Magic: The Gathering Is Quietly Becoming a Benedict Cumberbatch Card Game

Magic: The Gathering's upcoming Star Trek crossover set features a reprint of Sheoldred, The Apocalypse reskinned as Khan from Star Trek Into Darkness — and since Wizards of the Coast secured actor likenesses for the set, that means the card is literally just Benedict Cumberbatch. It's a strange choice, especially given Sheoldred is currently worth over $80 and the new art pulls from a J.J. Abrams film that the fanbase has complicated feelings about.

But here's the thing: this isn't a one-off. The recently released Marvel Super Heroes set includes a Doctor Strange card with art clearly modeled on Cumberbatch's MCU portrayal. And the set after Star Trek is The Hobbit, where Smaug the Magnificent — another Cumberbatch role — is the headline chase card of the entire set. Three sets, three characters, one actor. If you build a Mardu deck (red, white, and black), you can theoretically slot all three Cumberbatch cards into the same gameplan.

Magic has been leaning hard into pop-culture crossovers for a few years now, with Universes Beyond sets covering everything from Warhammer 40,000 to Fallout to Assassin's Creed. The Star Trek set is being spotlighted at MagicCon Amsterdam, and the bonus sheet reprints — like this Khan version of Sheoldred — are meant to be high-value pulls that tie the crossover flavor together. Whether that logic holds when the reprint art comes from one of the more divisive entries in the Trek franchise is another question.

Wizards of the Coast has also announced a Magic: The Gathering streaming adaptation is in development, which makes this accidental Cumberbatch trilogy feel either like a massive coincidence or the world's most subtle casting campaign. Either way, three sets in a row is a lot of one actor — even if he never actually shows up on a card by name.