Magic: The Gathering's next set is a crossover with one of the few tabletop properties that may have a broader reach than the Wizards of the Coast trading card game - Dungeons & Dragons, the roleplaying game, also published by Wizards of the Coast, that endures as one of the most visible and popular examples of fantasy tabletop experiences. The set, titled Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, is being designed as a full-fledged Standard expansion that will introduce hundreds of Dungeons & Dragons-themed cards into the game's competitive landscape.
Those interested in the crossover will likely have already seen a few examples of what's in store. Drizzt Do'Urden, the iconic drow ranger, has his own card, as does nemesis Lolth, Queen of Spiders. It's been clear from the outset that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is being designed with a keen attention to detail befitting the first Dungeons & Dragons set, but just how the broader set design would implement characters, abilities, weapons, and lore from such a rich fantasy universe remained to be seen.
During a preview session in advance of more Adventures in the Forgotten Realms reveals, Screen Rant was able to see more of the vision behind the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set. While the cards themselves are ambitious and exciting, the presentation also positioned the set as an experience that's laser focused on providing a particular set of players with a top-tier expansion.
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is MTG for Dungeons & Dragons Players
If nothing else, one thing became abundantly clear during the presentation - Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is designed with more attention paid to fans of Dungeons & Dragons than, say, Innistrad was designed for fans of Gothic horror. The key takeaway, however, was that the set feels much more like its focused on drawing Dungeons & Dragons players into Magic: The Gathering than it is providing existing MTG players who overlap as fans of D&D with an experience that perfectly marries the two.
What that means in practice is that the set has a lot of flash and complexity to it, alongside a slew of references to existing Dungeons & Dragons lore. Magic: The Gathering players who haven't tried Dungeons & Dragons will likely have a lot of the inner workings of the set go over their head; perhaps by design, since it may incentivize them to check out the fantasy tabletop roleplaying game further in the future. Beyond just obvious depictions of iconic characters, there are also subtle hints to equipment and location lore that dedicated Dungeons & Dragons adventurers will pick up on.
That isn't to say that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will ostracize existing Magic: The Gathering players. It's true that the appeal of the set, the mechanic that was presented in the preview, and the allure of its characters will be much more impactful for those with a well-versed background in Dungeons & Dragons, however.
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Has One Of The Weirdest MTG Mechanics Ever
Porting the universe of Dungeons & Dragons into Magic: The Gathering is a fairly straightforward affair - the latter property already has existing lore for exploring other worlds, and both properties are fantasy-based, making the partnership sensible and compelling. Recreating the experience of playing Dungeons & Dragons in a game of Magic: The Gathering was always going to be much more difficult, but the Venture mechanic is both a weird and wonderful way to do it, and seems especially well-suited to the online Magic Arena client.
Venture essentially sees players choose a Dungeon from three different options outside the game, then begin tracking progress through said dungeon as they continue to use the Venture mechanic. Dungeons have winding paths, so there are different options in every room that effect the game state. It's essentially introducing a sub-game to a standard Magic: The Gathering experience, and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms really does seem to embrace and deliver on the concept of bringing a Dungeons & Dragons session into MTG.
What that means for the game, however, remains to be seen. Venture is an exciting and interesting mechanic, but it's also pretty complex, requiring advance planning, pre-game preparation in the form of Dungeon cards and counters to track them, and a lot of game board maintenance while the mechanic is in play. It's also not shared by players, so there can be two dungeons to track at a given time if both players are using the Venture mechanic. It's the type of mechanic that feels like a perfect fit for the set's design goals, but in practice, especially in offline play, might become a headache for too many.
Ultimately, it's still too early into preview season to tell exactly what Adventures in the Forgotten Realms has in store for Magic: The Gathering. The preview indicates a set that's unafraid of taking chances, both in the demographic of players it serves best and in the mechanics its implementing. There's no denying that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms already evokes a lot of what a Dungeons & Dragons veteran might expect from the set - hopefully, there's some more here to appeal to a more invested MTG fan as well as preview season truly gets underway.
Magic: The Gathering - Adventures in the Forgotten Realms releases on July 23, 2021, with a prerelease week spanning July 16 to July 22, 2021. Screen Rant was invited to a private press conference for the purpose of this preview.