With every new plane that it introduces, Magic: The Gathering gains more potential story threads. As a general rule, every Magic: The Gathering set featuring a new world introduces a planeswalker or two who'll get involved in future Magic stories, but the worlds themselves are impactful too. A lot of planeswalkers run around the Magic multiverse, seeking objects of power or sources of knowledge that'll fulfill whatever benign or malign quest they're committed to. All of these possibilities mean that there's sure to be a lot of excitement among lore-minded Magic fans when Wizards of the Coast announces upcoming sets and the planes they'll take place on.
In recent history, Magic has added a ton of new planes. Every setting from Eldraine to Ikoria to Arcavios adds new perspectives on Magic, both in terms of lore and gameplay. In 2022, there's seemingly only one totally new plane scheduled, but the sets coming out in early 2022 are still totally new approaches to Magic: The Gathering. Next year, Magic is returning to Kamigawa to explore its new cyberpunk aesthetic, and then it'll take fans to a totally new setting called New Capenna that has a striking aesthetic borrowed from the Roaring 20s. These highly modern planes are very far away from Magic: The Gathering's swords-and-sorcery roots, but that's not a bad thing. Both planes are positive signs of growth.
Kamigawa and New Capenna Break the Mold
The first Magic: The Gathering set releasing in 2022 is Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, which brings fans back to a plane that fans haven't seen in more than 15 years. The original Kamigawa was heavily inspired by feudal Japan and Japanese mythology, introducing ninjas, samurai, and a diverse legion of curious spirits. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is set 10,000 years after the original ancient sets from Kamigawa, showing how cyberpunk influence has come to dominate an advancing Kamigawa. Cyberpunk isn't in any way an aesthetic that Magic: The Gathering has used before, so it'll be interesting to see how Magic cards represent tech like sci-fi guns, computers, and so on.
Streets of New Capenna releases in Q2 2022 after Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. While not much is known about New Capenna since it's seemingly in a brand-new plane, there are a few conclusions that fans can draw. New Capenna art suggests that it heavily borrows from the Art Deco aesthetic of the 1920s, rather than a high fantasy style like so many other Magic: The Gathering worlds. Its demonic crime families clearly seem inspired by the early 20th century's prolific criminal empires, and the city itself seems like it'll have technology appropriate to New Capenna's inspiration.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna have one important thing in common: they take Magic: The Gathering to time periods more reliant on technology than ever. There have been Magic planes like Mirrodin that made frequent use of magical artifacts, but that's wholly different from cyberpunk's advanced tech and realistic cars and guns from the 1920s. In other words, it looks like Wizards of the Coast no longer feels the need to limit itself to high fantasy. More and more, Magic seems more willing to experiment with other genres, which is fantastic. Mixing Magic with other genres opens up an endless number of storytelling and mechanical possibilities.
Magic: The Gathering is Looking Forward
Interestingly, both of these groundbreaking sets are coming out in the same year as two sets about Dominaria, the high fantasy plane that hosted most of Magic's stories for a great many years, which offers quite the contrast. Dominaria isn't lesser than New Capenna or cyberpunk Kamigawa for being a highly traditional setting. However, staying in Dominaria forever would've vastly limited Magic: The Gathering's storytelling options in a game that's supposed to be about a diverse multiverse. Magic's original core plane is still a good hub, but it's for the best that the game has expanded beyond it.
Wizards of the Coast's willingness to pioneer Magic's themes with Kamigawa and New Capenna means there are probably big things in Magic's future. Although there's still plenty of ongoing Magic narratives on worlds like New Phyrexia that are worth addressing, it's also good to see some more growth and experimentation before Magic gets to those. Magic: The Gathering is a game steeped in tradition that's often slow to change. It's taken a long time to get to this point, but Magic finally seems ready to truly broaden its multiverse's horizons.
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