Way back in 2008, the Morningtide set introduced a mechanic called Prowl. It let you play cards with the creature type Rogue for less mana if you’d damaged another player (rather than their creatures) earlier that turn. The Assassin’s Creed crossover brings Prowl back, only renamed Freerunning and with its reduced cost applied to the Assassin creature type instead. That means if I can sneak even a single point of damage past an opponents’ defenses, I can bring down a whole gang of bargain bonus Brotherhood buddies immediately after.
I do this by playing the Hookblade Veteran, who has a zipline that means he counts as flying on my turn and can bypass most defenses. One of my opponents does have something that can block flying attackers—a Towering Viewpoint, which has the flight-blocking keyword Reach—so first I make sure to take that out with a Poison-Blade Mentor. How do I poison a tower to death? Must be Animus magic. Like that one Assassin’s Creed Origins DLC where you visit the literal afterlife, it’s best not to question these things.
Magic: The Gathering's Videogame Ventures
Fallout set’s Commander decks were a personal favorite, the Assassin’s Creed cards are still fun to try out and, in the Ezio deck, tightly themed around murdering people from rooftops—which is all I want. It’s left me feeling hopeful for the upcoming Final Fantasy crossover, since the official Final Fantasy card game is a bit of a dud.
So far, Magic’s dips into videogame territory have worn the clothes of their new settings well enough to blend in seamlessly. Given the choice between these and the endless licensed CCGs of the late ’90s that used to rip off Magic without being nearly as good, I’d rather have more of these professionally designed and slickly produced official crossovers.
Assassin’s Creed x Magic: The Gathering is available now.
