Trading card game players rejoice; TCGplayer is having a nice Black Friday promotion. From November 28 at 9 AM ET to December 1 at 11 PM ET, you can get 10% cash back in store credits on all purchases.
This includes both single cards and sealed products. Plus, if you’re a TCGplayer subscriber, you’ll get 13% or more back (12% base plus 1-3% monthly loyalty bonus). That’s pretty great, all things considered.
With Riot and UVS Games’ Riftbound League of Legends TCG fresh on the Western market after just launching a few of weeks ago, taking advantage of this promotion is a great way to pick up singles and build your decks with all upside incentives.
Sealed Riftbound product has been fairly hard to come by for consumers, but for those of you lucky enough to get your hands on cards and follow the metagame, we’ve picked out 10 cards you should have on your radar.
And with Riftbound’s second set, Spiritforged, scheduled for English release in February of 2026, there’s ample time to pick up the cards you need for your deck and get the most out of them.
Read on for detailed breakdowns of our picks, listed from least expensive to most expensive.
I wanted to focus on metagame staples some players might not have on their radar, as well as some cheaper alternatives mixed with high-end late-game bombs.
Stacked Deck
One of the few draw spells in the game so far, this is an easy three-of in any Chaos (purple) deck. It’s single Energy cost without having to recycle Runes is an extremely valuable rate both on turn one and in the late game.
It’s going for around $5-$6, so as an uncommon it’s a bit pricey.
Tasty Faefolk
Tasty Faefolk sees play in most Calm (green) decks. It’s a great late-game finisher on a budget, currently sitting at around $7.
I might not play three of these due to its high cost, but it depends on the deck it’s slotted in.
Darius Trifarian
Darius is a considerably good mid-game drop in Fury (red) decks. Midrange strategies like Sett the Boss will often play a copy or two, and you’ll likely see him taking up space in the top-tier Kai’sa, Daughter of the Void decks as well.
At $10, it’s reasonably priced for a powerful effect.
Falling Star
Speaking of Kai’sa, Falling Star is another card this deck typically considers including three copies of.
The two Power, two Energy cost disrupts your tempo a bit, but it can be an extremely efficient boardwipe in a pinch. I’d also consider playing this in any other red deck like Jinx, Loose Cannon, especially at the reasonably-priced $13.
Baited Hook
Veteran Magic: The Gathering players will recognize this as Riftbound’s answer to Birthing Pod. It’s a great combo card that pairs nicely with cards like Machine Evangel.
In go-wide strategies like Viktor, Herald of the Arcane, Baited Hook can be a great finisher if you’re able to stomach the $37 price tag.
Master Yi
One of the strongest Legends in the game so far, Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman’s $38 cost is due to both his popularity and scarcity.
You can only get him in the Proving Grounds box (as well as three other exclusive Legends), and getting your hands on that is currently a bit of a chore. But if you’re looking to quickly build the second-best meta deck, singles are readily available.
Thousand-Tailed Watcher
One of the best cards in the game as a whole, every Mind (blue) deck will consider auto-including three of these, even with its high cost.
Thousand-Tailed Watcher is incredible late game finisher to score your last points, and strategizing your Battlefields and units in conjunction with it will mean the difference between victory and defeat. Because of this, it’s currently sitting at around $40.
Dazzling Aurora
One of the only cards in Riftbound Origins I would consider borderline unfair and actually broken, Dazzling Gleam is an incredibly powerful finisher in decks like Master Yi ramp.
Its nine Energy cost is worth considering, but spitting out massive Units like Deadbloom Predator for free will quickly win the game, especially since not many decks run much Gear removal.
Kai’sa Survivor
The end-all, tier-1 meta deck in Riftbound Origins. Her aggressive cost mixed with her extremely powerful effect ensures she sees play in most red decks.
If you’re running Kai’Sa, Daughter of the Void as your Legend, playing three Kai’Sa Survivor is a no-brainer. That is, of course, if you’re able to get your hands on three copies. She’s currently sitting around $73, so I wouldn’t blame you if you found some budget replacements.
Time Warp
Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of extra turn effects in TCG’s, since they often give an unfair edge when used. Regardless, Riftbound’s Time Warp is an extremely powerful, high-cost effect that is the metagame’s current most expensive staple, sitting at around $86-$90.
Most blue decks run at least one of these, so it may be worth it to pick up a single copy to build up store credit.
More Riftbound Cards to Keep an Eye On
Naturally, these aren’t the only format staples or expensive cards Riftbound has to offer in its over 300-card Origins set.
There are dozens of much more expensive alternate versions of many Legends and Champions, and more metagame staples that will break the bank a bit.
But if you’re more interested in the collector value of these cards over their competitive use, we have a list of the 15 most expensive Riftbound cards you can buy.
We also have a handy buying guide if you’re new to Riftbound. While sealed product can be hard to find right now and price hikes are rampant, but knowing what’s available is always a good move when a new TCG launches.
TCGplayer Subscription
If you’re planning on snapping up quite a few Pokémon cards in the sale, this is a great time to become a TCGplayer subscriber. It costs $8.99 a month and gives users free delivers and 1% cashback regardless of the time of year.
