{
  "id": 8674859,
  "title": "Gavin Verhey explains the biggest difficulties of adapting Universes Beyond into Magic: The Gathering — from avoiding five-color soup, to ‘Figuring out what Green means’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/gavin-verhey-explains-the-biggest-difficulties-of-adapting-universes",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-20T11:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRadar",
    "slug": "techradar",
    "url": "https://www.techradar.com/gaming/gavin-verhey-explains-the-biggest-difficulties-of-adapting-universes-beyond-into-magic-the-gathering-from-avoiding-five-color-soup-to-figuring-out-what-green-means"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "For the past few weeks, we have observed the conclusion of Reality Fracture, which completes the multiverse-tearing saga of Jace in Magic: The Gathering's story. Jace's presence on many cards is now evident, thanks to the Empower Jace mechanic that creates a Simulacrum of him. Before Jace's plan to destroy the multiverse, Wizards of the Coast had already experimented with powers beyond their control with Universes Beyond. This expansion allows non-native IP to enter the Magic: The Gathering game and has been both popular and controversial. One world that successfully appealed to both factions is Middle Earth, featuring hobbits, elves, dwarves, and dark forces trying to thwart Sauron's plans.\n\nAt Gamescom, I had the opportunity to speak with Gavin Verhey, Principal Magic Designer at Wizards of the Coast, about the design philosophy and origins of cards from recent releases, including The Hobbit set. He discussed the team's approach to Universes Beyond more generally. The Hobbit set features mechanics like Amass Orcs and Amass Goblins, enabling players to assemble armies of these creatures. However, they did not reintroduce The Ring Tempts You, a mechanic from The Lord of the Rings set that was considered too complex and not closely associated with the story of The Hobbit.\n\nVerhey explained that The Ring Tempts You was unpopular and difficult to implement because it was not clearly defined in the card. Furthermore, it would require players to track a different card to understand its effect, which would be time-consuming and not very efficient. Instead, they decided to include food token and lifegain support pieces, making the set more accessible for newcomers.\n\nHe also mentioned the challenges in adapting characters from the Universes Beyond IP to Magic: The Gathering. The team faces the difficulty of translating characters' various colors into the five-color system. Characters can be associated with different colors depending on their actions and roles throughout their story. To avoid creating multi-colored legends, they create multiple versions of the same character at different points in their story, ensuring that the cards remain simple and accessible for new players.",
  "summary": "The biggest difficulties of adapting Universes Beyond into Magic: The Gathering.",
  "key_points": [
    "Universes Beyond allows non-native IP like Middle Earth to enter Magic: The Gathering.",
    "The Hobbit set features mechanics like Amass Orcs and Amass Goblins for assembling armies."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}