Magic: The Gathering is diving into the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000 this summer with a Universes Beyond release that includes four preconstructed Commander decks and three Secret Lair drops, Wizards of the Coast revealed today during Weekly MTG.
Coming off The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, and Street Fighter collaborations that introduced mechanically unique cards, Wizards of the Coast is expanding the scope of Universes Beyond with its Warhammer collaboration. It will include mechanically unique cards and Warhammer flavored reprints in four precons centered around certain factions.
Precons will be available in Standard editions and Collectors editions. This is the first time precon Commander decks will be available in a special edition. Collectors editions are full foil and include a new surge foil treatment.
The names of all four decks were included during the presentation.
- Necron Dynasty – B
- Forces of the Imperium – BUW
- Tyranid Swarm – RUG
- The Ruinous Powers – RBU
Previews for the Commander decks begin July 26 leading up to the global release on Aug. 12. The Secret Lair drops will be on sale from Aug. 12 to 22.
The face Commander for The Ruinous Powers was revealed as Abaddon The Despoiler. A UBR Mythic Rare Astartes Warrior that hints at the decklist being focused on the Cascade mechanic.
Abaddon The Despoiler
- Mana value: 2UBR
- Type: Legendary Creature Astartes Warrior
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 5/5
- Keyword: Trample
- First ability: During your turn, spells you cast from your hand with mana value X or less have Cascade, where X is the total amount of life your opponents have lost this turn.
Abaddon also shows the set will continue the use of ability flavor words. These are names for abilities that function more as flavor descriptors than having any mechanical weight. These debuted in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
Two other original cards were revealed. Blood for the Blood God! is an 11-mana Instant that costs less for each Creature that died during the turn. You discard your hand, draw eight cards, then deal eight damage to each opponent. The card name and the flavor text are a direct reference to the slogan of the armies of Khorne.
Vanguard Suppressor showed off the new ability Squad. This card has Squad 2, which means you may pay two mana any number of times as an additional cost. You create that many tokens that are copies of Vanguard Suppressor equal to the number of times you paid the cost. Squad is a twist of Multi-Kicker.
A reprint of Fabricate was also revealed, showing how reprints will be handled with Warhammer-themed art.
The three Secret Lair Drops will be revealed at a later date, but the names were announced.
- Secret Lair x Warhammer 40,000: Orks
- Secret Lair x Warhammer Age of Sigmar
- Secret Lair x Blood Bowl
It’s unclear if drops will include only reprints or also mechanically unique cards.