Whilst this climbs to 3% after a years membership, subscriber will get a boosted 13% cashback over cyber weekend on top of their usual cashback. For longtime members, this could equate to 16% cashback, which is frankly insane.
Hollow Knight: Silksong developer Team Cherry has confirmed it’s working on DLC — but it doesn’t know when it will come out.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Team Cherry co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen said that while the developers do not plan to take “an excessive amount of time” building this new content for Silksong, “we still are pursuing the same development philosophy, which sometimes can expand our timeframe.”
It took seven years for Silksong to come out, so who knows when this mystery DLC will be released? But Team Cherry did tease it will feature the Steel Assassin, a character shown in a prior trailer but who has yet to show up in Silksong itself.
Here’s the relevant exchange with Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier:
Do you want to do a mix of smaller updates like Lifeblood, or are you thinking bigger stuff like Godmaster and Grimm Troupe? Is there a cadence you have in mind?
Gibson: In simple terms yes, we’d be thinking about different things arriving at different scales. That might mean larger things like Godmaster. Certainly, we’ve noticed that people would like an expansion in that way, being able to enter pantheon spaces and refight bosses. And there is already a huge number of them.
Pellen: We were talking about the next project in general. We’re not thinking about the size. We just started making new stuff and working on bits and pieces. We’re still in this world, thinking about stuff to present to people.
Gibson: It is interesting working out how you expand an already huge game, to make sure you don’t completely overwhelm new players, because obviously new players will be experiencing the new stuff, very naturally integrated. It’ll just seem like the base experience. Some of that might mean finding ways to hide away the access, because otherwise potentially by the end of the our expansions and developments it would just be gargantuan.
If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
30 years ago, LEGO made its tentative first step beyond physical toys with the launch of Fun to Build, a Japanese-only game for the largely forgotten Sega Pico console. Three decades later, the mighty LEGO brand’s video game ambitions are now a diverse empire all of its own, a set of digital experiences designed to cater to diverse and tastes.
And for good reason — because as anyone who follows video games knows, the industry’s growth has also come alongside massive change, including an ongoing shift in how players access and own games — and a generational difference in why they’re so important.
For many, the idea of a LEGO video game is something still synonymous with the prolific output of TT Games, the British development studio behind dozens of licensed titles featuring blockbuster franchises like Star Wars, Batman, and Harry Potter. But the LEGO brand now adorns numerous other experiences from other established creators, such as the recent Annapurna-published LEGO Voyagers, or the Nintendo-like LEGO Party. And then there’s LEGO Fortnite — but more on that in a moment.
Speaking to the bosses of LEGO’s sprawling gaming portfolio, the company’s new SVP of LEGO Game, Fredrik Löving, and its veteran Head of Product, Kari Vinther Nielsen, its clear the company knows the world of video games has already changed — and will continue to do so, as a younger generation raised on the likes of Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite — LEGO’s key audience demographic — seeks connected social experiences on a wider range of platforms. At the same time, however, the brand knows it must still cater to more traditional gamers as well.
“Really understanding today’s kids is just always the most important thing,” Löving says. “There’s been a big shift in gaming and we all know it, we have all seen it. Games mean something different for the generation growing up today than it did for me. When I grew up on my Amiga 500, I was escaping into a world, I was escaping into a screen and I was playing these games with a very set objective.
“The primary objective today for kids growing up is to find an activity to do in a social space together with their friends. Secondarily, it’s whatever the activity actually is around it.” It’s an observation that rings especially true following the huge spike in players this summer for games such as Grow a Garden and Steal the Brainrot, experiences that helped smash engagement records on Roblox — a social gaming platform that LEGO has so far steered clear of.
“The gamers are very fundamentally different,” Löving continues. So, where does that leave LEGO?
“I was very lucky to work on LEGO Worlds,” Nielsen recalls, a LEGO-y sandbox game that let players build intricate models using digital blocks. While successful enough, it was a product of its time — and despite the LEGO branding, it never seemed to trouble the already-dominant Minecraft, the game it was frequently most compared to. Still, its ambitions were clear. “That for me was a testament of what the physical brick was in a digital space,” Nielsen continues. “We had fans creating models, creating worlds, creating stories, and I think that’s really the power of digital play where you can create and share in different ways versus what you can in the physical world.
After working at LEGO for over a decade, Nielsen said the conversations she had working on the idea for Worlds remain “the same stories and the same things we talk about” today. “We need to mix IPs, we need to figure out what’s the digital version of the physical expression. What’s the real true game version of that? I don’t think the conversations have changed a lot,” she continued. “It’s more about actually adapting to how kids play today and being open-minded about how you diversify play, how you become inclusive so that you make the right type of play for kids in the world they live in. I think that’s where we’ve moved a lot through the last couple of years actually.
“Kids really use video games as a way to stay social and a place where can they meet up with their friends,” Nielsen continues, echoing Löving’s earlier words. “Of course we want to show up in safe and positive ways, but I think that just speaks to the type of games and the type of play we really need to serve as the LEGO brand. It’s not about only having one version that fits for gamers, it’s about having a diverse portfolio, for different play needs and different moments.”
