Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed set has yet to launch, but players are already discovering fantastic combos with MTG’s existing Assassin Creatures.
While Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed is going to be a slimmer release than fans of MTG’s pop-culture crossovers have come to expect, it still has a good chance of serving as the basis for a great deal of popular new decks.
This is thanks to the set predominantly focusing on Assassin Creatures, as well as supportive archetypes like Artificers that make sense for Assassin’s Creed’s wealth of inventors like Leonardo Da Vinci and the hyper-advanced Isu.
Assassins being a pre-existing archetype with a foundation of support means that these Universes Beyond cards can hit the ground running and be incorporated into existing strategies. It will also be a build-around for brand-new decks. Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s Outlaw grouping will absolutely help in this regard too.
One particular combo of an existing Assassin and a new support from Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed has caught MTG players’ attention. The combo requires two cards to execute: Ramses, Assassin Lord, and Ezio Auditore Da Firenze.
Ezio has Menace, making him more difficult than usual to block. Once Ezio deals damage to an opponent, if that opponent has 10 life or less, Ezio’s controller can pay WUBRG to immediately make that opponent lose the game.
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While this ability is niche yet satisfying to pull off, with Ramses on the field it becomes that much better. Ramses buffs other Assassins by +1/+1, including Ezio, but the card’s real use is its final ability. If a player loses the game, and they were attacked this turn by an Assassin you control, you automatically win the game.
Through this, the two Assassins can become a deadly threat to every player involved in multiplayer formats like Commander.
Through Ezio costing just 1B and Ramses coming in at 2UB – as well as Ezio’s Freerunning working as cost reduction – these cards can both be fielded remarkably early, ready and waiting for a single opponent to be put into a vulnerable position.
MTG players on Reddit have been quick to warm to this flavorful instant-kill combo. As said by user Smooth_criminal2299: “Obviously not straightforward to pull off but this is really cool actually. Winning a battle by plucking off one person with an assassin is a flavour win.”
Other players even offered additional ways of setting Ezio and Ramses up for the kill, pointing out that the card Tree of Perdition can set an opponent’s life total to 13, putting them within the lethal range of Ezio’s ability once he deals damage.