GODZILLA Invades Magic: The Gathering, Destroys Worlds and My Wallet

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Author: Ted Hentschke

Ted Hentschke |

Apr 2, 2020

Oh man, the memes were real. All those jokes about April rolling around and Godzilla rising from the ocean. The world has gotten so shitty, that utter destruction at the hands of the lord of all kaiju is the only logical next step. We were just wrong about which reality Godzilla would break into. Turns out, it’s the world of Magic: the Gathering.

Don’t know what Magic: The Gathering is? H…how? Magic: The Gathering is the biggest card game since cowboy poker. The iconic CCG has been a staple of local nerd shops and that one lunch table for over 25 years. Though I wouldn’t consider myself anywhere near a serious player, Magic has been a big part of my life. I’ve been playing on and off (for no one ever really quits magic) since I was 10. Every time I move to a new city, I know there will be an existing network of nerds I can easily settle into wherever the local Magic player congregate.

However, I haven’t really been compelled to drop a significant sum of cash on Magic: The Gathering in a while. Since MTG Arena released, I’ll drop some cash here and there for drafts. Other than that, I haven’t gone all-in on paper magic since Shards of Alara. Well, that’s all about to change. I’m going to drop hundreds of dollars on Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Why? Well, first off, it’s a giant monster set. I love giant monsters. More importantly, it’s got actual Godzilla.

Announced earlier today, the new set will feature 19 promotional cards bringing the world of Toho’s Godzilla franchise to Magic: The Gathering. These cards are all mechanically identical to cards from the base set Ikoria, but with special art depicting one of the legendary Kaiju. Here’s a list of all the names coming to Ikoria:

Anguirus, Armored Killer
Babygodzilla, Ruin Reborn
Biollante, Plant Beast Form
Bio-Quartz Spacegodzilla
Destoroyah, Perfect Lifeform
Dorat, the Perfect Pet
Ghidorah, King of the Cosmos
Gigan, Cyberclaw Terror
Godzilla, Doom Inevitable
Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Godzilla, Primeval Champion
King Caesar, Ancient Guardian
King Caesar, Awoken Titan
Mothra, Supersonic Queen
Rodan, Titan of Winged Fury
Spacegodzilla, Void Invader
決戦兵器、メカゴジラ (Crystalline Giant – Japanese only)
暗黒破壊獣、バトラ (Dirge Bat – Japanese only)
モスラの巨大な繭 (Mothra’s Great Cocoon – Japanese only)

These all technically function as the base set card. So you when you play “Godzilla, King of the Monsters,” you’re technically playing a “Ziloratha, Strength Incarnate.” But no one is stopping you from making a Godzilla scream when you windmill slam the King of the Monsters.

Now in typical Wizards of the Coast fashion, collecting all 19 of these bad boys won’t be as simple as just going on their digital store and buying the set. These promotional art variants are only available by purchasing one of several unique collectible Ikoria products. One of the 19 cards will only be available as a buy-a-box promo. These are special cards that are only available to those that pre-order a booster box of the new set. This card will only be available as a promotional, and is the only card of the 19 to not have an analogous base-set card. Buying a box will also net you a foil variant of one of the other 18 Godzilla promotional cards at random. This is where it gets a bit tricky. Of the 18 box topper cards, only 15 are available outside of Japan. 3 of the box topper are only available in Japanese. However, you can also get each of the 19 Godzilla cards in Ikoria Collector Boosters, a new-ish product introduced in Thrones of Eldraine that contains a grip of premium cards. Each Collector Booster will contain one of the 19 Godzilla cards, including the Japanese language cards. However, these cards also come in non-foil variants. Japanese boosters will also come with a Godzilla card in 1/12 packs, and a foil in 1/60.

So to recap, there are 19 Godzilla cards in Ikoria. You can get all of them in the Collector Booster. You’re guaranteed the buy-a-box promo card if you pre-order a booster box. You are also guaranteed 1 of the other 15 Godzilla cards in foil when you buy a box. If you want to have a shot at all 18 guaranteed foils, you have to buy Japanese boxes. If you don’t care about foils and just want to the cards to play with, your best bet is to just pick up a ton of the Collector Boosters.

This means that if you’re extremely lucky, you can get all 19 for just around $380 (it’s generally around $20 for the collector boosters). That’s with no duplicates. If you want to roll the dice on guaranteed foils, it’s going to run you $1800 (around $100 per Ikoria booster box at launch). Once again, that’s with no duplicates. And remember, a playset is 4 cards. Or you can just buy all the cards when they come out from your local game stores. Lords knows they can use the business after this whole epidemic is over. Given the cost of previous promotional cards, the cost of buying the set outright could be as gargantuan as the big ol’ lizard himself. That being said, I doubt these cards will reach the lofty prices of something like the Masterpiece Series. Lol okay, let me just drop $200 on an extra shiny Sword of Feast and Famine.