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Assassin’s Creed is a deep video game series with over ten mainline entries dating back to 2007. That’s the perfect formula for aMagic: The Gatheringcrossover, the simply named ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Universes Beyond set. It’s a mix of new-to-Magic cards and reprints of popular Commander cards, though it has no accompanying Standard or Limited release.
You might fully expect an Assassin’s Creed set to include, well, Assassins, and they’re certainly present, hiding in every haystack and atop every lookout you can imagine. They also come with their own new mechanic, the Freerunning ability, which gives your spells some modality if your Assassins are successfully sneaking through in combat.
What Is Freerunning In Magic?
Freerunning is an alternative costfound on various creatures, instants, and sorceries in the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond product. These spells can be cast for their Freerunning costifan Assassinor a commander you control dealt combat damage to an opponent that turn. It’s very similar to the Prowl mechanic from 2008’s Morningtide set.
You have to deal damage to an opponent specifically, soattacking a planeswalker or battle won’t unlock the Freerunning cost. You can also fulfill this condition with any commander; it doesn’t have to be an Assassin itself.
You’ll announce that you’re casting a spell for its Freerunning costwhen you put it on the stack(assuming you’ve fulfilled the condition).In most cases, this just makes your spell cheaper to cast, but some spells like Escape Detection and Monastery Raid have different types of costs altogether.
Important Freerunning Rules
Unlike real-world parkour, MTG freerunning is pretty straightforward, but there are still a few key rules to keep in mind with these cards. For one,casting a spell for its freerunning cost doesn’t change the mana valueof that spell. Chain Assassination, for example, will always have a mana value of four, even if you’re casting it for just two mana.
There are actuallya few legendary creatures that either have Freerunning or grant it to other creatures. If your commander has Freerunning, youcancast it from the command zone for the alternate cost, but commander tax will be accounted for, and must be paid in addition to that card’s alternate cost.
For example, imagine your commander is Achilles Davenport, and he has died once in this game already. It would normally cost six mana for the second cast, but if you fulfill the Freerunning requirement, you can cast it for blue-black instead, thoughyou’ll still have to pay an additional two extra manafor commander tax.
It won’t come up that often, but the Freerunning condition can be satisfied bydealing combat damage to a playerwithanycommander, not just yours. If you’re somehow in possession of an opponent’s commander and it successfully hits someone, you’re free to Freerun to your heart’s content for the turn.
Will Freerunning Ever Be Used Again?
It’s very unlikelyFreerunning will show up in any new sets beyond Assassin’s Creed,but it’s not impossible. It’s mechanically tied to Assassin creatures, but it could also work generically within the context ofany Commander precon. It’ll have to be the perfect storm of a setting where Assassins are prevalent and a card that logically uses Freerunning for flavor purposes.
This is in contrast to something like ‘Tempted by the Ring,’ which is so closely tied to the universe of Lord of the Rings that there’s pretty much no chance it’ll show up again outside another LotR crossover set. Surely there are worlds in the Magic Multiverse where Assassins scale the rooftops, right? We’ve seen this exact premise onmany a Ravnica cardalready.
Best Freerunning Cards
Chain Assassination
You basically have to be casting Chain Assassination for its Freerunning cost before you’re happy. But if you can reliably turn on the alternate cost,this becomes an unconditional Doom Blade that also draws a card, which is way better than most removal spells at two mana.
Try it in sacrifice deckswhere you may make sure a creature has died at your leisure.
Eagle Vision
The Freerunning cost is the difference between Eagle Vision being terrible and being excellent. There’s been a steep drop-off in the usefulness ofpure card drawin modern Magic, buttwo mana for three cards is still an excellent dealacross almost all formats.
Ezio Auditore Da Firenze
The lead man from the Assassin’s Creed 2 triad makes an appearance as afive-color commanderwith an affinity for other Assassins.He can make your other Assassins dirty-cheap to cast, and has the ability to finish off anyone who was foolish enough to drop below ten life.
Overpowering Attack
An extra combatfor three mana is a pretty good deal, assuming you can slip an Assassin through for damage and keep it alive long enough to reach the second combat. This will slot into plenty of red Commander decks relying on their commander to fulfill the Freerunning clause. Worst-case scenario,you can still just cast the spell for five mana.
Viewpoint Synchronization
Viewpoint Synchronization isborderline unplayable for the full amount, but staple-worthy if you’re regularly casting it for three mana. The Freerunning cost makes it a strictly better Cultiave/Kodama’s Reach, two cards that continue to see extensive play in casual Commander.This is an excellent pairing with a cheap, evasive commanderthat can set this up on turn three.
