2025 - The Best Year for Limited Magic | 2026 - The Year of the Worst Limited Sets
We should have embraced 2025 instead of complaining about Universes Beyond and having too many sets in a year. We had 4 of the best limited sets ever created for Magic. Takir was fun. Final Fantasy was such an amazing draft format. Edge of Eternities Draft will never get old for me. I love drafting it when it comes back on Arena. Avatar was such a balanced and superb draft format that everyone was making excuses for liking it even though it was Universes Beyond and had a weird fake Asian art style that did not match Magic's High Fantasy aesthetics.
I even liked Aetherdrift draft. It was way more fun than any of 2026's offerings.
People demanded a return to a Magic setting with Lorwyn Eclipsed. That set was awful. Small set with limited tribal options. I cannot draft Faeries in Lorwyn? When you think Lorwyn you think Faeries. I was really really disappointed with Lorwyn Eclipsed. It was long and grindy gameplay with lifelink creatures and keeping track of -1/-1 counters.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was actually a fun if anyone actually tried it and got past their Universes Beyond rage. It had 5 viable draft archetypes with a secret 5 colour one that was actually fun. It's actually my favourite draft format so far in 2026.
People claimed Secrets of Strixhaven was the best set of 2026 BEFORE it even released. That is how much hate Turtles got. That draft format was figured really quickly. It was WB or WR aggro vs 5 colour Converge. Don't bother drafting any green schools or Izzet. They were terrible. They were plainly outmatched by Silverquill and Lorehold. You could also build a great limited deck without creatures. You can deal with creatures threats with blocking and removal spells. Dealing with powerful spells? A lot more difficult. Not every colour has access to counterspell. Arcane Omens had 60% win rate. That's insane for a discard spell. You had to play Arcane Omens to win. Discarding your whole hand turn 4 or 5 is never fun. All of this made it a terrible format.
Marvel Super Heroes was okay. White was overpowered. It made sense lore wise; heroes always win. So of course flying creatures and W-based Heroes decks ruled all. The Villain cards and Plans were all useless trash.
Hobbit is not getting rave reviews despite all the influencers trying to push it. I do not care that it's Universes Beyond but at least matches Magic High Fantasy theme, it does not have good limited gameplay. All 5 draft archetypes do similar things such as make tokens with only minor tweaks. Do not bother playing UB Elves. It's clearly not viable compared to BR Goblins or the others.
Reality Fracture does not look promising with its previews. Star Trek looks like a beginner friendly set so it might be a good but it cannot compare with 2025's Edge of Eternities or Avatar which were both complex and good draft formats.
2026 does not look good for limited formats and is disappointing so far. Which is a shame because 2025 was such a high point in limited Magic History.