Looking Ahead at 2025 || TTC Ep532

[@inkETC]

the watermark on daretti is the symbol they’ve been using for desparked walkers first appearance since getting desparked. it’s been appearing since aftermath

[@Will_Morand]

Not just their first appearance. Tyvar’s shown up twice since being desparked and had the watermark both times. Same with Kiora.

[@t_s_albatross3270]

“Don’t quote me on that.” -Graham Stark, 2025

[@markbrierley6367]

Speaking of piling on Nelson... You're my ideal Magic personality. It's clear you are able to become tilted and then just carry on. You're open to learning. You embody your enthusiasm well. I aspire to your example. Thank you so much.

[@atomTHEbomb08]

I remember one of the earliest episodes of showdown I watched with him, and Serge steamrolled him. (I think he milled every good answer and kept drawing lands, if I recall correctly) He wanted to go off about how the cards Serge played screwed him, and he stopped and said: “I’m on tilt, and should probably shut up.” Exceptional self-awareness.

[@chaosmittens]

I always appreciate LRR’s positivity. I actively avoid “worst of” videos because they are bad for my mental health. So LLR being a reliable source of positive, reasonable and even-keeled videos is amazing.

[@hallygreenb]

“Right this way Miss Veil, just duck your head Miss Veil,” is something I will say every game Liliana comes up

[@stephenbradford8524]

35:27 - Oh, THAT'S why the Bloomburrow dragon got a story spotlight!

[@pytawidmo]

It also got a bunch of "screen time" in the online stories.

[@paladia_gorom1973]

41:02 to answer your question and feed engagement The end of the bloomburrow story is Ral saying to Mabel that he needs to leave and let people know about the dragon, implying he knows how tarkir storms work Duskmourn has no dragons at the moment, but Kaito was shown a vision of an Atarka brood dragon burning down part of the house, this event was depicted on the card scorching dragonfire

[@JonHerzogArtist]

There's already a Planeswalker's Guide to Aetherdrift - it confirms the 3rd plane is Muraganda, and gives lore updates on all 3 planes. For example, how Amonkhet is faring and why its leaders consented to the race. As well as some blurbs on the racing teams from other planes, like the goblin zealots and their deity BOOSTGOD.

[@NotAnEvilMastermind]

All hail BOOSTGOD!

[@mrrodgers0]

@@NotAnEvilMastermind BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST

[@orucs-oraihc3424]

A bit of a hot take: Brightglass Gearhulk is a Lands card. Tutors your Zuran Orb and your Fastbond at the same time!

[@xXMGVXx]

My mind instantly went to Urza's Saga. The golem does find everything the saga finds, too. I am just worried that it is only one red pip away from Comet and Minsk and Boo who are very strong competition for the four drop spot.

[@brysonlambes7175]

The brood are facinating. They're from an unknown plane, and don't even speak the same language as the rest of the multiverse, but they ritually turn their elders into sentient vehicles. It's considered to be a great honour, and the lead racer is trying to win to gain the honour to undergo the process themselves.

[@diamondmagus]

They're also peaceful bugs who trade in cloths and drink teas while prepping for the race.

[@VicVoxtric]

I won't go so far as to find the link - but I do feel confident that during bloom burrow spoilers / discussions someone on LRR identified that the Dragonhawk is clearly a Kolaghan brood dragon. It may have been Wheeler.

[@zcipher]

"Annoying kid with a weird animal": That's just Jace and Loot.

[@Thumbs-Art]

I think the reason the Dragonstorm arc doesn't feel super distinct is because the build-up to it has been too subtle. With the build up to the Phyrexian invasion, for example, seeing the Phyrexian symbol or allusions to glistening oil, and the Praetors all showing up unambiguously indicates something is happening. By contrast, Tarkir dragons showing up on other planes doesn't feel uniquely significant, especially after Thunder Junction had everyone and their mother show up. Presumably Aetherdrift's multiplanar setting will bring more focus onto the dragon stuff, but as of right now I don't think it's surprising that people might not catch that we're in a whole arc about it. That all said, I don't really care how well defined the arc is, Tarkir was the block that fully cemented my love for the game, and I'm so excited to go back.

