We've gotten used to a steady stream of upcoming video game adaptations, with multiple movies and TV shows every year. Board games, on the other hand, don’t get quite the same amount of love from Hollywood. That doesn’t mean that the more traditional types of games are ignored. Sometimes we get great ones, like the timelessly hilarious Clue, and other times, it’s a mixed bag, at best, like Battleship. While that may have scared some producers away from the genre, there are still some adaptations in various states of production, so let’s talk about those!

It’s really important to point out that some of these might not ever be completed, as they appear to be stuck in production hell. With that, let’s talk about what’s been rumored and what’s been announced.

Settlers Of Catan (Netflix)

The newest addition to this list is Settlers of Catan. It looks like Netflix has big plans for the wildly popular board game, now simply known as Catan. In October 2025, the streamer announced that it is planning “a slate of scripted and unscripted projects inspired by the hit board game.” That seems to include the possibilities of movies and TV shows, but we’ll have to wait for more information as the project grows.

Clue Reality Show (Netflix)

Netflix announced, via Tudum, that it would be developing a new competition/reality show based on the board game Clue. From the description in the press release, it sounds like it’ll be a murder mystery, like the game, played out for big money. According to Netflix:

Clue is one of the board games that has most successfully been adapted for other media, with the crown jewel in the franchise being the cult classic movie from 1985, which is a favorite around the CinemaBlend office, where we’ve even spent time ranking the characters.

Monopoly Reality Show (Netflix) And Monopoly Film

Hasbro and Netflix have also teamed up for a reality show based on one of the most popular board games of all time, Monopoly. According to a report in Deadline in April 2025, the companies are developing the show where “players will test their friendships, acquire riches, and try to own it all by any means necessary.” There hasn’t been much news on this since the announcement, but it sounds like it could end in a lot of arguments, just like the board game does.

In addition to the reality show, Hasbro is reportedly working with Margo Robbie’s LuckyChap production company and Lionsgate to develop a movie based on Monopoly. How that would work is anyone’s guess, but given Robbie’s success teaming with another toy company, Mattel, on 2023’s Barbie, it would be a mistake to dismiss the potential.

According to a Deadline article in March 2025, the writing duo of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who teamed up to co-write and co-direct Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in 2023, is another reason to pay attention to the development of this one. They also co-directed Game Night together, so they really seem to love board games.

Warhammer 40,000

In late 2022, Amazon announced, via THR, that Henry Cavill would help develop and star in a TV series based on the popular British board game Warhammer 40,000. The star of The Witcher is slated to executive-produce the show. In December 2024, Amazon announced that the show was officially in development, but news has been quiet since. The status as of October 2025 is unknown.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Sequel

While D&D is not technically a board game, and speaking of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, there still seems to be a chance that it could get a sequel, though the development of one has stalled. The first movie didn’t exactly set the world on fire at the box office, though critics love it, and it’s developed a little bit of cult following, so who knows? According to Chris Pine, they need to find a way to make it financially work.

There were also rumors of a spinoff TV show back in 2023, though that seems to have stalled out, as well, after the disappointing box office results.

Magic: The Gathering (Netflix)

Though Magic: The Gathering isn’t a board game, it does feel like a fit on this list. In June 2025, Deadline reported that Hasbro would be working with producers Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald on a live-action movie based on the popular card game. At this point, not much else is known, but given the success of Pokémon across various media, including card games, it seems like a no-brainer.

Risk

The board game Risk was, at least at one point, looking like it might get a TV adaptation. In 2021, Deadline reported that House of Cards creator Beau Willimon had signed a deal to develop a show, but there hasn’t been any information since, so this one may be D.O.A., though nothing seems to be official.

UNO

Another game we’ve added to this list that is a card game, rather than strictly a board game, is UNO. In 2021, Variety dropped news that a movie based on the game was in development with Lil Yachty attached to play the lead in what was at the time described as a heist film. In 2023, Complex reported that the project may be “shelved” when the script wasn’t what Mattel wanted.

Magic 8 Ball

Is Magic 8 Ball a game? Well… sort of. It can be? Who’s to say? What we can say is the game…er toy…er… whatever, is being turned into a live-action TV show, according to an October 2025 article from Variety. Director M. Night Shyamalan and writer Brad Falchuk are developing the show. In an Instagram post, Shyamalan said he’d been working on it “for a couple of years,” and teased the script with a photo.

No other information about the potential show has been announced as of yet.

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

Finally, one last entry on this list that may or may not be a board game. It’s also one where the status of the project seems very much up in the air. In 2021, Mattel announced in a press release that Vin Diesel would be co-producing a movie based on the popular ‘60s game Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Diesel stated in the press release:

Unfortunately, there has been no news over the last four years, so like a few others on this list, while there are some big names attached, a lot of these projects seem to fall apart.

It’s obviously difficult to adapt board games, which explains why so many of these projects get announced, and then seem to languish in development hell, sometimes for years. It doesn’t look like there will be any of these on the 2025 movie schedule or the 2025 TV schedule, but maybe someone will roll the dice in 2026.

