Posted in: Card Games, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, magic, MTG, MTGAFR, WotC

Magic: The Gathering "Adventures" Recaps: July 1st-2nd

The preview season for Magic: The Gathering's next expansion set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, is picking up some major speed now that we are a week into the spoilers. For those not yet in the know, the next set for Magic is a crossover event with Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast's other major intellectual property, and as such there are a ton of overt references to the game in the card game now that this is finally happening. Today, we have another group of highlights from July 1st through July 2nd. Let's go!

Treasured Monsters Of The Forgotten Realms

The first pair of cards we will be delving into deal with the production of Treasure tokens en masse. Of the two, the first one we wish to discuss adds extra Treasure production to each generation of at least one token of that type. That card is Xorn, a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster from the Elemental Plane of Earth.

The other card that is absolutely worth a ton of discussion is Old Gnawbone. This card, speaking frankly, probably shouldn't exist, and wouldn't, if it were any other setting. While it is true that Old Gnawbone is in a cycle of mythic rare Dragon creatures and thus makes sense as a large green creature with flying, the other ability gives us pause. It is true that green ramps, oftentimes way harder than other other colors, but the color only makes artifact tokens in artifact-centric sets such as Kaladesh, and Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter this is not.

Simply put, the effect isn't terribly green, so it makes little sense to us as to why it's on a monogreen creature. But, at risk of our zeal on the matter showing any further, let's move on!

The Halfling Who Wished For Fins

The next card we want to highlight is Gretchen Titchwillow, a Halfling Druid who makes a decent impression of Thrasios, Triton Hero. However, despite being effectively a double-Growth Spiral on legs, Thrasios proves the superior mana sink for Commander and other formats are unlikely to want to use the ability at a cost of four mana.

If she's a Halfling, why does her ability cost double the full-length Thrasios? The world may never know.

Faith Needs Guardians

The last card we will be going over in this recap is Guardian of Faith. This card is neat because it seems to indicate that phasing is now deciduous as a mechanic at the very least, meaning it shows up where it is needed on a card instead of being setting-dependent (like Mutate) or always present (like Flying). With flash and a competitively minded mana cost, Guardian of Faith will shield even the most unevasive of creatures for the rest of the round.

As we are about a week into the new set's spoiler season, what do you think of it? Is the Magic: The Gathering crossover with Dungeons & Dragons what you expected it to be, or better (or worse) than that? Let us know in the comments below!

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