Move Over Ravnica — New York Is Now One of MTG’s Most Popular Settings as Spider‑Man, Avengers and TMNT Join the Fold
Magic: The Gathering is using New York City more and more as a setting across its Universes Beyond releases, with multiple upcoming Marvel and licensed sets placing the game in the Big Apple.
New York’s growing role in Magic
Wizards of the Coast has set multiple Universes Beyond products in New York City rather than on an original Magic plane. For example, the Spider-Man set focuses on Marvel Comics’ version of New York, and future licensed sets will also use that city as their backdrop. As a result, the metropolitan setting of New York is appearing more often in Magic releases than many classic planes.
Universes Beyond: Marvel, TMNT and release dates
The first full Universes Beyond sets were based on Dungeons & Dragons and The Lord of the Rings. Subsequently, Wizards released the Spider-Man set, which launched on Sept. 26. In addition, the company has announced a Marvel Super Heroes (Avengers-focused) set scheduled for June 2026, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set that is launching on March 6.
Also, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise traces part of its setting choice back to its roots as an homage to Daredevil; more context can be found in this writeup from Screen Rant on the Daredevil-TMNT connection.
How basic lands have been handled
Design teams have used different approaches to represent Magic’s five basic mana types in these city-based sets. For example, the Spider-Man set used webs to form mana symbols over city backdrops, with smokestacks standing in for mountains and Central Park representing forests. By contrast, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set represents the five mana colors as pizza toppings.
Specifically, the TMNT lands list certain toppings for colors: green lands include toppings such as kiwi, jalapeños and broccoli, while blue lands are represented with anchovies. In addition, Wizards is offering a special Pizza Bundle tied to the TMNT release.
Meanwhile, other city-style Magic art—such as the metropolis landscapes in Streets of New Capenna—used full-art urban scenes to illustrate setting and atmosphere.
How many Magic sets will be New York-based?
Wizards’ announced Universes Beyond schedule means New York will appear in multiple upcoming sets. By the end of 2026, New York will have more Magic sets than several named planes, and it will be tied with some others. Concretely, New York is projected to have more sets than Amonkhet, Stixhaven, Capenna, Duskmourn, Eldraine, Kaladesh, Kaldheim and Ikoria, and to be tied with Ixalan and Tarkir.
In short, licensed Marvel and TMNT releases have made New York a recurring, measurable setting in Magic’s release roster.
