Everything you need to know about MTG Assassin’s Creed

MTG Assassin’s Creed is the next Universes Beyond crossover in our crosshairs so we’ve rounded up all the info you’ll want to be privy to for this set of hidden blades and haste.

Sure, there hasn’t been a whole lot of fresh rumblings since we received our first look back in February. However, with the release date quickly approaching, we reckon it's high time we catch you up with everything we do know so far about the MTG Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond.

If you have your eye on this collab, you might be a long-time MTG player or an Assassin’s Creed fan drawn to one of the best card games for the first time. Either way, we’re here to run you through its release date, mechanics, and new booster formats. That way, when the time comes, you’ll have your targets set on exactly what product to snatch up (stealthily and while looking really cool, of course).

What is MTG Assassin’s Creed?

• Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond crossover set based on the Assassin’s Creed series 
• Confirmed to contain characters from Assassin’s Creed I, II, Revelations, Valhalla, Origins, and more
• Assassin’s Creed: Shadows likely won’t be included … unless?

In what is the third Universes Beyond release of 2024, Magic: The Gathering is crossing over with Ubisoft’s long-running video game series, Assassin’s Creed. AC has been around since 2007 and in that time has become one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time. So, with that in mind, we doubt it needs too much introduction. 

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Cards in this set feature members of the Assassin Brotherhood, including protagonists like Ezio, Altaïr, and Eivor. As a result of the Animus time-jumping in Assassin’s Creed, you can also expect to see plenty of iconic historical figures, Da Vinci and Cleopatra among them. And of course, any master assassin knows that a haystack is the most flawless escape plan, so that makes an appearance too. 

What about the possibility of MTG cards linked to the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game? Well, Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t set to release until a couple of months after the MTG Assassin’s Creed set comes out. So, it’s very unlikely we’ll see any ninja-type creatures from this Ancient Japanese setting included in the set. That doesn’t mean they won’t see an MTG x Assassin’s Creed: Shadows crossover eventually (more information on that later). 

MTG Assassin’s Creed release date

Debut and previews begin: June 18
Card image gallery and previews complete: June 21
Global tabletop launch: July 5

From June 18, debuts and previews of MTG Assassin’s Creed will take place as part of WeeklyMTG, a segment on the Magic: The Gathering YouTube channel. These previews, alongside updates to the card image gallery, will continue until June 21. 

A few weeks after that, we’ll get the full global launch of MTG Assassin's Creed on July 5. Although, I’m afraid there’s no digital release this time around (sorry, MTG: Arena fans).

MTG Assassin's Creed products

• Starter Kit
• Collector Boosters
• Beyond Boosters
• Secret Lair 

Like last year’s Lord of the Rings set, MTG Assassin’s Creed is a booster-based release. So, don’t expect an Ezio precon Commander deck to come your way anytime soon. Instead, the only premade decks are the two included in the Starter Kit. Outside of this, you can build your collection of MTG Assassin’s Creed cards by picking up Collector Boosters or the new Beyond Boosters. As usual, these boosters come as individual packs, in boxes of 24, or as part of a bundle. 

Starter Kit

As the name suggests, Starter Kits are made specifically with beginners in mind. Alongside two 60-card ready-to-play decks, you even receive a little printed guide on how to play Magic: The Gathering. Sure, if you’re an experienced player, this how-to-play guide will be instant paper waste but if you’re a big Assassin’s Creed fan that is using this release to get into MTG for the first time, it’ll serve you well.

Unlike its Lord of the Rings counterpart, there doesn’t seem to be a clear narrative or theme for the Assassin's Creed Starter Kit– well, at least not yet. While LOTR’s starter decks were rocking a very apparent good vs. evil divide, the blue-black and red-white decks in MTG: AC’s Starter Kit so far seem to have more in common with each other than you’d expect. For a start, the face cards for both decks are protagonists of Assassin’s Creed games. 

