For retailers looking to maximize their Magic: The Gathering sales, understanding the game’s release cycle is essential. Knowing when these releases happen—and how to prepare for them—allows retailers to keep their displays fresh, stock the right products, and engage with Magic’s active community of players and collectors. If you’re looking for more understanding of how the game works, check out this post here for lots of good resources.

For a breakdown of Magic’s annual release schedule to help you plan ahead and make the most of each new release keep reading.

Four Major Set Releases (Standard Sets)

  • Four main sets are released each year, usually following seasonal themes (e.g., Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall).
  • These sets are Standard-legal and introduce new cards, mechanics, and storylines that shape the game’s evolving world.

Supplemental Sets

  • Throughout the year, supplemental sets are released, including sets like Modern Horizons, Universes Beyond, Masters Sets and Remastered Sets. These are not always Standard-legal but cater to other formats and player preferences.
  • Supplemental sets often focus on themes, reprints, special mechanics, the history of the game, or IP’s outside of MTG.

Pre-release Events – Only available for Sanctioned Hobby Stores

  • Pre-release events are held at certain sanctioned hobby stores about a week before each main set is released, allowing players to experience the new set early.
  • Players receive a Pre-release kit to build a deck from new cards and participate in sealed events.

Magic Arena & Online Release

  • Alongside physical releases certain sets also launch on Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online, often slightly before or around the same time as physical product releases.

Standard Format Rotation

  • Once a year, typically in September, the Standard format rotates, with sets that have been in rotation for 3 years leaving Standard play to make room for the newest releases. This refreshes the competitive landscape for players. Recently, WOTC made the decision to introduce Foundations – a set that provides a standard legal set of cards for the next 5 years. 

Final Thoughts

By familiarizing yourself with Magic: The Gathering’s release cycle, you can align your store’s merchandising and marketing strategies with each new product launch.