It’s an approach that LEGO has demonstrated over the past few months, launching the Mario Party-esque LEGO Party to foster cross-generational multiplayer, the same month as indie puzzle platformer LEGO Voyagers. “LEGO Party, that’s really where I want to play with my friends or with my family,” Nielsen notes. “LEGO Voyagers meanwhile, was a test of my relationship, I’m not going to lie. There was a little bit of ‘go away, this is me playing now.'”
And then there’s LEGO Fortnite, which continues to evolve week by week. Its hard to gauge the current level of its overall success versus expectations, especially when comparing it to something like Grow a Garden’s viral popularity. But its most substantial offering, LEGO Fortnite Odyssey, remains an evergreen hit and will soon receive its next big update (which fans expect will add characters from the hugely popular Ninjago franchise). Role-playing sim option LEGO Brick Life, meanwhile, enjoys a smaller audience, though is currently hosting a big The Simpsons takeover. And a core attraction for LEGO here remains the ability for players to build and make their own mini-games — something which should only become easier to do and more advanced in potential over time.
“My daughter loves the universe, the characters, the stories, the narrative,” Nielsen says of LEGO Fortnite’s modes. “We’re starting to really grow and expand the opportunity for creators to make their favorite LEGO game, to tell their stories through gaming. It’s still early days actually in that space,” she continues. “It’s not that we haven’t had digital building or digital creation in our portfolio for the past 30 years, but the world around it has changed, as has the platforms and the pace of creation. When Fred joined, we had this sort of [joke] like, ‘You’ve been used to making a game and it takes five years, I can do what you do and do that in four hours instead.'”
While that may not be true — yet — of something that looks as polished as TT Games’ upcoming LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, some of LEGO’s earlier output could certainly be recreated in Fortnite today, such as LEGO Island, the brand’s second video game (and its first real digital hit). “It’s just a different reality of making experiences and testing new things and trying them out in a way faster engine with the right partner, with the right creators,” Nielsen says.
“And going back to what I mentioned around really understanding gamers of today,” Löving adds. “Co-creation, agency, all the things that you just mentioned. They are becoming very quickly, if not already, table stakes for a lot of experiences out there, especially the big platforms.”
All of that said, LEGO’s more traditional gaming experiences are also not fully going away — as next year’s arival of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight proves. It was one of this year’s biggest and best-received gaming reveals, and was recently shown to a hugely positive reception during Gamescom 2025. For LEGO, experiences like it is set to provide also remain a cruical part of its brand offering.
“I passed down Star Wars to my son through a Lego game, Skywalker saga,” Löving said. “That is a lot for a dad, to actually have that experience together with your son — not just playing together but passing down a fandom, enabled through the fact that it’s a LEGO game. Even before I joined the company, I was just inspired to see, ‘how do we even dial that up? How can we do that and really make it intergenerational play?'”
“Our brand stands for a lot of things and I think in some moments you’re really diving in and you’re immersing yourself in like a six-hour session,” Nielsen affirms. “I play legacy board games, I know it’s going to take a long time. I’m invested, and it’s even better if I can actually play along or couch co-op with some of my friends or family members. That’s fantastic and I think that’s what TT Games does so well.”
As LEGO enters its fourth decade in the digital space, the company clearly has ambitions that range beyond simple, static plastic. Ever since it dipped its toe into the world of simple robotics with MindStorms, through to its much more recently interactivitiy melded into LEGO Super Mario bricks, its clear the company is keen to experiment with what’s possible with play. LEGO Dimensions, the brand’s experiment in the toys-to-life category, was another example of that — and with its focus on IP mashups and adventure, could be seen as a precursor to LEGO Fortnite today.
At the end of the day, though, Nielsen says it’s all about finding the right kind of play for the right audience. “Sometimes there’s a time for a game and then you can almost take that game and bring it into the now — or to the future with different flavors and twists,” she says. “It’s no different than what is our LEGO version of Darth Vader or Batman. I think there’s something generational to it.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
I’ve been scouring retailers across the internet all week to find savings across preconstructed Commander Decks, Booster Boxes (including the elusive Collector Boosters) and much, much more – including 10% cashback when buying singles.
Here are our picks for the best Black Friday Magic: The Gathering deals, whatever it is you’re hoping to find.
TCGPlayer’s 10% Cashback Event (Nov 28 – Dec 1)
Looking to buy single cards you need? This might just be the place to do it. TCGPlayer has long been one of our preferred ways to buy cards, and its 10% Cashback Event, which runs from November 28 to December 1, can net you a portion of your purchases back in your pocket.
The best part is that everything is eligible, so you can use it on sealed products, too. I’ve put together a list of recommended buys which you can find right here, including fun Universes Beyond collaborations.
Booster Boxes
Amazon’s discounts on Booster Boxes aren’t filed under its Black Friday deals, but there’s plenty to like about them. For one, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the game’s latest set, has seen its price drop from the ludicrous price of $209 to a more reasonable fee for a box of 30 packs. It’s now $149.45.
