Last updated on February 26, 2024
Illustration from Ubisoft
Like it or not, Universes Beyond is a category of Magic product that's stuck. I lean towards accepting them because I grew up with Lego more than card games. I had loads of fun making characters from different franchises face off against each other. I could never really figure out what wins between Jedi powers and a Green Lantern ring, though.
One of the upcoming Universes Beyond releases features a crossover between the world of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and Magic. But why would MTG want to mess with Assassin’s Creed, a game set in a reality that’s a lot closer to our own? Here come historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci as an artificer, and Cleopatra as a noble. What mechanics hit home, and what will Assassin’s Creed cards look like?
Let's cut to the chase and find out!
Assassin’s Creed and Magic: The Gathering Basic Information
Assassin's Strike | Illustration by Chase Stone
Set Details
| Set Symbol |  |
| Set Code | ACR |
| Hashtag | TBA |
| Number of Cards | TBA |
| Rarities | Uncommon, Rare, Mythic Rare |
| Mechanics | Delve, Freerunning, Memory counters, Legendary matters, TBA |
Important Dates
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Previews start | June 18, 2024 |
| First Looks | February 23, 2024 |
| Full gallery available | June 21, 2024 |
| Available on Draftsim's Draft Simulator | June 21, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Digital release date | TBA |
| Available on Arena Tutor | July 5, 2024 (estimated) |
| Prerelease week | TBA |
| Paper release date | July 5, 2024 |
| Launch party | TBA |
About the Set
Assassin’s Creed is a video game franchise developed by Ubisoft that spans multiple main games, a bunch of spin-off releases… and mobile games. There’s merch of all kinds, extended media (books and a board game), and even a motion picture! The less said about that flick, though, the better.
A beyond booster contains one land or nonfoil scene card, three uncommons, one rare or mythic, one foil noncommon, and one showcase noncommon. For those of you keeping score, that's seven cards, and apparently no commons, looking a lot like epilogue boosters.
The Beyond boosters supposedly take you through an entire world and could be a template for other Universes Beyond products that are smaller than The Lord of the Rings and have more crossover than My Little Pony. If WotC is looking to cover as much of the franchise as possible, doing boosters by world lets them cover settings like Industrial Revolution-era London, Renaissance Italy, and Ancient Greece under the same Assassin's Creed banner while keeping the individual products cohesive.
Universes Beyond releases have tended toward Commander and Secret Lairs, and Assassin's Creed will drop in a Secret Lair in 2024. Rather than commander decks, we'll see a starter kit, a bundle, and collector boosters. It’s safe to assume that the crossover’s cards will only be legal in eternal formats as a Universes Beyond product.
There remain questions about how deep into the game series Magic will go and what the balance between historical and modern setting cards will be. How deep into the games will Wizards pull from, will we get more than the first few Assassin’s Creed games and the games included in the Ezio Collection?
Little was revealed at the 30th Anniversary Panel at GenCon, mainly that the new cards would be mixed with reprints in a new type of non-draftable booster, the beyond booster. Wizards promised this product would impact Modern, and for that we have some speculation.
The Story
The story of Assassin’s Creed focuses on the centuries-long conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Knights’ Templar. It’s a struggle between free will and control, a theme that should resonate with Magic players.
The first games follow Desmond Miles, a descendent of assassins living in current times who relives genetic memories through a machine called The Animus. His journey through his ancestors’ memories allows him to locate Pieces of Eden, ancient technologies that are considered magic (mostly because the knowledge of their inner workings is lost to time).
The primary gameplay takes place in memories within The Animus, where Desmond explores worlds that approximate our own history and geography. As a player, you can visit all kinds of landmarks and meet historical figures. Meanwhile, the conflict between the Templars and Assassins continues in the modern day, outside The Animus.
Set Mechanics
Assassin's Creed Key Art | Illustration by Fajareka Setiawan
Evergreen Mechanics
Altaïr Ibn-La'AhadHidden Blade
Start with deathtouch. No, seriously.
