I have become a big fan of the Magic: The Gathering Starter Kits. After picking up the Lord of the Rings Starter Kit and then the 2023 Starter Kit late last year, they have become a staple in my house. When we want to play a long game of MTG, we grab a couple Commander Decks. If we want to jam a quick game, we grab a couple of Starter Kit decks.
Well, the latest Universe Beyond set has brought us Assassin’s Creed, and with it a new Starter Kit. So naturally, I was excited to check this one out.
What’s in a Starter Kit?
A starter kit comes with two 60-card decks that are ready to go, the tokens needed for the decks, a quick-play rule book, and a couple deck boxes. Basically, you can pull it out and start playing. The only thing here that is worth noting is that you should buy some sleeves.
If you are new to MTG, then you may not appreciate the importance of sleeves. Super quickly, sleeves make it easier to shuffle and hold your cards and stop you from damaging the edges of your cards when you do things like shuffling. You shuffle MTG decks a lot, and you don’t want to wreck your cards, so get sleeves. Even the Mighty Ape el cheapo ones will get you through.
The one niggly issue here is that the deck boxes aren’t built to fit sleeved cards. I like the design on them, so I would have loved to store my cards in them. Instead, I sleeved them, and moved them to Burger Tokens boxes, and cut the image off the front and used that in the front of the deck. It’s a minor gripe, but one nonetheless.
What are the decks like?
The first deck I played was Ancient Arsenal, which is a Red-White deck led by Eivor from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. This deck is a bit more on the aggro side of things, using heaps of equipment to buff your soldiers to go into battle. This is a pretty damn good flavor for the deck as AC Valhalla was a less stealthy type of game with much more Viking open combat.
If you get Eivor out when you have heaps of equipment on the battlefield, her ability to throw damage at your opponent based on how much equipment you have out hits hard and fast.
The second deck that my boy took for a spin in our first matchup is Brotherhood Agents. This deck is blue-black and is led by one of the most iconic Assassin’s Creed heroes, Ezio. This deck uses a lot more underhanded tactics, like heaps of characters with deathtouch and getting Assassin tokens out. It also uses the freerunning mechanic, which lets you play creatures for less if you deal damage in your turn.
What are they like to play?
As Starter Decks, I like these. Things like the freerunning mechanic help teach the sequences involved in MTG, like using your main phase and second main phase. On top of that, there are a lot of mana abilities that can quickly change an interaction.
As casual play decks, I love these. The flavour of the decks represents the Assassin’s Creed IP well. They are balanced, fun to play, and an easy and fun way to start playing the game.
Should you get the Magic: The Gathering – Assassin’s Creed Starter Kit?
Hell yes! If you are a fan of Assassin’s Creed, this is a fantastic way to check out MTG. If you want some casual MTG decks, these are super fun to play. Between the art, the flavour, and the gameplay, this is an absolutely fantastic kit. I wish they would make the deck boxes bigger.
Best of all, at $30-$35 this is insane value.
