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Magic: The Gathering Pays Homage to Cowboy Bebop

The ever-popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering (MTG) has transported players to different magical worlds with over 60 card decks, letting them engage in battles by summoning monsters and casting spells. The game recently wrapped up a large story with the set called "March of the Machine: The Aftermath" in May 2023. Since then, the game has been revisiting the different worlds in the Magic universe.

However, on April 19, MTG has traveled to a whole new world inspired by the Wild West in "Outlaws of Thunder Junction." To celebrate this new world, MTG Japan posted a promotional video paying homage to the opening theme song "Tank!" from the anime Cowboy Bebop. The video is available to watch on YouTube.

The video features the main characters of the card game. However, since MTG is fantasy-based, elements like the Swordfish and the firearms are replaced with wagons and magic firearms. One nice little touch most people may overlook, though, is that almost all the text is replaced with card names and card effects.

A set of five special promo cards themed after Cowboy Bebop: "Ossification" will ship from August 2 to September 19, "Disdainful Stroke" from September 27 to November 7, "Go for the Throat" from November 15, 2024 to January 30, 2025, "Lightning Strike" from February 7 to March 2, 2025, and "Snakeskin Veil" from April 4 to May 29, 2025.

According to MTG Japan's website, the company is running a handful of campaigns featuring the Cowboy Bebop-inspired trailer.

In the first campaign, 1,000 MTG players and collectors will have a chance to win a playmat or card sleeves with a purchase of 3,000 yen (about US$19.40) worth of unopened MTG products from participating Wizard Play Network (WPN) stores between April 26, 2024 and March 31, 2025. However, players and collectors must purchase cards from sets released after January 2021. Along with this, fans will also receive a random postcard based on the playmats and card sleeves with a purchase of 3,000 yen. There is no mention on which MTG sets must be purchased to receive the postcards.

Fans will also receive "Thunder Junction" stickers with a purchase of 3,000 yen worth of unopened MTG products from WPN stores and participating at Friday Night Magic events.

Finally, players will receive an original playmat if they participate in the Japan Standard Cup "Outlaws of Thunder Junction," Playmat Challenge/Pioneer/Modern, and Magic Arena Best of One Standard tournaments at the Players Convention Aichi 2024 at the Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi Prefecture, Japan between May 25-26. The playmat's design is modeled off the final cut before the title appears in the Cowboy Bebop opening theme with MTG characters Oko the Ringleader, Rakdos the Muscle, Vraska the Silencer, and Kellan the Kid replacing Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and Ed, respectively.

A full card list for "Thunder Junction" is available on the MTG homepage for those who are curious. Unfortunately, the collaboration merchandise is only available in Japan. Still, this collaboration helps to commemorate the Cowboy Bebop anime's 25th anniversary and MTG's 30th.

Sources: Magic: The Gathering Japan website (link 2, link 3, link 4), Magic: The Gathering game's website, Magic: The Gathering Japan's X/Twitter account and YouTube channel, Magic: The Gathering, Comic Natalie