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There are certain crossovers we don’t expect to see. When we woke up this morning, we had no idea we were going to see Match: The Gathering pay homage to Cowboy Bebop, but sometimes life surprises you like that. The crossover between Magic: The Gathering and Cowboy Bebop makes a certain amount of sense if you have been keeping up with the latest Magic lore.

Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast released a new world for Magic: The Gathering titled Outlaws of Thunder Junction. As the name suggests, this world is based around Wild West mythos, which the official Japanese account for Magic: The Gathering celebrated by releasing a mashup of the iconic opening of Cowboy Bebop with Spike, Faye, and Jet all replaced with characters from Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

This is one of those situations where someone at Wizards of the Coast went far above and beyond to make the video perfect. Not only is it beautifully animated and edited, but there are some wonderful touches in the background that are easy to miss and crucial to making the video work. Where text appears in the original Cowboy Bebop opening sequence, it has been replaced with the rules from cards in Magic: The Gathering. All of the ships and guns used in the anime have been swapped out for wagons and magical firearms.

Even if you don’t play Magic: The Gathering, it is hard not to love the level of effort in this crossover video. If nothing else, it is a brilliant excuse to listen to one of the most iconic anime songs of all time with some new visuals.

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