Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game created in 1993 by Richard Garfield, Ph.D for Wizards of the Coast. Players take on the role of Planeswalkers, powerful beings who can travel the multiverse at will, and do battle with rivals by casting spells, manifesting magical artifacts and enchantments, and summoning minions — and even other Planeswalkers — to do their bidding.
In 2017, Wizards of the Coast began experimenting with the concept of creating Magic cards depicting characters from outside the world of the game's story, beginning with a set of promo cards released at HasCon 2017 based on other Hasbro properties.<ref>Okay, so TECHNICALLY they'd previously done so with the Arabian Nights expansion, based on a [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}One Thousand and One Nights|{{#if:classical work of literature|classical work of literature|One Thousand and One Nights}}]], and Portal: Three Kingdoms, based on [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Three Kingdoms|{{#if:real-world Chinese history|real-world Chinese history|Three Kingdoms}}]] — but you know what we mean. Don't get us started on Robot Chicken either.</ref> Starting in 2021, this became Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond, an expansive series of Magic cards based on other IP, including The Walking Dead, Warhammer 40,000, Fortnite and The Lord of the Rings. Universes Beyond cards have been made available through limited-time online "drops", pre-built decks, and as pack-ins with existing booster packs.
Gameplay
[edit]Magic: The Gathering is a collectable card game in which players build decks of cards and use them to battle each other; the primary goal is to reduce the opponent's life total, which usually starts at 20, to zero. Players will draw a random hand of seven cards from their decks (known as "libraries") and play them to achieve victory, drawing new cards at a rate of one per turn.
Mana and color
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Perhaps Magic: The Gathering's most iconic attribute is the color wheel, or "color pie". Magic cards are cast using mana, which is divided into five colors, each representing a different philosophy and form of gameplay, while usually representing the values of the creatures in those colors.
- White (W) seeks peace through structure, and represents civilization, morality, and order (though not necessarily good). It lays down the law to restrict what its foes can do, and uses defensive tactics and creatures that work together to become stronger, while being able to destroy everything if needs be.
- Blue (U) seeks perfection through knowledge, and represents logic, caution, and deceit. It likes to make use of trickery and manipulation by drawing extra cards, countering opponents' spells, and evading enemy blockers.
- Black (B) seeks power through opportunity, and represents death, free will, and self-interest (though not necessarily evil). It's willing to pay any price to win, liberally spending life and sacrificing minions to gain the advantage, as well as directly destroying enemy creatures.
- Red (R) seeks freedom through action, and represents emotion, chaos, and destruction. It prefers immediate solutions to problems, using aggressive tactics and direct damage to deal with its foes, while having riskier ways to obtain new cards.
- Green (G) seeks growth through acceptance, represents instinct, connection, and nature. It makes use of powerful creatures and effects that help them grow even stronger to trample enemies into submission, including increasing the amount of mana and resources it can use.
Each color has its own strengths and weaknesses, the latter of which can be mitigated by combining multiple colors into a single deck; however, the more colors that are used, the harder it is for a player to have the correct types and amount of mana to cast their spells, making for a tactical trade-off.
Magic cards
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Magic divides its cards into multiple different card types. Instant and sorcery cards are used to create one-time effects, while other cards, known as permanents, remain in play until they are removed. Permanent card types include lands, representing locations across Magic's multiverse, which produce mana to cast other cards with and can be played at a rate of one per turn; artifacts, representing magical or mundane objects, which can typically be activated to produce effects; enchantments, representing lingering magical effects, which usually provide an ongoing effect to the game, and creatures, which can be used to attack opponents and block incoming attacks. Each creature has a power, representing the damage they can deal each turn, and a toughness, representing the damage they can take each turn.
Permanent types can be combined, most notably in the form of artifact creatures (representing inorganic creatures and mechanical constructs) and enchantment creatures (representing inherently-magical creatures and spirits); these follow the rules for creatures, but can be affected by abilities and effects that target artifacts and enchantments, respectively.
