don't think I'd complain if I never got to have an in-universe version of Rohirrim Lancers or whatever. Having an in-universe The One Ring would be really nice though.) Honestly just slap some serialized cards in the collector boosters and they'll sell even if the rest of the packs' contents are literal dirt.

I like the in universe versions because they fit better flavor wise into other decks. But played against each other, or even other universe beyond, seems fun, so I like them for being able to rep other fandoms I like.

Universes Within gives some really good opportunities to give cards to characters who don't yet have one, or don't have enough representation in the game. I had recently looked at Tasha the Witch Queen and thought how easily this could be given a treatment to be a card for Davriel Cane, similarly Ghyrson Starn could be a creature version of Ral Zarek

I got distracted midway through by that silver button plaque on the back wall… How does this channel not have 1MM subscribers yet?! So many thoughtful and entertaining videos, including this one. Hope you get to celebrate that milestone soon!

14:50 I don't really like the Mr. House Card but 100% would love to play that card flavored as Krark

would love to have universes within versions of sets, though I think some changes would be needed for cards like the doctor and their companions which might be hard to figure out. but absolutely a set like this proposed idea has to happen eventually right?

God i love the professor so much. And Yes i love that idea, i am one that has difficulty with buying/using cards that come from outside the world of magic. But there still alot of cool designs of cards in those sets/secret lairs. Therefore the profs solution is amazing, if it comes at a reasonable price.

This would be awesome

Amazing idea!!!! 🧠

Here's my pitch for a Universes within reprint set: You wait a few years for a few sets worth of UB to come out, then you gather popular mechanics across multiple UB sets that can play with eac hother. The easiest way to do this would be to pick an overarching mechanical theme thats broad (like counters, tokens, or a card type set like Kaladesh or Theros). Then you make an entirely new plane (or maybe pick a plane thats been mentioned but not explored, cough *xerex* cough), and have your universes within flavor all set in this one plane. That way you get a diverse spread of UB mechanics with some nice vorthos seasoning to tie it all together. You could throw in a few random "off mechanic" expensive cards in the mythic slots to satisfy the financial need for UB reprints as well. Right off the bat, historic would be an easy "set theme" to grab from a bunch of different UB sets. Dr Who and LotR both had sagas. Warhammer had plenty of artifacts and all of them (and presumably all UB going forward) have plenty of legends. I do think the prof is underestimating the work/cost involved in doing a set like this. New art has to be commissioned on everything, a major cost of a set and one that isn't an issue for many of his other examples of "WotC doing less for more". Also, curating from such a diverse set of cards is bound to be much harder than curating from a series of sets that already had something in common with one another. I guess Dominaria covers a pretty broad range of sets and mechanics, but it still seems like peanuts compared to the breadth of concepts translated into game mechanics that will emerge from a few years of UB. Getting these disparate sets to draft nicely together would be the most difficult remaster curation they've ever done.

Honestly, I love this idea. If this would happen, I'd be all about it. This would be a great way to get some of the MtG reflavored Universes Beyond cards as Within. I love it.

I love the idea of Universes Within booster sets. I am not a fan of Warhammer, LotR, or Doctor Who, but I do like some of the cards that they have made. I usually get one box a set because I like having a diverse collection. With most Universes Beyond I've just ignored them or bought singles that work with my current decks.

Love this idea. Thanks for telling Wizards what's up, Prof.

I’m here to speak on the sponsored portion of this video! I was super hesitant about trying keeps, but I tried it off the professors sponsor #ad since I was receding in the front. About 6 to 8 months later it was night and day difference! Highly recommend!

March to 1 million! 934K so far. Let's Go!

This would make for one hell of a chaos draft environment. This will just be the new mystery booster boxes with an even more hiked up price tag.

A draftable universes within remastered set. I would personally be fine with and interested in seeing how the cards draft together as they were never designed or intended to be (on top of having a heavy commander format design influence…maybe it replaces the commander legends/masters as the new commander reprint set?

The professor had ultimate rizz in the sponsored segment.

I'd definitely buy a set like this. I finally caved and bought one of the 40k decks (after getting into the setting from the new 40k: Rogue Trader CRPG), and I'm planning to build a lifegain deck around Celestine, the Living Saint with several of the cards from the precon just to line up the flavor for the commander. But...I'd swap her out for an in-universe version (say, a pre-spark Serra, perhaps?) in a heartbeat I suspect it's going to be awhile, though. The 40k decks, for example, seem to still bee available at somewhat reasonable prices (I got the Forces of the Imperium deck for about $45, which ended up being cheaper than buying the singles from it that I wanted), and I wouldn't be surprised if WotC secures a similar window of time where they can keep the products in circulation with each new Universes Beyond IP. So, we're probably a few years off from seeing a set like this, but I do hope we see one in time

It's an interesting prediction. I think this would also solve a problem for Wizards. Which is the cost of the IP for the Universes Beyond products. Internal IP means no additional cost for the same card(kinda).

I am excited about the universes beyond stuff coming out except the marvel one

I think a reprint set of universes beyond would be great in 3 years. Also, 6 sets instead of 12 a year would be nice.

I think it needs to be a mystery booster or commander legends card number. And be a chaos draft type experience, and have several slots in the play booster.

I would love to be able to buy few packs of univers beyond because it could be a cool way to get some Missing cards to the collection

I'd be good with this or the Universes Within card versions could be reprinted in the already existing masters sets based on the format they are most frequently used. Example: Commander Pre-con cards show up in the next Commander Masters as a Universes Within version.

I love universes beyond cards as stand alone sets like the commander decks,a stand alone draft set or as collectibles. But when I play I don't want to mix ip's which universes within would solve.

I like several of the UBs we had so far and would buy in universe versions of every card of those I like as I really dislike mixing UB with regular magic cards (and of several UBs we had that I don't touch because I don't like the franchises even though there are interesting cards inside) Heck in my regular playgroup I create IU proxies for all UB cards I put in regular decks and make UB proxies for regular cards I put in UB decks because they really don't feel very good mixed together..

I own I think three Universes Beyond cards, a couple LOTR ones just fit a cube too well, but with the current direction I plan to collect all Universes Within cards. So yes, I'd have huge interest in this. To me the game's flavor is a HUGE chunk of its appeal.

I think you're right they will probably make a Universes Within set almost entirly as you laid out (more so trying to hut the reprints people need as opposed to every card but yes). What they will do is trip at the finish line by pulling a Commander Masters and charging doible or triple the price of a normal set.

Long ago, everyone was super into the lore and story of Magic the Gathering, but then, everything changed when the Hasbro demanded. Only the players, masters of the wallet could stop them, but when Magic needed them most, their restraint vanished. Years pass, and Professor groused upon his throne, watching the influx of new players, and although their motivation is great, they aren’t going to change anything. But I believe, the players will one day change Magic for the better!

I'm looking forward to Universes Within foil basic land cards sold in five card packs for $49.99.

I think one of the biggest challenges to making in-universe versions of cards are the unique creature types like necron, astartes, dalek etc. I'm not sure how that would work from a flavor standpoint