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Hey Gamers! This week I’m covering two games, sort of! Magic the Gathering is assimilating other pop culture entities like The Borg do in a property called Star Trek that is probably coming to Magic in 2028.
We’ve had Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer 40k, and Doctor Who, and Fallout, and Walking Dead, and Street Fighter, and Transformers…. All since 2020??? That seems like a lot. Oh well, now it’s Assassin’s Creed’s turn to be cards. Yay…?!
It’s a Popular Video Game Series
I haven’t played any of the Assassin’s Creed games. And I didn’t see the movie. But I know a fair amount of the lore from various pop culture references and Youtube videos. I’m not a fan of playing stealth games, but that’s just me. The franchise seems cool enough, and the games have sold extremely well through the years.
Which makes me wonder something about the Magic version, same as some of the other Universes Beyond: why do an overview of the entire franchise when there is so much variance and depth available in individual sections?
The Assassin’s Creed franchise does parkour and hoods and such for a while, then shifts to pirates and boats, and goes to digital Viking lands, and even early America. Each one of those could be an expansion drop of its own. I feel like this Magic set could have been the first game or few games, leaving more for later – providing it was popular enough to do again.
Considering that Magic manages to get entire sets out of barely realized planes like Amonkhet, New Capenna or Thunder Junction, and planes that are basically riffs on someone else’s lore like Amonkhet, Eldraine or Kaldheim, it’s strange they didn’t try to get more out of single games that kept players busy for dozens of hours.
I’m not down on Amonkhet, but it’s a city, a weapons factory, riffs on Egyptian mythology and very little else. It’s actually a really cool idea, with a lot of interesting potential, but it’s barely developed, and I think Magic is probably done with it, going foward. And Assassin’s Creed too.
This Was About Cards?
Oh yes, reviewing cards. Right. I’m going to make things easier by making some blanket statements about Assassin creatures and Freerunning.
Blanket Statements
Assassins aren’t a cohesive creature type, and will probably struggle together. There are some cool individuals, and they have a sort of common denominator in being able to kill other creatures, but almost nothing they do collectively wins the game for you other than removing blockers and attacking for small amounts.
Assassin-based buffs and payoffs, like Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad here, are kinda mediocre as a result. This guy specifically needs some powerful Enters triggers or some powerful attackers to support him if he’s in the Command Zone. And he doesn’t really have them.
Outside of the Command Zone, he’s cool, but he’s just another random Assassin in the random Assassin pile. Maybe these cards will work better with more Assassins down the road, but for right now, they’re not great. Any exceptions will be noted below in the individual card reviews.
Freerunning is better as a trigger for Commanders than Assassins. The set is full of creatures that will trigger Freerunning, and many of those are legendary, but with Assassins being so random, it’s likely the most reliable triggers will come from the Command Zone.
Not all Assassins get through blockers easily, and if they’re in the 99, are harder to plan for than the creature you start with in your Zone. As a trigger for evasive Commanders that may or may not be Assassins, however, Freerunning is very intriguing. Commanders that can reliably get through can consider some sweet new discounted tricks.
I’m Not Reviewing Every Card
I don’t need to tell you over and over that:
‘…the Assassin card is a cool design, but lacks synergy with other Assassin cards and will be tough to play cohesively, plus it doesn’t have enough wide appeal overall,‘
or,
‘…the Freerunning cost is tough to trigger with an Assassin, but Such-and-Such, Commander of Examples and others will be able to trigger it easily and make it great.‘
If I leave out a cool Assassin or powerful Freerunning card, it’s because I don’t want to type those things over and over.
Card Reviews Finally?
Yes, snarky titles, here are some cards. Mythics, then Rares, and Uncommons.
Apple of Eden, Isu Relic is the latest attempt to usefully cast a spell from an opponent’s hand. As usual, you are at the mercy of the cards they have, and what they can cast/cycle/etc. in response. Getting all their cards, plus lands, is a big deal if you can cast a few, but the owner getting to replace them with new draws is not great.
Overall, I’m not sold. The best thing this card does is exile a control player’s hand for a turn so you can do things without being stopped. No extra mana investment for the activation is nice. Otherwise you’re probably getting a land that you can hopefully play, and maybe a spell for a trade of this card, 4 life, and the cards the opponent will draw.
Judge question: If I had my hand exiled by the Apple, and it contained Eternal Scourge and I have Vedalken Orrery in play, can I cast my Scourge? Or does being exiled face-down mean I’m supposed to not know the Scourge is there?
Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh is one of a handful of cards based on real people from history, like Richard Garfield, Ph.D.. Overall, I think it will be less than the sum of its parts, despite those parts being powerful.
The mana cost is a bit steep, and having a 2/4 body is kind of unnecessary, as this is the sort of creature that will rarely see combat. The two triggers are both great… except legendary is a very poor unifier for creatures to have. Like Assassins, legends are a bunch of randos with minimal synergy. If Cleo is your Commander, you’re limiting yourself to two colours, which narrows your options significantly.
The biggest issue here is that the powerful draw trigger requires a legend to die, while providing no sacrifice outlet. Death triggers need sacrifice outlets for best results, and ideally want expendable fodder, like tokens, which is super awkward with legendary status. Maybe for the 99 of some counter-forward Commander? Deathreap Ritual seems way better for the same cost.
Unlike Assassins, Pirates have synergy. It helps that they’ve had a few Ixalan sets and Commander decks where they’re concentrated, where Assassins have had single creatures here and there across decades. So Edward Kenway is a lot less limited than the Creed cards that only work with Assassins.
Like Assassins, Vehicles are a bunch of randos, but they’re saved a bit by being colourless and resistant to creature removal. Edward Kenway can turn them into a force for thievery. Even though the available Vehicles are pretty random, Vehicle decks seem cool, and need some decent Commander options, like this.
Like a top-tier Commander should, Edward Kenway gives you lots of things to build around. There’s a mana advantage in the form of treasure, he’s 3 colours, and he even has a built-in strategy of winning the game with an opponent’s own cards. This is terrific, and even works well with existing Pirate Commanders in the same colours as a 99er.
I’m not a fan of Eivor, Battle-Ready‘s design. A deck with him as Commander is not the kind of deck I’d want to play. But it’s very possibly very powerful, and worth mentioning for that reason.
All the deck needs to do is play cheap equipment and run out Eivor. Having haste means you’ll probably get the attack and the damage trigger right away. A few of those and a bunch of equipment and the table will be pretty squished. Put some great equips on Eivor and things will go even quicker.
From there, extra attack steps and stuff that protects Eivor can fill out the deck. Add the best removal white and red have to offer, and you’re off to the races. Watch out for builds like this, especially because they’ll be cheap to put together.
Ezio Auditore da Firenze is the poster boy for the lack of Synergy among Assassins. What’s a good use of his Freerunning effect? Is there a specific Assassin you want discounted? Ten or so of the existing Assassin cards out there cost a single mana. About the same already cost BB or 1B. Another dozen or so cost 2 mana overall. Many of the rest cost 3 mana, including several that cost 1BB. This is a dreadfully underwhelming ability.
The lose-the-game ability is better, and you don’t have to do the work yourself, just wait until someone’s low enough on life. But even with Menace, Ezio probably needs a bit of help to sneak in and deal combat damage for the trigger.
Someone might have fun with this, but it’s very clunky, and you’re really dependent on cards like Whispersilk Cloak. Not my cup of tea, but with a five colour identity, at least you get a blank canvas for creative deckbuilding. That same identity makes him all-but-impossible to play outside the Command Zone, for what it’s worth.
Kassandra, Eagle Bearer seems OP in Commander. Is this good enough for Legacy alongside Stoneforge Mystic? Maybe not, but wow what a package of abilities.
I’ll cover The Spear of Leonidas below, but the ability to get it with Kassandra is insane, no matter how good the Spear is. It’s on Enter, not cast, so can be grabbed with blink effects or recasts from the Command Zone. It can also get the Spear from hand and graveyard, when library alone would be powerful enough. Then it puts the Spear in play. To hand would have been great. I’m stunned, because you also get a 2/2 hasty body and a third ability too!
The third ability is pretty good. Card-draw triggers almost always are. And it synergizes with The Spear of Leonidas of course, alongside cool stuff like all the Kaldra equips, including Kaldra Compleat, and both Umezawa’s Jitte and Lost Jitte.
All this for 3 mana! Haste, free 3 mana equipment with (spoiler alert) big value and versatility, plus the ability to refill your hand? This is a serious banger of a Commander, and card overall.
Another real person in card form, Leonardo Da Vinci should have been cloned in the 80s, raised on Magic in the 90s, and given final design approval over this clunker.
Where do I start? Mono-blue, probably. How about mono-blue with extremely mana intensive activated abilities? They’re doable at instant speed, but sheesh, you’d think Islands made mana or something.
