Wizards of the Coast has finally lifted the curtain on its hotly-anticipated Magic: The Gathering crossover with Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40k franchise. The release, which is slated to be the next entry in Wizards’ Universes Beyond product line, will feature new Commander decks and Secret Lair drops that will be released on August 12.
There will be four Warhammer 40k-themed Commander decks, each representing a different faction in the 40k universe. The Tyranid Swarm will feature the hive-mind Tyranids in the Red/Blue/Green (or Temur) color combination; the Forces of the Imperium will fight for mankind’s God Emperor with the White/Blue/Black (or Esper) color combination; the ancient and malevolent Necrons will rise in the mono-Black Necron Dynasties deck; and The Ruinous Powers will feature the agents of the Chaos gods in the Blue/Black/Red (or Grixis) color combination.
The four Warhammer 40k Commander decks.
Interestingly, each Commander deck will come in both a regular version as well as a Collector’s Edition, the latter of which will come fully-foiled with a brand new “surge foil” treatment.
Wizards showed off a few cards from the Commander decks today.
Check out the Commander of The Ruinous Powers deck: Abaddon the Despoiler.
Abbadon’s deck will also contain a card bearing one of the more famous phrases from the 40k universe: Blood for the Blood God!
The Forces of the Imperium, on the other hand, got their own preview in Vanguard Suppressor:
Finally, there is a Fabricate promo (with art featuring the legendary Belisarius Cawl) that will be available at local game stores on launch day, August 12. It won’t be included in any of the Commander decks.
Unfortunately, we don’t have many details about the three Secret Lair drops other than their names: Secret Lair x Warhammer 40,000: Orks, Secret Lair x Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and Secret Lair x Blood Bowl. The Orks drop is likely self-explanatory. The other two drops will feature Games Workshops other two tabletop games: Age of Sigmar, the fantasy-themed (as opposed to the grim/dark sci-fi theme of 40k) version of Warhammer, and Blood Bowl, a tabletop parody of American football.
Previews for the Warhammer 40k x Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond products will begin on July 26 and go on sale August 12.