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Magic: The Gathering: Commander Legends 2: Baldur's Gate Previews!

Welcome, players, collectors, and fans of both Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, the world-famous tabletop games by Wizards of the Coast! Normally, for a preview season kickoff such as this we would just be extending our welcome to the Magic players in our midst. However, because this is Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate and features a plethora of D&D crossover goodies, we figure we ought to extend our olive branch to those roleplayers in our midst. In any event, Wizards of the Coast has finally kicked off the preview season for two major aspects of Magic at once. This set is not only a Commander-centric set release but also a D&D crossover set as well! So without further ado, let's look over some of the things you may have missed during the stream.

The full art for Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, a new legendary creature from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, the next supplemental expansion set for Magic: The Gathering. Illustrated by John Stanko.
The full art for Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, a new legendary creature from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, the next supplemental expansion set for Magic: The Gathering. Illustrated by John Stanko.

To begin, there are a few new mechanics in this set alongside a couple of returning mechanics, as is customary for supplemental sets of this caliber. One returning mechanic is Myriad, which creates token copies of a creature during combat. The tokens and their progenitor equal the number of opponents you have. Myriad as an ability only triggers when the creature in question attacks. Let's look at Battle Angels of Tyr!

Battle Angels of Tyr, a new creature card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Battle Angels of Tyr, a new creature card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.

Normally, creatures with myriad have some sort of ability that either somehow affects combat or otherwise is behooved by combat involving that creature, so it's no surprise that Battle Angels of Tyr has an ability that triggers off of dealing combat damage to players. Furthermore, this may hint at a card like Blade of Selves being reprinted in the set (however, there's no telling if this will hold true until/unless we see it for ourselves).

Now, onto some of the new mechanics. In this set there are enchantment cards with an all-new subtype known as a Background. These Background cards affect commander creatures you control in some way or another depending on what the card does. Observe Raised by Giants and Scion of Halaster for two prime examples:

Raised by Giants, a new Background enchantment card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Raised by Giants, a new Background enchantment card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Scion of Halaster, a new Background enchantment card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Scion of Halaster, a new Background enchantment card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.

These Background cards can be pretty strong and even can augment the color identity of your deck!

"…Wait. What? How?" we hear you ask. Well, dear readers, the Background cards can be cast from your command zone! That is, provided you have a creature that allows you to choose your background, like the two options shown below:

Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, a new legendary creature card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, a new legendary creature card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Volo, Itinerant Scholar, a new legendary creature card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.
Volo, Itinerant Scholar, a new legendary creature card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new set for Magic: The Gathering.

That's right, Volo, Guide to Monsters makes a reappearance in Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate! And speaking of such, here's a card that exemplifies the themes of the set:

Baldur's Gate, the eponymous legendary land card from this set, which is a supplemental set for Magic: The Gathering.
Baldur's Gate, the eponymous legendary land card from this set, which is a supplemental set for Magic: The Gathering.

And of course it's going to be a Gate. It's literally right there in the name! It makes us wonder if there may be other Gate cards in this set… Moving on, we have a major reprint that is likely the result of many requests on the part of the players:

Bramble Sovereign, a reprinted card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, an upcoming set for Magic: The Gathering.
Bramble Sovereign, a reprinted card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, an upcoming set for Magic: The Gathering.

Bramble Sovereign, a card that was first printed in Battlebond, makes its reappearance in this set as well! A much-needed reprint, Bramble Sovereign is a big deal for Commander players across the board. How cool!

Finally, it's time for us to don our robe and wizard hat, because our final preview from the stream is here, precisely when he needs to be:

Elminster, a new planeswalker card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new supplemental expansion set for Magic: The Gathering.
Elminster, a new planeswalker card from Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate, a new supplemental expansion set for Magic: The Gathering.

Elminster takes that ages-old trope of mystical wizened magus and rolls with it on every level. What a super-cool card to maybe pull in your first draft of the set!

Are you excited about Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate? How happy are you that Magic: The Gathering got another Dungeons & Dragons crossover set? Let us know your joy (or other emotions) in the comments below!


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Joshua NelsonAbout Joshua Nelson

Josh Nelson is a Magic: The Gathering deckbuilding savant, a self-proclaimed scholar of all things Sweeney Todd, and, of course, a writer for Bleeding Cool. In their downtime, Josh can be found painting models, playing Magic, or possibly preaching about the horrors and merits of anthropophagy. You can find them on Twitter at @Burning_Inquiry for all your burning inquiries.
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