Okay so they do that, and not just at the end of an opponent’s turn. Luckily, Leo’s abilities can be used at instant speed.
Like giving a huge bonus to your Thopters, though you probably want that on your turn. That might win games in theory, but it’s a steep hill to climb, and there are surprisingly few cards in Magic that either are Thopters or make Thopters. Many aren’t mono-blue, and some of the blue ones are pretty weak.
At least you can make Thopters of your own. And loot, because Leonardo was an artist and probably had to steal food and sketchbooks to get by. The Thopter you get is a copy of any artifact for 3 mana, which can be a big discount. The original is discarded then exiled, which sucks because an 0/2 token is pretty fragile, but you get that discount.
And that’s the meat and potatoes (gnocchi Bolognese?) of the card. Loot and make a cheap copy of some OP artifact. Probably Darksteel Forge or Blightsteel Colossus because everyone loves stuff like that. Then try and turn them from 0/2s into 7/7s.
Do 7/7 Indestructible Thopters get the job done, because it’s tough to do much better here. That’s a lot of steps and a medium clock. Does the deck degenerate into Infect? Aren’t there better options for similar decks, like Urza, Lord High Artificer and Arcum Dagsson? Yup.
I’m disappointed for Leo. I hope he gets the benefit of another card. One that recognizes him as a painter and gives him more colours.
The Staff of Eden, Vault’s Key has some potential, but will probably be held back by the mana cost and the potential to fizzle. Getting an appropriate legendary permanent into a graveyard is a total crapshoot. Maybe it’ll happen and be amazing: you’ll get Shelob, Child of Ungoliant or something like that…
…Or maybe you’ll be stuck waiting for something worthwhile, with a clunky 6-drop in hand. A 6-drop is not ideal for specific timing, even if it needs no coloured mana.
The tap ability saves this card a bit, making it good for decks that want to steal opposing stuff. Pirates especially should benefit from this card, and can potentially draw a lot of cards. However, at 6 mana, how many cards does this have to draw to be good? Any less than 5 is probably bad, so proceed with caution. Ultimately you can probably do better for 6 mana.
The Capitoline Triad is scary. This seems OP as a Commander, and I’ve seen some talk online of that being the case. Colourless is no downside, from personal experience. Lands are incredibly powerful these days, and no worrying about mana fixing allows for absurd amounts of utility.
But do you ever have to pay mana for this thing if it’s in your Command Zone? It seems fairly simple to either mill yourself aggressively, or run lots of artifacts like Chromatic Star that replace themselves and go to the graveyard easily. Because getting the Triad out quick and then getting that Emblem out is the gameplan for sure. After that a token generator or two, like Myr Battlesphere, wraps things up quick.
I think the real reason the Triad seems OP is how easily you should be able to get the Emblem. It doesn’t matter what you exile: anything is worth it for an Emblem, which cannot be interacted with, removed, etc., and this is a heck of an Emblem.
Aggressive self-mill is easiest in green or black, and discard can be tricky, but the secret weapon for a turbo Triad Emblem is cards like Hollow One, Runaway Boulder and Sojourner’s Companion which have high mana values and can be cycled for 2 mana each.
If you want some really high mana cost historic cards to exile, you can do the Eldrazi titans, even the originals. The Emblem-making ability is instant speed, and can be activated if you just put Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in the yard, with the reshuffle trigger on the stack, FYI.
One more thing: 7 power on a legend is significant, because it means Commander Lethal in 3 hits. Tossing a couple of Double Strike equips in your Triad Commander deck might get you a few surprise wins.
Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine looks good at first glance, but I think it’s too much setup, a possible fizzle, and playing a little too fast and loose with exile. The 3 mana cost is cool, but it gives you the illusion of running this out early, which isn’t that realistic. First you have to fill your graveyard and not have it exiled by an opponent.
Once you do have a yard full of creatures, you then have to exile them all and make them only retrievable by a mana-intensive, sorcery-speed activation. Which does get them back with haste and no drawbacks, but still. They’re gone otherwise.
Finally, tapping to exile 3 cards from the top of your deck is a dangerous game to play. If you can somehow leverage it another way, then maybe. Otherwise you’ll remove a chunk of your deck, then watch as an opponent destroys your Rebirth Engine to lock them away forever. What was the big payoff here again? Pass.
