Magic: The Gathering Celebrates 30th Anniversary With Dominaria United

Wizards of the Coast will celebrate Magic: The Gathering‘s 30th anniversary in 2023 beginning with the upcoming set Dominaria United set, returning the game to the plane, Dominaria, that was its original setting for a brand new story unfolding over four expansion sets, including previously announced The Brothers War later this year. Wizards of the Coast today unveiled the first hints of what’s to come, confirming that the new story will begin with a piece of short fiction to be released on August 10th on the Magic: The Gathering Website. The piece will feature Karn, the construct-Planeswalker key to the events of past Magic: The Gathering stories, looking back on Dominaria’s history in search of the answer to an important question.

That question will lead into Dominaria’s future and feature familiar faces from Magic: The Gathering‘s last visit to the plane in the 2018 Dominaria set. Though unconfirmed, the story also likely has to do with the return of the Phyrexians, the biomechanical beings whose previous attempt to invade Dominaria made them the sworn enemies of Urza, the powerful planeswalker who battled his brother Mishra in the Brother’s War. Phyrexian praetors once thought confined to their own plane, have been appearing in various expansions for various planes over the past couple of years, including on Kaldheim and Kamigawa.

As for the set itself, little is known about Dominaria United yet, but Wizards of the Coast did today reveal a first: Dominaria United Collector Boosters will feature cards from the 1994 Legends set, Magic: The Gathering‘s third expansion. To be clear, these are not reprints of old cards or facsimiles. Wizards of the Coast states that it pulling cards “from physical Legends boosters printed in 1994″ and putting them in the Dominaria United packs.

The Legends cards key into a familiar Dominaria theme: Legendary cards. As with Dominaria, Dominaria United will feature at least one Legendary card in every booster, whether Set, Draft, or Collector Booster. There are more than 40 legendary creature cards in Dominaria United, and Wizards of the Coast ensures there will be some surprise appearances from familiar faces among them.

Magic: The Gathering fans won’t have to wait long to find out more about Dominaria United and Magic‘s near future. The announcement will be made during the Wizards Presents event on August 18th, where Wizards of the Coast will reveal the next year of Magic: The Gathering expansion sets, and will also share new information about upcoming Secret Lair and Universes Beyond releases. Dominaria United previews begin thereafter.