All Sagas in MTG Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed

❘ Published: 2024-06-20T14:42:04

Ubisoft/WotC

Magic: The Gathering’s Assassin’s Creed crossover is packed with powerful new Assassin Creatures, but that’s not all the Universes Beyond set has to offer. We’ve rounded up every Saga that the set uses to depict key moments and stories from throughout Ubisoft’s franchise.

Sagas have proven to be an incredibly popular card type in Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond sets. Though the card type is still relatively new in MTG – debuting in 2018’s Dominaria set – it has proven to be a particularly good match for MTG’s pop-culture crossovers.

Sagas have been used in Warhammer 40K to depict key moments in the series lore, in Doctor Who to represent individual episodes or serials, and in Fallout as the games’ iconic vaults. Now it’s Assassin’s Creed’s turn and this set’s Sagas feature both backstory elements and summaries of standout games in the series.

All Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed Sagas

Ballad of the Black Flag

This four-step Saga can be cast for 1BB. The first three steps of this Saga are identical, milling three cards each turn and allowing you to put a Historic card from among those milled into your hand. Through this you can amass more Sagas to play, but Artifacts and Legendary spells are free game too.

While it might be tempting to play these cards as soon as you add them to your hand, it can be beneficial to wait until this Saga’s final step. By discounting all Historic cards’ casting cost by 2 generic mana, Ballad of the Black Flag sets you up for an extremely impactful turn, casting multiple spells all at once.

Ballad of the Black Flag leans into Assassin’s Creed’s pirate entry well, dredging up forgotten Artifacts and valuable treasure and getting them into enterprising hands.

Fall of the First Civilisation

A white mana Saga that costs 2W. As is the case with many of Magic’s white Sagas, Fall of the First Civilisation works as a control option, but also provides some needed card draw in a color that sometimes struggles in that area.

This card’s first step allows both you and another player of your choice to draw two cards each. In its second step, you can choose and exile a target Artifact an opponent controls. Finally, each player chooses three nonland permanents they control, and all other cards are destroyed and wiped from the board.

The downfall of Assassin’s Creed’s precursor race – the Isu – is handily summed up on this card, including the death of Juno and the survival of a limited number of Isu and humans.

Origin of the Hidden Ones

Origin of the Hidden Ones can be cast for 3R. This red mana Saga is highly aggressive, dealing damage and allowing you to build up a board full of deadly tokens.

The first step of this Saga deals 4 damage directly to any target, serving as great removal or burn. The second step creates two 1/1 Assassin Creature tokens with Menace, making them tricky for opponents to block.

Finally, the Saga’s third step incentivizes swinging with as many Assassin Creatures as possible, creating an additional Assassin Creature token with Menace that is tapped and attacking for every one of your Assassins that attacks this turn.

This Saga pays homage to Assassin’s Creed: Origins, showing the initial founding of the group that would one day become the Brotherhood of Assassins.

The Aesir Escape Valhalla

This three-step Saga is cast for 2G. This Saga is reusable and highly benefits from using the Proliferate ability to cycle through its steps as quickly as possible.

The Aesir Escape Valhalla’s first step is a handy lifegain option given proper set-up, allowing you to exile a permanent from your grave and gain life equal to its mana value.

The card’s second step puts +1/+1 counters on a target Creature you control, with the number of counters being equal to the mana value of the card exiled in the first step. Finally, in step three, this Saga and the exiled card are both returned to their owner’s hand, ready to be cast again.

The repeating nature of this Saga ties in well with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s reincarnation and the card’s three steps work with the nature of the game’s Yggdrasil.

The Revelations of Ezio

This black mana Saga costs 2B to cast. Its first step is fairly straightforward removal, destroying a target tapped Creature an opponent controls. The Saga’s second step puts a +1/+1 counter on any Assassin you control that attacks this turn. The third and final step returns an Assassin card from your graveyard to the field with a +1/+1 counter on it

This saga is sure to be a hit with fans of the earliest games in the series, particularly the Ezio trilogy. The first step depicts Ezio Auditore as a young man, an Assassin hungry for revenge. The second step sees Ezio take charge of the Brotherhood and its recruits. And finally, Ezio traces the path of his ancestor Altaïr and discovers what he left behind.