One set did terribly for Magic: The Gathering over the past six months, yet still had a silver lining.
As previously noted by Magic Untapped, Magic: the Gathering shot up 59% in sales during Q4 2025. And going into 2026 it looks strong too, as Lorwyn Eclipsed became the fastest selling IP set ever, beating past recordholders like Tarkir and Bloomburrow. A bit cathartic too, as it pretty much extinguished the demons of two decades ago of the original Lorwyn which was the worst selling set ever at the time.
"That momentum has carried into the new year. Lorwyn Eclipse has already become the fastest selling Magic IP premier set ever, surpassing Tarkir," said CEO Chris Cocks during the call in early February. "Player growth continues to underpin these results. Through the end of 2025, more than 1 million unique players participated in organized play, representing a 22% increase year over year. That growth is supported by a global play network."
Also of note was Avatar the Last Airbender, becoming the third highest selling set in Magic history, trailing two other Universes Beyond sets.
"Avatar the Last Airbender, which launched in late November, is now the third highest selling set in Magic's history, trailing only Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy," added Cocks.
Along with the decently selling Edge of Eternities and Secrets of Strixhaven already getting some pretty decent buzz, Magic has had a good streak of successful sets for a bit. Well, except for one glaring outcast. It's not a Magic original plane set, as those have been doing well. And it's not a fantasy based IP because, as Cocks pointed out, Final Fantasy and Avatar went pretty nuts. It's, as you probably guessed...Spider-Man.
Spider-Man sales, as well as the reception, were amongst the worst in Magic history. As Magic Untapped reported, events, like pre-release, were empty. Everything, from bundles to boosters, crashed in price. Wizards of the Coast tried to temper this by blaming negative influencers, which only worsened the problem. During the sales call, the Spider-Man set was the only one not mentioned. Sales figures themselves haven't been announced, but from what we do know, it was one of the worst selling sets in Magic history.
Superhero fatigue, Universes Beyond non-fantasy backlash, price complaints, complaints about the set, and more have all been noted as problems. But, there were a few bright spots. For one, some fans did enjoy it, so let them have their thing. And two, the Spider-Man crash came just as scalpers were zeroing in on Magic. The Pokémon scalper craze finally began to nosedive around the time of Spider-Man, so many tried their hand at Magic.
But the high amount of product and low demand, with boxes selling far under secondhand than what they were paid for did them in. Social media was abounds with rejoicing at scalpers losing so much on it. With that failing, scalpers turned to One Piece...until January when the makers there began combatting scalper purchasing. And they couldn't get into Lorwyn Eclipsed too much since Magic had plenty of product to go around.
Spider-Man may have been a huge sales valley, and one that is making many at Magic rethink what IPs they should focus on for Universes Beyond. But it was only between other best sellers on there, with even haters of the set praising it for sinking the scalper wave.