If an Assassin’s Creed MTG product features no creatures with deathtouch, that’s a design failure. This is a world of assassins; it’s a lay-up! First strike is a winner considering that striking first in a combat encounter is emphasized in some of the games.
Time for assassin tribal to take center stage! Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Hidden Blade get strictly better when assassins are on the roster.
There’s plenty of design space here for focusing on creature types. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag allows for a return to pirates… see why I’m trying to limit speculation to just a few games?
Ninjutsu seems like a mechanic that would fit an AC product on the surface, but here’s the issue: it’s limited to ninjas, and they don’t really appear in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. They showed up in an iOS game about a decade ago and a paperback that has yet to be released, and are only mentioned in Black Flag and referenced in Valhalla DLC.
There are far more important factions in the lore, so I don’t expect ninjutsu to be a factor. Something similar but renamed makes more sense.
Freerunning
Ezio Auditore da Firenze might have jumped down from the 2+ story-building to give your assassin's quasi-ninjitsu. Freerunning is an alternate casting cost if a commander or assassin has dealt combat damage to a player.
Legendary Matters
There is only one Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh and one Leonardo da Vinci. While Leo might be fixated on flying, Cleopatra's all about seeing other legendaries built up or torn down. The Animus appropriately copies legendaries of the past to reanimate them and it'll be interesting to see how many other cards care about memory counters.
Speculative Mechanics
Assassin's Creed Key Art | Illustration by Luisa J. Preissler
It seemed hinted that adventures would appear in Magic's iteration of Assassin’s Creed and the next logical possibilities are caring about historic and sagas.
Flash feels flavorful, while vigilance also has viability. Would any assassins deal damage in the form of -1/-1 or poison counters?
Pieces of Eden in Assassin’s Creed have all kinds of power that can be used to control people, so there’s room for experimentation. I wouldn’t be surprised to see abilities that let you take control of an opponent’s human creatures. Shrouds of Eden could have damage prevention or regeneration as healing objects.
The memories that Desmond relives lose synchronization when you do things that didn’t happen to his ancestor. Think of a “game over” screen when you die or fail an assassination, or how the game warns you when you reach the edge of the map. This could be incorporated as an instant, or as an ability to let you reanimate the player character assassins.
Part of the AC gameplay revolves around reconnaissance missions, which sounds like an opportunity for scrying or looking at your opponent’s hand. The franchise is also known for its viewpoints that allow you to expose more of the map, which sounds like a card that lets you look at and rearrange cards from the top of your library. Gather information and plan your next move vibes.
Some of your actions in Assassin’s Creed cause the local guards to become “alert.” Redditor arlondiluthel suggested the idea of an “alert” counter that would protect an opponent’s creatures after your assassins kill them (u/gamasco added that it would expire upon the upkeep phase). OP’s suggestion seems to point to an activated ability that lets you destroy an opponent’s creature before you even start combat on your turn.
Here’s my version of an activated ability based on their proposal:
Mana cost: Destroy target creature. Its controller puts an alert counter on all creatures they control. (Creatures with an alert counter have “Prevent all damage dealt to this creature by assassins. Remove 1 alert counter on controller’s upkeep.”)
I originally had the creature , and that could still be a part of the design. You could also reformulate this as an ETB ability. I specify removing one alert counter so that players with proliferate can punish their Assassin’s Creed-loving aggressor. It’s called balance. And by balance, I also mean that you have to give an AC deck some way to wipe all alert counters away. Throw some coins on the ground or something.
Cards and Characters
Illustration from Ubisoft
Player Characters
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze are headed to the printer. If the product goes beyond the scope I’m assuming, any of the player characters could be included with color identities, abilities, and stats that fit them and their setting. I saw more than one Redditor call for Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, so shout out to you guys.
It seems almost natural for most of the player characters to have black as part of their color identity, and I’m feeling white and/or blue for the dual or tri-colored characters. I wonder if Templars are more likely to have blue in their color identity given the themes of control they represent.
Maybe a Golgari () pairing is appropriate for Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla if they get that far.
