“Nauctis: The Sunken Realm” is Magic: The Gathering’s next in-universe set coming out in 2027 and is the game’s first entirely underwater setting. The creators wanted to bring real ocean phenomena into this fantastical setting and consulted a marine biologist when creating the plane. The set is full of animal folk like the previous set, Bloomburrow, except everything takes place underwater.
Nauctis will have all types of creatures, from Merfolk, otters, and whales, but for the horror-loving audience, we'll get sharks. A lot of sharks. We will see beast sharks, the apex predators of the ocean, as well as humanoid shark folk. As of right now, they have only shown off one shark card. “Goramou the Coral-Taken” is a legendary shark creature that, when it enters, you create a Blood token with the triggered ability “Whenever you discard one or more land cards, you may exile one of them from your graveyard. If you do, put that card onto the battlefield tapped at the beginning of the next end step.”
We will have to wait to see more of the set to figure out how this new card synergizes with other cards, but for landfall/discard decks, this seems like an interesting addition.
The last horror creature shown off is the legendary Elemental Kraken. “Tecton, Malignant Ruin” dwells in the abyss where other dangerous and terrifying aquatic horrors whose only drive is to eradicate all life. It has a deeply ingrained instinct to consume and destroy. Costing six colorless and two black mana, this terrifying creature has “Fathomless Descent,” which allows the spell to cost one colorless mana less for each permanent in your graveyard. This 5/5 creature also has menace and deathtouch.
And if that wasn’t enough, whenever you sacrifice another permanent, draw a card. For people playing an aristocrats-style deck, this is an easy add-in. And it does so much in addition to being a big creature to take on other creatures. It truly deserves its name “Malignant Ruin.”
These were the only horror cards shown off at MagicCon Atlanta 2026, but from what it sounds like, we are going to be getting a lot of bizarre creatures and aquatic horror to sink our teeth into. It'll be exciting to see how the creators of the set translate the five land types into a completely underwater setting.
We should know more before the set is released on February 5, 2027.