San Diego Comic-Con might be most known to casuals for all the celebrities that attend its movie and television panels, but it’s also one of the most important weekends of the year for toy collectors. That’s because almost all of the major companies have extensive set-ups and reveal a lot of what’s upcoming. This year was no exception, and days later, I’m still fired up about a ton of upcoming toys we’re getting.

I couldn’t possibly touch on all the cool figures and spectacular sets that got shown off, but I would like to give a little shine to a few things I’m particularly excited about. So, here’s a quick roundup of my favorite toy reveals at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con.

The Upcoming Wave Of Walmart Exclusive WWE Superstars

There’s no wrestling figure line that’s more frustrating to collect than WWE Superstars. They’re exclusive to Wal-Mart and the distribution is patchy at best. Some stores will inexplicably get ten boxes of a single wave and never get in the next one. It takes a lot of patience and hunting, but for my money, there’s no figure line that displays better than this one.

Each figure comes with accessories and cloth goods, and since most of the characters are splashy, larger than life wrestlers from the 80s and early 90s, the combination is a really toyetic visual. I can’t get enough, and Mattel has (mostly) shown a really good, intuitive sense of what characters fans want in the line.

That was proven once again with these latest reveals, particularly on the right hand side of the above picture with new additions Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the three members of Demolition: Ax, Smash and Crush. All four of these characters are ones fans have been clamoring for, and the final products have me even more excited. A few more waves still need to hit stores before we get these, but hopefully they’ll be in retail by the end of the year. I know I’ll be buying them.

LEGO’s Arkham Asylum Set

One of our video editors here at CinemaBlend, Gabe Kovacs, sent me a picture of the Arkham Asylum set as it was displayed on the Comic-Con floor, and I stopped working for like fifteen or twenty minutes. Who could possibly focus on pulling data when they just found out this exists? No one. Not a single superhero among us could.

The above set features 16 characters including Batman, Harley Quinn, The Joker and even security guards so you’ll have unimportant people to kill off. It’s also a 24 day advent calendar and splits into three distinct levels (a first floor, second floor and roof) so you can move characters around as easily as possible.

LEGO is putting this up for preorder on September 9th for LEGO Insiders, and it’ll be available for everyone else on September 12th. I’d order quickly because even with the $299.99 price point, it’ll probably be gone quickly.

Magic The Gathering’s Collaboration With Marvel Legends

Wizards Of The Coast has been working with Marvel since 2023, but I’m particularly excited about this upcoming collaboration with Marvel Legends and more specifically, Spider-Man. On September 26th, Magic The Gathering is going to be dropping a Spider-Man tie-in that features promo cards from Peter Parker’s universe. Characters including Aunt May, Doc Ock, Gwen Stacy and Venom will be getting their own, and the samples look fantastic.

I’m particularly attracted to the art work and how much it pops within the traditional confines of a Magic The Gathering card. It’s a great visual look, and I think this set is going to go over really well with both traditional MTG players and Spider-Man fans who want to express their fandom in a different way. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.

Street Fighter’s Collaboration With WWE

WWE is no stranger to figure crossover lines. Last year we got a set featuring the most popular superstars as TMNT characters. Before that, we got a dynamite crossover with Masters Of The Universe. Now, it’s Street Fighter’s turn.

If you would have told me before Comic-Con, I would have been mildly interested in this collaboration, but after seeing the actual figures, I’m blown away. The Ultimate Warrior as Blanka with orange chest hair has been the clear fan favorite, but every figure in the line looks really good. The Rock as M Bison is also a standout, as is the packaging, which is made to look like a classic arcade game.

Brandon Routh is heading to streaming television after stints on The CW's Legends of Tomorrow and ABC's The Rookie, and it's safe to say that his new project will take him in some very different directions than the DC Comics superhero series and Nathan Fillion-led crime drama. Routh landed a role on an upcoming Netflix project that will involve his voice talents rather than live action. Prepare for Brandon Routh as star of Magic: The Gathering!

An animated TV series based on the popular Magic: The Gathering card game has been developing for more than two years now, and it has finally taken a big step forward with the announcement that Brandon Routh will be voicing none other than Gideon Jura (who is definitely not the Gideon that Routh interacted with as Ray Palmer on Legends of Tomorrow). Routh, who is apparently a big fan of the game himself, shared the news in a video on the Netflix Geeked Twitter account, saying:

Brandon Routh went on to reiterate that he loves the world of Magic: The Gathering and is "very excited to be a part of this animated series" and he'll "see you around the multiverse" in 2022. All things considered, it's fun to learn that Routh landed the role of Gideon as such a big fan of Magic, and Henry Cavill over on another Netflix series can probably relate to the feeling of winning a starring role on something you already love!

Word broke of this Magic: The Gathering TV show back in June 2019, with the big news that Joe and Anthony Russo of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be helming it. Just last week, however, Deadline reported that the Russo brothers and their team of writers actually left development of the series early on in an amicable but apparently definitive split. Jeff Kline, known for Transformers: Prime, took the helm.

