Space: The Convergence – The Magic: The Gathering that never was

Origins: A Sci-Fi “What If?” that Turned into a Full-Fledged Universe

First note! if you’re just looking for a downloadable archive, scroll to the bottom of this article!!

Space: The Convergence didn’t start in a boardroom or design lab—it began with a spark of curiosity among Magic: The Gathering fans. In 2007, Wizards of the Coast published a quirky article titled Space Academy: Lesson One (which sadly is missing it’s images currently), written by Kelly Digges with contributions from Richard Garfield. It was part of a light-hearted series imagining what a sci-fi version of Magic might look like. The article featured sample cards like Photon Ray and Warp Engineer, playful new card types like “Tactics” and “Modules,” and even spacey flavor text loaded with tongue-in-cheek sci-fi tropes.

While intended as a joke, the article hit a nerve with a segment of the fanbase. Players began to wonder: what if this wasn’t just a joke? What if we actually made a full sci-fi Magic set? What if magic was powered by psionic forces instead of mana? What if forests and swamps were replaced by alien planets and biotech labs?

This “what if” quickly became a community project. Over on the MTGSalvation forums—then the go-to hub for custom Magic content—users began collaborating on a fan expansion that would evolve into Space: The Convergence. It was more than just a custom set. It was an entire reimagining of what Magic could be in a far-future, galaxy-spanning setting. Over time, fans developed new rules, terminology, and even original card frames. A user named “Mown” was especially influential, helping design the frame assets that were eventually bundled into the Magic Set Editor (MSE) as a downloadable template. This allowed anyone to create cards in the distinctive Convergence style.

Deep Customization: Mechanics, Frames, and Lore

Unlike most custom Magic sets, which simply change themes or add a few new mechanics, Space: The Convergence restructured the game from the ground up to fit its sci-fi aesthetic. Creatures became Units. Lands became Resources. Equipment evolved into Augments. Spells were renamed Tactics or Technologies. The mechanics were familiar but adapted to fit a futuristic tone, complete with terminology like G-Mods, Synths, and Psi-attuned Units.

New rules didn’t just reskin Magic—they extended its mechanics with sci-fi logic and flavor. Space: The Convergence felt like a fusion of MTG and something more modular, experimental, and thematic.

The custom card frame set this project apart. Instead of just slapping new art onto old frames, the creators designed high-tech borders, introduced new icons to represent mechanics like psi energy and teleportation, and even centered the power and toughness at the bottom of the card—a subtle but memorable change. Many fans at the time commented that the frames felt professionally done, on par with official WotC designs.

The flavor was just as carefully curated. Card names, flavor text, and even the set structure reflected a galaxy torn by warfare, genetic manipulation, and psychic experimentation. Factions emerged—warlords, cloners, machine minds—each one with its own style and keywords. The set ended up comprising over 350 fully designed cards, including all the basics needed for drafting, casual constructed play, or cube formats.

Terminology Swaps (Flavorful but Mostly Cosmetic)

These weren’t mechanical changes but helped reinforce the sci-fi theme:

New Rules and Mechanics

These were custom gameplay elements developed by the fan community, mostly through the MSE template and set design.

1. Psi Alignment

• Like colored mana, each Resource produced a type of Psi energy.
• Cards were “Psi-aligned” and sometimes gained bonuses or penalties based on psi compatibility or overload.
• Think of it as “color matters” on steroids, thematically tied to psychic harmony and instability.

2. Teleport

• Similar to the “Blink” mechanic in MTG (exile and return).
• Often worded as: “Teleport this unit. (Exile it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.)”
• Used for evasion, dodging removal, or triggering “enters the battlefield” effects.

3. Planetfall

• Triggered when a new Resource entered the battlefield.
• A thematic riff on MTG’s Landfall from Zendikar, often resulting in tactical advantages like buffs, scanning (scry), or tech deployment.

4. Overclock

• Allowed a Unit or Module to temporarily gain +X/+0 or another bonus for a cost, often at the risk of later damage or sacrifice.
• Introduced tension between power spikes and unit stability.

5. Synthesize

• Created token copies of a Unit—clones—but with decay or instability.
• This tied into the G-Mod and Synth lore, where cloning was widespread but imperfect.

6. Psi Drain / Psi Flux

• Psi Drain: Abilities or spells that taxed the opponent’s resources (forcing them to lose Resource access or discard psi-themed cards).
• Psi Flux: Unstable psi flows that triggered effects randomly, usually tied to coin flips or chaos-type interactions.

7. Cyberlink

• A kind of “soulbond” mechanic from Magic, allowing Augments or Systems to bind to Units and share abilities or stats.

8. Deck Construction Guidelines

• Some formats encouraged themed builds, such as:
  • No more than two Psi alignments per deck
  • Mandatory inclusion of specific factions or tech classes (similar to color identity in Commander)
• These were optional but added flavor to Convergence cube or draft events.

