If you weren't aware, Wizards of the Coast have partnered up with Ubisoft to bring a new crossover event to Magic the Gathering and it's all based on the adventures of Assassin's Creed. There are some very familiar faces to be found throughout the set and we're going to showcase a handful of them right here.
Before we dive into the set and take a look at the cards it's worth knowing some facts about the new set; the full global release for the collection is 5 July 2024 and you can collect the cards across a starter kit and, of course, booster packs.
The full set features 54 uncommon cards, 37 rares including five rare dual-land cards, and 14 mythic rares, in addition to 10 full art land cards. The starter kit comes with two mythic rares, six rares, eight uncommons and nine commons all found exclusively within that deck.
All Assassin's Creed cards will be usable in Modern, Commander, Legacy and Vintage game types.
Of course, no new set is complete without some new and returning mechanics. These are additional rulesets specific to the range of cards available, and this crossover has a few tricks up its sleeve.
First up is 'Freerunning', a completely new mechanic for this set. 'Freerunning' allows you to cast spells for a cheaper costs only if an assassin has dealt combat damage to an opposing player. The rest of the mechanics are all returning from other sets, like Disguise, which allows you to hide your creature cards face down before later revealing them.
Then there's 'Cloak' which allows you to place a card face down and consider it a 2/2 colorless creature card with no mana cost. And, lastly, there's 'Historic' which is a term for all artifacts, some legendary cards, and sagas.
Now, let's take a look at a few of the cards from this set and the accompanying artwork.
Here we have two versions of 'Bayek of Siwa' showcasing the two styles of cards available in the Assassin's Creed set. On the left we have the new 'memory corridor' art style which is borderless, and the standard design on the right.
As you can see, Bayek can Disguide himself, but he also has Double Strike and can give Double Strike to any historic creatures you control.
Next, we have Eivor, Wolf-Kissed in the standard art design, and Edward Kenway in the 'memory corridor' full-art style. Both are great Assassin cards to have in-hand. Eivor has the brilliant ability to mill for cards from your deck and play a saga or land directly onto the battlefield. She also has trample for those extra damaging hit points.
Edward Kenway will be a great commander for decks focused on creating and spending treasure tokens. He'll also one-two punch your opponent by dealing damage and then allowing you to exile their top card.
Lastly, we have some Assassin's Creed staples; Eagle Vision, Murder, and Become Anonymous. Murder is a card that many MtG players will know and it instantly kills a target creature, but the new artwork is particularly great. Eagle Vision allows you to draw three cards - very typical of blue decks - and it can be cast for a cheaper 'Freerunning cost' if you've already landed damage with an assassin. Then there's Become Anonymous which takes two cards from the top of your deck and one nontoken creature allowing you to 'Cloak' them, turning them into 2/2 colorless creatures.
There are more brilliant designs in the full set based on a number of familiar assassins, locations, and NPCs. It's shaping up to be not just a wonderful set of MtG cards, but a brilliant buy for any Assassin's Creed fan.