Abstergo Entertainment is all kinds of excellent, and if you can only grab one card from this set, maybe this is the one. Why? Comes in untapped, makes colourless, fixes your mana to any colour, and has a truly epic activated ability that combines recursion with mass-graveyard exile, at instant-speed no less.
I have no idea what I’d use this for, specifically, but I’d love to have it in play just about any time. Both Bojuka Bog and Scavenger Grounds are super-playable in Commander, and this is more great graveyard hate, with great upside. Love it!
Indestructible and ‘Prevent all damage that would be dealt to this creature’? Sign me up and then also take my name and information for the thing. It is funny to see both abilities overlap on the same piece of equipment, though I don’t think they were going for funny with Caduceus, Staff of Hermes. Looks like they were going for ‘Extremely Obvious Commander Card.’
Granting extra abilities if the controller has 30 or more life makes this ‘almost always’ in Commander terms, at least to start anyway. Yes, it is a lot less good below 30 life, but at least you keep Lifelink to try and build back up. Plenty of white equipment decks will like this a lot, even if it’s tough to reduce the equip cost as they often want to do.
I don’t think the Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass is anything too special, but I often flag cards that ramp mana in blue. Even if they are just a 4-mana rock that makes U. Blue has a tough time with mana, and if you get a lot of value from looking at and playing off the top of your deck, this might be for you.
Players who play cards like Desynchronization have to gamble that they’ll come out ahead on a symmetrical effect. Many blue wizards play nothing but historic permanents anyway, and this is a good gamble, but there are games where this will not address any of the problems. Better for some metas than others, and still quite powerful.
I love Escarpment Fortress! What a weird card! It reminds me of a bunch of old cards, like Wall of Swords (power/toughness, also a Wall), Castle (cost, theme and team buff), and Military Intelligence (draw trigger). I loved Walls as a kid, and this is the kind of playable jank that my young and older selves have in common. This will probably find a home in my Cube.
As much as Excalibur, Sword of Eden is extremely strong, provides a huge buff, can potentially be cast for free, and has a cheap equip cost, it’s Magic’s equivalent of a blunt object. Even with Vigilance, a huge power boost is often less useful than evasion, protection, indestructible, haste, and other things that equipment frequently grants. And it’s only a power boost. I had to look a couple of times. It is +10/+0, not +10/+10. Honestly I expected better of Excalibur, but I’m sure we’ll get other Excaliburs from other Universes Beyond to make up for it.
Haytham Kenway does a whole lot, and is likely a top choice for Knight decks in Commander going forward. While probably not the strongest Knight Commander option, Kenway shines bright in a support role, offering a big stat boost and niche protection ability to your Knights, and doing a Banisher Priest impression for each opponent. Great value overall.
The Jackdaw is extremely narrow, being a Vehicle with no Haste or evasion, needing crew 3, and relying entirely on a combat damage trigger to a player to be worthwhile. So how about that trigger? Well, do you make treasure? Do you play equipment? Mana rocks? If you have an empty hand and a lot of random artifacts, one connection with this is going to change everything. One of the highest ceilings of any card in the set, and not unrealistic either.
Like Haytham Kenway for Knights, Mary Read and Anne Bonny are top value for any Pirate deck. They might be too weak for the Command Zone, as they don’t give you a direct way to win games, but as a way to dig into your deck while making treasure, this is terrific. Having haste is just a cherry on top. Great design for a feel-good card.
One of this set’s common themes among equipment is attaching it to a creature when it enters. This can matter a lot, even if Mjölnir, Storm Hammer doesn’t give any buff or real evasion, because it saves on mana. It’s too bad it can only attach to a legend in this way, but in Commander you should have at least one target.
Tapping down a creature with a stun counter is fine. There are good synergies available, especially with proliferate. However, the second part of the trigger is bonkers. Dealing damage to each opponent equal to their tapped creatures can be a kill shot. And it doesn’t matter who you attacked. Very, very high ceiling here.
I think Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector is quite good, but I’m not sure where to put it. It’s not a Commander by itself, I don’t think, but it would be amazing with Partner. You really need to pair it up with an evasive legend or three. Luckily, plenty of those exist.
Senu reminds me of a weird mashup of Norin the Wary and Squee, the Immortal. It can give you a reliable source of Enters triggers if you set it up well, and those can be really useful. And it’s tough to get rid of forever.
It has all sorts of weird synergies too, like with City of Shadows. Anything that exiles your own thing for some effect is in play, because Senu doesn’t care how it got in exile. It can even be from hand, library or graveyard if you can turn those to your advantage. One fun trick to consider is your own Path to Exile on Senu as cheap ramp with minimal downside.
