As part of the many announcements made by Wizards of the Coast today, Magic: The Gathering unveiled its 2021 plans, which include a return to Innistrad and the first main set exploration of the plane of Kaldheim, home of many Viking-inspired aesthetics. Magic: The Gathering is at the tail-end of its 2020 plans with the upcoming release of Zendikar Rising representing the last major set for Standard this year, which has underwent some turbulence thanks to an influx of high-powered cards and banned list updates to attempt to control a polarizing metagame as a result.
Magic: The Gathering fans are quite familiar with Innistrad at this point, as the game has visited the plane twice already and has had many additional products – like Commander decks – return to the plane with other cards. Innistrad is a Gothic horror-inspired plane that features vampires, werewolves, and zombies in abundance, and when the narrative last left the plane it had just survived an Eldritch abomination’s attempt to warp the entirety of it into its image. Kaldheim, on the other hand, is perhaps best known for its inclusion in the 2014 Duels of the Planeswalkers game, where it served as the location for the game’s final boss, Ramaz.
The Magic: The Gathering 2021 release date schedule has a lot more to it than just Innistrad and Kaldheim, although those two features represent two of the most exciting releases on the horizon. In fact, Magic‘s 2021 appears to be an extremely diverse offering. During an update that aired earlier today, Wizards of the Coast shared the rough outline of what Magic: The Gathering‘s 2021 release date schedule would look like with a visual timeline:
Beyond Innistrad and Kaldheim, Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons will be crossing over once more in the form of a new set release, while Strixhaven will set the stage for a brand new plane that appears to be inspired by the tried-and-true fantasy staple of wizard schooling. For eternal formats, it appears fans will be treated to Time Spiral Remastered, which will take a very popular set in its time and infuse it with some extra cards – which will also get the old border treatment that will surely appeal to many veterans. Finally, Modern Horizons 2 is quite the surprise as well, slated to arrive just two years after the first iteration of the expansion product that completely shifted the Modern metagame – and Legacy, too.
If there’s one thing that’s clear from the Magic: The Gathering 2021 release date schedule, it’s that Wizards of the Coast is showing no signs of slowing down from its set release pacing. With 6-7 major sets – depending on what Innistrad Werewolves and Innistrad Vampires looks like – there will be no shortage of major spoilers, metagame shakeups, and more in the near future for Magic: The Gathering fans.
