Fortnite and Street Fighter are coming to Magic: The Gathering in 2022
Hugely popular battle royale shooter and arcade classic will feature in Secret Lair drops.
Video games Fortnite and Street Fighter will be among Magic: The Gathering’s next pop-culture crossovers, with the immensely popular battle royale shooter and fighting game classic appearing on cards next year.
Fortnite will feature in two Secret Lair drops during 2022, with Street Fighter seeing a single Secret Lair event, Wizards of the Coast announced during its latest Magic Showcase preview.
The Fortnite Magic: The Gathering cards will include reprints based on “iconic in-game locations and characters” from the free-to-play multiplayer game, according to Wizards.
Meanwhile, Secret Lair x Street Fighter will bring characters from the long-running Capcom fighting series’ roster to the card game, including Chun-Li - who will debut a new gameplay mechanic, multikicker, inspired by her fighting style and Lightning Kick special attack.
Secret Lair typically offers artwork variants and reprints of existing MTG cards for a limited time rather than presenting new gameplay effects or mechanics, although the game’s crossover with The Walking Dead controversially saw brand new cards based on the zombie TV show offered exclusively via the limited Secret Lair format.
The Fortnite cards will be reprints of existing MTG cards, Wizards confirmed. While all of the Street Fighter cards will be mechanically unique, their new keywords and gameplay abilities will make an appearance in future releases - albeit relocated to the Magic: The Gathering multiverse - including rare The List cards found in approximately 25% of set boosters.
Fortnite and Street Fighter are the latest big pop-culture brands to find their way into Magic: Gathering, following previous crossovers with The Walking Dead, Godzilla in monster-themed set Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons in this year’s Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
Further crossovers are planned in the form of the card game’s Universes Beyond series revealed earlier this year, with The Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000 announced as the first two settings to receive significant Magic: The Gathering releases.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth will include characters from JRR Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy - including Aragorn, Frodo, Gandalf and Gollum - in a series of booster packs due for release in 2023.
Warhammer 40,000, meanwhile, will come to Magic: The Gathering in the form of four decks for the game’s popular Commander format, featuring new artwork, cards and reprints based on the grimdark sci-fi miniatures game. Unsurprisingly, Space Marines are confirmed to be among the 40k factions set to make an appearance when the decks release in Q3 2022.