Assassin's Creed Set Review - Reprints
White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts & Lands | Allied Colors and Shards | Enemy Colors and Wedges | Reprints | cEDH
Loading Memory Sequence
Hello again to the Ubisoft Reprint Corner, in which we step into the time travel thingamabob to explore all the Magic: The Gathering cards that are rejoining us after some time away; for some of those reprints, it's been a considerable amount of time since last we crossed paths, so strap into the Animus and initialize the Assassin's Creed Reprint Review doohickey.
In total, there are 29 reprints, not counting basic lands; however, unlike many Reprint Reviews, those basic lands deserve special mention for being absolutely stunning. Take a look:
All five artists were unequivocally on their A-game with these basics, and regardless of how you feel about Universes Beyond products in general or Assassin's Creed in particular, there's zero reason why these basics couldn't appear in any deck.
But anyway, we're not here to gush over basic land art. I'm a guy that uses Tempest lands for everything, after all. We're here to talk about the Assassin's Creed (ACR) reprints, and there's plenty to discuss. As always, all deck stats quoted herein are courtesy of our friends at EDHREC, and all monetary figures mentioned are in USD. I should also mention that I have never played an Assassin's Creed game, and most of what I know of the lore is from that movie they made in 2016 with Michael Fassbender, which is why I'm writing the review on cards that already exist and not one that's more relevant to AC as a franchise.
But I won't let that get in the way. Let's go!
Mythics
Sword of Feast and Famine
Did we need it?
With ACR, we're welcoming back into the fold two of the world-famous Sword cycle, which is ever-expanding and currently features 12 different Swords of X and Y (if you count Sword of Dungeons & Dragons, at least). Nearly all of them, save for the most recent ones, have seen plenty of printings, and Sword of Feast and Famine is no different. Originally slashing its way into Mirrodin Besieged, we've seen SoFaF appear as a judge promo, a Grand Prix promo, a Kaladesh Invention, a chase mythic to get you to buy a Modern Event deck, two different versions from Double Masters, and, now, ACR.
All of them are varying degrees of expensive, despite the several reprints. That Kaladesh Invention version is the most pricey, running around $240, with the full-art 2XM version and the old-border judge promo each demanding around $100.
Assassin's Creed brings us three (!) more styles from which to choose: the "normal" artifact border, a fancier foil-etched border, and the fanciest, no border at all. Will Sword of Feast and Famine ever be truly affordable? Probably not, even with these reprints. I would expect the absolute cheapest version to still go for around $20 even with these reprints, but that's still cheaper than the cheapest current version, so that's the silver lining.
Did we want it?
Of all the Swords of X and Y, Feast/Famine has a strong case to be considered the best among them. As a result of its power level, we see it in more than 93,000 decks, good for 2% of all decks logged on EDHREC. It's almost a guarantee that if you're playing an Equipment strategy and you can afford to buy one, you're playing SoFaF. It's in nearly half of all Nahiri, the Lithomancer decks, and 42% (or 2,463 lists) of all Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist/Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh partner decks. If it were cheaper to buy, those numbers would be even higher.
So yes, I think we wanted to see SoFaF again, and thankfully for those out there who are anti-UB, the borderless version doesn't feature a hooded murderboi.
Sword of Light and Shadow
Did we need it?
Now we go from arguably the best Sword to my favorite Sword. Sword of Light and Shadow gets a bum rap for being less universally good as its brethren, but I'll always have a soft spot for it since I play a lot of Karlov of the Ghost Council. That's incidentally how I also have learned through my own dumbness the risks of using something that gives your creatures protection from the colors in your own deck. Just don't try to give Karlov a +1/+1 counter from Heliod, Sun-Crowned while he's wielding a Sword of Light and Shadow, is all I'm saying.
Like our previous entry, there are several versions of Light/Shadow, and many of them are the same versions we just discussed with Feast/Famine. Light/Shadow has been around for much longer, though, first appearing in Darksteel and has an added reprint in Modern Masters in addition to the usual promos, 2XMs, Inventions, and what-have-you. It's also not as expensive as Feast/Famine, with the priciest version being the Invention at around $85, and the cheapest being the original Darksteel printing at a shade under $20.
Thanks to its appearance in ACR, we'll see the cheapest version get slightly cheaper, and it remains to be seen whether the Darksteel one or the basic ACR version here will win the race to the bottom of the list. Either way, we also win.
Did we want it?
While nearly 100,000 decks play Feast/Famine, only 30,000 play Light/Shadow. We see among the usual suspects the same names, like Nahiri and Ardenn/Rograkh, as well as a popularity among Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale players (1,826 decks). I always considered the protection from black and white to be the best two-color combo in Commander to nullify, but it seems more people care about the Sword's on-damage effects than they do the protection colors. Oh, well.
Perhaps if the card gets a bit cheaper thanks to another reprint, we'll see it played a bit more. Or maybe that's just my bias talking. At least we Light/Shadow truthers get a pretty cool borderless version courtesy of Bruce Brenniese.
Temporal Trespass
Did we need it?
