The Best Magic: The Gathering Crossover Series

Summary

• Magic: The Gathering features various crossovers with popular franchises like The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, and Street Fighter.
• Each crossover introduces unique mechanics and abilities to keep the game fresh and exciting for players.
• Fans of other properties can enjoy seeing their favorite characters and worlds integrated into the timeless trading card game.

The world of Magic: The Gathering has long been invaded by new lines of cards that can change the game in major ways. Wizards of the Coast continues to add new drops, incredible art cards that feature amazing artists, and strange new mechanics that make the game feel ever-changing and can help players look at this decades-old game as if it is as fresh as when it was first released. However, in Secret Lair drops and in the Universes Beyond series, which bring other properties into Magic, huge crossovers are possible and allow fans of other games to find characters, places, and objects that they love within the decks of the timeless trading card game.

While some of these new mashups can feel a little thoughtless, most of them make it clear that the creators are fans of the properties that they include and act as love letters to the universes that make an appearance. Here are all the Magic: The Gathering crossovers, ranked in order of their ambition and quality.

16

The Walking Dead

Release Date: October 4, 2020

A card drop that was later added to the Universes Beyond series, and was one of the first cross-overs to release, The Walking Dead Secret Lair drop includes iconic characters from the TV show like Rick, Daryl, and Michonne. There are a number of Walkers too, with tokens and a special legendary artifact that allows for Negan to wield his signature weapon, Lucille.

This set is smaller than some others, featuring only some new art for older cards and five legendary creature cards. A few of the legendary survivors have skills that can reorient their decks into very capable stacks, chaining extra benefits when attacking with zombies or buffing other humans. While this drop was a huge success on release, this selection of cards is a little outdated today.

15

Stranger Things

Release Date: October 18, 2021

Featuring eight unique cards that are the heroes and villains from Netflix’s massively popular Stranger Things series, this Secret Lair drop introduces a whole new keyword to Magic. The ‘Friends Forever’ ability is equivalent to ‘Partner,’ letting players have two commanders as long as they share the keyword and are friends. This means that commander decks can be built around Eleven and Mike, or any other duo from the main cast of Stranger Things.

The other characters that appear are legendary creatures that can turn the tide of battle on their own. For example, the Mind Flayer can exile spells from the bottom of a player’s library and cast them using any mana color. The possibilities with these cards are expansive.

14

Street Fighter

Release Date: February 17, 2022

In a huge video game crossover, one Secret Lair drop featured the most iconic warriors from Street Fighter joining the fray as creatures to battle in Magic. Each character has skills that match their fighting style, with rivals like Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Chun-Li and E. Honda all having a chance to shine.

A reskinned card that functions as a Lightning Bolt spell takes on the title of the infamous Hadoken. This selection of cards may not cover every fighter in the beloved series, but it will be sure to impress fans of the famous fighting game franchise.

13

Fortnite

Release Date: July 21, 2022

One of the biggest games of recent years, Fortnite‘s reach is hard to comprehend, and it even made its way into the decks of Magic players in a 2022 Secret Lair drop.

While the eight cards that were released with this drop are all reskinned versions of pre-existing cards, and feature no new unique options, the inclusion of recognizable places and people means that those familiar with Fortnite will see the game realized on the tabletop. New art for land cards also appears and plunges the backdrop of Slurpy Swamp and Polar Peak into Magic for extra battle royale fun.

12

Warhammer 40,000

Release Date: October 7, 2022

Releasing in the same Secret Lair drop as the Blood Bowl and Age of Sigmar cards, and then getting four complete Commander decks to flesh out the world and the opportunities for different playstyles, Warhammer 40,000 brings the Imperium, Chaos, Necrons, and Tyranids to Magic The Gathering.

Marneus Calgar slams onto the battlefield, and can summon Astartes warriors to join him. Be’lakor swoops in to rally any other demons in play to smash the opposition. Becoming one of the best-selling Commander decks and being reprinted multiple times, fans clearly loved bringing the Warhammer 40k world into Magic, even if these cards cannot be used in some other formats.

11

Transformers

Release Date: November 18, 2022

A Universes Beyond release that brought the kooky cartoon of Transformers from the 90s to the tabletop, with Autobots and Decepticons rolling out into Magic. Each of this collection of cards can transform between their vehicle or robot version, with the keyword ‘Transform’ being changed to ‘Convert’ for this release.

Each of these cards manipulates the board by changing from a vehicle that has strange and powerful abilities to a transformed mechanical hero who can destroy the opposition with high-powered attacks and toughness.

10

Dungeons & Dragons

Release Date: July 23, 2021

Appearing first as a Secret Lair drop and later releasing as a major crossover in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, the classic tabletop RPG appears in a collection of strange and superb Magic cards.

For long-time fans of the massive TTRPG, some of the Planeswalkers and creatures will be familiar, with faces like Mordenkainen, Zariel of Avernus, and the floating Beholder enemies all colliding in deck-building battles. New dungeon cards task players with traveling each turn to give themselves buffs or summons, adding new mechanics for whole new layers of strategy.