Collector Boosters are contentious within the Magic community because they’re the easiest way to get rare cards, but you can expect to pay out the nose for them.
Spider-Man cards are cheaper than that, but still not what you’d consider ‘cheap’.
Commander Decks
Commander remains the most popular way to play Magic: The Gathering, and with plenty of Commander Decks released each year, it’s likely to stay that way for a while yet.
Amazon has a ton of savings on them, too, particularly if you’re looking for Universes Beyond options.
Bundles make a great option for building out collections, and the Spider-Man Gift Edition one is well worth a look. It contains an exclusive Alternate Art card, 9 Play Boosters, and a Collector Booster full of foils and special treatments.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
Black Friday has arrived, and as you’d probably expect, there are plenty of deals on Magic: The Gathering products. Our beloved, TCGplayer, however, is doing things a little differently.
The retailer is offering 10% store credit back on everything – cards, packs, decks, and just about anything else (and 13% or more back for subscribers). It’s not restricted to Magic, either, with the Pokémon TCG, Riftbound, Lorcana, and just about anything included.
With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of cards that I’d recommend picking up. These aren’t super pricey cards necessarily, but are wishlist items that it probably makes sense to pick up if you’re getting something back for them.
The Best MTG Cards to Buy at TCGplayer This Black Friday
Sol Ring
Look, it’s hardly a rare card (you get a Sol Ring in 90% of preconstructed decks), but is it a Pip Boy Sol Ring? I think not.
Spice up your ramp with some radioactivity with this Universes Beyond card for around $30.
The Ur-Dragon
Dragon decks are hardly anything new, but the Ur-Dragon is a 10/10 beast with a huge mana cost that turns dragon attacks into card draw. It’s actually sliding in price, meaning it’s a decent time to snag it for around $30.
Play it as your Commander, and you can use all five colors for your deck, too.
Sauron, the Dark Lord
“Oh, you want to attack me? Better sacrifice something legendary”. A great deterrent, Sauron, the Dark Lord, is a 7/6 in its own right, and amasses Orcs when opponents cast spells.
You can get it for around $10 right now, too.
The One Ring
Sure, Post Malone may have the “One of One Ring”, but this legendary artifact can be found for around $80.
The One Ring is indestructible, can be used for card draw, and can grant protection for an entire turn.
When Stoneforge Mystic enters, you can find Equipment and put it into your hand. You can also tap and pay two mana to put it onto the battlefield, making it ideal for Equipment-based decks (we see you, Cloud Strife).
Omniscience
Playing in Blue? Omnscience is essentially a cheat code. Get ten mana together to play it, and you won’t need to pay any further mana once it’s on the field.
This anime-style version is $25 and comes from Wilds of Eldraine. In fact, it’s still Standard Legal.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
The newest card on this list, hailing from the Avatar: The Last Airbender set, this 1/1 bird can be flashed in at higher power and used for card advantage, then grows even stronger if foes search their library.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is sitting at around $60, so you’d get $6 back to use on more cards.
Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation
Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation is a 6/6 with vigilance that doesn’t double your creature tokens – it triples them. Better yet, when it dies, it becomes a land that taps for mana.
It’s down to around $22 right now.
Quantum Riddler
One of the stars of Edge of Eternities, Quantum Riddler, is still around $40. It’s a 4/6 with flying that gets you extra card advantage, and has a warp cost.
What’s not to love, especially with $4 back in store credit?
Ugin, Eye of the Storms
Ugin, Eye of the Storms is a Planeswalker from this year’s Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and this amazing Showcase variant is down to around $70.
He can add three colorless mana, gain you life, and lets you play nonland cards without paying their mana costs.
TCGPlayer Subscription
If you’re planning on snapping up quite a few Pokémon cards in the sale, this is a great time to become a TCGPLayer subscriber. It costs $8.99 a month and gives users free delivers and 1% cashback regardless of the time of year.
Whilst this climbs to 3% after a years membership, subscriber will get a boosted 13% cashback over cyber weekend on top of their usual cashback. For longtime members, this could equate to 16% cashback, which is frankly insane.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
If you know a Spider-Man fan or a Magic: The Gathering player, then there’s a perfect product that’s tailor-made for them this Christmas.
Magic’s Spider-Man set includes cards depicting classic comic moments, costumed heroes, and nefarious villains, and you can get an instant collection with the Gift Bundle. Better yet, this unique product is reduced by 25% at Amazon for Black Friday.
Get The MTG Spider-Man Bundle For Under $70 This Black Friday
This discount brings the $89.99 set down to $67.94, and includes ten packs, with nine Play Boosters and a single Collector Booster. Given Collector Boosters, when you can find them, are going for around $35 – $40 each, that’s a chunk of the value of this bundle tied up there.
It includes cards in foil or alternative art treatments, increasing the chances of finding something rare or valuable, but the other nine packs inside are Play Boosters, which are ideal for actually playing Magic: The Gathering.
Also included is an alternate-art promo card exclusive to the box, as well as 30 lands to help with deckbuilding.
Why the discount? It’s twofold. For one, this product seems squarely aimed at being a gift option this holiday season. The other is that, despite high hopes from Wizards of the Coast, the Spider-Man set just didn’t take off as they’d hoped.
Maybe it’s product fatigue, maybe it’s the set’s less-than-compelling mechanics, but it’s still got some awesome artwork that’s ideal for collectors and casual players.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
The director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 always believed the turned-based RPG was going to be “cool,” but had no idea it would get this “big.”
Talking to Radio Times Gaming following this year’s Golden Joysticks awards, creative director Guillaume Broche spoke candidly about the studio’s work, admitting that the game’s reception from fans and critics alike has been so unexpected, saying “nobody really understands what’s happening.”
“I think people don’t really realize that, now it’s become big, but before the launch, it was not supposed to be big,” Broche said. “I think we all felt the same thing. It’s going to be cool. It’s not going to be big, it’s going to be cool. And what’s happening today is like, as we say, nobody really understands what’s happening.
“It’s a weird feeling, when you put your heart out into the world and the world embraces it and gives you so much love back. We get so much love from the players… it’s so touching and incredible that it’s very hard to explain.”
Ben Starr — who voices Verso in the RPG — feels the same, adding: “It was never intended to be as big as it is. It’s turned into this kind of cultural moment, phenomenon, but that’s just because the game is very honest, I think. And a lot of people have bought into that.
“I don’t think anyone expected this because it’s a small game. No one expected those numbers, and we’ve all just been messaging each other thinking, this is, well, this is just silly. This is just silly now. Everyone just stop. It’s a silly joke. But yeah, it’s been very cool.”
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched on April 24 across PC and console, but also straight into Xbox Game Pass as a day-one title. In IGN’s 9/10 review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we described it as a “modern RPG classic,” adding: “In so many ways, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reminded me of numerous classic and contemporary RPGs I love, but developer Sandfall truly understood why those games are special and made the pieces it borrowed its own.”
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold 5 million copies in five months, making it one of the biggest hits of the year. It also received a record-breaking 12 nominations at this year’s The Game Awards, and is up for Best Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio, Best Independent Game, Best Debut Independent Game, and Best RPG, as well as the ceremony’s coveted Game of the Year gong. Three of its performers are also up for Best Performance.
If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
The Holidays are approaching, and you know what that means: tanks. Lots and lots of tanks. And to celebrate the season, Wargaming just revealed that none other than Benedict Cumberbatch will be the official Ambassador for the World of Tanks Holiday Ops 2026 event. You can check out an exclusive behind the scenes look at the actor’s appearance in the game in the player above.
Cumberbatch sat down with IGN to dive into his participation in World of Tanks, break down his favorite video games as a kid, and share whether Doctor Strange would beat Doctor Doom in a fight.
“World of Tanks is about as good as it gets,” Cumberbatch says. “My character in the game does much more than just handing out assignments. From the winter garage, he shares bits of life (and) wisdom through stories that inspire players to push forward. There’s also the special Holiday Ops Challenge filled with over 50 battle missions that grant exclusive, customized rewards – including my role as a tank commander with my own voice in the game.”
Cumberbatch follows in a long line of celebrities who’ve participated in World of Tanks Holiday Ops events including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Milla Jovovich, and Vinnie Jones. Cumberbatch says that his favorite tank in the game is the M24 Chaffee, but that all the artillery in the game wouldn’t stand a chance against one of his famous on-screen characters.
When we asked Cumberbatch who would win a face-off between every single tank in World of Tanks combined and Doctor Strange, he scoffed. “Doctor Strange. Come on guys, of course it would be the good Doctor.”
Cumberbatch, who’s appeared in games like The Nightjar, Sherlock: The Network, LEGO The Hobbit, and Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, says video games were an essential part of his childhood. “It all started with a little Nintendo Donkey Kong Jr.,” Cumberbatch says, “which I was obsessed with, and then Mario Brothers of course. I had an Atari console which I used to remember playing very basic ping-pong with my dad and a rather scary end of days nuclear strike game where you had to intercept intercontinental ballistic missile(s)! I remember how stiff the control sticks were but (they were) all very fond memories and despite the simplicity a great deal of fun.
“I had a SEGA Game Gear a little later on, but apart from that now the console and gaming world kind of left me behind with adult life. At moments like this I wish I could find some time to while away the hours either with a shoot ’em up or strategy-heavy game. Everything that happened (with World of Tanks) was a completely new experience for me – engaging with the video gaming world and its creative side in such an intense way. It’s been fascinating, and I’m excited to see how players will receive it.”
Cumberbatch, who’s known for his appearances in the MCU, on-screen roles like Sherlock and Smaug, and critically acclaimed turns in films like The Power of the Dog, August: Osage County, and The Imitation Game, says he and the Wargaming team recorded hundreds of voice lines to give his character depth and make him “instantly recognizable.”
“Like all things gaming, (World of Tanks is) wild and clever and fast moving. Here I am stepping into a completely new world and exploring a role that’s both grounded in a certain reality that then slowly swirls into magic realism and absurdity via some great comedic beats.
“I’m the virtual commander in World of Tanks, but in the guise of a highly inappropriate therapist. I’m guiding players through the battlefield with a steady hand. My character is eccentric and high-energy but also the embodiment of calmness. He is a tactician and strategist who knows that true strength lies in composure and clarity of thought.”
Beyond World of Tanks, fans are eager to know if Cumberbatch will appear as Doctor Strange in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. While he’s tightlipped on that possibility, Cumberbatch does have an opinion as to who’s the ultimate Doctor in the MCU. When we asked him who would win in a fight – Dr Strange or Doctor Doom – he didn’t mince words.
“I hope Dr Strange!”
The World of Tanks Holiday Ops 2026 event kicks off on December 5, 2025, and continues through January 12, 2026.
Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He’s spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton
I’m parked at the back of the grid on Mount Panorama, awaiting the race start, and there are cars ahead of me literally facing backwards. This is not going to go well. As you’d expect, pandemonium ensues when the lights go off. The race has just begun and it’s already a mess.
Unfortunately, this is Project Motor Racing in a nutshell right now.
On paper, Project Motor Racing is precisely the sort of racing game I want to play. It has a great selection of cars, a number of which are thoroughly underrepresented in modern racers. It’s also not crippled with free-to-play chicanery or subject to a monthly subscription, and its focus isn’t primarily multiplayer. All of this is high-octane music to my ears. In practice, however, Project Motor Racing simply hasn’t worked out, and I’ve totally bounced off it in its current state thanks to AI that essentially ignores your presence on track, a hopelessly uneven penalty system that serves only to frustrate and ruin your races, and its array of bugs and peculiar physics quirks.
Project Motor Racing arrives as a spiritual successor to Slightly Mad Studios’ now-defunct Project CARS series, which failed to survive the Codemasters acquisition of Slightly Mad (and the subsequent EA purchase of Codemasters). There may be some different logos on the loading screen, sure, but developer Straight4 Studios is basically a rebirthed Slightly Mad after someone hit the VIN with an angle grinder.
Perhaps more specifically, it’s attempting to pick up where Project CARS 2 left off – brushing aside the bafflingly casual reinvention of the series in Project CARS 3. If you need a comparison to chew on, it’s a little like how Jaws 4 ignores the events of Jaws 3D. Unfortunately, just like Jaws 4, things get real fishy, real fast.
Superficial Intelligence
To be fair, Project Motor Racing’s single-player set up has a good base and I do like how malleable it initially is, with three starting budget figures that give us the flexibility to approach the career mode however we choose. That is, you can select to begin with just enough cash to scrape into the entry-level categories, or a wallet big enough to buy any car on offer and head straight to the top classes. It’s smart that it has these options. There are actually slots to have three separate careers on the go simultaneously, so it’s possible to experiment with multiple approaches (or, in my instance, for my sons to dabble with their own career saves without messing around with mine – an underrated addition to any racing game).
I do like how malleable it initially is, with three starting budget figures that give us the flexibility to approach the career mode however we choose.
Your in-game payouts can also be tweaked to fit your playstyle. For instance, you can opt to keep things simple and take a flat payout per event, or you can mix it up and take bonuses for winning only – or even have your damage repair bills covered in return for a steady portion of your event takings. This is an equally smart way of slinging out credits to us, regardless of how differently you or I may plan to go about our racing.
The management component plateaus here, though, since there are no other meaningful aspects to it. There’s no in-game way of creating a custom team appearance for the cars you buy and race, or applying sponsor logos. In this regard, don’t expect anything like, say, the recently released NASCAR 25. Support for mods is a much-touted feature of Project Motor Racing on both PC and console – and I have no doubt that many recognisable liveries will be convincingly recreated and available via user-created mods – but mods feel unlikely to fill this specific gap.
Once you have a team and a car, the campaign mode becomes a simple matter of selecting a championship or event, paying the entry fee, and competing. At this point, the overall objective is really that of any real-life race driver – spend your work days at high speed on 18 world-famous race tracks and do your best to win (or, failing that, not send your team bankrupt). This approach works for me. Or, at least, it would have, if Project Motor Racing had not been so bafflingly irritating to race in.
The racing is frustratingly close to being entirely decent, but it’s currently completely undermined by its aggressively oblivious AI and its brazenly unfair penalty system – both of which are so annoying I have no desire to keep playing at the moment.
The racing is frustratingly close to being entirely decent, but it’s currently completely undermined by its aggressively oblivious AI and its brazenly unfair penalty system.
The big problem with the AI is that they regularly drive like you’re not on track. I’m not just talking about them coming across on you when you only have a slight overlap and probably got optimistic sticking your nose there in the first place (although they will do that, and watching the replays exposes that they’ll do so by sometimes clipping through your front end like you’re a ghost). I’m talking about the absolute argy-bargey that occurs when you’re right alongside them and they want to carry on sticking to the racing line like freight trains, so they thump into you with zero regard for your existence. It certainly doesn’t help that it currently features no radar or proximity indicators for the cars around you, and no spotter either.