That news seemed like it could indicate Magic: The Gathering had a ways to go in making real progress toward a premiere on Netflix, so Brandon Routh announcing his casting has to be a reassuring reveal for any viewers who have been waiting for the streamer's take on the Magic universe. It's not clear just when in 2022 the show could premiere, but having a premiere window is still better than going another couple years with little in the way of big news!

Besides, as an animated series, Magic: The Gathering is less likely to be set back by any potential production shutdowns, although hopefully shutdowns throughout the entertainment industry won't have to happen again. For now, it's a waiting game to find out more about the series. There are plenty of projects featuring Brandon Routh streaming on Netflix, however, with Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, and The Flash all available.

In the last five years, Joe and Anthony Russo have become two of the most famous filmmakers in the world. While they had previously been best known for their work on beloved cult television shows like Community and Arrested Development, everything changed when Marvel Studios hired them to take the helm of 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Since then they have not just directed three more Marvel movies– including Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame – but turned those projects into some of the biggest blockbusters of all time.

That kind of success has some major benefits in Hollywood, and now the directing duo is taking full advantage. The brothers have used their clout to start their own production company called AGBO Films, they are now they are now developing a full slate of projects to both produce and direct. Much of the work is still in the early stages and just starting to come together, but this morning at San Diego Comic-Con the two filmmakers did a great job preparing audiences for what to expect in the future.

Joe and Anthony Russo took the stage for their very own Hall H panel earlier today, and they revealed some interesting details about what is coming up for them – and for your digestion we’ve compiled all of the key information here:

Cherry

The Russos are only a few months removed now from the insane back-to-back productions of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but already they have settled on the film that they want to direct next. Cherry is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by author Nico Walker, and is particularly special to the Russos because it’s a story that brings them back to their home city: Cleveland, Ohio. Dealing with some intense subject matter like the on-going opioid crisis and the lives of veterans, the film follows an army medic with PTSD who becomes a serial bank robber in support of a deepening drug addiction. Tom Holland, who the directors notably cast as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, is set to star, but the project won’t be quite as kid-friendly as the web-slinging adventures, as it is going to be made with an R-rating in mind.

Dhaka

During the panel, Joe and Anthony Russo both noted that a big part of their mission with AGBO Films is creating a place where filmmakers can have opportunities that they might not find elsewhere in the industry, and the development of Dhaka is a great example. The movie is based on a script that Joe Russo wrote, but it is being helmed by Sam Hargrave – who is making his directorial debut after having previously been a part of the stunt department on all four of the Russos’ Marvel movies. The film is set in India and centers on a mercenary (Chris Hemsworth a.k.a. Thor) who is hired by a businessman to try and rescue his kidnapped son.

Magic: The Gathering

Despite the name of the company, AGBO Films won’t just be making features, as they are also dedicated to developing small screen projects as well. One they are making, for example, is based on one of the great geek properties of the modern era: Magic: The Gathering. The show is being developed as an animated property for Netflix, with the possibility of someday spinning off into something in live-action. It’s still very much in the early days, but Joe Russo noted that those who are fans of characters Jace and Chandra should get very excited.

21 Bridges

Most of the projects discussed during the panel are not going to be released until at least 2020, but that’s not the case for director Brian Kirk’s 21 Bridges – which will be hitting theaters on September 27th. The film features yet another major Marvel star, in this case Chadwick Boseman, and in addition to featuring a quick video with the actor discussing his experience working with the Russo brothers, we also got a brand new trailer, which you can watch below:

The Thomas Crown Affair

It was back in early 2016 that we first learned that a new version of The Thomas Crown Affair was in development with Michael B. Jordan set to star, and today the Russo brothers confirmed that it is still very much a thing that is coming together. Both filmmakers expressed real appreciation for both previous big screen versions of the story – famously starring Steve McQueen and Pierce Brosnan, respectively – but added that this new take will be brand new. Matthew Michael Carnahan, who wrote the movies State of Play and Deepwater Horizon in addition to 21 Bridges, is currently working on the screenplay.

The Electric State

All four of the Russo brothers’ Marvel Studios films were based on scripts by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and their collaboration will soon continue in the making of the new graphic novel adaptation The Electric State. Not much was said about what to expect from the project, but Markus and McFeely are writing it, and in the words of Joe Russo, “that alone is the reason to be excited about that project.”

Grimjack

It was also further noted that the Russo brothers definitely aren’t done developing properties based on comic books. While it’s a bit of a deep cut, they are now getting ready to produce a movie based around the First Comics character Grimjack – who was created by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman back in the early 1980s. The story centers on a grizzled hero named John Gaunt a.k.a. Grimjack, who lives in a world that blends science-fiction and fantasy and operates as a pan-dimensional mercenary.

