Wizards of the Coast caught Magic: The Gathering fans off-guard in 2021 when they announced that the card game would eventually cross over with various media mega-franchises courtesy of its Universes Beyond label launch. After a successful initial slate of feature releases came the announcement that both Final Fantasy and Assassins Creed would get the MTG treatment. With proven ambition in adapting beloved popular media into this behemoth game, Wizards have earned some optimism and goodwill with the launch of Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed on July 5.
Adapting nearly 17 years of the Order of Assassins and their famous historical compatriots seems interesting for MTG, but there are a couple of caveats. Firstly, Ubisoft’s triple-A action-adventure series is notable for having one particularly featured vocation type. The titular assassin. There will not be a lot of creature variety here to interest those who come to this set looking for anything other than the cloak and wrist-dagger assassins. The second thing to note is the value proposition, with its half-sized booster packs. This is a set worth picking up on the cheap, but perhaps not investing in unless you’re an AC megafan.
An impressively cast Starter Kit headlines Assassin’s Creed’s introduction to MTG. Getting into this set will be a tasty proposition for gamers who have already been handheld through the basics of a standard game of Magic. Those who have crossed the initial learning curve of MTG will be treated to the best out-of-the-box offering of this release. The two 40-card decks in this set will have two players ready to duel with a blue-black Brother Agents deck featuring one of the many versions of everybody’s beloved Ezio and an army of assassins, and the other led by Valhalla‘s smokey-voiced Nord Eivor with a Red-White Ancient Arsenal deck.
The Universes Beyond Assassins Creed Starter Kit broadly shows off what this release has to offer at an outstanding $25 price point. Experienced players will find a fantastic pool of cards featuring powerful legendary creatures and mechanical staples of this deck such as Walls which can be cast as defending fortresses that opposing assassins will have to tackle or scale. Eivor’s deck partially resolves the ‘too many assassins‘ criticism by mixing in a band of powerful Viking warrior creatures bolstered by axe equipment spells. Oh, and they snuck an Ezio into this deck tool, so there will inevitably be an amusing Ezio showdown when playing with this kit.
Rather than featuring Wizards’ recently introduced overhaul of their boosters with Play Boosters, servicing collectors and sealed players, this release offers Beyond Boosters. They retail around the same price as a Play Booster which offers 14 cards, whereas these offer 7. It’s difficult to know who these are marketed to, as the smaller offering will undoubtedly dissuade some players. For those novice players or fans who resonate with the starter decks, dabbling in a couple of packs will open some deck modification to expand a solid starting array of cards.
The AC fans have probably already sussed out the Bundle boxes, offering 9 Beyond Boosters and one of the more attractive storage boxes recently. These boxes run the same price as the 9 packs by themselves despite offering a slimmer overall card pool than most MTG bundles.
With the only other product offered in this release being the uber-expensive 10-card Collector Boosters, there is relief in knowing that there is a defined amount of money that most players will easily come to accept when weighing up this set. The no-brainer Starter Kit will be sufficient for most and may be one of the cheapest set investments many MTG fans will make this year. The curious can buff their library courtesy of the Beyond Boosters, and the ravenous market-minded players can test their luck on the Collectors Boosters. Wizards kindly provided me with a taste of all but the Bundle and my thoughts still keep coming back to the terrific first impression of the Starter Kit. Lastly, for those players who struggle with the heavier mechanical text involved in the starter decks, the annual Starter Kits might be our recommended option for entering table-play.
Has Ubisoft’s historical adventure series tempted you back to Magic? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
