Sets (AFR) Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Previews- Dripping with Flavor, and Excess Words!

[TrainmasterGT]

You know we're in for a doosey when the basic lands have three lines of text:

Spoiler: My Very Subjective Opinions on this Subject

Obviously this is just my opinion, I know some people are going to love these. I'm just not a fan.

However, these lands aren't the only wordy cards in the set! Take a look at these:

These cards are cool. Power Word Kill is probably going in to a lot of cubes, but I feel it runs into the Heartless Act "problem" where it has a million extra words to basically just say "Terror, but better."

I'm still probably cubing it, though

We also have EDH Timmy Dragon Tiamat:

Here's the Buy-a-Box Promo:

Finally, we have a Beholder place-in to show the Showcase frame:

I'm sure this classic rulebook frame will make people who played old-school DnD really happy. As someone who really has never played this DnD before, I find a lot of the lore stuff to be somewhat unexciting. I'm happy to see some good cards, though, and some of these will probably see Cube play for a long time!

 

[Peter LaCara]

I started playing D&D and Magic in the summer of '94 at the same time. I bought Spellfire cards once upon a time. So when I say that I've been waiting decades for this, I want you to understand my full meaning.

 

[Nemo]

I share your opinion on basics with flavor text. I was hoping they would put out some basics with a really nice, classic fantasy feel in this set. I'm still excited for this set. This and MH2 are the biggies for me this year.

 

[Brad]

For the basics, someone will like it. No harm done. I'm neutral.

Power Word Kill is kind of stupid like Heartless Act or Go for the Throat where it's so fucking close to Terminate in so many scenarios. I like the 1B kill spells to have an actual drawback. Sure, maybe the environment nerfs those somehow, but they're definitely pushing Terror designs lately.

I love Dragons and I love 5 color cards... Uh ohhh...

More like Buy-a-Black-Cube promo.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I started playing D&D and Magic in the summer of '94 at the same time. I bought Spellfire cards once upon a time. So when I say that I've been waiting decades for this, I want you to understand my full meaning.

Wow, that's a long time! I really hope this set meets your expectations.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Actually now I'm curious... Is there ANYONE else on this board that played Spellfire? I bought a ton of packs once upon a time as a youngster because the game was dead and I could get a bajillion cards with my allowance to play with my brother.

 

[SirFunchalot]

Basics:

I like the flavor text on them, looks cool.

Portable Hole:

Incredibly exciting card! 1 mana white removal that hits a ton of different card types and exiles is the kind of card that's destined to be a staple of not just eternal formats but my cube for years to come. What a sweet card!

Power Word Kill:

This card looks great! Kills almost everything in most formats, my cube included and at 2 mana instant speed is still a fine enough rate. Unsure if it'll push over Heartless Act in standard just because of how common Goldspan Dragon.

Prosperous Innkeeper:

etb make a treasure is a cool line of text but at 2 mana this seems like too much for standard unless there's some meaningful points of synergy due to the artifact generated or the lifegain the card gets you.

Tiamat:

I love it. Super cool way of expressing the cards flavor from D&D. It's obviously not a competitive card as it costs too much mana and only draws more dragons, but it's cool and i bet the extended art foil is a million dollars since every casual commander player is gonna jizz themselves over this bad boy.

Vorpal Sword:

I don't love this card. The 8 mana activated ability is obviously flavor text and honestly, so is the deathtouch. Most aggro creatures holding a Darksteel Axe are already trading with most creatures that could block them and I find it very hard to believe that being able to trade a Skyclave Shade with an Elder Gargaroth was the thing holding blaggro back from being playable in standard. Looks super mid to me. Even in low power cubes I think this compares super unfavorably to all the various Trusty Machete variants that at least have the decency to go into multiple different aggro decks instead of just blaggro.

 

[Brad]

I don't follow release info until spoilers hit...

Are there Adventures in Adventures?

 

[japahn]

Actually now I'm curious... Is there ANYONE else on this board that played Spellfire? I bought a ton of packs once upon a time as a youngster because the game was dead and I could get a bajillion cards with my allowance to play with my brother.

I sat with my friend as he tried to teach my spellfire when I was 8. He didn't know the rules either though, but he made some pyramid with lands that still fascinates me to this day.

 

[Jason Waddell]

Ah, cool, that enemy from Doom is in the set.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Ah, cool, that enemy from Doom is in the set.

View attachment 3991

I'll have you know that that's one of the most iconic D&D monsters in existence, the beholder, and that it's conception predates Doom by almost 20 years.