The Battle Of The Planets

For right now Cherry is the primary focus of the Russo brothers when it comes to directing, but after that it’s possible that the siblings might try and bring The Battle Of The Planets to the big screen as a directorial effort. From the 1970s, the original show was an American adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, and it’s a big bombastic science-fiction adventure that centers on an intergalactic team called G-Force that works to protect the Earth from constant threats originating from the planet Spectra. This is a project that Hollywood has been trying to make for years and years, but now the Russos are doing their best to make it a reality.

Which of these projects are you most excited for? Hit the comments section below with all of your thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for a whole lot more of our coverage out of San Diego Comic-Con 2019! Don't forget to also look through our 2019 release schedule.

Fresh off of directing the second-highest-grossing film of all time with Avengers: Endgame, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo could feasibly get their hands dirty with any conceivable project possible. On top of reportedly directing the upcoming drama adaptation Cherry with Spider-Man: Far From Home's Tom Holland, the Russo brothers are apparently now teaming up with Netflix to develop an animated series based on the globally renowned role-playing game Magic: The Gathering.

Netflix announced that Anthony and Joe Russo will be serving as executive producers on the new animated series that will apparently be titled Magic: The Gathering. (Probably smart not to confuse people with an alternate title.) It's apparent that this Magic TV project has been in development behind the scenes ahead of the news going public, too, as the rest of the creative team is also already lined up.

In one corner of Magic: The Gathering's writing team is Henry Gilroy, a former writer and executive producer on Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars, as well as for a variety of Marvel's animated series such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Spider-Man. He started out on shows such as Tiny Toon Adventures and Taz-Mania, too, so he knows humor as well as action beats.

In the other corner is Jose Molina, who is more known for live-action shows over animated series, though he also worked on Clone Wars. Molina has written and been a co-EP on hits such as Law and Order: SVU, The Vampire Diaries, Sleepy Hollow and, most recently, Amazon's The Tick. (Henry Gilroy wrote a pair of episodes for the original animated Tick series, for what that's worth.)

Along with Netflix, the Russo brothers will also be partnering with game publisher Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro's Allspark Animation for the Magic: The Gathering TV show, which will be produced by the animation network Octopie. The actual animation for Magic will be produced by Bardel Entertainment, which also works on current hits such as Rick and Morty and Teen Titans Go! for Cartoon Network.

While the actual plotline for the TV show isn't being promoted in full, the announcement teases that Magic: The Gathering will introduce an all new storyline that expands the story of the Planeswalkers, which are the power-wielding wizards that are contending "with stakes larger than any one world can hold." One might also expect for the TV series to be engineered to introduce new characters and character types that will inevitably get brought into the card game's future expansions.

Take a gander at Netflix's sneak peek image below.

In Netflix's announcement, here's what Anthony and Joe Russo had to say about signing on for a Magic TV series.

Get ready for lots of largely clueless older people to pipe up with comments like "How can you make a TV show out of a card game?" or "What's next, Netflix's Go Fish: The Series?" or "This isn't the kind of magic that David Copperfield does." Here's hoping everyone becomes a convert whenever Magic: The Gathering debuts on Netflix. That'll presumably in 2020, though no dates were specified.

Are you guys excited to see Magic: The Gathering finally getting adapted into a TV show after all this time?

Magic: The Gathering is upping its competitive portfolio, introducing a new competitive structure that includes both digital and physical versions of the game and an increased prize pool. The idea is to go full eSport with Magic, including massive tournaments, additional sponsored events and even a roster of professional players taking part in regular match-ups.

Revealed during The Game Awards on Dec. 6, Magic: The Gathering is set to undergo a complete overhaul in terms of competitive play. While the physical card game has been making a splash for about two decades, Magic: Arena is a newer, digital version of the popular trading card game that's made quite a splash of its own since its launch. Wizards of the Coast has decided to leverage the popularity of both formats, making a more comprehensive tournament structure whether you're playing physical, digital or both.

To help the digital format hit the ground running, a special Magic: Arena Mythic Invitational event will be hosted out of PAX East from March 28-31 with a $1 million prize pool. More details concerning this tournament will be revealed in January, which is when we'll also find out who, exactly, has been invited to compete.

In a recent blog post, WotC's Elaine Chase explained that 2019 is going to be the biggest year yet for Magic organized play, combining what is already being done on the physical front with an approach to the digital format not unlike what you might be used to in games like League of Legends or even Overwatch. Next year's prize pool is a whopping $10 million, which is double that from 2018. As noted in the announcement, this new format should prove lucrative for players, sponsors and, of course, eSports partners.

This all hinges on the creation of the Magic Pro League, which will initially play host to 32 top-ranking players from around the world. These folks are getting contracts to play competitively and stream matches regularly, and they're basically going to be treated the same as professional athletes in any other sport. Folks who follow Magic learn about their favorite players, but the MPL will keep them in the spotlight and make it way easier for more casual observers to learn who they are and cheer for their favorite players. WoTC will be rolling out profiles on each of the 32 players soon, with regularly scheduled matches set to begin in 2019.

