As the potential stock of high fantasy continues to rise, studios are looking in increasingly esoteric places for the next big thing, and THR is now reporting that 20th Century Fox has bought the rights to produce films based on card game MAGIC: THE GATHERING. Three years ago, basing a film on a CCG might have seemed a ridiculous idea, but then BATTLESHIP was inflicted upon the world and all bets were off.

Exactly how the game’s universe will be adapted to the big screen is unclear at this point, but two possibilities immediately present themselves.

The first is the story of the Brothers’ War, one of the oldest and most well-known backstories hinted at in the game, which details a global conflict between two master artificers that eventually led to a dark age, the fall of the planet’s peaceful nations and an ice age that devastated what remained of civilisation.

The second possibility is the Weatherlight Saga, a classically archetypal fantasy cycle of a diverse group of characters travelling to save the kidnapped captain of the titular skyship. This expansion marked the first time in the game’s development where a set was directly tied to a specific narrative rather than disjointed allusions to a vague mythos.

Expect more on this as it develops.

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