Historical Figures
Leonardo da Vinci appears in Assassin’s Creed II and translates Codex pages to create new weapons for Ezio. Comment with your take on whether Magic should make cards of historical figures, even if it’s an adaptation of a video game characterization.
As a Magic card, da Vinci is an artificer that loots and upon discarding artifacts, creates copies instead that are also 0/2 flyers. The “drawback” of getting to create a copy of the artifact you discarded seems broken. Too bad da Vinci doesn't gain flying on its own.
Other characters like Al Mualim, Rodrigo Borgia, Machiavelli, or even George Washington could make an appearance, but it really depends on WotC’s appetite to include historical figures. They’ve been hesitant so far, but it would be a shame if that trend continues.
Other Assassin's Creed Cards
The Animus itself seems like a vital artifact, as do Pieces of Eden, including Shrouds. Desmond Miles could easily be considered a “planeswalker” considering how he travels through different “planes” of genetic memory. Which abilities would Desmond have? Not a clue.
Aside from him, I’m not sure if any of the modern-day characters will feature. Wizards could also leave Desmond out entirely.
There could be an equipment card that’s a gun with flash, like Ezio’s hidden pistol. Hidden Blade is an equipment with flash that gives assassins the excellent combination of first strike and deathtouch. It'll be great to see what other weapons also make good equipment. Distraction techniques can serve as instants. You could also design a card based on hiding in crowds of people. Call it “Crowd Cover” or “Thick Crowd” or something.
The most obvious card to reprint would be Murder, but you could probably fill a whole other article with others. Does Leap of Faith work enough as-is to fit into an AC deck, or would you have to make an “Assassin’s Leap of Faith” that’s more in line with the game mechanics?
Special and Promo Cards
There is one set of scene cards which are borderless cards with a background that is part of a larger art piece. If this is anything like The Lord of the Rings scene box cards, Ezio is in the center while another five cards surround it, but we'll need to wait for more spoilers on what the full art piece and cards are.
Memory Corridor
These look like they are from another card game, what a striking look!
Foil Etched
The shiny detail is always incredible up close and personal.
Original Language Serialized
Serialized cards tend to be ones you don't just toss into a casual, fun Commander deck. They are certainly very rare and will be incredible collector items.
Official Spoilers
February 23, 2024
- Ezio Auditore da Firenze
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
- The Animus
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh
- Hidden Blade
- Temporal Trespass
- Cover of Darkness
- Sword of Feast and Famine
- Eivor, Battle-Ready
- Ezio, Blade of Vengeance
- Haystack
Available Products
Starter Kit
An Assassin’s Creed Starter Kit gives us two themed 60-card decks, balanced for dueling each other. The master assassin Ezio is and while the viking shieldmaiden Eivor is and . The two mythic legendaries headline their decks, which will include four rares each. With no commons in the Beyond boosters, will all the commons be reprints in these two beginner-level decks?
- YOUR ASSASSIN TRAINING STARTS HERE—Gear up for your first games of Magic with 2 Assassin’s Creed-themed decks and learn the ropes with the included guide
- LEAP INTO HISTORY—Assassin’s Creed emerges from the shadows to join Magic: The Gathering! Freerun through ancient locales with your favorite Assassins, equip deadly weapons, and ensure your targets are history
- TWO READY-TO-PLAY 60-CARD DECKS—Begin your initiation with the Brotherhood Agents deck, eliminating the competition with Master Assassin, Ezio, or arm yourself with the Ancient Arsenal deck to overpower your enemies with Viking shieldmaiden, Eivor
- LEARN TO PLAY MAGIC WITH A FRIEND—Perfect for your first Magic game, teaching friends and family, or just a fun game night, use the included rules booklet to learn how to play, then leap into action and claim victory!
- COLLECT RARE CARDS—Kick off your collection with 2 Mythic Rare cards (1 with a shining Traditional Foil treatment) and 8 Rare cards in each deck
Beyond Boosters
The Assassin’s Creed Beyond Boosters have just seven cards per pack with at least three uncommons, and potential for four rares or higher. Each pack includes at least one foil and one borderless card.