9

The Lord Of The Rings

Release Date: June 23, 2023

Another Universes Beyond release that exploded into Magic bringing hordes of new players, Tales of Middle-Earth added an inspired new mechanic, allowing a creature to become the ‘Bearer of the Ring’ and tempting them, which will eventually drain the health of both the player and their opponent.

Some cards, like Aragorn, Company Leader, can add additional effects to the Ringbearer to imbue them with more power or offset the downsides of the evil relic. The selection of cards on offer in boosters and two reconstructed decks meant that, for fans of The Lord of the Rings, there is plenty to explore in Middle-earth.

8

Spooky Drop 2023

Release Date: October 2, 2023

Cramming a multitude of crossover events into one October special, the Spooky Drop in 2023 included unique releases for The Princess Bride that put players in control of The Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya. In the same breath, Magic introduced reskinned cards that reflected the dark and disgusting universe of Evil Dead.

Famed Deadite destroyer, Ash Williams, takes center stage but finds himself in the same release as full-art cards that depict the usual Magic monsters in the style of the campy Creepshow films. This release was chock-full of cult-favorite references that make this one of the best crossover releases to date.

7

Doctor Who

Release Date: October 13, 2023

One of the most anticipated crossovers was with the legendary British series TV show Doctor Who. A special Universes Beyond release that was accompanied by a few extra card drops to flesh out the set, Commander decks were released for a number of the Doctor’s incarnations and his companions: the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler, and the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan. ​​​​​​​

Another deck features some iconic villains from the series led by Davros, the engineer of the Daleks. With some ‘wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey’ mechanics that allow players to set up spells to fire in future turns and every incarnation of the Doctor using different abilities, this set is a must-have for fans of the classic sci-fi series.

6

Secretversary 2023

Release Date: November 20, 2023

A huge drop of cards that included new Universe Beyond cards, the 2023 Secretversary unleashed the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World into the card libraries of Magic players. These cards are reskinned versions of other Magic creatures, but the new borderless art cards are impressive nonetheless, and bring some fan-favorite cards into play.

The other Universes Beyond feature is Lara Croft, the hero of the Tomb Raider series. Lara creates Treasure tokens with every attack and her drop comes with several legendary lands and artifacts that pay homage to her classic adventures.

5

Clue

Release Date: February 23, 2024

A new Clue game mode was released within the Ravnica setting. It was established as a part of the Universes Beyond line due to just how much it draws on the board game it pays tribute to.

The cards in this new game mode can be used in other styles of play too, and bring reimagined versions of classic Clue suspects to Magic, like Headliner Scarlett, Commander Mustard, and Mastermind Plum. In addition, all of the possible murder weapons from the board game appear as equippable artifacts, making this release a strange but captivating crossover.

4

Fallout

Release Date: March 8, 2024

Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond series has featured many different properties, but none quite so beloved and wide-reaching as Fallout. Bringing the classic role-playing game to the tabletop, four Commander decks were released, each with a different title and theme for the characters and cards within.

The Scrappy Survivors deck had the fan-favorite puppy companion Dogmeat as its Commander, while the Hail, Caesar deck featured references to Fallout: New Vegas and had the Legion’s Emperor as its Commander. With huge mutant creatures like Deathclaws appearing as high-cost spells that can swing a game in either player’s favor, these decks make sure to please new and old fans of the series.

3

Assassin’s Creed

Release Date: July 5, 2024

Sold in a starter kit and a collection of booster packs, the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond collection brought Ubisoft’s iconic series of open-world stealth titles to Magic. Such infamous assassins as Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Altair Ibn- La’Ahad, and Edward Kenway show off the best that the games have to offer from across their titles.

This line of cards also introduced the ‘freerunning’ mechanic, which makes some spells cheaper to cast if players have successfully dealt damage using an assassin. While it was an unexpected crossover, the inclusion of so many beloved moments made this a successful release.

2

Monty Python

Release Date: July 29, 2024

Magic: The Gathering has always managed to let humor into the game with many ridiculous pieces of art, quotes, or even crazy rules on the cards themselves. They went one step further with the Inside an Elevator Secret Lair drop. This drop included nine reskinned cards that use the names, characters, and quotes of the cast of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Combining this parody of high fantasy with the world of Magic makes for some ridiculous situations, like where players use the Black Beast of Aaargh against Time the Enchanter. While these cards are only reskins of pre-existing Magic cards, their inclusion is sure to get a chuckle out of many Magic players.

1

Camp Totally Safe

Release Date: September 30, 2024

Another Halloween card drop, the Camp Totally Safe Secret Lair drop came with new art cards as well as three new Universes Beyond inclusions that smash together horror and Vocaloid sensations all in one release. Camp Totally Safe reskinned several long-standing Magic cards as Chucky, the killer doll from the Child’s Play series, and his bride, Tiffany.

Some other cards depict Chucky’s misadventures in the sequel films. Slimer, the ectoplasm-spewing ghost from Ghostbusters, appears alongside the Ecto-1 and other ghostbusting tech. Then there’s Hatsune Miku, the incredibly popular Vocaloid superstar who appears alongside other members of her Electric Entourage.