As someone less familiar with Magic: the Gathering, I remain fascinated by the card game’s constant flow of crossovers. They range from no-brainers to unexpected delights, with the likes of Lord of the Rings, Evil Dead, Hatsune Miku, and Street Fighter all gracing MTG. Still, with so many out-of-left-field crossovers, I don’t think anybody could have predicted the latest collaboration: Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The crossover with the classic 1975 British comedy movie, as revealed by IGN, is set to release on July 29 in the form of two Secret Lair drops, with nine cards total. As you might expect, the nine cards are filled with incredible art and loving nods to the film’s many quotable lines and beloved characters. Each card is essentially a specially designed version of an already existing card in MTG. For example, the ‘Tis But a Scratch’ card depicting the movie’s Black Knight getting his arm chopped off is a stand in for Dismember. How apt.
For my money, the best card in the collaboration is Swallow, which plays off a running gag in the film in which characters debate the difference in air-speed velocity between the African and European swallow. The card is double-sided, one African and the other European, so you can decide which species you prefer to play with. Though at the end of the day, both the European and African Swallow cards operate the same way.
As with the rest of MTG’s collaborations that bring in characters from film, tv, and video games into the card game, the Holy Grail cards are part of the Universes Beyond line. That just means the crossover cards aren’t legal for use in Standard MTG matches. I can only imagine that’ll be for the better since if I was playing a Magic: the Gathering game and somebody starting playing these Holy Grail cards, I would just fall into a rabbit hole of quoting the movie, to the annoyance of everyone around me.
If you happen to be at San Diego Comic-Con from July 25-28, the Hasbro Pulse booth will have the foil version of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail crossover drops.
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