Magic: The Gathering Digs Deep Into D&D With Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

For the first significant time, Dungeons & Dragons will be officially crossing over into Magic: The Gathering with the release of the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set in July. The crossover has largely, up to this point, gone the other way, with a couple of Magic: The Gathering's locales receiving their own D&D settings. Given that Wizards of the Coast is behind both popular games, it's honestly a bit shocking that it has taken this long to get a full-on crossover set of cards. And from what we gathered during a presentation from some of the designers, it really seems like the company is not going to waste the opportunity.

Essentially, expect exactly what the name for the Magic: The Gathering set states: adventures in the Forgotten Realms. The cards revealed thus far have largely focused on the journeys of the Forgotten Realms' favorite son, Drizzt Do'Urden, and his companions, but it was noted that it's not only creations of R.A. Salvatore that will get the featured treatment. Because Wizards of the Coast attempted to add legendary characters of various classes and races without significant duplication, that meant pulling from some potentially obscure places. That includes, but is not limited to, sources like comics, old computer video games, and even Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, the strategy video game that includes characters from a wide range of sources like novels and even D&D livestream campaigns.

In terms of new mechanics, Wizards of the Coast is set to reveal several new ones beginning June 29th, but for now, there is one particular one that was shown off: Venture. Basically, the Venture mechanic will literally see players "venture" into a dungeon. When a card says "venture into the dungeon," players will either enter the first room of a special dungeon card or advance to the next room in a given dungeon. These rooms have abilities that fire when players enter them, like Scry for a certain number or creating a Treasure token. There are also certain cards that have mechanics that are specifically designed to activate when a dungeon has been completed.

The flavor of D&D being brought to Magic: The Gathering isn't just in the mechanics and specific characters that are coming to the video game. Basic lands will have flavor text in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, and there will be a focus on cards like, say, innkeepers more than usual. Additionally, the special alternative card art in the set will take several pages out of the D&D sourcebooks -- sometimes quite literally. Some borderless lands will include art reminiscent of cover art from classic adventure modules, some legendary creatures will include art inspired by early Monster Manual art, and there will also even be art cards for creatures that have actual statblocks taken straight out of the D&D source material on the back.

Magic: The Gathering's Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set is scheduled to release globally on July 23rd. As usual, there will be a prerelease starting the weekend of July 16th. Additionally, it will release for Magic: The Gathering Arena starting July 8th, which is weeks earlier than the physical release. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Magic: The Gathering right here.

What do you think about the new Magic: The Gathering set so far? Are you excited to check it out for yourself next month? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming! And keep scrolling to check out a bunch of cards and their art treatments from the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set!