(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)
Magic: The Gathering has been cooking up every crossover imaginable over the last few years as it planeswalks indiscriminately between universes looking for tasty things to add, and the power-armored space rugby players who reside in the Warhammer 40,000 universe are finally on the menu. Whether you were first introduced to the Imperium of Man way back in the MS-DOS version of Space Hulk, the classic Dawn of War games, or you’re waiting for the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, you’ll know the Emperor of Mankind is no stranger to shedding his glorious light on a multitude of platforms.
We’ve seen most of the big crossovers Wizards announced back in 2021 release already—including both the Street Fighter and Fortnite Secret Lair drops—along with others, like Magic’s crossover with League of Legends. Now it’s the turn of the grimmest and darkest setting, with spoilers for Warhammer 40,000’s Magic crossover underway. This crossover is a set of four Commander decks. As a more casual format, Commander is usually played in a group of three or four players, the last person standing being the victor. Each will have massive 100-card deck including someone that acts like the general and guides its strategy.
While the Imperium of Man are certainly not the good guys—nobody is, in Warhammer 40,000—they are a pretty good representation of order. With this card, And They Shall Know No Fear, the Forces of the Imperium deck gets a powerful white combat trick to enforce that order.
As an instant you can play And They Shall Know No Fear to spoil your opponents best-laid plans. Use And They Shall Know No Fear during an attack to protect your creatures while powering them up to kill blockers, or even as a surprise when blocking your opponent. While it does limit you to protecting a single type of creature, the fact you can spread it all over a whole army if they share that creature type makes it a deceptively powerful card. With a Commander like Marneus Calgar you’re sure to create enough token creatures to take advantage of the bonus.
The Warhammer 40,000 crossover will include a total of four different Commander decks, pre-built and ready to play. Each deck will have everything you need to play, including a choice of two different legendary creatures to act as your Commander.
The Ruinous Powers deck (red/blue/black): Abaddon the Despoiler and Be’lakor, the Dark MasterForces of the Imperium (white/blue/black): Inquisitor Greyfax and Marneus Calgar, Ultramarines Chapter MasterThe Tyranid Swarm (green/blue/red): The Swarmlord and Magus Lucca Kane Necron Dynasties (black): Szarekh, the Silent King, and Imotekhk, the Stormlord
You can get hold of the 100-card commander decks when they release on October 7, and there will also be three crossover Secret Lair releases featuring yet more Magic cards from Games Workshop’s settings between October 17 and November 14. You’ll get to check out Warhammer 40,000 orks, and then two card drops that focus on Age of Sigmar and Blood Bowl.