MTG Warhammer 40,000 set debuts new cards that are metal AF

Wizards of the Coast has revealed a better look at the cards, art, and playstyle of the MTG Warhammer 40,000 decks.

MTG Warhammer 40,000 will join the best card games on shelves this October 7 following a delay, and a new video preview gave details on how its ready-made Commander decks will work. Namely, the four available factions (Imperials, Necrons, Chaos, and Tyranids) have been matched to colors from Magic: The Gathering that suit their tabletop playstyle in Games Workshop's wargame.

For instance, Forces of the Imperium are filed under White and rely on building large armies (which is fitting, considering its in-universe attitude that there are always more bodies to use as canon-fodder for the Emperor). At the other end of the scale, Necron Dynasties are all about recycling with Black decks that revive cards from the graveyard while the Tyranid Swarm revolves around Green decks that build up to enormous monsters. Finally, The Ruinous Powers of Chaos lean on Red decks that emphasize pandemonium. These can all be pre-ordered now via Amazon ahead of release (scroll down the Amazon page to pre-order individual decks).

Besides this info, we also got a sneak-peek at four new cards for MTG Universes Beyond - Warhammer 40,000. That includes four Artifacts (a Sol Ring themed for each Commander deck) that add two colorless Mana when tapped.

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Along with new art, the preview revealed fresh details about how existing MTG cards were being adapted to the Warhammer 40K universe. The example given was 'Swords to Plowshares' where creature cards are retired, representing them laying down arms and becoming farmers. For the grim darkness of a future where there is only war, this has been tweaked to a tank having been converted into a combine harvester with the flavor text "the demon of hunger is one of mankind's greatest enemies. It must be conquered, and that is an honorable war in its own way".

The MTG Warhammer 40,000 set hasn't just been about adapting Magic to fit 40K, though; it's gone the other way too. A lot of terrain from that universe is being seen for the first time thanks to MTG's Land cards, and the set is also adding new characters like the first named Genestealer cultist (Magus Lucea Kane).

There will be plenty of nods to existing lore, too. Wizards of the Coast revealed that 15% of card art would be existing Warhammer 40K work, including pieces by John Blanche such as the Emperor's corpse on the Imperial Throne.

We'll be able to see these in full once MTG Warhammer 40,000 arrives this October 7. If you want to pre-order a deck before then, our bargain-hunting software has listed the lowest available prices below.

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