MTG Meets Assassin's Creed: A Historic Crossover Set Release

Universes Beyond is back this summer with a set that’ll cut deep – Magic: The Gathering – Assassin’s Creed. Created in partnership with Unisoft, the set is a celebration of a series that has run for 16 years, since the first Assassin’s Creed game was released back in 2007.

For the uninitiated, Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure computer game series depicting a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Order of Assassins, who are fighting for peace and free will, and the Knights Templar, who seek peace through order and control. Included in the series are real-life historic figures and events, combined with science fiction and fictional characters. In most games, you take control of a historical assassin, and interestingly the game is considered a spiritual successor to the Prince of Persia series.

Fans of both the computer game’s series and Magic: The Gathering can look forward to powerful new cards, beloved characters, and even real-life historic figures for the first time since the very early days of Magic: The Gathering, when we had cards like Aladdin in Arabian Nights. Fancy making a Leonardo da Vinci Commander deck? This could be the set for you!

The MTG Assassin’s Creed set has 80 new cards and 20 reprints, so there will be plenty to explore and celebrate over the franchise’s history – as well as ‘history’ itself!

The set is also Modern-legal, so who knows if we’ll have equivalents of The One Ring or Orcish Bowmasters to take over the format? Time will tell! Interestingly there are no Commander decks this time and the set isn’t draftable, so Wizards of the Coast is going all in on the new ‘Beyond Boosters’ for players to create their own experiences.

Let’s take a sneaky peek at everything we know so far…

Release Date and Anticipation

Those wanting to take a stab at the set don’t have to wait too long as it’ll be arriving this summer. It’ll be released at the global tabletop launch on 5th July 2024.

Ahead of that, the debut and previews begin on WeeklyMTG on June 18 with the card image gallery and previews completed a few days later on 21st June.

You’ll notice that, as it’s not draftable, there aren’t pre-release events, so once the set is out, it’s ready to purchase!

Iconic Characters and Historical Figures

As you’d expect, the set will be crammed with iconic characters from the game’s history.

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad has been previewed, protagonist of the first game in the series (Assassin’s Creed) which takes place during the Third Crusade. His card is red, black and white, and enables you to exile fellow assassins from the graveyard and create copies of them, bringing back memories of the past, all with a sizable 3/3 first striking body. Super flavourful for a game all back bringing back assassin’s from history!

Ezio Auditore da Firenze is here too, a Master Assassin who serves as the series’ protagonist during the Italian Renaissance, including Assassin’s Creed II. His card has a WUBRG ability that acts as an alternative win condition, so long as your opponent has 10 life or less. To help get there, he also grants other assassins ‘freerunning’ to play them more cheaply so long as an assassin or commander has damaged an opponent. A fine choice for any five-colour assassin deck.

Fans of the games know that the series visits different periods of history and the famous real-world people from the era. As such, the set features historic characters for the first time since the game’s very early days. Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh enables you to pump up other legendary creatures via +1/+1 counters, and benefit from their deaths by drawing cards. Whether you want to make allies, or betray them, is up to you! Leonardo da Vinci – known for the conception of several flying machines – is flavourfully an artifact and thopter commander. I also love the fact he cares about cards in hand, meaning the more knowledge you have, the greater their power!

There are bound to be more historic legends to come, and they are likely to be hugely popular Commanders.

Introducing Beyond Boosters

Keen to start taking down some targets? Well then you need to know about the new Beyond Boosters, which are an experiment for Wizards of the coast and where to find both the regular cards and the ‘booster fun’ versions. Smaller than a Play Booster, Beyond Boosters feature seven cards broken down as:

• 1 Basic land card (or a non-foil borderless scene card)
• 3 Uncommon cards
• 1 Rare or mythic rare card
• 1 Traditional foil uncommon, rare, or mythic rare card
• 1 Showcase uncommon, rare, or mythic rare card (which can also be traditional foil)

Those paying close attention will notice the similarity between the Beyond Booster and the much maligned and discontinued ‘Epilogue Booster’ we saw with March of the Machine: Aftermath. Thankfully, with MTG Assassin’s Creed we’ve a set that’s twice the size, adding some much-needed variety to the cards that can be opened.

Something worth noting is that these cannot be drafted (or, at least they aren’t designed to be). That means these are only to be opened and enjoyed, although I’m sure players could create their own rules to make a limited environment (draft twice as many?!).