[@Mordalon]

Junction is in the name of OTJ, indicating it's supposed to be where lots of people from other places gather. It is interesting that Tarkir seems to be important to this multiplanar arc, seeing as how it was also important to 2 previous arcs, both by "reviving" Ugin in the original visit and through the web stories that detailed Bolas' origins.

[@alecsurrett245]

"Can you imagine the amount of ecological damage that a Humvee could do to Segovia?" - Cam 2025

[@t_s_albatross3270]

4:30 ish It’s called negativity bias. It means that functionally, we want to know more about the bad things that happened in case it affects us more. Sure, there might have been a bumper crop on Innistrad, but what’s my chances of getting captured by a vampire or taken into the forest by a Cryptid?

[@Arkouchie]

Happy 100k! You deserved it years ago

[@diamondmagus]

Funny enough, several hours after this went live, a sale on Arena strongly hints that the last UB set at the end of 2025 is Avatar: the Last Airbender, to match an upcoming film.

[@MrMeldonius]

What do you mean? What did I missed?

[@diamondmagus]

@@MrMeldonius Arena did a series of sales based on the upcoming 2025 sets: Vehicles for Aetherdrift, Dragons for Tarkir, Crystals and Final Flare for Final Fantasy, cards with "Star" in the title for Eternity, and spiders for Spider-Man. The last sale is 4 cards with the 4 elements: Into the FIRE, WATERknot, EARTH-cult Elemental, and AIRdrop Aeronauts, plus two cards with the word bender in the title (Distended Mindbender, Oswald Fiddlebender). Call it a strong suggestion for an Avatar set.

[@MrMeldonius]

@@diamondmagus Huh, I totally missed that.. Thanks

[@Jay-yr9oi]

One thing about the negative videos getting more views/engagement, some of that is certainly human nature, but another major factor (not totally disconnected to human nature having a bias towards engaging with negativity) is the algorithm. I watch the Prof best/worst videos every year. However, this year, even though I am subscribed with notifications on, I only got notified with the negative, and the positive didn’t show up on my home page. I didn’t know it was out until he mentioned it in the negative video, at which point I went and watched it

[@michaelhuerta7469]

yeah screw you youtube algorithm I really just want the positive stuff

[@Bexahlia5933]

i'm a simple woman, i see new TTC, i appease the algorithm

[@Azeria]

I am in fact pretty sure the only reason I knew we were in the 2nd part of a 3 part arc is from TTC.

[@xXMGVXx]

Personally I have a very positive impression of the universes beyond sets. The Baldur's gate set surprised me with them not only focusing on the newest game and instead having characters from all three games. I am pretty optimistic that the Final Fantasy set will be a great nostalgia trip, too. And while I agree that the cast of characters is very large and cuts need to be made, there are also plenty of characters that have made appearances in most games. To the point that they are recognizable by people who have played any of the games. For example I would be very surprised if we did not get a second card for Bahamut. They will probably have nothing in common aside from their name but it will but funny to see. For characters like Cid, Biggs and Wedge and the summons, even if I am not surprised by their inclusion, seeing what version they picked will still be very interesting.

[@Mordalon]

They could pull a LOTR and have multiple Cids and such.

[@KirbytronicWouldLiketoBattle]

So, I think the final fantasy set will be fairly well represented. A lot of people thought fallout in particular was going to be mostly 3, 4 and 76, and maybe some small references to the non-Bethesda games, and it was some pretty fair spread? Like, I imagine 7, 8, 10, and 14 will probably have more representation, but there's a lot of cards to fill. Gilgamesh, Farris, Kain, and Vivi will get their time to shine as well.

[@MonocleMen]

There's an odd complication b/c there are so many repeated characters/equipment/spells/summons within the greater FF universe too. Like which Bahamut is gonna get printed? Which Cid? ... or just maybe, your deck can have any number of cards named Cid.

[@Zurai002]

@@MonocleMen They'll just use the last names. Cid Pollendina, Cid Highwind, etc.

