Magic: The Gathering has shared more information regarding its upcoming Dungeons & Dragons-themed expansion: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will incorporate a variety of iconic Dungeons & Dragons characters, locations, monsters and mechanics into Magic: The Gathering. Several iconic heroes from the D&D universe will be incorporated into the game, as well as more obscure heroes designed to appeal to die-hard fans of the tabletop role-playing game.
"The goal with Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is to tell a story while giving Dungeons & Dragons players familiar gameplay elements and for players who aren't as familiar accessible and fun ways to play Magic," said Meris Mullaley, Wordldbuilding Design Manager behind the expansion. One of the major new additions to Magic: The Gathering is the inclusion of flavor text on many of the expansion's basic lands. Some of the newly unveiled basic lands include a variety of well-known Dungeons & Dragons locations, including the Underdark and the Spine of the World.
Dragons will play a major part in the upcoming expansion, with Wizards of the Coast placing special care to pay homage to the Dungeons & Dragons' most iconic creatures. While legendary monsters, like the five-headed Tiamat, have been included, the designers have also played closer attention to the universe's sprawling lore. "We have pulled elements of D&D from books, from the established campaign adventures and have featured them on certain cards in this set," says Mullaley, while showcasing card art of Icingdeath, the iconic weapon of fan-favorite hero Drizzt Do'Urden.
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will also introduce the "Venture" mechanic to Magic: The Gathering. "Venture is a new mechanic that relies on a special Dungeon Card. There are three different Dungeon Cards," explained Wyatt. "So, whenever a card tells you to venture into the dungeon, what you do is you pick one of these dungeons and you put a marker at the very top room. Then every time you venture, you can move [the marker] down a level, farther into the dungeon." Players will then need to follow text is included in the room they've selected. Some actions include "Create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token," "Scry 1" and "Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature."
The venture mechanic has seemingly been designed to allow an element of player choice, potentially assisting in the creation of deck archetypes. Players can choose which of the three dungeons to add to their decks and build around its potential benefits by adding cards that allow consisting venturing. The Venture mechanic will be incorporated across a wide variety of cards, including commons. One of the newly unveiled cards, "Shortcut Seeker," allows players to venture into the dungeon after dealing combat damage.
Players can also earn rewards for completing dungeons. The power of the reward is based on how many ventures are required to clear it from end to end. Certain new cards, like "Dungeon Crawler" and "Gloom Stalker," will only trigger their effects if a dungeon has been completed, further incentivizing specialized deck-building.
Wizards of the Coast also teased that beyond Venture, players can look forward to even more mechanical reveals shortly. Starting on June 29, a new mechanic will be unveiled every day. Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will be available in Magic Online and Magic: The Gathering Arena on July 8. The tabletop set will launch on globally on July 23.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
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