Special Card Treatments and Collector’s Items

The Booster Fun cards are just as playable as the regular versions, but are alternatives with unique artwork, treatments and appearances that are also brilliant for collecting.

An example of this is the ‘border scene version’, much like we saw with The Lord of the Rings – Tales of Middle-Earth, however this time there’s just one set of cards that connect to form a larger image.

There are standalone borderless versions, including the historical figures, as well as iconic and powerful cards from across the history of Magic: The Gathering itself, sometimes featuring as a borderless treatment too. So far, we’ve seen Temporal Trespass, Cover of Darkness and Sword of Feast and Famine.

Finally for variants, there are also ‘memory corridor’ treatments that show characters from across the Assassin’s Creed games with a striking and unique look that’s never been seen before.

It’s also just worse noting that the Buy-a-Box promo (for local WPN game stories) has been revealed as Hidden Blade.

Pre-Ordering from Magic Madhouse

Good news for you would-be assassins, pre-orders are available now! At Magic Madhouse you can find pre-orders for Beyond Boosters and Collector Boosters (single boosters and boxes), as well as the Bundle and Starter Kits. With Universe Beyond considered a semi-Reserved List, due to the cards being difficult to reprint for flavour reasons, it can be worth jumping in early to avoid disappointment. Often these sets can include a handful of format-defining cards, meaning packs can sometimes be hard to find, as well as the price usually increasing around launch time. If you like what you’re seeing, now’s a good time to pre-order before those prices start to climb!

Ready-to-Play Options and Starter Kits

Ready to start taking people down, or new to the game? The best way to do so is with the Starter Kit featuring two-ready to play 60-card decks, and a handy guide for new players. There’s some good stuff in there two, including two mythic rares (1 with a shining Traditional Foil treatment) and 8 rares in each deck!

But of course, the beauty of Magic: The Gathering is it’s compatibility with other sets, so you can choose whatever cards you want from MTG Assassin’s Creed and get them straight in your Commander Deck, Cube, or however else you like to play! And with ‘assassins’ being such a strong theme, there’s bound to be significant upgrades for any existing assassins decks, and exciting new Commander options.

Expanding Your Collection with Collector Boosters

Like most Magic: The Gathering sets these days, Collector Boosters will also be available at release. For those looking to make history with the coolest versions of the cards available, Collector Boosters are the way to go.

Featuring 10 cards per booster, Collector Boosters are full of foils and special treatments that can have everything from Beyond Boosters, but also include additional treatments only found in Collector Boosters. There are extended-art cards that showcase even more of the artwork onto the card itself, and a select few rares and mythic cards in MTG Assassin’s Creed feature the extended art treatment.

Foil-etched cards feature a striking frame and foil application, adding even more sparkle and iridescence that stands out even compared to other foil treatments.

Then there are textured foil cards, which are among the rarest of treatments, adding a subtle textured swirl to the memory corridor treatment with an even brighter shine.

Last but not least are the serialised versions of several historical figures, each also appearing in the language that figure spoke! If you really want to go to town, a serialised Italian Leonard da Vinci is the way to go!

Collector Boosters really are the best way to open the coolest cards!

Joining Forces: Assassin’s Creed in the MTG Universe

As another strong IP, Universes Beyond is going from strength to strength. It’s interesting how each franchise is reflected in the products, with Universes Beyond – Fallout focusing on four Commander decks, while MTG Assassin’s Creed is a non-draftable mini set via Beyond Boosters. It’s a landmark moment for sure – if successful, this could set the template for Universe Beyond going forward, with Wizards of the Coast clearly experimenting on the best ways to release Universes Beyond cards.

I must confess, I prefer it when Universes Beyond features Commander decks (as with Warhammer 40K and Fallout) and/or a draftable set (with The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth having both), so I can play the game solely in that universe if I want to. Non-draftable Beyond Boosters means the only way for an entirely Assassin’s Creed experience is either via the Starter Decks, or to build your own with the cards available - but I can imagine that being super fun too, especially for big fans of the franchise.

One thing is for sure, Universe Beyond products are gaining momentum and will continue to explore exciting and beloved franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, and we already know that there will be Secret Lairs connected to the set too. And with the recent release of Universes Beyond – Fallout and previous Secret Lairs for Tomb Raider, Street Fighter and Fortnite, we’re not that far off from being able to assemble a computer game cube!