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

[Laz]

'Ok, you are travelling...' *roll behind screen* 'What was your passive perception? ... You see a swarm of something large and dark flying towards the mountains in the distance, but you can't quite make out what it is. Does anyone want to roll Nature? ... You are aware that it is almost Beholder mating budding season, and they typically migrate to mountains in the North to do so. Oh, you rolled really well - yeah, when Beholders bud they become progressively more paranoid and territorial until they spit out their tongue-womb. Yes tongue-womb. Anyway, you were travelling North into the mountains?'

Edit: Thanks Peter - and indeed Onderzeeboot for the mental image of soaring Beholders which is definitely not going to terrify any player characters in the near future.

 

[Peter LaCara]

*pushes up glasses*

Um, actually beholders don't mate. They reproduce asexually via budding.

 

[XRS]

I only wanted to see you casting Purple Worm
Purple worm, Purple worm.

Can't wait for MtgRemy's rendition.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

3GG for an 8/7 seems quite terrifying in retail limited. I mean, you should fear purple wurms, so that's apt

 

[ravnic]

Now THERE's a pridemate.

I don't think I like this more than the Lathriel, Bounteous Dawn I just added as my lifegain buildaround, but I'm still excited to see it. This being an uncommon most likely means lifegain is that color combination's theme, and I am still hoping for some green lifegain payoffs, that aren't parasitic (and less powerful than Blossoming Bogbeast).

 

[sigh]

An interesting thing they seem to be doing in this set is ability wording specific abilities from DnD (spells, features, etc) in the text of the cards. For example, owl-bear here has "keen sense" as an ability word, which is taken from the DnD monster description

3GG
Creature - Bird Bear
Trample Keen Sense - When Owlbear enters the battlefield, draw a card.
	4/4​

 

[alvoi]

I miss good ol' Kavu Climber

 

[sigh]

More spoilers showing that they are going ham with the ability words. I actually like this quite a lot. Bouncing a nonland is a perfectly good baseline, but the option to sneak in an "when deal combat damage" trigger or to turn a creature into a lethal blow through blockers is very nice.

 

[Chris Taylor]

on that note actually:

Like this and Dive down (which I'm playing at the moment) both have modes, but I think I like this one more?


For posterity, here's the (almost) full cycle (we don't have green)



Also this looks interesting:

Phoenix of Ash provides a sticky hasted scaling 3 drop, and this is probably at a similar level?

 

[sigh]

Flameskull is an interesting form of phoenix ability, or a cool red card draw source (but not both, which is neat), but can't block is.... meeeh. Also doesn't interact with the GY, which I really like in most phoenixes.

 

[inscho]

I really like these man lands. Blue one is a little too spendy I imagine. The red and white are pretty interesting tho.

Red>White>Black>Blue

Imo

 

[Peter LaCara]

There's a lot of sweet toolbox stuff in here, actually. Lots of options, which I like:

 

[alvoi]

I like cards like these with a lot of agency, but I really dislike the extra text. I would have prefered more flavour text and less ability words

 

[MilesOfficial]

I'm obsessed with these modal cards with flavor text.



I've changed my tune on this set. I absolutely love that this is a D&D set, and hope it leads to more creative card concepts for Magic in the future inspired by the successes they find here. Again, I've never really played D&D, but just adding flavor text into the abilities of the cards makes them both easier to grok and more engaging, and more modal cards are always a good thing.

I'm looking to probably just play You See a Pair of Goblins so far (I've got a big token theme in red, and even the instant speed on Dragon Fodder is a reasonable benefit), though Dawnbreaker Cleric's Knight of Autumn impression isn't anything to sneeze at either.

As for the man-lands, they're super disappointing so far. I may end up playing the Mardu ones yet, but the only one I really like is Den of the Bugbear, they're just so expensive! Waiting until I have 6 lands to attack with my 3/4 dragon is fine since it doesn't cost my deck a card, but it certainly is a precious slot in my cube.

Agreed with Chris Taylor re: Flameskull -- probably the closest in power level we've gotten to Phoenix of Ash for this type of card, and super interesting. I worry the recursion is going to confuse my drafters though, and red 3s are now one of the most competitive slots in my entire cube......wish I liked the art more, I'm not convinced it'll make it in even if it deserves a slot.

As for my last thought on these initial spoilers:



It's a cube! Perfect for cube

Palace Jailer this is not, but I'm still running Skinrender and Nekrataal and this seems pretty comparable (though I'd never emotionally be able to cut Nekretaal.....)

 

[Jason Waddell]

I dunno, I'm pretty into the set so far. Especially like the design of Flameskull.

 

[ravnic]

You see a card that ravnic wants to cube

I also love the flavor ability words, would like to see this regularly

 

[sigh]

Dayum, they are packing a lot of oomph into green 2 drops these days

 

[TekLazar]

I'd be a little pissed if my DM only offered me two to three options when they present me with a situation, but since it's also a nice callback to those old school text based adventures where those were the only options, then I suppose it's a flavor win

 

[shamizy]

Much like Strixhaven, this set looks like it'll be mostly a pass for me. I'm not a fan of the flavor words or whatever you call them, they just read very tacky to me. Like @Velrun mentioned earlier, this feels like a Secret Lair stretched over an actual set. That's not bad in a vacuum, but it is a turnoff for people like me who have zero connection to D&D.

 

[Seeker]

I like this. And I think I'm going to like it in Constructed, too. It's pushed.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Slamdunk for me, wow. Did not expect to like this set so much, but there's some fun, evocative designs every other card spoiled! I lover recursive creatures, cards that don't mind getting milled or sitting in graveyards, etc. and the flash on this actually puts it over the top in terms of flexibility. And they gave it a zombie creature type?? Aggressively costed without being oppressive, opens up dynamic play patterns with lots of choices, I don't know what else to say. I love this Dracolich! To think I ran Bone Dragon as long as I did. Maybe eventually I'll be able to get Boneyard Scourge back in...

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I like this. And I think I'm going to like it in Constructed, too. It's pushed.

I think I found a shoo-in for my top 10 article!

I quite like this card. It has roles in basically every black deck, from Aggro to Midrange to Control. It also fits really well into a bunch of different synergy archetypes such as Discard, Aristocrats, and Dredge. However, the fact that it's only a 5/2 means that players won't be shoving this into random decks unless they have the synergy to leverage it's abilities.

This card looks very good for the types of Cubes we tend to see on Riptidelab.

 

[inscho]

Important to note that it triggers on your opponent's creatures dying as well as your own. So you doom blade their dork and you get to recur this. Super good. Definitely pushed.

 

[sigh]

Very pushed. I dont think I would wait for "synergies" before putting this in a Bx deck. Synergy with removal isnt really synergy, and you dont even need to wait for removal to make it good. Just attack with stuff and let creature combat do the rest. Probably above the power level that I want.

 

[Velrun]

However, the fact that it's only a 5/2 means that players won't be shoving this into random decks unless they have the synergy to leverage it's abilities.

Having synergy such as.. having creatures in the deck and/or cards that can destroy creatures?