MTG Assassin’s Creed Starter Kit | $19.99 on Amazon
Ezio, Blade of Vengeance is a blue-black 5/5 deathtouch with Tribal card draw abilities. With Assassin being an already established creature type in MTG, these mechanics are a natural match for an Assassin’s Creed crossover deck. Meanwhile, the red-white Eivor, Battle-Ready is also 5/5 – albeit with vigilance, haste, and an equipment based trigger. This suggests that this deck will have some emphasis on building up an arsenal of equipment (perhaps a Hidden Blade or two).

MTG Assassin's Creed Starter Kit decklists 

ANCIENT ARSENAL (RED-WHITE)

• Eivor, Battle-Ready
• Escarpment Fortress
• Surtr, Fiery Jötun
• 3 Settlement Blacksmith
• 3 Keen-Eyed Raven
• 2 Spartan Veteran
• 3 Labyrinth Adversary
• 3 Bureau Headmaster
• Ezio, Brash Novice
• Arbaaz Mir
• Towering Viewpoint
• 2 Raven Clan War-Axe
• 2 Headsplitter
• 2 Hookblade
• 3 Detained by Legionnaires
• 2 Battlefield Improvisation
• 3 Stone Quarry
• 11 Plains
• 11 Mountain
• 3 Misthios's Fury

BROTHERHOOD AGENTS (BLUE-BLACK)

• Achilles Davenport
• Ezio, Blade of Vengeance
• 2 Hookblade Veteran
• 3 Brotherhood Spy
• 2 Assassin Den
• 3 Merciless Harlequin
• 2 Brotherhood Patriarch
• 2 Poison-Blade Mentor
• 3 Brotherhood Ambushers
• 3 Hired Blade
• Assassin Initiate
• Towering Viewpoint
• 2 Auditore Ambush
• 3 Tranquilize
• Restart Sequence
• Eagle Vision
• Rooftop Bypass
• 3 Submerged Boneyard
• 11 Island
• 11 Swamp
• Chain Assassination
• Murder

Collector Boosters

Buying a Collector Booster for MTG Assassin’s Creed is the number one way to get your hands on Rare and Mythic Rare cards, extended arts, and both etched and textured foils. In fact, a number of these alternate treatments are totally exclusive to Collector Boosters. Another appeal of the Collector Boosters are the serialized versions of historical figure cards which appear in their respective native languages. 

You might have noticed that the MTG Assassin’s Creed Collector Boosters have only 10 cards each as opposed to the 15-card standard. This is even fewer than were found in the MTG Fallout Collector Boosters.

This won’t be the new standard for Collector Boosters as far as we can tell (so you can put down your pitchforks for now). Judging by Bloomburrow and Modern Horizons 3 having 15 cards in their Collector Boosters, MTG Assassin’s Creed is a total outlier. Hopefully the reduced number of cards in these Boosters will translate to better drop rates.

MTG Assassin’s Creed Collector Booster | $27.00 on Amazon
While we have yet to receive confirmation on the exact drop rates of these unique 10-card Collector Boosters, they do still guarantee some selection of high rarity cards and special alternate treatments. If you’re a collector, these are a must-have.

MTG Assassin’s Creed Collector Booster box | $279.99 on Amazon
This box contains 12 Collector Boosters for a total of 120 cards and a $44 saving. Art on the front of the display box shows an Assassin in Spartan armor, likely meant to represent Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. 

Beyond Booster

Beyond Boosters are a new format that Wizards of the Coast are experimenting with. More specifically, you could argue it’s a result of a previous failed experiment – namely the poorly received Epilogue Booster format. Thankfully, the Beyond Booster does chonk up the offering slightly by delivering 7 cards instead of 5 and has a better drop rate of higher rarity cards.

As you can probably guess, these packs aren’t suitable for Draft; however, you will still get the fun of cracking a pack and they do a solid job of adding cards to your pool of Assassin’s Creed-themed Magic: The Gathering.