[@KirbytronicWouldLiketoBattle]

​@@MonocleMen I mean, that's kind of the thing is that *most* of the things that stay the same aren't actually that different from game to game. For Cid in particular (with one exception in the main series), the differences between the various versions tend to be fairly cosmetic, which could lead to an uncommon legend with a bunch of different arts. For something like the summons, the basic art could be the more consistently used version (see, Ifrit), and then the promo arts be the more stylistically different versions, like Xs takes on them. Across the games, things like Fira or Meteor don't actually tend to *look* all that different when you cast them, and they (largely) tend to do the same thing.

[@Ragnarok2kx]

As a FF4 enjoyer and unapologetic Cecil fanboy I really hope the older games get some love. There's only so many slots to fill on the set, though so we'll see. I'd also love some more Amano art, but I don't know how likely that would be.

[@KirbytronicWouldLiketoBattle]

@@Ragnarok2kx I enjoyed the DS remake quite a bit, even though I'm fairly sure I never actually finished it, but I find it hard to believe Rosa, Cain, Ceceil, Golbez, and Rydia at the *verrrrrry* least won't be seen.

[@heartofgoldfish]

lrr on that 1 million creep 🔥

[@Merrcer]

I think there was a huge missed opportunity to have an Atarka brood dragon in Duskmourn who was just tearing the house apart and Valgavoth had no idea what to do about it because he couldn't figure out how to scare it.

[@GaleblazeXYZ]

That would be so fucking cool. He puts a bait door on Tarkir to catch Tasigur or something but an atarka dragon accidentally flies in and just starts wrecking shit

[@littlebighamm8693]

27:40 THANK YOU. When people complain about Magic sets and how we need more sets like Foundations and such that's just the basics, I get disappointed. I want more sets like these where Wizards can provide something new to the Magic universe. Could it be a little too on the nose? Of course, but I would rather them experiment and mess up rather than give us "Generic Fantasy Set #452"

[@Mordalon]

Exactly. People don't appreciate how Magic's willingness to change itself has kept it alive for 30+ years. It kills me when I see people disparage the concepts that recent Un-sets mess with, forgetting that many things we see as normal now began in Un-sets, like full art lands and Token cards.

[@colonelkreiner]

I can already picture Wacky Races Secret Lair with Penelope Pittstop as the Chandra card from the set.

[@jasonkorf7700]

I'm gonna need The Jolly Ballon Man cosplaying as Sweet tooth and few other Twisted Metal references in Aetherdrift.

[@thebassistsoldier]

Yeah I agree with Cameron, the framing on LotV feels very....specific.

[@dcd139]

The 2/2 servos will, of course, STILL all be named Eustace.

[@violetlazuli3998]

Biggest thing that hurts the remastered sets locally is the price. There's no justification for it being so expensive

[@taylord2006]

Recorded on my birthday! What a special present! Thank you LRR!

[@lightfut]

If you're cold, they're cold. Bring your Planeswalker loyalty inside

[@agentorangecb1]

Congrats on the milestone. You deserve many more

[@thebushido]

You guys rock! Congrats on getting to 100K!

[@Dolphgrim]

Deserve every single follower! Working HARD out there

[@DelphinusZero]

45:15 I’m glad I kept listening to Cam instead of Um Actually-ing him 😂

[@DelphinusZero]

Congratulations for day twoing 2025

[@overtonwindowshopper]

Glad I’m not alone in absolutely despising the Æther drift expansion symbol. Hope it’s a fun limited set because nothing from that is touching my cube lol

[@Mordalon]

You've seen barely any of the set, that is a hyperbolic and premature statement.

[@overtonwindowshopper]

@ while I might be surprised by some cards, I genuinely don’t like the æsthetics of The Fast and the Furious, and the beautiful thing about cube is you get to choose which cards fit the environment you’re curating

[@NovaSpecter]

Is someone currently living in Atlanta, I'm excited to see you guys come to town. Also, The hurricanes aren't the problem it's the ~90% humidity with no rain for days on end

[@violetlazuli3998]

I think one way they will get the different game reps up for final fantasy will be with the showcase treatments. Like here's Ifrit with art from each appearance, black mage with 8 bit art from 2 and 14 class art

[@MirumotoRyoga]

Between Tarkir coming up and face down cards from MKM and DSK I am curious to see if there's a viable competitive 'face down creatures' standard deck.

