What Lorcana’s Shift mechanic could mean for Magic’s Universes Beyond

A Polygon story published Jan. 27, 2026 argues that Disney Lorcana’s name-focused “Shift” mechanic highlights a gap in Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond crossover sets and offers a ready example of a character-driven design Magic could borrow. The piece notes Lorcana leans heavily on multiple iterations of the same characters and mechanics that care about names — not just generic card types.

Winterspell, due in February, will add at least two new versions of Elsa, bringing the total to about 13 different Elsas. Lorcana also maps mechanics from Magic — Ward to Hexproof and Evasive to Flying — but doubles down on name-based interactions. Polygon explains Shift with an Anna example: Anna, Mystical Majesty has Shift 4, letting you pay four Ink to play her on top of another character named Anna.

Mystical Majesty normally costs seven Ink; played over an earlier Anna (Anna, Braving the Storm, a 1/4 that costs two Ink and earns one lore), the Shifted Mystical Majesty becomes a 4/5 that quests for two lore and can exert opposing characters. The article contrasts this with Magic, which has nothing quite like Shift aside from Ikoria’s Mutate, and generally avoids referencing character names without card-specific subtitles.

Polygon cites examples such as Hare Apparent’s awkward name-count interaction and rare exceptions like War of the Spark’s Chandra-related cards.

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