Like Kassandra, Eagle Bearer, Shaun & Rebecca, Agents goes and gets another card from this set and puts it directly into play. It gets The Animus from any of your hand, graveyard or deck. Pretty sweet, right? Well, unlike Kassandra, S&R, don’t synergize with the companion card nearly as well. Their tap ability helps fill the graveyard, but that’s about it.
If you must have The Animus as your Commander, this is the way to do it, otherwise this card is seriously unremarkable. Making a little mana with a little mill isn’t much, and nothing else about the card stands out except a couple of rare types in Assassin and Scientist.
Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe is okay. Efficient stats, great abilities, and cool interactions with Sagas. What’s the holdup? Mostly that Sagas are a random bunch of randos, and hard to develop a focused strategy around. Sound familiar? Sagas, however, get a lot of support and appear in a lot of sets these days, so this is potential one of the better Saga Commanders. As a 99er, Sigurd could certainly help out Tom Bombadil.
Sorry Socrates, this guy isn’t you. Not like Cleopatra or Leonardo. This is Sokrates with a K – Sokrates, Athenian Teacher – similar but so different. For instance, Sokrates preferred feta cheese, while Socrates liked goat’s cheese.
So Sokrates. Interesting abilities. Defender is sometimes good, like with Arcades, the Strategist, and hexproof while untapped is mostly good. The tap ability is what makes the card, however, as it’s a weird little nugget of strategy that can stop an attack against you, or be used as a generous move to share card draw with an ally.
Sokrates needs help to win games, but playing him means you’ve got some defense and card advantage on board. He could be a Commander, or a 99er, and I really hope I see him in play sometime soon. Could be good.
The Animus reminds me a lot of Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine. It looks cheap to cast, but requires a lot of graveyard filling as setup. It exiles, but can only exile legends. It sort of brings creatures back, but instead of a slow, mana intensive ability that brings them back with haste, The Animus turns another legend into them for a turn cycle and leaves them in exile. This seems narrow, and while you can exile opposing legends in graveyards too, you can hardly plan for it, or the results. I don’t think this plays very well unless you’re all legends, and even then it’s tough to quantify what it’s actually going to do. No thanks.
Hooo, baby, this is a card! The Spear of Leonidas is the same overall cost as a Sword of…, both to cast and equip, and the three abilities are all useful, and trigger on attack instead of combat damage. Great start.
Double strike is great, and The Spear also costs the same as the heavily played Fireshrieker, so very playable just on the first ability.
Making the Horse token is fine. An extra body is great, and 3/2 can do some work. Being a legend can sometimes matter too. Free Horse!
Finally, you can choose to cast a sort of backwards Faithless Looting. More like Faithless Rummaging, which is potentially better since you net cards if you have none. You can also fill the graveyard which is totally a thing.
The best thing is that you can choose. And that Kassandra, Eagle Bearer can just go and grab this Spear at will from almost anywhere. Seems strong either way.
A strange combination of abilities, What Must Be Done is a very good sweeper married to a slightly overcosted recursion spell. In Commander, destroying all artifacts and creatures can be excellent, and is probably the primary mode for this card. But having a backup ability that can reanimate artifacts, legends and Sagas? Could be game-winning in a pinch.
I doubt this sees a ton of play, as Austere Command and Cleansing Nova have better modality, and Wrath of God and Day of Judgment kill all the creatures for cheaper, but this will see play.
Slicer 2.0? Possibly less toxic, but still a big problem for many tables. I hate this design, and wish they learned from Slicer. Powering Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos out, and forcing your opponents to deal with this card or else have to kill each other quickly is no way to make friends. Fun card name to say, though.
Arbaaz Mir is best friends with Norin the Wary. Probably just a little underpowered otherwise.
If not for the Enters trigger, Assassin Gauntlet would be pretty unremarkable. However, attaching to a creature and also casting a less-good version of Sleep is pretty solid value, especially if you immediately attack and loot. This can do some work, and even offers a little stat boost.
If you’re running a slower deck, that can look as many as 3 turns ahead, you can add up the total value of Ballad of the Black Flag and see that 3 mana for draw 3, mill 6, and a turn of mana discounts is pretty decent. Add Saga shenanigans, and you’ve got a decent little card here.