I started playing D&D and Magic in the summer of '94 at the same time. I bought Spellfire cards once upon a time. So when I say that I've been waiting decades for this, I want you to understand my full meaning.

Shit, you've been at it even longer than me! I started playing AD&D 2nd edition in the fall of '99. Never played Spellfire though.

 

[alvoi]

Portable Hole could have been an enchantment and the green card could have been a white Kithkin.
Maybe there are reasons I can't understand since I never played D&D, but they shouldn't kill all of Magic's flavour for this set

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Portable Hole could have been an enchantment and the green card could have been a white Kithkin.
Maybe there are reasons I can't understand since I never played D&D, but they shouldn't kill all of Magic's flavour for this set

Portable Hole is a famous magic item from D&D, it's not a spell, so that's why they made it an artifact.
Kithkin isn't a D&D race, halfling is, so that's why they made it a halfling.

They're not killing Magic's flavor, they're making a set in the D&D universe which has existing lore and flavor. Next time they visit Lorwyn, we'll be back to seeing kithkin. I mean, you can think what you will of D&D and MtG crossing over of course, but it was kind of inevitable

 

[Velrun]

Gods have become less and less immortal

The 'immortal' is Tiamat from Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

 

[sigh]

I love the flavor text lands, and honestly I would have loved if they were only flavor text. I understand why they have pictures, but so much of DnD is listening to the DM paint the picture in your mind, it would have been cool to go all the way with that theme.

Portable Hole is awesome, great for Trinket Mage to tutor up, and deals with any nonland. Nice. Probably replacing my Sunlance.

 

[blacksmithy]

i’ve cooled off on vorpal sword after sleeping on it, but very hot on Portable Hole as it’s perfect for my environment and goes great with Glass Casket to push artifacts in White.
Power Word Kill is cool and hits lots of stuff but the art gives me Thought Scour flashbacks so i’ll probably stick with prettier kill spells. those frickin teeth man

 

[Jason Waddell]

I don't know if a 'destroy target creature unless it belongs to <insert subset of creatures>' 1B Instant will ever excite me again. There are uncountably many.

 

[Rowan_CB]

the flavor text on the basics is a cute touch. Confused about why exactly the D&D theme means the basics can't actually depict plains, an island, a swamp, a mountain, OR a forest though.

 

[Rowan_CB]

Portable Hole is very dope though, precisely because its a 1 CMC artifact.

 

[Rowan_CB]

I'm hoping for multi-kicker as a mechanic to evoke the flavor of casting the same spell at higher levels. E.g., magic missile could be a shock with multi-kicker ,and you may copy the spell and may choose new targets for each time it was kicked.

edit: or could magic missile only hit a single target? I haven't played D&D in more than a decade!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I'm hoping for multi-kicker as a mechanic to evoke the flavor of casting the same spell at higher levels. E.g., magic missile could be a shock with multi-kicker ,and you may copy the spell and may choose new targets for each time it was kicked.

edit: or could magic missile only hit a single target? I haven't played D&D in more than a decade!

Magic missile shoots three darts by default nowadays, but you can aim them anywhere, and the spell can be upscaled to shoot additional missiles: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Magic Missile#content. Another characteristic of the spell is that it damage can't be prevented normally, so if you want to really nail the flavor you'ld have to make it an Arc Lightning variant that can be upscaled, with a "This damage can't be prevented" rider on top.

 

[Velrun]

Love the Basic lands with flavor text.
Now I need to find an artist who can alter them with some extended art.

 

[MinorBug]

I always appreciate new and unique basics, even if I don't like em, because I'd rather have a new and unique option exist than to get the 700th generic picture of a forest with nothing to make it stand out from the other options. I'm probably not going to ever look at these basics after the set's come out, but I'm glad they exist.
White versatile removal spell is strong and will likely have impact in constructed and in low-curving cubes.
Doom Blade variant number 20 is solid. A lot of environments run some Doom Blades and so this is a potential swap for em since it'll often be one of the stronger (and cooler) variants.
None of the other cards particularly interest me, but it's a nice range of cards that should appeal to a variety of players.
Oh, and I love the cool frame on that beholder. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the cards from the set.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I don't know if a 'destroy target creature unless it belongs to <insert subset of creatures>' 1B Instant will ever excite me again. There are uncountably many.

Destroy target non-Brushwagg creature.

 

[landofMordor]

I quite like the old-school looking frame, not because I've ever played DnD a day in my life, but because it's a neat way to spice up the art of my cube now we just need one of the showcases to be a decent rate...