Last updated on May 30, 2025
Disdainful Stroke | Illustration by Maxilla
The advent of the Universes Beyond products—crossover sets between Magic and various properties including The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and The Walking Dead have been… contentious. I see many players express excitement while others bemoan what they call the “Fortnite-ification” of Magic, especially as future product releases make it clear these products are here to stay.
As for me, I feel neutral about them. They strike me like Un-sets: A Magic product that’s not for me, so I don’t bother to engage with them, positively or negatively. Until now. Until we got a Cowboy Bebop crossover. Now I have opinions. And plenty of information for other fans that want these crossover cards.
Let’s check out what the crossover has to offer!
What Are the Cowboy Bebop MTG Cards?
Snakeskin Veil | Illustration by Maxilla
The Cowboy Bebop cards are a collection of five special promo cards. These cards are:
Each promo has a borderless treatment with unique art that marries Magic characters and the distinctive style of Cowboy Bebop’s opening sequence—you know the one where we see Faye dancing, Spike lighting a cigarette, complete with some cards as background text. All packed into a traditional foil.
Now, these aren’t a Secret Lair like some other UB collections. These promos were won each week in Standard Showdown events at your LGS! You won the specific card during a different date range. The dates were:
- August 2 – September 19, 2024 (Ossification)
- September 27 – November 7, 2024 (Disdainful Stroke)
- November 15, 2024 – January 30, 2025 (Go for the Throat)
- February 7 – March 2, 2025 (Lightning Strike)
- April 4 – May 29, 2025 (Snakeskin Veil)
None of them are chase rares, but Disdainful Stroke, Go for the Throat, and Lightning Strike see a fair amount of play.
Because these are low-rarity cards that have abundant reprints (except Ossification from Phyrexia: All Will Be One), the text on the card won’t affect the price much. It’s all in the crossover value, which is tricky to gauge. These tend to cost more than regular versions of these cards. They settle around $5-$10.
As for the actual art, speaking as a fan, I didn’t love it at first. I saw that Disdainful Stroke and wanted to know why the artist chose for Spike to not blow that smoke. Then I thought about it, and I’ve come around. I appreciate the effort that went into blending Magic and Bebop. There would be an immediate dopamine rush to seeing Spike, Faye, Jet, and all the others on cards but I could just slap Spike’s face on a Magic card with a bit of Photoshop and a proxy printer.
These cards are a much more unique product than we would have gotten with an actual Universes Beyond set. Those feel like more than custom proxies (not that there’s anything wrong with those!). These demonstrate that I like Magic and Bebop. If you ignore the crossover for a moment, these stand out as truly unique promos rather than borderless versions of base cards. I’m quite pleased overall, both as a Bebop fan and a Magic player. Now I just need to make room for Disdainful Stroke in my blue decks….
How Many Cowboy Bebop Cards Are There?
There are five total Cowboy Bebop cards:
How Do I Get the Cowboy Bebop Cards?
The secondary market is the main way to obtain the Cowboy Bebop cards now that the promotion has ended for the weekly Standard Showdown events at local game stores. The last Standard Showdown event with these cards as promotional material ended May 29, 2025.
Where to Buy Cowboy Bebop Cards
Since these cards are promos that were awarded at LGS events, you won’t be able to purchase the set in a bundle like a Secret Lair. You have a few options to purchase them. Due to the nature of these promos, you will not find them at big box stores like Walmart, Target, and the like that carry value boosters.
Local Game Stores
Game stores can’t sell promos when they receive them but players can trade in their promos if they don’t need them. You can also try to get them from your LGS or trade with victorious players.
TCGplayer
TCGplayer is a fantastic place to grab singles! Because of how the open market functions, cards on TCGplayer are often priced lower than other sites. You might pay more for shipping but it’s hard to go wrong here, especially if you only want one or two cards like Jeff did in a test purchase from TCGplayer.
Card Kingdom
I prefer using Card Kingdom when I purchase a lot of cards at once. The shipping fees from TCGplayer can add up quickly; even though cards on CK cost a little more, I find that it evens out.
Best Cowboy Bebop Cards Ranked
Here I run through a quick ranking of these cards! Since they’re all interactive it gives us an easy axis to judge them against. I consider how they play in both Standard and Commander.
#5. Ossification
Ossification comes with a restriction: Because it must enchant basic lands, it gets weaker the more colors you play. Running it in decks with more than three colors feels dicey. But the reward is one of the most efficient Oblivion Ring variants on the block that deals with threats for a measly 2-mana while interacting with enchantment synergies.
#4. Disdainful Stroke
Don’t’ get me wrong, Disdainful Stroke is a powerful counterspell. Only hitting cards with a mana value of 4 or higher is restrictive, but means this card always trades up in mana—right where you want your interaction to be. But blue players are spoiled with access to Mana Drain, Counterspell, Arcane Denial, and much more.
#3. Snakeskin Veil
Plenty of green decks can leverage Snakeskin Veil as a protective spell in beyond the removal-heavy world of Commander where three players might throw removal at your threats. The effect has stiff competition with cards like Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Tyvar's Stand, though many decks can leverage the bonus of a +1/+1 counter.
#2. Lightning Strike
Lightning Strike is effective in lots of mono-red brews but isn’t a card I’m particularly interested in for Commander. Its role in Constructed and some Pioneer decks make it far from useless, however.
#1. Go for the Throat
Go for the Throat simply has the broadest use out of these interactive spells. Sure, sometimes you play against Heartfire Hero and have to gauge if it's worth it. Or go up againstUrza, Chief Artificer and other commanders that flood the board with artifact creatures, but it’s often Murder at a discount, which I’m plenty happy to play.
Are Cowboy Bebop Cards Legal?
Yes! If a card is legal in any given format, you can play any version of that card assuming it’s an official WotC release and isn’t marked. These are official promos. And surely Wizards will have fixed the foil curling problem so these cards won’t mark themselves! Right? Right?!
Are the Cowboy Bebop MTG Cards Foil?
Yes. All five cards are printed as traditional foils.
Wrap Up
Lightning Strike | Illustration by Maxilla
I love these promos. I appreciate how they go about this crossover to the point that I hope we see more collaborations like this in the future. To offer this kind of card as a promotional product for LGSs rather than a Secret Lair feels like real, critical support that gets people out in the community and maybe inspire more Standard players. At the very least more of my decks will have Disdainful Stroke and Snakeskin Veil than they do now.
What do you think of these crossover cards? Do you like earning cards like the Arena Direct? Would you rather have gotten the characters directly, or even unique cards ala The Walking Dead? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord.
See you later space cowboy!
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