[@jkdeadite]

I put that new Deretti in my vintage cube when it previewed, and it's been great fun.

[@ShutUpDoug]

Graham talking about wacky races brought up memories of what I seem to remember, a Scooby-Doo doo racing movie.

[@WhiteWizard42]

Anyone else spot the flashing Plains in the land station starting at 1:02:50? the light on it was slowly waxing and waning for like 10 minutes beforehand, apparently, but I didn't notice until the blinks.

[@IanKernohan]

YO if we get Al Bhed flavor text?! (I'm replaying FFX now)

[@aaron9797]

the guidelight voyagers are a team in aetherdrift most likely from the edge who look like large servos

[@evandavis9636]

Oh great algorithm please bless this video with plentiful views

[@dontstealmydiamondsv3156]

I'm slowly working my way through the mainline FFs (Haven't played 8 through 16) so I have to say I'm a little concerned about getting major spoilers from the set, but you know what I will gladly accept those spoilers in the form of gorgeous cool cards

[@pinballwitch5256]

have you since this seen the hypothesis that the last UB set is Avatar: The Last Airbender? This was based on the arena specials having 4 cards with the 4 elements in their names, as well as 2 cards with Bender in their name, as well as past specials like these based on the other UB sets. It would make a lot of sense why ppl would be excited for a setting that does mesh well with MtG.

[@BuppGuy]

On the space opera set: they've been using the Robot type in recent sets

[@stuartwhyte4274]

Congrats on 100K. I'm a fan of the checkered flag set symbol for Aetherdrift, but I see how it's design can make it hard to parse rarities on some of the cards. Being able to tell that Daretti was a rare and that other card was an uncommon were difficult at first pass. When actually holding the cards in hand, it will probably be easier to tell without checking the indicator at the bottom. I'm not upset by Universes Beyond going into standard. I think the majority of the UB releases have been well thought out and designed, and done with love for the properties they represent. I agree with Cameron that I want fun, well-designed cards. Let them try things out. They may find that 50/50 between Magic planes and UB is too much, and go back to a smaller split, or just have it be flexible year to year. I'm a little bummed about Lorwyn getting bumped for another UB set at the end of the year, mainly because I know many people have wanted a return to that plane for a long time. I was on a break from Magic when Lorwyn originally came out, so I don't have personal investment in that plane, but I will be interested to see it and play it in 2026. I'm not super sold on Aetherdrift, but I'm excited for Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Edge of Eternities. I'm not huge into FF other than 7, so that set isn't as much for me, but I'm pleased that it exists for the folks that want it. I'm also optimistic about and interested in the Spider-Man set, but will withhold my hype until we start to see some of the cards previewed.

[@ryanrippenkroeger9306]

There was a dragon in the story for duskmourn. In the forest area

[@WilliamBenjaminJohnDavis]

Featured on Scorching Dragonfire.

[@WumboWings96]

Congrats on the 100k! Not that it’s necessarily news, but something may have happened between the filming and airing of this episode as in just this morning. Arena may have spoiled the last UB set of the year based on its deals to start the year being themed around each 2025 set. I won’t say it here in case people want to be surprised if it ends up being right.

[@vincentlance]

I really hope the Final Fantasy set doesn't have a 7 bias. Looking forward to the 6 and 10 representation.

[@sophiadickey2829]

May I suggest "Live Laugh Loam" as a button design?

[@STS-qi1qy]

Presumably the Dragonstorm Arc will be, retroactively, what Jace has been up to across these sets. Omenpath Arc ended with him freeing loot. Bloomburrow starts with Ral hunting for him. Jace appears in Duskmourn because Loot has been captured by Valgavoth. Valgavoth is using Loot as a sat-nav during the Aetherdrift (I'm not kidding, really, I'm not....) and my bet is Jace will reclaim him there. Then whatever will happen on Tarkir proper - likely Jace trying to use the Dragonstorms to reset the universe (which seems to be his plan judging from the snippets in other sets)... which will likely be a hand-wave as to why UB can now be proper sets.

[@charcharmunr]

They don't need to make UB sets part of canon at all. There's no reason to make them diegetically a 'thing' because why would they? More likely whatever Jace's plan is won't actually work because villains don't historically win.

