Magic Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Preview: Wyll, Blade of Frontiers

Magic: The Gathering and ComicBook.com has an exclusive look at one of the Legendary creatures that can serve as players’ commanders. Wyll, Blade of Frontiers is a noble-born monster hunter in the Forgotten Realms setting who appears in Baldur’s Gate III. In Magic: The Gathering‘s Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate set, Wyll, Blade of Frontiers is a Legendary Creature — Human Warlock with 1 power and 1 toughness that costs 1R to cast. A player who chooses Wyll, Blade of Frontiers as their commander may also choose a Background, a new type of Legendary Enchantment introduced in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, as a second commander.

Wyll, Blade of Frontiers’ abilities lean heavily into the gameplay mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons as represented in Magic: the Gathering. His first is, “If you would roll one or more dice, instead roll that many dice plus one and ignore the lowest roll.” That’s a sure way to increase high results on die rolls. Wyll, Blade of Frontiers’ second ability synergizes with his first. He may be 1/1 as a base, but he also has “Whenever you roll one or more dice, put a +1/+1 counter on Wyll, Blade of Fronters,” meaning Wyll, Blade of Frontiers will get stronger with every dice roll. You can see the card in the standard, rulebook, and etched forms, featuring artwork by Mads Ahm and Justine Mara Andersen, below.

Magic: The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate from Wizards of the Coast brings back some familiar mechanics from Magic: The Gathering‘s first foray into the Dungeons & Dragons mythology, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms while introducing some new mechanics and borrowing mechanics from other Magic: The Gathering sets. Backgrounds are a brand new mechanic influencing commander choices from the start. Players will also be able to take the initiative, which allows players to venture into the Undercity,  the Undercity being a new entry in another Dungeons & Dragons mechanic returning from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Dungeons.

Of course, this is a Dungeons & Dragons set, meaning that there will be dragons in addition to dungeons. With this set being set in the Forgotten Realms city of Baldur’s Gate, the set also includes Gates, a special type of nonbasic lands introduced for Magic: The Gathering‘s sets based on the plane of Ravnica. The Myriad mechanic from Commander 2015 also returns. The Adventure mechanic, first introduced in the fairytale-inspired Throne of Eldraine set, is back and should be right at home in the new Dungeons & Dragons expansion.

Magic: The Gathering‘s Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate goes on sale on June 10th.