Magic The Gathering – Assassin’s Creed Review
Magic: The Gathering’s Universe’s Beyond I.P. collaboration imprint shows no sign of slowing down after wildly successful Lord of the Rings, Dr. Who and Fallout runs in the past 12 months alone. Now it’s back with Assassin’s Creed, a fittingly lethal set with a surprisingly muted product lineup.
Assassin’s Creed has always been a property squarely centered on its characters and the historical locations in which they operate. Aveline and 17th century New Orleans, Arno and revolutionary Paris, Basim and 9th century Baghdad… Character and setting, each and every time.
Given this, you’d think that the obvious choice for a Magic collab product would be Commander format decks. Instead, the release comprises new ‘Beyond’ boosters, collector boosters, bundles, and an inexpensive Magic starter set featuring a pair of decks themed around recurring franchise hero Ezio and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s Eivor respectively.
Collector boosters in the series are what they’ve always been, a product simply too expensive for my blood and depth of engagement with Magic as a hobby. What surprised me though is the Beyond booster. They’re not only a couple of bucks more expensive per pack than the Play boosters introduced a few months back with the Outlaws of Thunder Junction set, they also feature half the amount of cards at only seven. At $9.95AUD RRP a piece, and with each pack guaranteed to comprise 3 uncommons and likely a land, that’s a bit of an eyebrow raise from me.
Fortunately the cards that make up this small series are really terrific in their own right, and have been translated from the video game to thematic perfection.
As one might expect, ‘assassin’ is a common creature type here, and cards which buff assassins feature heavily also. Naturally this means the series tends to shy away from featuring large and tough creatures in favour of more agile, tricky, and deadly ones.
The Assassin’s Creed video game series has been around long enough to have gone through a couple of major reinventions, with fans tending to place themselves firmly into camps regarding which is their favourite. While the splendour of its historical recreations has shone brighter and brighter over the years, the fandom tends to agree that the science-fiction backdrop that it all hangs upon became an utterly incomprehensible mess a long time ago.
I got to chat briefly with the set’s designer, Corey Bowen, at Summer Game Fest last month, and was able to ask him about the challenges of adapting an I.P. with a fanbase so divided as to what they love about it. Through laughter he acknowledged that the sci-fi stuff wasn’t what most people gravitate towards, and so I wasn’t really shocked to find that there’s relatively little of it represented in the set.
What is a little surprising is how few real figures of history are represented in it given Ubisoft’s penchant for weaving them throughout each original AC story. With the scope of this Magic release being as relatively small as it is, I suppose it makes sense to direct their attention where they did though. At least my boys Sokrates and da Vinci made it along for the ride. I would’ve howled at a Marquis de Sade card, but c’est la vie.
While both kinds of booster and the bundle offer a pretty questionable value proposition, the starter kit is something that I’m a massive fan of. It’s terrific, and is of excellent value at $29.95AUD RRP even just as a standalone game to play by itself.
The included Ezio deck is a blue/black that broadly represents the design styling of the game series before it had its action-RPG revamp with Assassin’s Creed Origins. Creatures within it skew a little more on the glass cannon side, and many feature the new Freerunning keyword which allows the creature to be summoned at a reduced cost if an assassin or the commander dealt damage to a player earlier in the turn. Without even modifying the deck, it’s a blast to play, and the two Hookblade Veteran’s that feature in it are going to become a staple of any blue deck I scratch build in the future.
The Eivor deck which makes up the other half of the kit is a red/white and leans into the more direct-to-fight approach of the modern era games with slightly tougher creatures and big weapons to attach to them. It’s a very cool and well-rounded deck also.
Magic: The Gathering – Assassin’s Creed is a weird set for me to evaluate. It’s wonderfully produced, has a laser-sharp design focus, and it brilliantly translates its source material, all while bringing many fun and versatile cards to the overall game of Magic too. Unfortunately everything outside of the Starter Kit just feels too overpriced for what you get out of it. There’s still a lot that can be mined from the venerable franchise in the future though, and I hope it’s one that they come back to in time.
Just give me an Edward Kenway Commander deck. That’s all I need.
Magic: The Gathering – Assassin’s Creed was reviewed using products kindly provided by Wizards of the Coast.
