Magic: The Gathering Announces Fortnite Crossover

Soon you will be able to summon the likes of Peely and Jonesy into your Magic: The Gathering game. Wizards of the Coast has announced plans to release two Fortnite-themed Secret Lair drops in 2022. These Secret Lair sets will be reprints of existing Magic: The Gathering cards set within the Fortnite universe. As part of the reveal, Wizards of the Coast revealed a first look at the artwork that will appear on one of the Fortnite cards, which you can check out below:

For those unfamiliar with Secret Lair drops, they are basically limited edition mini-sets (usually containing 5 or 6 cards) that feature alternate art or themed reprints. Reprinted cards can be used in normal Magic: The Gathering play, while other cards are just meant as collectibles that can't be used in standard play. Since the Fortnite cards are reprints, that means that they will be "legal" in some formats, but they won't feature any new mechanics or functions that make them "must-buys" to Magic: The Gathering fans. We'd expect to see some sort of Magic: The Gathering representation in Fortnite closer to the Secret Lair drop's release, although no official announcement was made on that front.

Fortnite is just one of several planned collaborations between Magic: The Gathering and other franchises. During today's Magic Showcase, Wizards of the Coast also showed off early looks at their Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks and a full Lord of the Rings set. A Secret Lair drop featuring the characters of Street Fighter will also be released next year. Magic: The Gathering previously released Secret Lair drops featuring characters from The Walking Dead and Godzilla. The Walking Dead set was particularly controversial due to it featuring several "new" cards (compared to reprints) and ended up causing a company-wide shift in how Magic: The Gathering approaches crossover cards.

In other Magic: The Gathering news, Wizards of the Coast announced that Brandon Routh would star in Netflix's upcoming Magic: The Gathering series. That show will be released in late 2022 and will feature Routh as iconic planeswalker Gideon Jura.