Cards can also have subtypes. Creature types can represent species (such as Human, Zombie and Merfolk) or roles (such as Warrior, Scout and Wizard). Other permanents can have subtypes that define mechanics of the cards; for instance, the artifact type Vehicle is used on cards that can become creatures under certain situations, typically when "crewed" by other creatures with a certain total power. Supertypes can be applied to cards of any type; the most common is Legendary, which prevents players from controlling more than one permanent of that name, and allows them to be used as a "commander" in the popular "Commander" format. While most cards have the same card back, unchanged since Magic's debut in 1993, certain double-faced cards (DFCs) have two playable sides, often representing two states of the same creature or interlinked magical effects. Some of these cards can change which side is in use once they've already been played, via the Transform mechanic.
Lastly, there are tokens, representing permanents that aren't part of their owner's deck; instead, they are created by other cards. Tokens act the same way as other permanents, but if they are removed from the battlefield (such as being returned to their owner's hand or sent to the graveyard), they cease to exist.
Magic and Transformers
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The first Transformers-themed Magic card was a double-faced Grimlock card included in the HasCon 2017 Magic promo set, along with fellow Hasbro-themed cards "[[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Nerf|{{#if:Nerf War|Nerf War|Nerf}}]]" and "[[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Dungeons and Dragons|{{#if:Sword of Dungeons and Dragons|Sword of Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons and Dragons}}]]". As a silver-bordered card, Grimlock is not legal in officially-sanctioned events and formats but is fine for casual play, and as such gets a bit silly with its rules; "Grimlock, Dinobot Leader" can become "Grimlock, Ferocious King" by "converting a Transformers toy you have to its other mode". Both sides of Grimlock are Legendary Artifact Creatures, with the front face using the newly-introduced "Autobot" creature type, and the back using the pre-existing "Dinosaur" creature type.
Notably, Grimlock "becomes" his other form rather than using the existing "transform" keyword, per ongoing Hasbro efforts to protect their trademark.
- Grimlock, Dinobot Leader / Grimlock, Ferocious King (Red/Green/White)
Heroes of the Realm
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Part of the 2018 Heroes of the Realm series of commemorative cards, made by Wizards of the Coast for their employees as rewards for work on specific projects or teams,<ref>Gavin Verhey from Wizards of the Coast explains Heroes of the Realm</ref> the "Optimus Prime, Inspiring Leader" card was given to the team behind the Transformers Trading Card Game.
Uniquely, Optimus Prime uses the "triple-faced card" technology used for combiners and triple changers in the Transformers Trading Card Game, taking the form of a double-sized card folded in half. While his front face is a Magic card, his back face and oversized, "unbelievably shiny" third face are Transformers Trading Card Game cards, allowing him to be used in both games. Rather than a normal Magic type line, Optimus's Magic face refers to him as "Autobot Character - Bot Mode", a reference to how cards are designated in the Transformers Trading Card Game; however, Drew Nolosco, Global Brand Manager for the Transformers Trading Card Game, clarified that he is indeed a legendary creature.<ref name="heroes">Comment by u/Wizards_Drew on r/magicTCG on Reddit</ref>
Because of his unique printing, "Optimus Prime, Inspiring Leader" doesn't function as a double-faced card; instead, his alternate mode is represented by the ability to temporarily change subtype to "Construct" and gain increased power and toughness, while granting other creatures the "trample" ability. However, he also has the ability to "Turn target permanent you control to its other face"...though he isn't able to use that ability on himself.<ref name="heroes"/>
As with all Heroes of the Realm cards, "Optimus Prime, Inspiring Leader" is not legal to play in any real format;<ref>Outside of a unlisted rule for the Commander format that the original recipient of a Heroes of the Realm card is allowed to use it.</ref> the cards are novelties designed to be read, rather than played<ref name="heroes"/><ref>{{#if: There’s no plans to release the Heroes of the Realm. The cards aren’t designed to be played. They’re designed to be read. |"There’s no plans to release the Heroes of the Realm. The cards aren’t designed to be played. They’re designed to be read."—|}}{{#if: https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/189543247703/hi-mark-i-have-2-questions-1-what-are-the |Mark Rosewater|Mark Rosewater}}{{#if: Tumblr |, Tumblr|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2019 |, 2019{{#if: 12 |/{{#switch:{{#len:12}}|1=012|12}}{{#if: 07|/{{#switch:{{#len:07}}|1=007|07}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/189543247703/hi-mark-i-have-2-questions-1-what-are-the ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/189543247703/hi-mark-i-have-2-questions-1-what-are-the%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/189543247703/hi-mark-i-have-2-questions-1-what-are-the%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/189543247703/hi-mark-i-have-2-questions-1-what-are-the%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/189543247703/hi-mark-i-have-2-questions-1-what-are-the%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref>, and similar to "Grimlock, Dinobot Leader", actually using this card means players must agree on any rule intricacies they come upon themselves.
