Magic: The Gathering will return to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth with a new Universes Beyond expansion based on The Hobbit. It is significant because it is the crossover programme’s first follow-up set set in a fictional universe Magic has previously visited, after 2023’s The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.

The Hobbit is scheduled for release in August 2026 and adapts the prequel to The Lord of the Rings. The earlier Middle-earth set was a major crossover release and was legal in the Modern format, raising expectations for Wizards of the Coast’s second visit to Tolkien’s world.