Over the past few years, Magic: the Gathering has had a lot of new, innovative, and controversial crossover products. All housed under the Universes Beyond brand, we’ve seen Godzilla, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, and even Fortnite as MTG cards. Despite all these varied crossovers, however, one major, seemingly obvious, crossover hasn’t made an appearance since 2020.
As one of the world’s biggest toy brands, Hasbro owns a lot of properties. Without any rights issues to get in the way, each of these is the perfect opportunity for a crossover. So much so, that we’ve already seen some of them, with Transformers and My Little Pony already getting cards! If these crossovers weren’t obvious enough, Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons brand felt practically inevitable!
While these crossovers may have been a sure thing, one obvious crossover has been missing. Owned by Wizards of the Coast and effectively MTG’s Japanese cousin, Duel Masters has remained surprisingly disconnected from Magic. That is, at least, until now, as new MTG promo cards are changing that a long last.
MTG x Duel Masters
In case you’ve never heard of it before, Duel Masters is another TCG from Wizards of the Coast that is largely only popular in Japan. Boasting triple-faced folding cards, not to mention gorgeous artwork, Duel Masters has a lot going on. Despite this, however, Wizards has never been able to make it catch on in the West through their repeated attempts.
While these two TCGs aren’t the biggest direct competitors, for the longest time, they were kept separate from one another. This all changed, however, in 2022. To celebrate Duel Masters’ 20th Anniversary, Wizards collaborated with itself to bring MTG to the game. Reimagining fourteen classic cards and characters from MTG, including Black Lotus, Duel Masters players got a taste of MTG.
Unfortunately, despite the obvious potential for more, this crossover appeared to be rather one-sided. Sure, Magic may pinch a mechanic in the future, but the art and characters were nowhere to be seen. That is, at least, until today, as Wizards is finally completing the crossover in a truly bizarre fashion.
Rather than going full circle and giving MTG a Duel Masters Universes Beyond Secret Lair, the crossover only offers alternative art. For better or worse, this art isn’t even new, as it was first seen on the Duel Masters crossover cards last year! While this may sound like an odd choice, as you can see throughout this article, that is far from a bad thing. After all, the art on the Duel Masters cards is absolutely spectacular!
If you’re looking to acquire these new promo cards, unfortunately, Western MTG players are out of luck. As revealed by MTG Japan’s Twitter account, the new crossover promo cards are exclusively available at Friday Night Magic events. For those in the area, the new promo cards will be available from September to December.
Perplexing Promo Pricing
To dive into the cards themselves, only four special foil promo cards have been revealed so far. Currently, it is unclear if Wizards will be releasing more of these promo cards in the future. Since there were 14 Duel Masters crossover cards in total, it is possible, however, nonetheless unconfirmed.
Unfortunately, while each of the new Japan-exclusive promos is absolutely gorgeous, as cards, they’re not much to write home about. The best of the bunch, for instance, is Earthquake which sees respectable play in Commander. Since this card is available for under $0.20, however, it’s hardly a chase reprint.
Disappointingly for value-hungry MTG players, Earthquake sets the tone for the value of the promos. Across the four cards, not one is worth more than a dollar for their cheapest variant. The closest to that threshold is Nicol Bolas, which costs just $0.96 on TCGplayer. Thanks to these dismal prices, it’s safe to say there’s not a lot of demand for these cards. This, however, doesn’t mean the new promos are going to be cheap.
Like many past Japanese promos, these promos are rather exclusive. After all, not only are they only available at FNM events, but many may never leave the country. Thanks to this, players may have a hard time getting ahold of these new, gorgeous, promo cards. Ultimately, this means these cards may end up being rather expensive, even if they aren’t heavily played.
To showcase this pricing trend in action, we can look back at the recent plastic tokens available in Japan for March of the Machine. Despite being fairly accessible to players in the country, these unique tokens currently sell for upwards of $26! In comparison, a regular version of this Knight Token can be yours for just $0.01.
Even More Promos
Thankfully, while the Duel Masters promos might not be coming to the US, a number of other new promos are. Specifically, those for upcoming CommandFest, Legacy, and Vintage Championship events. As usual, while the CommandFest Reliquary Tower isn’t to be scoffed at, the prize promos are championship prizes.
At the three Eternal Weekend events in 2023, the top 8 finishers will now be rewarded with one of two awesome promos. For Legacy Championship events, this is a foil retro frame Dragon’s Rage Channeler with unique art. Meanwhile, the top 8 finishers at Vintage Championship events get a fancy foil copy of Mental Misstep. Since only 24 copies of each card will exist, if sold, expect these promos to be fantastically expensive.