As you might have noticed earlier in this update, the upcoming Magic: Arena tournament is being called a "Mythic" event, which is apparently how WotC plans to distinguish these higher-level tournaments across both the digital and physical version of the game.

I, for one, am excited to see Magic: Arena getting so much support here in the early goings. Not everyone can find folks to play the physical game against in their hometown and others are unable to travel for tournaments. Magic: Arena brings that kind of competition to everyone and, if your skill level is high enough, maybe you'll find yourself being labeled a pro in time for one of these high-paying tournaments.

Keyforge is all the rage in tabletop gaming these days due in no small part to the fact that it completely eliminates some of the most intimidating factors seen in almost every other card game. If the idea of buying tons of cards and constructing a deck in games like Magic: The Gathering has you breaking into stress sweats, then you might want to give Keyforge a gander.

It's worth pointing out right off the bat that both Keyforge and Magic were created by the same guy, Richard Garfield. In fact, Keyforge spawned out of Garfield's fond memories of playing Magic with friends back in the day, only in a much more limited format.

What sets Keyforge apart from the pack is that it is a "unique deck game." In short, that means no two decks in the game will ever be the same and, on top of that, the cards in a given deck are set in stone. That means that there is no deckbuilding in Keyforge, so you won't be buying booster packs of cards in the hopes of pulling something useful or, more likely, spending more money online to get the specific cards you want. Instead, you spend 10 bucks on a deck and you're ready to play; your deck can't be altered in any way.

The Problem With Deckbuilding

I fully appreciate the draw of deckbuilding in other card games. I've had several multi-year stints in my life where I've been pretty dedicated to collectable card games like Magic or living card games like Netrunner (also, oddly enough, designed by Richard Garfield).

In case that terminology is a bit confusing, a trading card game is what most people think of when they envision a couple of players sitting on opposite sides of a table, dueling with decks of cards. These games include Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, Pokemon and more recent popular titles based on Transformers and Dragon Ball. Expansions for those games come out every few months with constructed decks available, as well as lots and lots of booster packs. A living card game has expansions come out at about the same pace but, instead of your traditional booster packs, those games are augmented with single large packs of cards that have everything you need to keep the action going.

But whether you're talking about a trading card game or a living card game, the one thing those types of games typically have in common is deckbuilding. The model relies on players experimenting with the cards, buying more cards, experimenting further and constructing a deck of their own. It can be a heck of a lot of fun, but it's also why I eventually bounce off of more traditional card games.

Using Magic as an example, I would frequently buy a starter deck for a new expansion and start playing games with it. After a while, I'd learn the deck's weaknesses and start paying more attention to the other cards available in the expansion to see which ones might make my own deck better. If I couldn't find the cards I wanted available for purchase on their own, my only option was to turn to booster packs and hope that I got the cards that I wanted. Then I'd typically buy more booster packs. Then more. Then more.

After a while, I'd be sitting on a mountain of cards I never even use, all in order to have a decent enough deck to compete at local tournaments. In the end, though, I'd almost always lose to the guy who looked up the most successful deck from recent major tournaments and then went out and spent hundreds of dollars to build that optimized deck. I'm totally comfortable with taking a loss, but it always leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I lose to a deck that someone found online and then spent an insane amount of money to "build" themselves.

But, again, I get the draw of that type of card game. Tinkering with a deck is a lot of fun and can be very rewarding, but it frequently comes with a high cost and an insane stack of extra cards I have no intention of ever using.

And those are frequently the factors that keep people from even giving traditional card games a shot. The cost is high, building a deck can be intimidating and there's nothing fun about losing to one of those alpha decks that your opponent didn't even build themselves.

A Totally Unique Experience

And that is precisely why I, and many others, have fallen head-over-heels in love with Keyforge. When you buy a deck of cards, you're literally ready to roll and will never need to, or be able to, alter that deck. Every single deck in Keyforge is created by an algorithm to be unique and feature plenty of synergy between the cards. What's really cool is that, in order to guarantee this uniqueness, all of the decks are given a distinct name and every single card in that deck has the name printed on it. Again, that means there is no deckbuilding in the game.

Sure, you can go out and drop another $10 on another deck if you like, but there's no reason to assume that new deck is going to be "better" than the one you already have. When you sit down across the table from another player, you know for a fact that their deck was created the same way that yours was and that they didn't go out and spend a bunch of extra money on cards or simply look up the "best deck" online. Keyforge is a game that pits skill against skill alone, and it's a breath of fresh air for the genre.

Since I primarily write about video games, this model is especially disorienting to me because it seems to put an emphasis on the game itself rather than "making all of the money in the world." Deckbuilding games like Magic could probably be considered the first loot boxes, as players spend a few bucks on small packs of cards and never know what they're actually buying until they open the pack. That sort of gachapon model has been huge in video games in recent years because it has proven to be a massively successful way for developers to keep getting more money out of the same customer for the same game.