[@STS-qi1qy]

@@charcharmunr I didn't mean as in literally make it a canon more as a lampshade and wink at 'things are different now'

[@Mordalon]

@@STS-qi1qy So then what would be the purpose of resetting the universe then?

[@cliiwen]

I sleeved clique last month for grixis faeries. I went 0-3 at yellowjacket weekly. I will not be unsleeving it.

[@BuppGuy]

As I'm currently living in a polar vortex... Yes, The Bleakness.

[@gracestemp-morlock2750]

I am excited about Spiderman just to have Juggernaut as Juggernaut.

[@ulifernando]

Congrats!

[@anthonylocker599]

I think Muraganda is the plane where The Mimeoplasm is from.

[@CSDragon]

since this was recorded a couple days ago: there has been big news about an upcoming set this year! wizards put out a teaser for the unrevealed universes beyond set at the end of 2025. Heavily implying it will be Avatar The last Airbender

[@underdogstory3111]

Amyzonian released a video today that shows how we mightve gotten a hint about the UUB set. If its accurate I am very excited.

[@ahmadzuhayri2439]

As for the last UB set, there's some easter eggs hinting that it'll be Avatar the Last Airbender which is pretty sweet.

[@ClexYoshi]

I really am a fan of the 'remastered' sets as something that is just a reprint set not being sold for Modern Masters prices. Time Spiral and Dominaria remastered were incredible, and while I quite dislike double feature, I think Innistrad remastered will be fine. As for the Dragonstorm Arc, I knew about it from that Magic 30 Gencon panel where Mark Rosewater started spouting things off from the next 3 years of magic.

[@jaybeecococounty]

While I do agree with them that the random 3 in the corner is odd, overall I love the retro frame liliana planeswalker template and hope they give others the same treatment.

[@tipulsar85]

Yeah Brisela just dropped this morning. Also, I have had a deck for 7 years in Boros called Mach 5... Yes, it seems rather prophetic now that Aetherdrift is happening. And yes it was an intentional Speed Racer poke, whom I'm surprised won't show up in the reference material at the very least for the set.

[@robertbrinker1769]

I play Vendilion Clique in every CanLander deck where i play Brazen Borrower, and I have 2 decs with Borrower.

[@nielsmller8816]

I personally get really mad when I watch videos that are super negative, so I mostly avoid them 😅

[@spinebustertee]

What a great ep!

[@rwdavidoff]

This is a slight tangent, but I was at the mall for the first time in ages and ages recently to see a movie with my family over the holiday, and they had one of those mid-aisle booths that sell phone cases and replace screens. And that place was selling Pokemon card singles. I didn't and still do not totally understand this. To be clear, not a big store with a small display of pokemon cards, but like a little booth about six or eight feet on a side, with one of the corner spots taken up not by phone cases, but by a little display cabinet about 2 ft by 2ft with Pokemon singles. No sealed product. Just singles. It was like Wheeler running a card store on "Is this your card" and trying an all-phone-fixing run except for needing to sell the chaff from opening packs out of boredom.

[@Jul487]

The monster haunter collaboration monsters that are in the dragon arc.

[@jprior1427]

I feel like I'm the only one that thought of Oban Star Racers when plane chase is mentioned.

[@Teedo_]

Dressing up in a Spider-man cosplay to Magic Con might be the weirdest thing to somehow become thematically appropriate

[@markusspitznagel2011]

still hope for a magiccon in europe and a chaos event there. It was always great!

[@PaulOkon1981]

"Oooh, nice move taking out Sephiroth with Stilt-Man's activated ability!" - coming to a stream in 2025

[@cedarbobedar7223]

Wacky Racers or whatever it's called was definitely featured on an episode or two of Harvey Birdman - that's the only place I know it from

[@blaketreleaven1993]

Happy 100k. There is always this tension in enjoying LRR as much as I do. I wish you all the success in the world, but also know the best path for growth wouldn't be content I'd enjoy watching or you'd enjoy making. I guess what I'm trying to say is I hope some random oligarch billionaire falls in love with your stuff and drowns you in cash without asking for any return on investment or change to content. Also, a pony.

