Magic: The Gathering - Assassin’s Creed Bundle | 9 Beyond Boosters + Accessories | Collectible Trading Card Game for Ages 13+

As both a longtime Magic: The Gathering player and an Assassin's Creed fan, I was thrilled to try out the new Assassin's Creed Starter Kit, and it did not disappoint.Pros:Engaging Theme: The set beautifully captures the essence of the Assassin's Creed universe, with mechanics like "Mentor" and "Hidden" that perfectly reflect the franchise's core gameplay elements.Accessible for New Players: The Starter Kit includes two ready-to-play decks, a rulebook, and play guides, making it an excellent entry point for newcomers to Magic or those looking to introduce friends to the game.Exciting Gameplay: The preconstructed decks offer a balanced and fun experience right out of the box, with plenty of opportunities for strategic play and thrilling moments.Collectible Cards: The set features stunning artwork and iconic characters from the Assassin's Creed franchise, making the cards highly collectible for fans.Crossover Appeal: This collaboration is a dream come true for fans of both franchises, offering a unique and exciting way to experience both worlds.Cons:Limited Card Pool: While the Starter Kit provides a great starting point, players looking to expand their decks or explore more competitive play will need to invest in additional booster packs or other sets.Overall:The Magic: The Gathering - Assassin's Creed Starter Kit is a fantastic product that successfully blends the iconic gameplay of Magic with the rich lore and characters of the Assassin's Creed universe. Whether you're a seasoned Magic player, an Assassin's Creed fan, or new to both, this Starter Kit is a thrilling and accessible way to experience the best of both worlds. I highly recommend it!

Before I get ahead of myself and review the cards themselves, let me first start with what I was most disappointed by: there is no code with these cards so, if you are like me and have few friends to play with, this bundle will not do much for you. If you don't mind that or just want some new cards to play with physically then allow me to spin my yarn traveler.So, first of all there are two unique decks that both share in the Assassin's Creed Universe and both spawn "Assassin" tokens (black 1/1 permanent with menace). Other than that they rely on different mechanisms to gain thier respective edges and are inspired by different games/time periods. For simplicity's sake, I'll start with the Ezio, Blade of Vengeance deck.The Ezio deck is inspired by the classic trilogy, Brotherhood and Syndicate and the new "Freerunning" mechanic follows the parkour spirit of the games by allowing you to reduce the cost of said spells (permants/sorceries) after dealing combat damage to your opponent with either an Assassin or commander card. With that, you can summon more assassins and solidify your lead even if you don't have the initial mana until you've dealt damage in the Combat Phase. However, if you're like me and get wary of sending everything at your opponent with a thin line of faith that you won't get hit back afterwards, you'll be happy to know that this deck shares another theme with the games: tranquilizer darts and jumping over enemies, or, in this case, flying. "Tranquilize", easily the best new card in this deck and overall in my opinion, only costs 2 mana (1 any and 1 island) in order to place *3* stun counters on a target permanent. For context, the only other card I'm aware of that does the same for the same mana is "Impede Momentum" which was what introduced the stun concept in MTG. Every other card that adds stuns, in my experience, either only add two with additional effects, have a higher cost, or rely on secondary effects to have a similar function making "Tranquilize" a great addition to a control commander deck. Between the 3 copies of "Tranquilize", the cards in this deck that have Flying and/or Deathtouch and the many assassins that include Menace, this deck will be difficult to pin down unless you either have a lot of permanents, boardwipes or counter spells and will allow you to draw more cards with each successful attack done by an Assassin with Ezio, Blade of Vengeance's second effect. Overall, it's a pretty solid deck and may be worth the cost on its own.The second deck that's included is based on the Assassin's Creed games that lean more into the supernatural (Vikings, Mirage, and Odyssey) as well as the spin off Chronicle mobile/PC games. "Eivor, Battle Ready" is a simple card and this is reflected in the function of her deck: get equipment, make more cheaply, attack often, profit. "Eivor, Battle Ready"'s effect is, quote: "Vigilance... Haste... Whenever Eivor, Battle Ready attacks, it deals damage equal to the number of Equipment you control to each opponent." With an effect like that, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that aside from the few Equipment cards that cheaply available (the most expensive is only 3 mana) there are also cards like "Misthios's Fury" and "Settlement Blacksmith" that add onto the benefit of owning Equipment by either allowing you to draw cards or deal extra damage when you have one present. There is also a card called "Bureau Headmaster" that makes Equipment and Equipment abilities cheaper to use. Overall, this deck can be a massive powerhouse and, with removal/damage spells like "Detained by Legionaires" which prevents anything enchanted from it from attacking or blocking, it'll be difficult to keep at bay once you get your momentum going.Overall, I like both of these decks but I'm not so sure if they are necessary "Starter" decks. To make these decks work requires a bit of adjustment which might be asking a lot for new players. For seasoned players like myself, I can certainly think of ways these cards can support other archetypes and perhaps built into commander decks of thier own. However, as is, I feel like both decks, as decks and not a collection of cards, might be difficult to master compared to other starter decks and can certainly use some adjustments to be fully functional in my humble opinion but, once they are, they will certainly be permitted into my recommendations and that is the truth.

As a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed, I was absolutely thrilled to get my hands on this Assassin’s Creed-themed Magic: The Gathering bundle. It’s not only a fantastic crossover for fans of both franchises but also a great way to get introduced to MTG if you're new to the game.The bundle comes with 9 Beyond Boosters, and the Assassin’s Creed flavor really shines through in the card designs and themes. From the artwork to the mechanics, the cards perfectly capture the spirit of the Assassin’s Creed universe, blending historical elements with MTG’s strategic gameplay. It’s an exciting and unique way to engage with both the Assassin’s Creed storyline and the world of Magic.For anyone just starting out with Magic: The Gathering, this bundle is a great introduction. The included boosters and accessories give you everything you need to start building a deck and learning how to play. Plus, for longtime MTG players, it offers a fresh and fun addition to your collection.Overall, the Assassin’s Creed Bundle is a perfect combination of two iconic franchises. It’s well put together, exciting to play with, and an awesome collectible for fans. Highly recommended for Assassin’s Creed lovers and anyone looking to dive into MTG!

The Assassin's Creed set is one of my favorite Universes Beyond sets by far. These decks seem well balanced for each other and would be a solid starting point for new players. I ordered this set of decks to get singles for an EDH deck I was building and found this to be equal price for the singles I wanted from the two decks so the value is fairly solid as well.

I recommend this for beginners and veteransFor people who play commander you can make a very good budget commander deck using the U/B cards for the set