By comparison, Keyforge feels like it was designed to be a fun game that cannot keep milking players through a constant stream of booster packs. Sure, some players will go out there and buy a whole bunch of decks, but the average player can simply buy a couple of decks and call it a day. More importantly, those one or two decks they buy are just as viable as any of the decks Gary Moneybags spent hundreds of dollars to pick up.

Richard Garfield himself summed up these differences perfectly. Garfield used to play Magic with his friends in leagues that saw them pulling cards from a limited supply. As Magic moved away from that style of play, he started to miss the days when players had to rely on a more limited set of resources. In Magic, if a card does not help a deck run like a well-oiled machine, it's quickly tossed into the reject pile.

Garfield compared traditional card games to an amusement park, where players are being told by professionals how to play the game, what the best strategies are and what decks they should be using. Keyforge, by comparison, is the jungle. In Keyforge, you are handed a bag of tools that's completely unlike any bag of tools being handed to the other players. Your job is to learn how to best use those tools, including the ones that might initially seem less beneficial. Whoever learns to use their tools the best is likely to be the winner.

Keyforge is probably the most consumer friendly card game I've ever come across. The game itself is a hell of a lot of fun to play, and I'm seeing more and more people who would not traditionally play these types of card games pick up a deck and give it a try. All of the intimidation factors tied to games like Magic have been thrown out the window, and I'm looking forward to seeing how that resonates with players over time.

It's not uncommon for rare trading cards to fetch a pretty penny at auction, but not many would pull in enough to just about buy a house outright. But that's exactly what happened this weekend when the rare Black Lotus Magic card sold at auction. The extremely rare, sought-after card pulled in $87,672 on eBay and, we presume, will be immediately locked away inside of a safety deposit box, never again to see the light of day.

While Magic: The Gathering is a massive game these days, it actually came from humble beginnings. The popular collectable card game first hit the scene back in 1993 and, as highlighted in a report from Kotaku, the first Alpha set consisted of 295 cards. The game started to gain momentum pretty quickly, though, and eventually a Beta and Unlimited series was released, adding a handful of cards to the set and changing the card borders from black to white.

Obviously, things really took off from there. New sets of Magic cards started rolling out on a regular basis and, nowadays, that includes a major new expansion every few months.

Since only 1,100 copies of the Alpha set were printed, though, that means there are only 1,100 copies of the card with the black border potentially available in circulation. That is, of course, not accounting for the fact that many of those copies have likely been lost, thrown away or damaged in some way or another. So, yeah, it's a pretty rare card.

What made it even more desirable as a collector's item, though, was the fact that its ability allowed the player to drop it into play without a cost and gain three mana (the game's main resource) immediately. That made the card a life-saver if available at the right moments and, as part of an opening hand, could even grant a massive advantage on the very first turn.

Super rare Magic cards can typically go for about $10,000 at auction, so that should give you some extra indication as to how rare the Black Lotus is, especially from the Alpha set. As noted in the original report, this particular copy of the card also boasted an insanely high rating of 9.5, meaning it was in just shy of absolutely perfect condition.

What's crazy is, I started playing Magic back in the mid-90s, just a couple years after the game first launched. I distinctly remember seeing copies of Black Lotus popping up from time to time and, even back then, it was a highly coveted card due to its strong ability. This is actually something of a painful memory, as these were the days when deck boxes and card sleeves were unheard of. If someone was playing the card, it was likely in a deck held together by a rubber band, shoved in a pocket and then played on surfaces like sidewalk cement while waiting for the bus. If only we would have known back then that the card may one day have been worth nearly $88,000, folks probably would have treated them a bit kinder.

Of course, these days, you can now avoid worrying about all of that rarity and preservation nonsense and just stick to playing games like Magic and Hearthstone the way the good lord intended, in a digital format.

Wizards of the Coast has two of the most popular nerd-culture brands under its wing: Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. These two behemoth franchises have been in the public spotlight for years, gathering and building communities across wide swathes of the internet. The combination of the pen and paper games with the collectible card games have made the Wizards of the Coast a powerful organization in the world fantasy fiction. The latest crossover to take the world by storm is a cross-branded promotion of epic proportions in the form of Dungeons & Dragons meeting with Magic: The Gathering.

The crossover was announced over on the official Wizards website, giving a product overview of the D&D Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. Ravnica, being a setting that has been used in the past, and will be used in the future, for card sets of _Magic: The Gathering. _The upcoming book is set for release later this year during the fall on November 20th, 2018. You'll be able to get the hardcover dungeon guide for $49.95.

D&D Guildmaster's Guide To Ravnica is set within the city of Ravnica, a metropolitan area for cosmopolitan citizens of all sorts. The description notes that the city is wildly diverse and that there are bustling marketplaces, bazaars, and back alleys stoked with the peddling of grifters and merchants, vagabonds and thieves. The city isn't all about the hustle and bustle of the lower-level street life, but also about the wealthy and powerful who inhabit the city's upper echelons. There are guilds that maintain a foundation of influence over Ravnica, and power plays and political intrigue run rampant through the civic municipalities and those who govern them.