It seems that in recent years, Universes Beyond products have become the preferred vehicle for surprise reprints. We saw it in Fallout with stuff like Fervent Charge, or Doctor Who's Carpet of Flowers. I'll save you a rant about why I think that this is a terrible trend and one that seems transparently aimed at trying to get enfranchised players to buy up UB releases with the same fervor as new players who are fans of the franchise being crossed over. There are many, many cards out there (Reserved List notwithstanding) that are in significant need of a reprint, but a reprint that is more in line with the flavor of a guest franchise and not Magic itself is pretty disappointing.
Temporal Trespass is one such card. Only printed once before, in its original Fate Reforged, Temporal Trespass is a $20 card. That's not going to change much for the Fate Reforged printing, and it's likely that the ACR version here will come in around the same price, so reprinting a nearly ten-year-old card in a UB set doesn't really do a ton to make it more accessible. It's one thing for a card like Sword of Feast and Famine to see a UB reskin since there are plenty of in-universe options to satisfy everyone, but a card's sole reprint coming in a set like Assassin's Creed is a bummer.
Did we want it?
More than 20,000 decks play Temporal Trespass, good for roughly 1% of all decks playing blue. It's a tricky card to use and certainly can't be shoved into any deck that wants an extra turn, a la Time Warp, but the commanders that want it really want it. I'm looking at you, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow (48% of 10,004 decks on EDHREC play the card). We would certainly welcome more copies in the wild, but I don't think its usage would go up noticeably with a reprint, here in ACR or anywhere else.
Rares
Black Market Connections
Did we need it?
We've been selling contraband, buying information and hiring mercenaries for a relatively short time, but in that time, Black Market Connections has certainly made its presence felt in Commander. This'll be its third appearance following the card's debut in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and the first reprint in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander. We've gotten new art each time, though admittedly it took me a second to notice that the ACR art is different than the original printing's art.
From a monetary standpoint, this is a prime candidate to be reprinted in every set from here to Duskmourn, as it's tough to find a copy for less than $18. That's a dumb number for a card that has only existed for a little longer than two years.
Did we want it?
Like I said, it's only been two years, but in that short time, the card has wormed its way into the 99 of nearly 200,000 decks. That's almost 10% of every deck playing black, or in other words the 19th most popular black card in the format and third-most popular black enchantment behind only Phyrexian Arena and Animate Dead. It can literally fit into any black deck since you'd be hard-pressed to find a deck that can't make use of Treasure tokens, drawing cards, Shapeshifter tokens, or a combination of the three.
It's most ubiquitous in Admiral Brass, Unsinkable decks, appearing in three out of every four of the 3,763 logged lists on EDHREC. In terms of sheer numbers, we see it most in Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, where it's in the 99 of 3,934 lists.
Conspiracy
Did we need it?
The original "even my non-Slivers are Slivers now guys" card, Conspiracy is another card with a considerable gap between printings. It's not the biggest gap, as we'll get to in a minute, but we've seen the card only twice since its debut in Mercadian Masques, once as a Timeshifted card from Time Spiral and once on The List.
Once upon a time, the Masques version was around $12 for a copy, but that's no longer the case as most versions can be had for around $7 now. Even the original foil is around $27, which is pretty good for an old-bordered rare. The ACR version, however, will likely settle around $3, which is a lower number than $7. You can trust me on that one, I went to college.
Did we want it?
If your deck cares about creature types and less about only playing creatures of that type as written on the cards themselves, Conspiracy's for you. However, Conspiracy's been outclassed by Arcane Adaptation and Maskwood Nexus, and there was even the mostly-the-same-but-not-quite Xenograft from New Phyrexia to Borg all your creatures into the same type. Because of this, Conspiracy is only played in 8,800 decks, which doesn't register as a single percentage point on EDHREC.
But Commander's a singleton format, so functional reprints and quasi-reprints are roughly translated into the nebulous term of "redundancy." 71% of all decks playing Conspiracy are also playing Arcane Adaptation, and 60% are playing the Nexus.
Cover of Darkness
Did we need it?
Just go back and reread what I said about Temporal Trespass, but this time imagine that it was written in all caps.
Cover of Darkness has never been reprinted until now, outside of Salvat 2005, a white-border, reprint-only set released into Spanish/French/Italian markets. That's a 22-year gap between the original Onslaught printing and now, its first black-border reprint. The Onslaught version is a $40 card, with a foil that carries a $135 price tag. To be fair, the ACR version isn't too blatantly video-gamey, but after 22 years I think we deserved to see Cover of Darkness in a more Magic-centric set.
The ACR version will be much cheaper than the Onslaught version, so if you've always wanted one but didn't want to shell out $40, I hope you like parkouring hooded assassins.
Did we want it?
Despite its price, we see Cover of Darkness in roughly 1% of all decks playing black, or 18,316 lists. Nearly 25% of those lists are the 99 of Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow decks. I'll let you guess which creature type they name when Cover of Darkness is played.
