Last updated on November 11, 2026
Kenrith, the Returned King | Illustration by Kieran Yanner
Heads up Italians, this is big news. Yesterday a collaboration between Magic: The Gathering and Burger King was revealed in Italy, with a special combo being offered that includes a special Burger King themed deck box as well as one hundred Burger King card sleeves. Additionally, they are hosting a Pauper tournament across several Burger King locations throughout the month of November. This is only going on in Italy right now, but could we be seeing something like this in other countries soon?
Whopper Of A Deal
source: burgerking.it
For 20 Euros, you can go to a Burger King in Italy right now and get a combo that comes with a sandwich, fries, a drink, and a deckbox and sleeves. I doubt anyone ever thought that this would be something that a company as big as Burger King would offer, but this follows a recent trend. Magic is a game that is currently growing, and whatever your feelings are on Universes Beyond, Magic’s repeated crossovers with other properties has expanded the reach of the game to the point that Burger King sees it as being culturally relevant enough to do this collaboration.
Not only that, but they’re also hosting several Pauper events across multiple stores this month. For those of you unfamiliar with Pauper, it’s a sixty card construct format where only cards printed at common are legal. It’s been fairly popular in the past few years, although it has not had much official support from Wizards of the Coast in terms of sanctioned events. This hasn’t stopped Pauper fans, and in this case Burger King, from arranging their own tournaments.
Italy especially has seen relatively large interest in the format, with Italian Magic players such as Andrea Mengucci championing the format.
Secondary Market
Gyome, Master Chef | Illustration by Steve Prescott
Because this deal is exclusive to Italy and a large portion of the Magic playing world is outside of Italy, many people have been selling their exclusive Burger King deckboxes and sleeves on websites like eBay for huge markups, selling for anywhere between $90 and $150 USD. When you consider that the original combo comes with food and is only 20 Euros total (which is just over $22 USD), then you realize how big of a mark up this really is.
However, there seems to be real demand for this. It’s exclusive and nothing like this has really been done before, so of course people are going to want to get their hands on it.
The sheer amount of interest that this is getting also has been making people wonder if a promotion of this sort might make its way to the United States. It’s certainly the biggest market for Magic: the Gathering (and burgers), and assuming that this promotion is as well received as it seems to be so far, I don’t imagine a reason why they wouldn’t want to try it out here.
Magic, Media, & The Future
Celebrity Fencer | Illustration by Inka Schulz
It really does seem like Magic is becoming more and more of a cultural institution every day. Most people know what it is, more people are playing it than ever. We’re getting collaborations with Burger King, there’s a Magic movie in the works, and we’re getting several Universes Beyond crossovers with big IPs every year, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before it becomes completely mainstream. Or at least, that’s the hope for those in charge at Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro. We’ll see if that really ends up happening. In the meantime, if you’re in Italy, get in this deal while it lasts, and if not, good luck getting your hands on the exclusive deckbox and sleeves.
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