Wizards of the Coast launched Standard Showdown for Magic: The Gathering – Universes Beyond sets, which will run from June 13, 2025 to July 20, 2025.
Alongside the release of the first Standard format legal Magic: The Gathering – Universes Beyond set, Final Fantasy, comes the first Standard Showdown series featuring an IP-branded set. WotC is encouraging retailers to run Standard Showdown events for this set, in particular, because the crossover audience from the Final Fantasy franchise can potentially lead to acquiring or creating brand-new Magic players. It has already been more or less proven that Final Fantasy fans are into TCGs from the relative success of the Final Fantasy TCG (see “‘Final Fantasy TCG’“) and the Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy set has already had monster preorder numbers according to the latest Hasbro earnings (see “Hasbro Raises Guidance for WotC“), so WotC is looking to help retailers capitalize on this opportunity to farm new players.
To inspire players to attend these Standard Showdown events, WotC has announced new two new promos for the events: Ultima and Squall, SeeD Mercenary. They have also suggest that retailers use the Standard Showdown events as a lead up to their Store Championship for this season.
Source: ICv2