We’ve seen ability sharing before, on cards like Odric, Lunarch Marshal, but not from the graveyard like this. Aggressive self-mill can make for some serious keyword soup. I have at least one deck that would love to try Bleeding Effect, and I grabbed a copy to try out.
Brotherhood Regalia is most of the way to Whispersilk Cloak without the downside of Shroud. If you’re equipping a legend, you’re ahead on mana compared to that card, which is a very good, very played card. This has a lot of potential.
While this is tricky to set up, timing wise, and you’re giving some opponent extra cards to try and stop you, Fall of the First Civilization has some seriously powerful effects. It’s not out of the question to use some sort of proliferate-like ability to get everything in one turn. At 3 mana, this has some game, and chapter 3 is a possible game-changer.
As a major mechanic of the Assassin’s Creed games, Haystacks are there to break your fall so you can parkour up high, then drop down suddenly. Surprise, Templars! As a card, I don’t think Haystack replicates the game mechanic very well, but who cares? Instant-speed phasing on command is really sweet, and gives you options like saving tokens from harm and keeping counters on creatures that would lose them in a sweeper. Neat!
Watch out Sokrates, it’s the Hemlokk Vial! Maybe go for a koffee instead. This little card draws you a card at the cost of a life point, and has a funky little ability we’ve never seen before as well. Hemlock Vial gives your equipped creatures and your equipment deathtouch. How cool. That means Blazing Torch, Heart-Piercer Bow, Kusari-Gama, Lightning Spear, Ninja’s Kunai, Plasma Caster, Razor Boomerang, Shuriken, Sword of Fire and Ice, Throwing Knife, and Toralf’s Hammer would get deathtouch and do lethal to creatures. I expect we’ll see more of this in future.
Equipment that gives haste is almost always something to consider in Commander. It helps that Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves lead the way, and that they have such amazing additional upside. Hidden Footblade doesn’t have that much, but it is cheap to cast, equips once for free, and makes the creature more combat-friendly for at least a turn. All told, this is playable in decks that want cheap equips and decks that need Haste, and those comprise a lot of decks. Flash is a real nice extra here, and might make this into removal in the right situation.
Equipment that gives Reach and Ward 2 is decent. Costing 2 to cast and 1 to equip is good too. Attaching to a creature on entry saves on mana, and this also lets you deal damage to an opponent’s creature! There is so much going on here, and Hunter’s Bow is sooo playable. I wish this had Flash.
Reconstruct History is a whole lot of recursion for not too much mana, in a colour combo not known for a lot of recursion. It’s tough to imagine a graveyard that’s optimal, but getting 3 cards back is pretty solid, and regular gameplay can make that possible. Totally playable.
While Shao Jun is mostly too small and inconsequential for most strategies, it does give you an upgraded Ghirapur Aether Grid from the Command Zone if you want. Killing your opponents with treasure tokens and such is totally in play. This could be a very strong budget option for EDH.
Shay Cormac has good types, a cheap cost, and a very powerful activated ability. The triggered abilities, involving Bounty Counters, might not matter much, but more Bounty synergy is welcome. This is more of an answer to a powerful meta than anything else, and it’s tough to imagine where it fits otherwise.
Smoke Bomb is a really sweet answer to Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Among other things, of course. The full scope of the strategy here is up to savvy players, but it is unique and cool, and will totally see some play.
Joining the ranks of ‘any number of’ cards is Templar Knight, like Relentless Rats and Shadowborn Apostle before it. Are the Templars good, though? Are there legendary artifacts worth fetching? Is it worth stuffing your deck with Vigilant 3/1s to get The One Ring or whatever? I’m going to guess no, but allow for the Templars to rewrite history on me.
I suspect The Aesir Escape Valhalla is the first of a few Sagas that return to your hand as part of Chapter 3. This is a really cool design, even if it’s not really that powerful.
Conclusion
My expectations weren’t high, and this is not a super-inspiring swathe of cards. There are a few standouts, as there always is, but overall, this is another forgettable drop among many.
If you played Assassin’s Creed, or saw the movie and loved it, what do you think? Do these cards capture the material? Do they aim too wide, or do you like having a broad overview of the series? Do you think these cards would inspire Creed players to try Magic, or vice versa?
I don’t have many opinions on that stuff, and even though the set is full of Assassins and associated cards, I still don’t feel like Assassins have cohesion or much synergy. And I think Freerunning is more for Commanders than Assassins, too. So what defines the type? How does it win? I don’t know, and I’m a little sad that a set called Assassin’s Creed didn’t clear that up.
Thanks for reading!
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