Players will be able to take part in the sourcebook based on the upcoming card set featuring the "Ravnica Allegiance". The original card set for the Magic: The Gathering CCG was actually announced back in May, along with the "Guilds of Ravnica", which is another card set that will go live ahead of the release of the guild book in October. The guild set will contain 259 new cards, while the "Ravnica Allegiance" set will contain 264 new cards. The latter deck won't be available until January 2019.

There's also going to be a "Dissension" card pack featuring the location of the demon Rakdos, as well as other primordial inhabitants. The other set, known as the "Return to Ravnica", focuses on the Guildpact living within the metropolis, while the "Gatecrash" set is a 249 black-bordered card pack that contains the occasional premium card. The last of the sets is the "Dragon's Maze", which is pretty much what it sounds like, focusing on the maze-like areas of the Ravnica city.

Quite naturally everyone assumed that the cards would be relegated to the Magic: The Gathering realm, but Wizards of the Coast are now announcing that there will be a Dungeons & Dragons game book to help flesh out the lore of Ravnica.

The location is a strong part of the Magic: The Gathering community, and a variety of card sets help flesh out the city and its wildly diverse inhabitants.

It's unclear how much crossover there is between fans of the pen-and-paper world of Dungeons & Dragons and the collectible card game world of Magic: The Gathering, but clearly, the idea behind the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica is to get fans of one excited about the other.

A roadmap through the next year's worth of Magic: The Gathering has been plotted, with Wizards of the Coast revealing details about the collectible card game's next three expansions.

If you're the kind of person who just plays Magic and doesn't follow the lore, then you're probably not that interested in the fact that the next trio of expansions will focus on the Ravnica setting. Old-school fans of the game, though, will likely be giddy to return to the beloved region, as well as see the return of a focus on various guilds.

The official announcement for the expansions does a decent job of summing up the recent story that has been driving the new cards in Magic recently. Nicol Bolas, the big bad, is working on the final stages of his ultimate plan to become the most powerful Planeswalker, and the heroes of the world are gathering at Ravnica to try and thwart his efforts.

What that translates to in the game is three expansions which focus on this portion of the story. The ultimate showdown will take place following these next few sets but, for now, it's time to prepare.

The first set in the trilogy is called "Guilds of Ravnica," and its set to release on Oct. 5. As noted above, as well as in the set's name, guilds will play a big part in the card functionality, so expect to see a heavy emphasis on the Boros, Selesnya, Golgari, Izzet and Dimir factions. All told, this set will boast 259 new cards for players to incorporate into their decks.

Next up is "Ravnica Allegiance," which is set to launch in January of 2019. The focus on guilds continues in this set and will boast an emphasis on the Azorius, Rakdos, Gruul, Simic and Orzhov factions. All told, that's a heck of a lot of guilds coming together to stop Bolas in his tracks, so you know the guy has got to be pretty powerful to garner this sort of attention. This set will come with 264 new cards to kick off 2019.

Finally, there's a third Ravnica set in the works, though WotC isn't ready to start yapping about details just yet. However, keeping in line with Magic's recent leaning toward more themed content and swag, you can rest assured these upcoming sets will have you covered with guild-themed pins, stickers, life counters and decks.

Obviously, all of these new cards will also make their way into the digital versions of Magic, giving players on the tabletop and the computer screen the exact same experience.

So, now for the big question, do we have any big Magic fans in the audience? If so, are you looking forward to a yearlong trek through Ravnica? Let us know your thoughts on the new sets in the comments below.

Wizards of the Coast is still hard at work on Magic: The Gathering Arena, a new take on the classic card game franchise that will tweak a few things from the physical version and offer a unique experience on digital platforms. The good news is that they're almost ready to dive into the beta phase and they're looking for plenty of players to get involved.

In case this is a little confusing, MTG Arena is actually different from the standard version of Magic, which already has a digital counterpart. But while Hearthstone or The Elder Scrolls: Legends are more streamlined takes on the genre, Arena is aiming to bring every bit of the depth from the tabletop series to a more robust digital platform. The standard version of digital Magic is fine to play, but not all that exciting to watch. WotC aims to change that with Arena, which will be free-to-play when it's ready to launch.

But that's putting the cart before the horse. Before Arena can become the next big thing on mobile, WotC needs to test it first. To prepare for that, they've posted an exhaustive rundown of early play activities, including the upcoming stress test and the closed beta.

The initial plan is to host a stress test on Nov. 3 and, assuming the game doesn't collapse under the load of actual play, the game will shortly move into the closed beta. The hope is to have the beta up and running as early as Nov. 30, so you folks waiting on Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will have to make room in your lives for two games.

You can sign up for the closed beta directly from the WotC site but, even if you don't make it in during the first wave, the plan is to invite more and more players in as the weeks wear on. After signing up for the beta, all you have to do is wait for an email from the devs inviting you into the game. That's it.