- Optimus Prime, Inspiring Leader (Red/White)
Transformers
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Announced at Hasbro Pulse Con 2022 as part of the dedicated Universes Beyond series of cards that brings other IPs into the Magic: The Gathering game, Transformers (expansion code BOT) is the first Universes Beyond set to be available in booster packs for a premier Magic set; Transformers cards are have a roughly 12% chance of being found in packs of The Brothers' War cards. Unlike previous Transformers-themed cards, the Universes Beyond cards are legal for play in "Eternal" formats, such as Commander, Legacy, and Vintage.<ref>TRANSFORMERS Arrives with The Brothers' War | MAGIC: THE GATHERING</ref>
Transformers consists of fifteen double-faced cards, each of which is a Legendary Artifact Creature on the front and a Legendary Artifact with the Vehicle subtype on the back (with the exception of Soundwave and Blaster, who lack the Vehicle artifact type for obvious reasons). It also includes two Artifact Creature Tokens representing Ravage and Laserbeak, created by Soundwave, Sonic Spy / Soundwave, Superior Captain. Rather than "Autobot", the Universes Beyond cards use the more generic "Robot" subtype, introduced in the Unfinity set the previous month.
Transformers introduces the mechanics More Than Meets the Eye, which allows a double-faced card to be cast with its back face up, and Living Metal, an alternative to the "Crew" mechanic that allows vehicles to become artifact creatures on their user's turn. It also includes Convert, a renamed version of the Transform mechanic, for legal reasons yet again. However, anything in Magic that cares about transforming things treats "Convert" as the same thing as "Transform".<ref>The Brother's War Release Notes; also containing the release notes for Universes Beyond Transformers</ref>.
Each Transformers card is available in two variants: one with art inspired by the Generation 1 cartoon and one based on Shattered Glass, with the exception of "Arcee, Sharpshooter / Arcee, Acrobatic Coupe" and the Ravage and Laserbeak creature tokens, which only have Generation 1 versions available. The color alignments, names and mechanics remain the same regardless of if the character is their original or Shattered Glass incarnation, with unfortunate side effects such as that the art of Shattered Glass Optimus Prime is still labeled as a "hero", while being depicted about to execute a helpless Decepticon. All card art for the Transformers cards was provided by Volta Creation, with art direction by Sara Pitre-Durocher.<ref>{{#if: Through my job at Volta I had the pleasure of Art Directing/creating card art for MtG's Transformers cards! |"Through my job at Volta I had the pleasure of Art Directing/creating card art for MtG's Transformers cards!"—|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/SaraLePew/status/1587183152312762369 |Sara Pitre-Durocher|Sara Pitre-Durocher}}{{#if: Twitter |, Twitter|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2022 |, 2022{{#if: 10 |/{{#switch:{{#len:10}}|1=010|10}}{{#if: 31|/{{#switch:{{#len:31}}|1=031|31}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/SaraLePew/status/1587183152312762369 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/SaraLePew/status/1587183152312762369%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/SaraLePew/status/1587183152312762369%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/SaraLePew/status/1587183152312762369%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/SaraLePew/status/1587183152312762369%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref>
Secret Lair: Transformers
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Part of the Secret Lair Drop Series of premium card reissues, the Transformers "superdrop" comprises three sets of "reskinned" Magic cards with new, Transformers-themed art (and in the case of the "Optimus Prime vs Megatron" set, new names). Unlike previous Transformers crossover cards, which exclusively consisted of artifact creatures, the Secret Lair sets use a wider variety of card types.
The "Optimus Prime vs Megatron" drop consists of two reskinned artifact creatures as Optimus Prime and Megatron, plus a reskinned artifact as the AllSpark; all three cards are double-sided, providing two different pieces of art, though mechanically they are considered single-faced cards. The "Roll Out or Rise Up" drop contains a variety of instant, sorcery and enchantment cards, each with art portraying an iconic scene from The Transformers: The Movie, albeit using the designs of newer toys in place of the original character models.
