Over the past few months, trading cards have seen a resurgence in popularity, largely due to celebrities who are huge fans of the tabletop games. This can be seen in the recent publicity surrounding leading athletes and actors associated with these games. Games like Magic: The Gathering have also seen an increase in popularity as they collaborate with other popular brands, but not all fans are happy about these crossovers.
Trading Cards and Gen Z
One of the most popular trading card games is Magic: The Gathering. Magic has been around since the 90s, and it has remained at the top for over 30 years. Over this time, the game has created a number of different formats and drawn in over 50 million players, becoming the first $1 billion brand for parent company Hasbro. Also widely popular is the Japanese trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh!, based on a game played in the anime and manga series of the same name.
While trading card games were massively popular in the 90s and 2000s, with Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Defining the childhoods of both Millennials and Gen Z, the phenomenon has begun to come back. Just last year, trading cards were the number one secondhand item bought by Gen Z on eBay. With this resurgence in popularity, a number of artists and influencers have made their love of the hobby known, such as Post Malone, an avid collector of Magic: The Gathering cards, who bought a one-of-one card for $2.6 million back in 2023. Recently, however, a new set of celebrities has been making headlines in the world of trading cards.
Athletes, Actors, and Trading Cards
Olympic gold medalist figure skater Amber Glenn has shown her passion for Magic: The Gathering at the Winter Olympics in Milan. In a shoot with NBC, Glenn brought cards from both Pokémon and Magic, and spoke about her love for the games. Glenn stated that she enjoys playing the games at local game stores and even named her dog after a Magic character. Glenn even opened packs of cards during the closing ceremonies.
Shortly after Glenn showed off her collection, Timothée Chalamet starred in a shoot for W Magazine, where he played in a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament at a local game store. According to W Magazine, the shoot was directed by Josh Safdie, who also directed last year’s Marty Supreme, which portrays Chalamet as a burnout who still lives at home with his mother, but sells video controllers and is a champion Yu-Gi-Oh! player. Following the shoot, Chalamet recalled his childhood love for Yu-Gi-Oh!, deepening the connection between pop-culture icons and trading card games.
Universes Beyond
With trading card popularity reaching new heights, games like Magic: The Gathering have begun to expand outside of their own universe to draw in new players. Since 2021, Magic has created sets in the Universes Beyond series, a collaboration with other popular franchises, including Marvel and The Lord of the Rings. Just recently, Magic released its set in collaboration with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; however, longtime fans have mixed feelings about these crossovers.
Many fans of the game are not happy with how relevant Universes Beyond has become to Magic. They feel that the crossovers only serve to bring in new players, while alienating current fans by taking focus away from in-universe sets. Many also believe that the expansion of Universes Beyond is just a way for Magic’s owners, Wizards of the Coast, to maximize profits, as they have a history of raising prices, discontinuing products, and scaling back what is given in particular products.
Rising Sales
Despite criticisms, Universes Beyond has been a massive success for Magic and Wizards of the Coast. In 2025, their crossover set with popular video game franchise Final Fantasy sold $200 million of product in just one day, becoming the best-selling set in the game’s history.
Despite Universes Beyond doing record sales, fans of the Magic universe have shown their love for the latest in-universe set, Lorwyn Eclipsed. Marking the first return to the Celtic fairy-tale-based world in almost 20 years, Lorwyn Eclipsed has become the fastest-selling in-universe set ever, proving that fans still want to see original worlds and stories.
Later this year, Magic will release its crossover set with Marvel, after previously devoting a set to Spider-Man. While many criticize this for eroding quality and brand identity, it will nonetheless succeed in drawing in new players, and following the love celebrities have shown for trading card games, it is likely that the hobby will continue to grow and reach new heights.
What's Your Reaction?
