Magic: The Gathering is heading into videogame territory for some of its sets this year, with a Fallout crossover first on deck, and both Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed on the way. We got a look at some of the Fallout cards already, which show an understanding of the fact the Fallout games are about reading lore on terminals and hoarding junk until you’re encumbered. The small number of Assassin’s Creed cards shown so far suggest a similar understanding of the assignment.
While the Fallout decks are specifically for use in Commander format, the Assassin’s Creed cards will be available in a starter kit aimed at beginners that comes with two premade decks, and special booster packs called “beyond boosters”. And yes, one of the cards in those boosters is Haystack.
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For a cost of two mana, Haystack lets you phase out a card, making it untargetable until the next time you untap. Just like in the videogames, an ordinary wooden cart full of hay can render you completely invisible and safe. Other thematically apt cards drawn direct from the games include Ezio, Blade of Vengeance, a 5/5 legendary creature with Deathtouch, and a version of Leonardo da Vinci who powers up your Thopters as well as turning random artifacts into even more Thopters.
Some of the cards in this set receive a showcase “memory corridor” treatment with the characters presented against the pale backdrops of a loading screen in the Animus (also a card, of course, which lets you turn a creature you control into a copy of a creature that has died). Others have a chance of randomly showing up with text written in appropriate languages like Greek or, for Leonardo da Vinci, Italian. Which is cute.
Magic: The Gathering—Assassin’s Creed will be out on July 5.