Lastly, the "One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall" drop consists of "full-art" versions of the five basic land cards, each depicting a different locale on Cybertron.<ref>Take a first look at Magic: The Gathering’s reskinned Secret Lair Transformers cards - Polygon</ref> All three drops additionally contained the bonus card "Cybertron", a reskinned version of the land Command Tower depicting Decepticon Headquarters with its space bridge deployed.
The Transformers Secret Lair cards went on sale for a limited time, starting on December 5th, 2022.
Optimus Prime vs Megatron[edit]
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Roll Out or Rise Up[edit]
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One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall[edit]
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Notes
[edit]- The decision to pack Transformers cards in with The Brothers' War packs was made due to the thematic and aesthetic parallels between the story of the Transformers and the titular Brothers' War.<ref>{{#if: Brothers’ War is about giant machines fighting each other. Transformers is about giant machines fighting each other. The leader of the two sides are even brothers in both. There just was a lot of thematic overlap. |"Brothers’ War is about giant machines fighting each other. Transformers is about giant machines fighting each other. The leader of the two sides are even brothers in both. There just was a lot of thematic overlap."—|}}{{#if: https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/696921078664232960/maybe-i-missed-it-but-why-are-the-transformer |Mark Rosewater|Mark Rosewater}}{{#if: Tumblr |, Tumblr|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2022 |, 2022{{#if: 10 |/{{#switch:{{#len:10}}|1=010|10}}{{#if: 01|/{{#switch:{{#len:01}}|1=001|01}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/696921078664232960/maybe-i-missed-it-but-why-are-the-transformer ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/696921078664232960/maybe-i-missed-it-but-why-are-the-transformer%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/696921078664232960/maybe-i-missed-it-but-why-are-the-transformer%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/696921078664232960/maybe-i-missed-it-but-why-are-the-transformer%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/696921078664232960/maybe-i-missed-it-but-why-are-the-transformer%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref> However, Magic head designer Mark Rosewater would later say that doing so was a misstep, as the Transformers cards clashed with the nostalgic feel of the set.<ref>{{#if: Transformer[sic] as an overlay made some sense because the set was about giant robots, but the core of the set for many players was nostalgia. These players felt seeing cards of a different IP flew in the face of that. |"Transformer[sic] as an overlay made some sense because the set was about giant robots, but the core of the set for many players was nostalgia. These players felt seeing cards of a different IP flew in the face of that."—|}}{{#if: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2023 |Mark Rosewater|Mark Rosewater}}{{#if: magic.wizards.com |, magic.wizards.com|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2023 |, 2023{{#if: 07 |/{{#switch:{{#len:07}}|1=007|07}}{{#if: 31|/{{#switch:{{#len:31}}|1=031|31}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2023 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2023%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2023%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2023%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2023%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref> The similarly poor reception of the subsequent Jurassic World pack-ins implied that mixing licensed tie-ins in with booster packs was in general not going to work.<ref>{{#if: The main issue wasn't the design of the individual cards. Most players admit that they thought the top-down design for most of them were good. The issue was that they didn't like it mixed into the set. [...] The most common feedback was not to mix Universes Beyond with Magic in-universe sets. |"The main issue wasn't the design of the individual cards. Most players admit that they thought the top-down design for most of them were good. The issue was that they didn't like it mixed into the set. [...] The most common feedback was not to mix Universes Beyond with Magic in-universe sets."—|}}{{#if: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2024 |Mark Rosewater|Mark Rosewater}}{{#if: magic.wizards.com |, magic.wizards.com|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2023 |, 2023{{#if: 08 |/{{#switch:{{#len:08}}|1=008|08}}{{#if: 19|/{{#switch:{{#len:19}}|1=019|19}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2024 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2024%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2024%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2024%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/state-of-design-2024%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref>
- Despite the cards being designed with their respective robot mode as their front face, most of the art pieces for the Universes Beyond series seem to depict a transformation from vehicle to robot: Ratchet is seen arriving on the scene in ambulance mode to repair Jazz, Arcee is transforming into robot form mid-jump, Spike Witwicky is disembarking from Goldbug's Volkswagen mode, and so on.
- Other properties that have crossed over with the game include Stranger Things, Street Fighter, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, the Marvel Universe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.