If you're playing black and a lot of the same creature type, there's no downside to Cover of Darkness outside the price, so it's that price holding it back from seeing more usage. That might change with ACR, but we won't be seeing the Onslaught version any more often than we do now.
Royal Assassin
Did we need it?
First appearing at the same time that Magic itself appeared, in 1993's Alpha, Royal Assassin is iconic. It's also been printed 14 times since then, and sometimes multiple times in the same release. Because of its many appearances and somewhat subdued power level in today's terms, Royal Assassin can be had for as cheap as 75 cents. Seeing a 15th reprint in ACR will do nothing to the price of any version.
And speaking of versions, ACR features a regular border, a regular border foil, a foil etch, an extended art, an extended art foil, a bundle promo, and a bundle promo foil. I guess that it's appropriate for a set about a video game about assassins has assassins coming out of its assassins.
Did we want it?
Around 25,000 decks play Royal Assassin, and it certainly has nostalgia going for it. It's also got that "Assassin" creature type, which commanders like Mari, the Killing Quill (75% or 1,090 decks), Ramses, Assassin Lord (73%, 1705 decks) and Etrata, Deadly Fugitive (60%, 721 decks) enjoy. Just watch out for Ajani, the Greathearted!
Uncommons & Commons
Coastal Piracy
Did we need it?
Like Conspiracy, this is another card that first appeared in Mercadian Masques. This one's seen a few other reprints, though, first in Eighth Edition (where it was briefly upshifted to rare) before appearing in Jumpstart.
It's been reprinted in other ways, much like Conspiracy, as well, as we see the same ability (plus another one) for the same cost on Bident of Thassa, and there are several cards in the same font, like Deepfathom Skulker, Reconnaissance Mission, and The Indomitable. That said, Coastal Piracy is the first, and it's got the word "piracy" on it, so people pay extra to the tune of around $3.50.
That number will be lower for ACR versions, undoubtedly.
Did we want it?
Roughly 2% of all decks playing blue are playing Coastal Piracy, or around 31,000 decks. Alela, Artful Provocateur likes it the best, with 2,093 decks playing the card, but there are plenty of Pirate-themed commanders that are running it simply for flavor reasons.
Propaganda
Did we need it?
Reconnaissance
Did we need it?
Outside of a Secret Lair release, this is the first time we've seen Reconnaissance since its first printing in Exodus. That's 26 years.
Blah blah shouldn't be here, etc. We don't need to go into that again. Instead, I'll just say I love this card and have been playing it since Exodus to great effect, and at the very least we can thank ACR for introducing the card to a wider audience. Because of its scarcity and its sneaky power, it's a $15 uncommon. The one we're getting in ACR won't be that expensive.
Did we want it?
It can be hard to find, but that hasn't stopped people from putting it into 26,686 lists on EDHREC. If you've got a creature you want to attack with (for, say, attack trigger reasons) but don't want to risk it dying in combat, just pay the zero and throw that smoke bomb.
It's most commonly seen in Isshin, Two Heavens as One decks, and of course, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.
Reprint Lightning Round
Assassin's Trophy: It's got the word "assassin" in it, so of course it's appearing here. In the last 2.5 years, there have been 10 distinct versions of Assassin's Trophy printed.
Fiery Islet and friends: First from Modern Horizons, then a reprint in Doctor Who before a stop in Assassinland. Can't say they ever looked nicer than they do here, though.
Rest in Peace: Debuting way back in Theros and was once upon a time a $10+ card; those days are over thanks to nine separate reprints before the three versions we're getting in ACR.
Cathartic Reunion: I think I prefer the dino hug, but all the cards are nice in their own way. This is the eighth way to buy the card, but the first time as an uncommon.
Fatal Push: For a card with a very set-specific keyword in Revolt, we see Fatal Push a lot. This is the ninth version of the card, but not the best.
Go for the Throat: It's gonna be tough for creatures to stay alive for more than a turn or two in an ACR Limited environment. Also printed, for the 12th time, is G for the T, a Mirrodin Besieged classic kill spell.
Mortify: The favorite removal spell if you're a player of a certain age and refuse to adapt to power creep. Mortify has been printed 23 times, and ACR adds two. But cool kids don't need words.
Murder: Pretty much what it says on the tin.
Path to Exile: If you want a copy of Path, you've got options. The two versions from ACR are printings 41 and 42, respectively.
Reconstruct History: First reprint since it first appeared in Strixhaven: School of Mages, but now with a noticeable increase in pyramids.
Terminate: Nothing's better than Darigaaz trying to fight a volcano. They got it right the first time, they didn't need to print Terminate 25 more times after that, but they have.
Submerged Boneyard and Stone Quarry: Which one do you think has been printed more? Quarry or Boneyard? Guess in the comments! (Don't really guess, no one cares.)
Requiescat in pace
If I never have to type the word "assassin" ever again, it'll be too soon.
Thanks for coming with me on this reprint journey, it's been one full of stabbing and swandives into strategically placed haycarts. I'm sure we'll speak again soon, perhaps about our favorite former planeswalkers turned into woodland creatures.
Byeeeee.