Notable Unit Subtypes (With Implied Rules)

• 

  Psi: Psychic warriors with enhanced perception and teleportation.

• Synth: Machine lifeforms; often had synergy with Modules or Technology cards.
• Mutant: Prone to instability; often cheap but fragile with powerful ETB (enter the battlefield) effects.
• G-Mod: Genetically modified units—could be customized or evolve during play.
• Alien: Rare subtype often with unique or unpredictable abilities.
• Warlord: Unique legendary-style units that shaped battlefield tempo.

Color Alignments

Here’s a breakdown of the five color alignments in Space: The Convergence:

White – The Lux

• Flavor Theme: Order, civilization, unity, and authority
• Sci-Fi Twist: Represented by gleaming space stations, pristine uniformed armies, and hierarchical command structures (like the Lux Navy or planetary governments)
• Mechanics: Focused on coordinated Units, shields, and tactical formations. Played into structure and cooperation.
• Notable Cards: Aegis Infantry, Orbital Command Center

Blue – The Gelidine

• Flavor Theme: Knowledge, technology, secrecy, and control
• Sci-Fi Twist: Gelidine aligned with alien tech, cybernetic networks, and psi-enhanced thought systems
• Mechanics: Manipulated the battlefield with scanning effects (drawing), tech hijacking (steal/copy), and time manipulation
• Notable Cards: Deep Scan, Neural Override

 

Black – The Necroleum

• Flavor Theme: Ambition, sacrifice, entropy, and domination
• Sci-Fi Twist: This was the domain of void cultists, biotech abominations, and energy parasites
• Mechanics: Life-drain, reanimation via cloning or necro-tech, and sacrificing Units for power
• Notable Cards: Necroleum Reactor, Corpse Stitcher

 

Red – The Vulcanic

• Flavor Theme: Chaos, emotion, aggression, and revolution
• Sci-Fi Twist: Associated with volatile planetary rebels, solar flares, asteroid mining colonies, and volatile energy weapons
• Mechanics: High-speed damage, overload effects, and destruction-themed Tactics
• Notable Cards: Thermal Lance, Asteroid Strike

 

Green – The Verdan

• Flavor Theme: Nature, growth, instinct, and balance
• Sci-Fi Twist: Not simply “organic,” but evolved into techno-bio organisms, wild terraforming, and space-faring ecosystems
• Mechanics: Massive units, augmentation, and resource manipulation (land ramp through outposts or terra-synthesis)
• Notable Cards: Terraform Beast, Photosynthetic Juggernaut

 

Why It Disappeared

Despite the effort and creativity poured into the project, Space: The Convergence largely vanished from the internet by the mid-2010s. There was no dramatic cancellation or takedown—just a slow digital decay.

Image hosting services like ImageShack and Photobucket broke hundreds of embedded image links, including card scans. The project had no central repository, GitHub archive, or permanent site. Everything lived in forum attachments and user-specific hosting, which made it easy to lose. The MTG Salvation project eventually died off.

Fan interest, too, waned. Installing the MSE template and getting the fonts, assets, and layers working was a barrier for casual fans. With no streamlined way to explore the set or play it online, the project became a relic.

There’s no record of Wizards of the Coast issuing a takedown, and most signs suggest the creators simply moved on. But by the time newer fans started looking for the set in the early 2020s, it had become almost impossible to find in full—just scattered screenshots and vague references in Reddit threads and custom card archives.

Fan Theories and Speculative Lore

Although the set never had an official storyline, fans built their own lore through card flavor, speculative timelines, and inter-faction politics. Some of the more popular theories included:

• Psi energy, the fuel for most advanced technology, had unintended side effects like mutations, clone instability, and spontaneous synthesis of lifeforms.

• The Convergence itself was interpreted as a galactic-scale anomaly—a moment when all planetary timelines began bleeding together, creating temporary alliances and hybrid tech.

• Some believe the set was partly inspired by Richard Garfield’s original concept for Magic as a modular card game that could change themes (fantasy, sci-fi, historical) based on expansion. In that sense, Space: The Convergence was a return to that old-school design dream.

There are even whispers among fans that Space: The Convergence may have influenced the new MTG Space Set called Edge of Eternities. Whether true or not, it’s a testament to how forward-thinking the fan designers were.

Where Things Stand Today

Until recently, only fragments of the set could be found—some low-res screenshots, a few surviving card lists, and half-functional MSE templates. But with renewed interest and a growing community of fans hungry for alternate Magic experiences, there’s now momentum to bring it back. And here we are. I managed to find a full archive of hi-res images of the original Space: The Convergence cube, which is available for free download right here!! 

If you feel like printing out your own cube, may I suggest this article about which printers are best for printing custom cards?