Each booster contains:
1 basic land (or non-foil borderless scene card)
3 Uncommon cards
1 Rare or Mythic Rare card
1 Traditional foil Uncommon, Rare, or Mythic Rare Card

1 Showcase Uncommon, Rare, or Mythic Rare card 

MTG Assassin’s Creed Beyond Booster box | $168 on Amazon
This megabox of 24 Beyond Booster packs delivers you a total of 168 cards and a nice little bargain. The art on the display also gives us our first bit of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate representation in the set.

MTG Assassin’s Creed Collector Bundle | $59.99 on Zavvi
Alongside 9 Beyond Boosters, an alternate art card, and 40 lands, this bundle has a d20, life counter, and a storage box which can be used to house your 104 new cards. All that for around $60 is a pretty great saving.

Secret Lair

According to Wizards of the Coast, we’ll see a MTG Assassin’s Creed Secret Lair “later in 2024”. While this doesn’t provide a whole lot in the way of information about what the drop entails, we have a couple of threads to go off that can guide speculation. For a start, having a Secret Lair go on sale in the latter part of the year coincides suspiciously well with the Assassin’s Creed Shadows release date. So, there’s a reasonable likelihood that we’ll see AC: Shadows characters like Yasuke included somewhere in this trove of cards.

MTG Secret Lair | From $29.99 at Wizards Store
We’ll be sure to update you sharpish once we get further word about the MTG Assassin’s Creed Secret Lair drop. In the meantime though, the Spring Superdrop is still under way. Unfortunately, the MTG Miku collab is already sold out but you can get your hands on some mighty fine poker-inspired Outlaws of Thunder Junction cards, the wonderfully silly Goblingram series, or even the incredibly controversial “sAnS mERcY” drop.

MTG Assassin’s Creed story

As with any Universes Beyond release, the story of MTG Assassin’s Creed has no link to the current Omenpath Arc, the Dragon Storm Arc, or the Magic Story as a whole.

Instead, the set follows the same general narrative of the 13 Assassin’s Creed games. Card art, names, and flavor text are all an ode to the adventures players experience throughout the franchise. For example, one Artifact included in the set is the Animus – which in every game allows the various protagonists to experience and interact with history through their ancestors’ genetic memory.

MTG Assassin’s Creed mechanics

As well as having returning mechanics like Historic, Cloak, and Disguise, MTG Assassin's Creed introduces an entirely mechanic in the form of Freerunning. 

Freerunning is an alternate cost mechanic seen in the preview card Ezio Auditore di Firenze. You may cast a spell for its freerunning cost provided that you’ve done combat damage with an Assassin or your Commander that turn. Alternate cost mechanics are always useful and this super Assassin-focused set should give you plenty of opportunity to trigger this mechanic.

MTG Assassin’s Creed spoilers

MTG Assassin’s Creed spoilers are an area that’ll develop quickly, especially in June when we start to get previews and additions to the card image gallery. For now, these are the cards we’ve gotten a look at. 

Image 1 of 12

MTG Assassin's Creed treatments

Not only do you need to get to grips with 100 new MTG Assassin's Creed cards, but you also need to keep track of the varying aesthetic treatments those cards can have. While the difference between foiled cards and borderless cards won't phase a casual player, it means a lot more to collector. A card's treatment has a direct effect on its value in the resale market too — particularly if you can get your hands on a serialized card.

The treatments in this set are: 

• Standard
• Extended art
• Borderless
• Traditional foil
• Etched foil
• Textured Foil
• Showcase (Memory Corridor)
• Serialized 

Image 1 of 8

The Animus (Standard)

Ezio, Blade of Vengeance (Traditional Foil)

Temporal Trespass (Extended Art)

Haystack (Etched Foil)

Sword of Feast and Famine (Borderless)

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (Textured Foil)

Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Showcase)

Leonardo Da Vinci (Serialized)

MTG Assassin’s Creed deals

You might have plans for Friday Night Magic, but what about the other six days of the week? Fill them with more tabletop fun by picking up one of our choices for the best board games. Alternatively, if you prefer your games to require a few more dice, check out the best tabletop RPGs.