CGC Cards Grades Four Promos from the 2023 Magic: The Gathering Heroes of the Realm Set

Back in 2016, Chris Cocks — the president of Wizards of the Coast at the time — began brainstorming ways to show appreciation for the teams and individuals who went above and beyond for the company. His solution was to create a special set of Magic: The Gathering cards that would be awarded annually to teams for their work done during the year. This set became known as Heroes of the Realm, and Wizards of the Coast has awarded these cards to team members every year since its inception without fail.

CGC Cards™ recently graded four cards from the newest Heroes of the Realm set, awarded to WotC employees in 2023 for their accomplishments during 2022, including Elusen, the Giving; Heroes of Kamigawa; Svega, the Unconventional; and Treizeci, Sun of Serra.

Elusen, the Giving

Click images to enlarge.

During 2023, WotC partnered with several philanthropic charities — such as Extra Life, Black Girls Code, The Trevor Project and others — to raise money for different communities. The employees who supported these philanthropic efforts the most were awarded the Elusen, the Giving card. As of March 2024, CGC Cards has certified two examples of Elusen, the Giving, Magic: The Gathering (2023) Extra Life, according to the CGC Cards Population Report.

Elusen, the Giving is a Legendary Creature card illustrated by Livia Prima, a prominent artist within the Magic: The Gathering community. The Angel Advisor has flying, vigilance, lifelink and haste — all powerful abilities — and its main ability allows players to pass the card (and its control) to others during each postcombat main phase. In addition, players who choose to donate a permanent gain one life and create three Treasure tokens.

Heroes of Kamigawa

Click images to enlarge.

Heroes of Kamigawa was given to the WotC employees who worked on Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty — a set that was released on February 18, 2022. Kamigawa: Neon Destiny was Magic: The Gathering’s first science-fiction-themed set, a massive change from the traditional fantasy settings featured in most MTG sets since the game’s inception. The set was wildly successful, becoming one of MTG's most popular sets in recent years. As of March 2024, CGC Cards has certified five examples of Heroes of Kamigawa, Magic: The Gathering (2023) Neon Dynasty Team, according to the CGC Cards Population Report.

A Legendary Planeswalker, Heroes of Kamigawa works well with the Kamigawa expansion by allowing players to cast spells from the expansion with one less mana cost. In addition, the card can be called as a commander when played in Commander formats and has two additional abilities that can be triggered at various life costs.

Svega, the Unconventional

Click images to enlarge.

Ironically, though the card has “Unconventional” in its name, Svega, the Unconventional was awarded to Wizards of the Coast employees who organized conventions and other events throughout the year. As of March 2024, CGC Cards has certified one example of Svega, the Unconventional, Magic: The Gathering (2023) Community & Outreach Staff graded CGC 9.5, according to the CGC Cards Population Report.

Another Legendary Planeswalker, Svega, the Unconventional can also act as a commander in Commander format. Svega has Landfall, which adds loyalty counters to a target planeswalker, and also has various life and mana cost abilities.

Treizeci, Sun of Serra

Click images to enlarge.

Magic: The Gathering celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022. To commemorate the occasion, Wizards of the Coast released several special prerelease sets, each containing one of 30 promos — one for each year of MTG’s history. The team responsible for coordinating outreach for MTG’s 30th anniversary was awarded Treizeci, Sun of Serra. As of March 2024, CGC Cards has certified three examples of Treizeci, Sun of Serra, Magic: The Gathering (2023) Heroes of the Realm, according to the CGC Cards Population Report.

“Treizeci” is Romanian for “thirty,” alluding to the significance of Treizeci, Sun of Serra’s origin. As a “Sun of Serra,” Treizeci resonates exclusively with nostalgic cards, such as Serra Angel and other retro frame cards. On the field, Treizeci creates Serra Angel tokens for each nostalgic spell cast, as long as the player pays a mana cost.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Video Games, CGC Home Video and CGC Cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards.