New York Comic Con has once again served as the stage for a significant Magic: The Gathering announcement, this time revealing details about the upcoming Marvel Darkhold Destiny expansion. The set focuses on the more arcane elements of the Marvel universe and introduces a brand-new original character co-created by Wizards of the Coast and Marvel.
Lead designer Mark Rosewater explained that Darkhold Destiny was strategically placed as the third Marvel set in Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond line. "When we say 'we're doing this property,' there's a certain amount of things you have to deliver right out of the gate," Rosewater stated. "With Marvel, it's 'show me all the characters I know, because I've seen all of the movies.'" He elaborated that this mystical-themed set, while compelling, required the team to first establish a broader familiarity with Marvel characters in earlier sets before introducing this more complex concept.
Narrative designer Dillon Deveney added that while the set is designed to appeal to existing Magic players, it also aims to welcome newcomers drawn in by previous Marvel sets. "If we start at only meeting the Magic fan expectation, we run the risk of alienating all the Marvel fans we want to teach how cool our game is, because this set is also going to be a little bit more complex," Deveney said. The expansion includes new keywords and unique mechanics like dimensions, which are not found in other Magic sets. Deveney noted that a core goal of Universes Beyond is to "hold the door open for new players," and Darkhold Destiny is intended to continue that effort, despite its potentially higher complexity.
Return of Arcane Mechanic
Darkhold Destiny marks the return of the Arcane subtype for instant and sorcery spells, a mechanic not prominently featured in Magic: The Gathering for nearly three decades. While Arcane appeared on a few cards in the Marvel Super Heroes set, its last significant appearance was in 2005's Saviors of Kamigawa. The team confirmed that the companion mechanic "Splice onto Arcane" will not be returning.
Rosewater believes the set provides an ideal environment for Arcane's reintroduction. "We wanted to be able to do some stuff with spells to reward you for casting spells, and we could have made a brand new word, but Arcane was a really good word we already had, and we had been looking for years for a place to put it," he explained. Deveney drew a parallel to the Lesson mechanic's return in the Avatar: The Last Airbender set, where the mechanic was re-contextualized without its associated Learn mechanic. "The subtype was really resonant, and we know that a lot of people do like Arcane, they just don't love Splice Onto Arcane, so it's a way to turn something that maybe is seen as a bug into a feature."
Fewer Legendary Creatures, More Spells
The design team acknowledged player feedback regarding the high number of legendary creatures introduced in the Marvel Super Heroes set. While 375 legendary creatures debuted across its various products, Darkhold Destiny is expected to feature fewer legends. "We want to deliver on what the players want, and in Universes Beyond, they want the characters they know and love," Rosewater said. "I hate the legendary drawback, I just hate it and I've been wanting to get rid of it for 20 years." The set aims to balance fan-favorite characters with other elements. "This set has fewer legends total than some of the other Marvel sets, because there's more mystical monsters and other things we get to do," he added.
Art director Merideth Mulroney mentioned that Marvel's willingness to allow for reimagined creature designs, including monsters and demons, offered greater artistic freedom. "Marvel let us redesign characters and update their costumes for this set, and it was going so well that we finally said, 'Why don't we just tweak as many creatures as we can?'" Mulroney said. The focus on mystical themes also means a greater emphasis on spells. "We want you to feel like a spellcaster," Deveney said, "so there are more instants, sorceries, enchantments, and things that care about them."
A New Marvel Character Emerges
A significant reveal from the panel was the creation of a new, original Marvel character who will debut in Darkhold Destiny. This character will be featured in a one-off comic story preceding the set's release and will subsequently appear in the cards and integrated into the broader Marvel universe.
Deveney explained that the need for a new character arose organically during the story development process. "I was struggling with one part of the story where I really needed something I can't get into right now, as we haven't revealed it yet," he said. "I was trying to find characters to fill this spot, and I felt like I was forcing other characters to do a thing, when they were better off doing what they do best." The idea of creating a new character was met with enthusiasm from Marvel, who revealed they also had a "character hole" they were seeking to fill. "We started to 'mind meld' with each other, and eventually we found a throughline of things that both teams needed," Deveney added.
Introducing an original character presents a unique challenge, as Deveney noted the lack of established nostalgia for fans of either franchise. "We need to really spotlight this character in just enough light where they're not overshadowing the fact that Doctor Strange and Moon Knight and Blade are all here, but it's also a character that's adding enough texture to make people interested in them," he said. Marvel's director of product development, Jesse Falcon, emphasized that the goal is for this new character to have a lasting presence. "We don't want to just make a character because we can, we want this to really be in keeping with our existing stories," Falcon said. "That's what my goal is here with this: once we're done [with Darkhold Destiny], where does this character live? Where can we place this character in other venues moving forward?"
Magic and Marvel fans will be able to experience Darkhold Destiny and meet its new character when the set launches on April 9 in local game stores and major retailers.