On PS5, the single-player opponent count is actually limited to just 15 (crossplay multiplayer allows up to 32). Frankly, 15 isn’t near enough for a racing sim of this type but, considering the way they drive, I guess I don’t know that I’d want any more of these lunatics out there right now.
Let’s be clear, my favourite real-world racing categories are old school Super Touring and V8 Supercars, so I am unequivocally all for elbows-out, panel-punishing racing in my games, too – but this just takes the piss. Project Motor Racing’s AI regularly reminds me more of classic Gran Turismo, where the AI racers always felt exponentially heavier and generally incapable of being affected by the player’s car. To experiment, I’ve cannoned into the back of opponents for no result. They just carry on cornering without losing a position, while I’m parked in the gravel.
The issue is compounded by a ruinously strict track limit penalty system that will just nuke your whole race for zero reason. Get bumped off track by the AI? That’ll be a two-second penalty for breaching track limits. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t your fault, and it doesn’t matter that you’ll have already likely lost time because of it. If you have the opponent strength slider set at just the right level to have your times toe-to-toe with the AI, two seconds can be a lifetime. It just immediately ruins races. It’s a real buzzkill to be in the groove, lapping consistently with the pack a bit spread out, and thinking, “You know what? This actually feels pretty good right now” – then, bam; tiny moment, dud penalty.
Get bumped off track by the AI? That’ll be a two-second penalty for breaching track limits.
For comparison, Assetto Corsa Competizione also dishes out penalties, but only if it detects an advantage. If you’re forced off track – or if your ego writes a cheque your tyres can’t cash and you grab a bit of impromptu dirt on a corner exit – ACC won’t penalise you if you didn’t benefit from the off-track excursion. Project Motor Racing is the exact opposite, whacking you with penalties for tiny mistakes that have already cost you time. Hell, they don’t even have to be tiny; you can spin, get overtaken by the whole field, and still be slapped with a two-second penalty the moment you rejoin. I wasn’t cheating; I was crashing. Confusingly, I had better luck actually cheating, because the penalty system allowed me to blast straight ahead at T1 on Project Motor Racing’s off-brand version of Monza, pay my dues by slowing to 60km/h, and immediately go from 16th to 1st. This is repeatable, too – and sometimes I actually didn’t get penalised at all.
At any rate, it’s thanks to the penalty system I certainly have no interest playing the career on “authentic” difficulty, which locks the opponent strength at 100 and does not allow race restarts. This might be a problem if trophies are important to you, because a horde of them are tied up behind completing the career on “authentic”. Authentic mode is optional, but Project Motor Racing would do well to remember we’re not all as quick as real racing drivers when we play video games. That’s why I play video games. For now, any time I get pinged unfairly in my current career I typically just hit the pause menu and try again. I just need to hope that everyone is facing the right way when we restart.
A Storm is Coming
Project Motor Racing’s weaknesses on track are annoying considering how much I like its current garage, and doubly so considering how excited I was to learn that Australian touring cars from two separate eras of the Supercars series are planned to arrive as DLC later next year.
Project Motor Racing features over 70 cars, and I admire the distilled approach of focusing strictly on racing models. Ferrari and McLaren appear to have turned down a seat at the table for now – which does create some hefty holes in the categories it focuses on – but it’s particularly neat to see some of the old GT and N-GT cars that rarely get much love in contemporary racing games. For instance, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Lister Storm and its 7.0l V12. After all, there ain’t no replacement for displacement.
The cars look nice in the menu screens, but they’re not as glamorous out on track. In action, it’s actually quite washed out, and it absolutely does not look a generation newer than the excellent Project CARS 2. Damage is underwhelming, as is the rain. There are a lot of layers to the sound, which does capture a good deal of the raw, mechanical noises of a race car – although broadly speaking there’s room for improvement, and I’d love the engine notes to be a little thicker and throatier.
In terms of how the cars handle, however, I’m tugged in two directions – literally, in this instance. There’s really nothing more important to a race sim than the handling, and I have to say there are some car and track combos in Project Motor Racing where I’ve felt very satisfied with the overall feel on a wheel (the only PlayStation wheel I have is the Thrustmaster T-GT II, which isn’t a direct-drive wheel, but is about as good as belt-driven wheels get in terms of force feedback).
For instance, in a GT3 car like the Audi R8 or the Ford Mustang at Mount Panorama, I can lap clean and the cars feel compliant beneath me. Am I as quick as a real GT3 driver? Not at all, and I’m probably underdriving the cars by some margin – but it does all feel quite intuitive to me at the speed I race. The buzz from kerbs is strong, and the sensation of weight fluctuating is impressively pronounced – like everything lightening up for a beat as you barrel over a crest and your car becoming heavier and stickier as you scoot from the end of a slope. This is a big factor on a track with such profound elevation changes, like Bathurst. The disparity in performance on a cold tyre versus a warm tyre is also huge in Project Motor Racing, and the very real necessity to drive the first lap or so more delicately is also a satisfying enough challenge here.