- EXPLORE WITH 7-CARD BEYOND BOOSTERS—Open 7-card packs full of classic characters, items, and moments from your favorite Assassin’s Creed games with a box of 24 Beyond Boosters
- LEAP INTO HISTORY—Assassin’s Creed emerges from the shadows to join Magic: The Gathering! Freerun through ancient locales with your favorite Assassins, equip deadly weapons, and ensure your targets are history
- TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH—Bring the beloved video game series to your tabletop with new art and thematic game mechanics sure to delight Assassin’s Creed and Magic fans alike
- TRACK DOWN ELUSIVE RELICS—In each pack you’ll find 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card, and at least 1 card with full, Borderless art—no scouring the streets required for these collectibles
- FOIL & BORDERLESS CARD IN EVERY PACK—Every Beyond Booster includes at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card and 1 Borderless Card featuring gorgeous alt-art that extends all the way to the edges of the card
Bundle
The Assassin’s Creed Bundle comes with nine of the 7-card boosters a pack of 40 lands (20 of which are foil), plus a promo alternate-art card for 104 cards total as well as a few other goodies.
- A BUNDLE FULL OF CARDS & ACCESSORIES—Open a box full of Assassin’s Creed-themed Magic cards plus a box to store them in, a die to keep track of your life total, and Land cards to build decks that bring the beloved video game series to your tabletop
- LEAP INTO HISTORY—Assassin’s Creed emerges from the shadows to join Magic: The Gathering! Freerun through ancient locales with your favorite Assassins, equip deadly weapons, and ensure your targets are history
- EXPLORE WITH 7-CARD BEYOND BOOSTERS—Open 7-card packs full of classic characters, items, and moments from your favorite Assassin’s Creed games with 9 Beyond Boosters in every Bundle
- EXCLUSIVE ALTERNATE-ART CARD—Every Bundle also comes with 1 promo card featuring Bundle-exclusive alternate art and a shining Traditional Foil treatment
- PLAY A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
Collector Booster
Those that can spring for an Assassin’s Creed Collector Booster Box are in for treats like foils, foil-etched, alternate art/frames, and maybe a serialized double rainbow foil card. The 12-pack box will be the top end of the price curve, and each pack will have 10 cards each.
- GET DECKED OUT LIKE A MASTER ASSASSIN—Open twelve 10-Card Collector Boosters full of shining foils, Rare cards, and special Assassin’s Creed alt-art, alt-frame cards
- LEAP INTO HISTORY—Assassin’s Creed emerges from the shadows to join Magic: The Gathering! Freerun through ancient locales with your favorite Assassins, equip deadly weapons, and ensure your targets are history
- TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH—Bring the beloved video game series to your tabletop with new art and thematic game mechanics sure to delight Assassin’s Creed and Magic fans alike
- TRACK DOWN ELUSIVE RELICS—Collect cards with gleaming Collector Booster-exclusive foil treatments; every pack contains 2 Foil-Etched cards and may even include a Textured Foil card or unique Double Rainbow Foil Serialized card
- BORDERLESS & EXTENDED-ART CARD IN EVERY PACK—With gorgeous art extending all the way to the edge of the card, every Collector Booster contains 1-2 Extended-Art cards (a Collector Booster exclusive) and 1-3 Borderless cards that will give you an alternate-art view of history
Wrap Up
Thrill-Kill Assassin | Illustration by Tyler Jacobson
Assassin’s Creed has been going strong for over a decade and a half, and you can bet that Ubisoft will continue to cash in on this brand. Magic brings us to new planes, while Assassin’s Creed brings us to new time periods. It remains to be seen how their partnership will play out, but it’s sure fun to speculate. When we get it, it’ll be killer!
Are you excited for more Magic/Assassin's Creed crossover? Which characters and game elements do you hope to see in card form? How would you turn Eagle Vision into a card or mechanic? Let me know in the comments below or over on the official Draftsim Discord.
Keep your blades sharp, friends!
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