Posted in: Card Games, Dungeons & Dragons, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: Adevntures in the Forgotten Realms, crossover, d&d, magic, MTG, MTGAFR, WotC

Magic: The Gathering Begins Dungeons & Dragons Crossover Previews

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is the next expansion set for Magic: The Gathering that crosses the card game over into mother company Wizards of the Coast's other huge intellectual property, Dungeons & Dragons. Its preview season has now officially begun and as such, we have some things we can show you which were revealed earlier today by Wizards themselves. Are you ready?

Venture Into The Dungeon

While we don't have any new Dragons to show you (okay, maybe save for one – but more on him later), one thing Wizards has revealed already is the mechanic, "venture into the dungeon". Many cards will have this clause of text as the effect of an ability (whether it will be on instant or sorcery spells remains to be seen, but it's a good bet). What does it mean, however? Well, Wizards of the Coast has revealed that there are precisely three things it could mean, in the form of special token cards that represent what dungeons actually do in Magic: The Gathering's take on the classic Dungeons & Dragons trope.

Dungeons exist in the command zone and have different effects based on the room you as a player happen to be entering. These three dungeons can range from relatively simple…

…To potentially infuriating to get through:

Once a player enters a dungeon, they have to complete it before doing another dungeon, but they can complete a single dungeon more than once. To progress from one room to another, simply activate or trigger a spell or ability that has you "venture into the dungeon", like the card below – the only Dragon card you'll see in this article – does!

Special Land Treatment

As we have seen in previous previews for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, this set marks the first time that basic land cards are going to be receiving flavor text. This text is spread out across twenty different basics, four in each type, Wastes notwithstanding, of course.

However, that isn't the only treatment affecting lands in this set. Various nonbasic lands in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will be receiving a treatment that makes them look like the cover of a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module!

A Bestiary In Every Art Card

Let's backtrack for a moment. Many of you who watch for Magic: The Gathering previews like vigilant hawks happen to have already seen the card for Flumph. If not, you can see it below or by clicking that link to get to its page on Scryfall.

In every Set Booster for Magic: The Gathering, art cards come one per pack. Looking at the front of the art card for Flumph, we see nothing particularly new. We see the art, and potentially, in a rare case or two, the signature of the artist who created said illustration.

However, for this set, Wizards of the Coast knew they had to tie Dungeons & Dragons in even more. Therefore, on the back face of various art cards in this Magic set, abridged stat blocks have been printed!

New Planeswalkers

The last thing we want to touch upon is that the new planeswalker cards in this set will feature interplanar characters iconic to Dungeons & Dragons as a whole. Major characters like Lolth will be seen, as we have found out a couple of weeks ago. However, they do not cross any streams with the Magic Multiverse, nor does the inverse occur. As such, Planeswalkers like Jace Beleren or Chandra Nalaar do not show up in this set, although that policy for any potential future sets is still, obviously, able to be altered by the company. Furthermore, it has been revealed that certain planes of existence from the Dungeons & Dragons canon, such Ravenloft, will not be featured at all in this set. Apologies to all those fans of Strahd von Zarovich out there (but hey, the next set is a double-feature return to Innistrad, so don't complain!). But while we are on the subject of Planeswalkers…

Are you excited about Magic: The Gathering's new crossover with Dungeons & Dragons? Will Adventures in the Forgotten Realms satiate your appetite for, well, adventure? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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