I’ve been far less confident in other cars, however. The hypercars are the worst culprits. They just want me dead. Obviously I’m not a professional racing driver, and I’m not going to speak to you like I am – or act like I know exactly what’s going on beneath the surface of something like Project Motor Racing when it comes to simulating a Le Mans prototype. The hypercars, however, are undriveable out of the box – even on a wheel. They pull left and right, they slip, slide, and scrub – and there’s just zero feeling of the immense downforce I expected. For clarity, we’re talking about cars that produce four times as much downforce as they do drag.
Unfortunately, on gamepad, the news is worse. It’s just way too twitchy to be a satisfying sim on a standard controller – especially when the tiniest erroneous flick of a stick can mean a nonsense penalty. I tried dialling down the sensitivity of the steering, but it really had little effect. Cars (especially the prototypes) get so unsettled when steering from left to right on a gamepad I just can’t really recommend picking up Project Motor Racing if that’s exclusively the way you plan to play it.
Here we go! It’s officially Black Friday 2025, and the amount of Pokémon deals available right now is insane. Rather than sifting through endless listings, I’ve already done my homework to ensure trainers catch the best Pokémon deals. From Pokémon TCG to Plushies, there’s something for every Pokéfan this year.
TL;DR: The Best Pokémon Black Friday Deals
The best thing about Amazon right now is the different ways to get even more money off these Black Friday deals. The first method is applying for an Amazon Visa card. If successful, you’ll snag a free and instant $60 Amazon gift card to spend right away, no need to get into debt.
You can also get up to 50% off using the AMEX or Discover loyalty scheme, which also includes points to spend on orders to save money. You usually have to spend atleast $1 on your card to activate the automatic discount, but you’ll end up saving far more.
Let’s get into the best 2025 Pokémon Black Friday deals, whhich i’m also keeping an eye on and updating until the end of Cyber Monday!
TCGPlayer’s Cyber Sale (Starts Nov. 28)
This promotion will be running until December 1, 11 pm ET. So if you’ve been waiting for your favorite chase cards to go down in value to snap them up, this is it.
TCGPlayer does these promotions once or twice a year for a big holiday like Black Friday and Halloween, but this 10% credit offer comes while Pokémon TCG is finding a new floor.
That much is clear just by looking at the most recent Pokémon TCG set, Phantasmal Flames. But more on that later, long story short, this is a great time to pick up chase cards.
If you’re planning on snapping up quite a few Pokémon cards in the sale, this is a great time to become a TCGPLayer subscriber. It costs $8.99 a month and gives users free delivers and 1% cashback regardless of the time of year.
Whilst this climbs to 3% after a years membership, subscriber will get a boosted 13% cashback over cyber weekend on top of their usual cashback. For longtime members, this could equate to 16% cashback, which is frankly insane.
Pokémon TCG
Amazon TCG sealed product is getting closer and closer to market value, with some products such as MEga Evolution and Phantasmal Flames dipping under quite often.
Whilst Black Friday is all about shifting old inventory, The Pokémon Company is still rolling out their bigger print runs, so expect pretty much anything in the TCG department this year.
Using the above discounts and gift card offer could even score you a free booster bundle or two this Black Friday, so stay savvy and I’ll keep trainers updated on any bangers.
AMEX and Discover Amazon Loyalty Discounts
Not only can you sign up for an Amazon Visa card for a free $60 gift voucher right now, but you can get up to 50% off Pokémon TCG if you use your AMEX or Discovery card when you place an order on Amazon.
You’ll only need to spend $1 to activate the automatic discount, so if you end up combining the 50% discount with the $60 gift card, you could get things like Booster Boxes and Blister Packs for free, with Elite Trainer Boxes costing around $20-$30. Now that’s a Black Friday deal!
Squishmallows
I’m calling it, Pokémon Squishmallows are perfect and i’ll die on that hill. Soft materials, even softer fillings and loads of different Pokémon to choose from. Tell me you don’t want to cuddle a Happy Pikachu when you go to bed on Christmas Day? I’m a 37 year old man, and I’m also not a liar. The 20″ Black Friday deals are the best at the moment, so snap one up.
Plushies
If you like all your Pokémon Plushies not looking like easter eggs this holiday, there’s plenty of official ones that have been given the Black Friday price cut too. Favorites such as Pikachu and Dragonite are here, and even a new set of Christmas Kanto starters to make your home or bedroom even cozier whilst its freezing outside. There’s also an Alolan Raticate if you like offending your eyes.
MEGA
Yes, Pokémon LEGO is coming in 2026, but that doesn’t mean MEGA Pokémon sets aren’t awesome. There’s some brilliant deals here, with my favorite being the Motion Gyarados. It rocks over 2000 pieces and has a moving mouth and tail, it’s a very cool display piece at a an even better Black Friday price.
Funko Pop!
An exclusive Softcolor Charmander Funko Pop! in a Black Friday deal? Insane scenes, snap that one up before it sells out. The Galar starters, Grookey, Sobble and Scorbunny are all here, including some fan favorites like Eevee and Mewtwo for well below MSRP. Catch ’em all!
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