As a heads up, the closed beta will be PC-only and participants will be under an NDA, so only share your thoughts in the official forums if you manage to get in. For those wondering about format, the beta will be a best-of-one constructed format using all of the cards from the new Ixalan set. But this is a beta, so don't expect to hold on to any cards you get while playing. A draft format is expected to be implemented at some point during the beta.

Finally, as for how long the beta will last, WotC isn't sure yet. So if you manage to get in, just keep playing until they let you know that the duels must come to an end.

A Japanese mom tried to sell her son's old Magic: The Gathering cards online only to discover that his collection was worth quite a bit of money. In fact, it included one of most valuable cards in the long-running game.

Magic has been going strong for more than 20 years now, which means quite a few cards have had an opportunity to appreciate in value. The Unlimited version of Black Lotus, for instance, usually pulls down $5,000 when sold.

That card actually happened to be in a collection that was nearly sold on Yahoo Auctions in Japan. According to Kotaku, this entire debacle caused some serious trouble for the family involved.

We've all heard this story before: A kid moves out of his family's home, leaving a bunch of their stuff behind. The parents leave the stuff untouched for a while, but eventually, they decide to start clearing things out. To do that, they grab all of the kid's old "junk" and either chuck it, sell it, or donate it to charity. And, wouldn't you know it, some of that junk was worth a heck of a lot of money.

In Japan, a lady discovered her son's old Magic cards and decided to get rid of them. Thankfully, she didn't decide to trash or donate them, because then this story wouldn't have such a semi-happy ending. Instead, she threw them up for auction starting at $9, noting that some were really old and possibly damaged. She admitted that she knows nothing about Magic and, therefore, couldn't field any questions concerning the cards.

When she came back to check on the auction, she saw that it had skyrocketed to more than $5,000 for the top bid. By then, some saint had realized what was going on and actually managed to track down the owner of the cards and let them know that their mother was trying to unload their valuable collectibles.

From the sound of things, the guy didn't take this very well. The woman stated that her family was "on the brink of collapse" due to the auction and that her son was on his way over to pick up his cards. She apologized profusely to anyone who bid on the cards and, while I'm sure the folks placing the highest bids were a bit disappointed, I doubt anyone can be too angry at the outcome. Again, it's pretty easy (and kind of terrifying, if you're a collector) for these things to happen. They just usually don't have such a rare item involved.

Let this serve as a warning to our readers. If you've got some old comics, trading cards, or video games tucked away at your folks' house, maybe go grab those soon and put them in your own closet.

When it comes to high fantasy, it's an easy assumption that Game of Thrones is the trendsetter for the latest bout of swords, sorcery, and high language that's been brewing in Hollywood. Then again, show me a film or tv show that has action, nudity, and good writing behind it that doesn't accrue enough of a following to keep itself afloat, and I'll show you one of those HBO shows hardly anyone else talks about. (Maybe if Deadwood didn't terminate its run so hastily, we'd still be talking about A Million Ways To Die In The West). Already, Warcraft is in production, Dungeons and Dragons has been mentioned in the not too distant past as a candidate for the reboot treatment, and now Magic: The Gathering is shuffling its deck to tell its story on the big screen – and a writer has been drawn into action.

Deadline reports that writer Bryan Cogman is the writer 20th Century Fox has brought on for Magic: The Gathering – Subtitle To Be Determined. If that name sounds familiar to you, then you've already made the connection between Cogman's new gig for Magic and his other gig on Game Of Thrones. Cogman is not only a co-producer on the show, he was a story editor for Seasons 2 and 3, and has written four episodes of the show himself. Most recently, he was the pen behind the episode The Laws Of Gods And Men, the episode which featured everyone's favorite Lannister on trial for his life. Yes, it's the episode with Tyrion's famous speech.

With high medieval fantasy making itself popular again, studios are clearly trying to cash in on the limited niche that's presenting itself. While it's not quite at the level where anything remotely similar to Game Of Thrones will automatically open to $200 million worldwide, the opportunity that Warcraft and now Magic: The Gathering have at their hands is one that could start the next trend. HBO isn't going to keep Game Of Thrones on the air forever, and the medieval fantasy revolution it's started is going to require some fuel for the fire. If both of these films can match the thrill of Thrones, albeit with a PG-13 rating in play, then be prepared to see a lot of swords, shaggy hair, and chain mail.

Of course, should Magic: The Gathering lose its game of chance, then the results could be worse than the last time medieval fantasy went wrong: Your Highness. For now, the fate of Universal Pictures' Warcraft movie, due out in March 2016, will probably be the greatest indicator of whether this film will even move ahead or not. Bryan Cogman will probably be working the script on his hiatus from producing, and possibly writing future episodes, of Game Of Thrones, so clearly 20th Century Fox isn't rushing to jump into a market that might not even be there by time it's first tapped. There's currently no projected release date, so we probably won't hear much about this project until Warcraft starts ramping up its marketing/production efforts.