Magic: The Gathering has just revealed a collaboration with Fortnite, and it may be one of the greatest and strangest offerings from both franchises. Magic's highly strategic card battling feels worlds away from Fortnite's frantic firefights, but the two have combined in a wonderfully absurd way. Now some Magic: The Gathering cards are being treated with a bit of Fortnite flair.
Secret Lair is a sub-series of Magic: The Gathering that has brought both new cards as well as reprints of older cards with new names or art. They are sold as a set rather than a series of packs with randomly selected cards. Secret Lair was controversial when it was revealed, but it has continued on for multiple sets. It has even crossed over with major franchises in the past, as Magic's Street Fighter Secret Lair set was the series' previous big video game crossover. Secret Lair has been letting the Magic designers be especially creative, and that's something to appreciate.
Although the Fortnite set will not be featuring any mechanically unique cards, it still has plenty to offer. It features a few new variants of older cards with Fortnite-themed names and art, as well as lands cards with art inspired by memorable Fortnite locations from the game's history. The art for the cards is quite good, managing to strike a good middle ground between the muted, serious tone of Magic and the vibrant, cheerful one of Fortnite. It may seem like an odd combination, but Fortnite's rumored Dead by Daylight crossover shows that the developers are willing to collaborate with darker source materials. The fact that they managed to incorporate some of the more iconic aspects of Fortnite such as dancing and the Battle Bus increases the set's novelty appeal.
One great thing about the Fortnite Secret Lair set is that all of the cards included are tournament legal in any format that allows the cards that they are based on. Every card in the set has the name of the card that it is a reskin of helpfully printed on the card itself in order to help players know this information. This is especially easy for the lands, as they are completely identical to the originals aside from the new artwork. Each of the Secret Lair Fortnite cards are perfectly functional, and some are quite good, such as Shrinking Storm sharing Wrath of God's ability to destroy all creatures and keep them from regenerating. It's not unfair to think that Fortnite cards very well could appear in Magic tournaments in the future.
The most important thing that the Fortnite Secret lair brings to Magic is the most important part of any game: Fun. The Fortnite cards all bring a bit of whimsical charm to the game, even if they don't match Magic's usual aesthetic. It's hard to dislike how fun the card art is, and the idea of dropping the Battle Bus in a serious match is sure to appeal to more than a few people. It adds a bit of flavor to the game that may not be there otherwise. Even though Fortnite's Marvel crossovers may have become tiring, the Magic crossover in an exciting new direction.
Fortnite and Magic: The Gathering don't sound like two franchises that would be likely to cross paths, but it's an unexpected combination that is looking great. Perhaps this could even lead to a couple of prominent Magic characters becoming Fortnite skins one day. When the Fortnite Secret Lair releases later in July, Magic: The Gathering will see its quirkiest set yet.
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