Magic The Gathering To Add Characters From Two Huge Franchises
Magic: The Gathering is adding characters from Final Fantasy and Assassin's Creed.
Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed, two well-known gaming franchises, are joining Magic: The Gathering, following the inclusion of autonomous robotic organisms into the card collectible game. The news about additional crossovers with some of the gaming world’s largest franchises was announced during Hasbro’s Investor Day.
According to IGN, Magic: The Gathering will welcome several characters from Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed gaming franchises in 2024 through the game’s Universes Beyond initiative, which sets out to make crossovers with prominent franchises. The game most recently announced the crossover with Transformers and the introduction of new mechanics that would bridge the gap in gameplay. However, these aren’t the only crossovers Magic: The Gathering has introduced to its highly collectible in-game universe.
Universes Beyond is actually Wizards of the Coast’s way of introducing outside, popular intellectual properties to its Magic: The Gathering. Previous crossovers included the likes of The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Street Fighter, and Fortnite — Magic: The Gathering is actually one of the rare IPs that hosted Fortnite, and not the other way around. In addition, the company announced its plans to add characters from Warhammer 40,000 and Doctor Who universes — the latter of which is expecting a Season 14 release next year and an upcoming 2022 Special episode.
During the very same presentation, Hasbro also disclosed more financial details on its card collectible game and other gaming brands. As per the same report, the tentpole releases for Magic: The Gathering have earned $100 million in revenue per set release. This puts Magic: The Gathering on a track to becoming Hasbro’s first brand to generate $1 billion in annual revenues, contending with the largest gaming giants in the history of board gaming.
As for the Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed crossovers, Hasbro hasn’t revealed any further details. However, it’s almost certain that the crossover sets won’t be legal in tournaments — which is actually understandable due to numerous gaming mechanic implementations. In fact, Magic: The Gathering players have previously suggested that the crossover cards should be silver-bordered, which immediately renders them not-tournament legal. However, Wizards of the Coast have argued that the crossover versions of these cards could be reprinted in future sets.
This makes Magic: The Gathering crossover card exempt from standard sets, rendering them illegal in tournaments — which is a clear-cut rule, unlike giant Pokemon cards, which made their way into a tournament match. However, the crossover cards and their accompanying mechanics are still usable in Commander decks and perhaps Vintage and Legacy decks as well. We still have no idea which characters from Assassin’s Creed and Final Fantasy we’re getting, but the fandom places their bets on Ezio Auditore da Firenze and FF’s Cloud Strife.
Both franchises are currently in expansion, with Assassin’s Creed getting several new games, including the previously mentioned Mirage. Final Fantasy fans are still awaiting the 16th installment in the popular gaming series, which is, at the moment, scheduled for a summer 2023 release. If you want to know more about Magic: The Gathering and its digital-only cards, check out our previous report.
