MTG Lead Designer confirms Pioneer Horizons set is a real possibility
The Pioneer format in MTG could be set for a major shake-up in the future, as Lead Designer Mark Rosewater has discussed a Horizons-style set on social media.
Modern Horizons was a hugely impactful set in MTG, effectively introducing set rotation to a format that was never initially intended to rotate.
Both Modern Horizons and its successor, Modern Horizons 2, upped the power level of available cards for the Modern format so significantly that long-term pillars of the format were immediately power-crept out of the game.
Modern had long been a beloved competitive format, and Modern Horizons pseudo-rotation has been very controversial as a result. Now, the potential of a Horizons-style set for the Pioneer format has been raised, and fans are already wary of the possibility.
MTG’s Mark Rosewater discusses potential Pioneer Horizons set
WOTCWhen asked about the potential for Horizons sets in non-Modern formats like Pioneer, specifically ‘if or when?’ Rosewater responded with “If, but a very real possibility.”
First off, it’s important to take this with a grain of salt. Far from a confirmation or official set announcement, Rosewater was responding to a fan question via social media.
As immediate responses to the news among fans were less than enthusiastic, Rosewater has made a second post clarifying his comments on a possible future Pioneer Horizons-style MTG set.
By responding to ‘if’ as opposed to ‘when’ out of the two options presented, Rosewater states that there is a fair chance that a Horizons-style set may never happen outside of Modern. If the Horizons product line were to adapt in the future, Pioneer would be the most likely format to feature Horizons other than Modern.
While expectations have been adjusted following Rosewater’s clarifying comments, the prospect of additional Horizons sets in the future is a controversial one among the MTG community. Time will tell whether other formats will be impacted by Horizons sets in the same way that Modern has been.
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