[@TangleTrail]

As an Atlanta resident, it's tornadoes

[@TabbyLavalamp]

Congratulations on the 100K. However, if you really want the numbers to go through the roof take a page from Marshall and start fixing watches.

[@LordInsane100]

I realize it fits even less well into Magic the Gathering than most Universes Beyond things, but there's a part of me that wants a Battletech set almost purely for the Deckmaster deep cuts it could allow.

[@taeasakura]

Nelson you are awfully fantastic. also RIP magic

[@MrUhhuhyeah]

Final Fantasy XIV cards are already confirmed since they revealed art of Emet-Selch from the Shadowbringers Expansion

[@emanym]

Snappy needs to be brought back for Standard, so it has a place in Pioneer 😊

[@erictappan3906]

In the gray bleakness of 2025, there is only product.

[@Circular_Square]

I hope that the mystery UB set is either Ultraman or Discworld. Otherwise I probably won't pay too much attention to it.

[@CSDragon]

Avatar the last airbender

[@Tweygoh]

I wonder if we'll see more archaics from Strixhaven plane in Edge of Eternities

[@DelphinusZero]

I want the Final Fantasy commander decks to be like Doctor Who and do something like 1 - 4 / 5 - 8 / 9 - 12 / 13 - 16?

[@ahrenstarr6273]

Fighter??? Oh Graham, put some respect on the Warrior of Light. 47:20

[@InvadedOath]

1:09:26 This makes me ridiculously excited

[@jarzz3601]

as far as I'm aware the dragonstorm arc was first mentioned at the panel at gencon with not much info and you did mention it at last years looking ahead but I can't say I'm suprised you forgot about it was just a weird name without much meaning

[@Mordalon]

How is it a weird name without meaning? We knew Tarkir was coming, which is where the Dragonstorms originated from back in original Tarkir story. With the Omen Paths being open that just indicated something to do with Dragons interfering with other planes.

[@kamikazehansu]

My prediction for Innistrad Remastered is that there's going to be a fancy movie poster Blood Moon and the UB is going to be The Legend Of Zelda.

[@charcharmunr]

I think FF7 will be one of the bigger ones in the FF set, but it won't be as much as 30%. They have to cover 16 whole games (and they've said they'll cover EVERY one of them) and while some will only get a couple things here and there, no way are they dedicating an entire third of it to one single entry, no matter how big that entry is. 15% is a more reasonable estimate, if that, and possibly lower because 14 is gonna take up a lot of space too.

[@jonathangodbolt1671]

Let's Goooooooo!

[@iziahgile5071]

No Tactics? Sadness. Not surprizing, but still. Hopefully they get like one (or more) commander decks. Because if we're getting FF in Magic, I want Ramza and that world.

[@Mordalon]

There's multiple characters and races exclusive to the Tactics Advanced games that I would love to get a reference.

[@DuhstinK]

The thing I still don't understand about Marvel in Magic is why Disney wants to do this when Marvel Snap is a thing. Sure, they've licensed tons of different games with Marvel but this is directly competing with very similar products with their own IP, something that's (seemingly) more significant than the Star wars card game.

[@markbrierley6367]

Or, you know, Lorcana?

[@Mordalon]

Marvel Snap is digital only.

[@joelreedy7949]

57:14 If the Marvel Spider-Man set does not contain a reference to Spiders-Man, I will riot. Give me my colony of spiders that ate Peter Parker and assumed his identity.

[@minecraftchickenmen]

"if they power creep servos" *looking at the number of things that make Karnstructs* nah they wouldn't do that right?

[@Mordalon]

Lost Caverns had both 1/1 Gnomes and the Gnome equivalent of Karnstructs. Just because they have more ways of making powerful tokens doesn't mean those ways are going to be at common. They also literally made Decay zombies and recently had 1/1 rats and fungus tokens that can't block. The only reason Morphs got "powercrept" by Disguise is because paying 3 mana for a 2/2 vanilla is not a sufficient baseline anymore, while the cost of making 1/1 tokens can be changed.

[@urthadar63]

Dude, you should’ve realized about all the dragons in the- Oh you figured it out, I guess I can dele-

[@hqueso]

Universes Beyond: Friday Nights