Wizards of the Coast has partnered with clothing brand Stance to bring us 30th anniversary Magic: The Gathering socks. The limited edition box set costs $55 and comes with two pairs of socks, each with a different design, plus a unique promo card. The MTG socks set will be available from the Stance.com website from Monday, December 18.
The first Magic: The Gathering socks design features each of the MTG colors. A press release tells us this combination creates “a visual symphony of magical energy”, something none of my current socks do. It’s pretty damn subtle – you probably wouldn’t know this was a nerd sock at all if it didn’t have Magic’s logo on the ankle.
The other design has the actual MTG mana symbols, and one sock is black while the other is startling orange. According to the release, this “pays a heartfelt tribute to Richard Garfield, and his fondness for mismatched socks.”
The box set also includes a promotional card featuring Winged Boots, released last year in the Battle for Baldur’s Gate set. This card is basically a blue version of Swiftfoot Boots. It’s a two mana MTG equipment with an equip cost of one that can give a creature ward 4 (which is very nearly hexproof) and flying. The new version is borderless, foiled (a first for this card) and shows a man pulling on a pair of winged socks. The flavor text is top notch.
Even after all the varied MTG Universes Beyond collaborations we’ve had so far, you might think this is the strangest brand crossover Wizards of the Coast has done, but you’d be dead wrong. It’s probably on about the same level as the ‘Lovesac’ MTG bean bags, but MTG socks has nothing on planeswalker Hot Pockets.
Apparently, the collaboration is for the 30th anniversary celebration “allowing you to celebrate this momentous milestone in style”. I don’t know about you, but I’m hopeful that once January rolls around we can finally stop celebrating Magic’s 30th birthday. It’s becoming a bit like that obnoxious friend who insists everyone treats them real nice for their ‘birthday month’.
On the other hand, these socks are no doubt a better buy than Magic 30, no matter what the official proxy cards sell for.
If you’re looking to the year ahead too, you might need our MTG release schedule guide, for an up to date list of all the MTG sets coming out next year.