Subsequent month, Wizards of the Coast is mixing two of its largest properties as soon as once more, however this time with a Commander twist. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate brings D&D taste again to Magic: The Gathering in a completely draftable set centered on the Commander format.
Just like the earlier Adventures within the Forgotten Realms set from final summer time, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate let's Magic gamers step foot into the prevailing role-playing world of Forgotten Realms, however with a tighter focus on the settlement of Baldur's Gate. The set takes inspiration from the D&D rulebooks and adventures and makes use of areas and characters from Bioware's basic Baldur's Gate video video games and Larian Studio's upcoming Baldur's Gate III. And sure, Minsc and Boo are again in motion, however this time in Planeswalker kind!
Let us take a look at a number of the playing cards and mechanics coming in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.
The Initiative
A mechanic known as Monarch has been a mainstay in Commander matches for years, and Battle for Baldur's Gate is bringing an fascinating new variant on this new set with "the initiative." The initiative in Dungeons and Dragons determines the flip order for gamers and NPCs, however the Magic model works somewhat in another way.
For the primary individual on the desk to realize the initiative, a spell should be cast, just like the one above, that features the phrases "take the initiative" within the guidelines textual content. This may give that participant the possibility to enterprise right into a particular dungeon named after the legendary Forgotten Realms location, Undercity, which may solely be ventured into by somebody with the initiative. No different earlier enterprise playing cards will push you ahead within the dungeon, although, so you may wish to maintain the initiative in your management if in any respect doable. If the participant with the initiative is dealt fight harm by one other participant, that participant takes the initiative and may reap the rewards discovered inside Undercity when their repairs step comes round.
Listed here are the official guidelines for the initiative on the mechanic's reminder token:
Every time a number of creatures a participant controls deal fight harm to you, that participant takes the initiative.
Everytime you take the initiative and in the beginning of your repairs, enterprise into Undercity. (In the event you're in a dungeon, advance to the subsequent room. In the event you're not, enter Undercity. You possibly can take the initiative even when you have already got it)
Backgrounds
Battle for Baldur's Gate has a intelligent approach of including further colours to your commander's identification with out creating much more legendary creatures with the hard-to-balance "Associate" mechanic. The answer is a set of enchantment playing cards castable out of your Command Zone known as Backgrounds. To play these spells as a stand-in for a Commander, you may have to pair it with a legendary creature from the set with the foundations textual content "select a background." As a result of it acts like a Commander, the identical guidelines apply to those spells, together with having to pay extra for the spell every time it has been cast from the Command Zone.
Not solely can Background enchantments be cast as a pseudo-Commander, however it's also possible to put them in your deck like every other card, though it provides a lot extra taste to the sport by bestowing a tragic or heroic story to your deck-leading basic. These spells additionally increase your Commander whereas each spells are on the battlefield, leaning onerous into the fantasy of this being a part of your creature's life indirectly. Possibly your legend was raised by giants, belongs to a cult, or was born into the Aristocracy. Solely the playing cards will inform what your story can be.
Adventures Return
This key mechanic from Throne of Eldraine is again in an enormous approach and presents loads of worth to the spells it exhibits up on. As a refresher, Journey playing cards have two spells on one card, with the principle operate being a creature and the Journey spell being an instantaneous or sorcery. In the event you cast the Journey a part of the spell, you pay the price and resolve that part's results like every other spell, however exiling the cardboard as a substitute of tossing it within the graveyard. Then the creature half could be cast at sorcery pace as if it had been cast out of your hand.
Adventures are a no brainer inclusion for a set that is primarily based on a sport centered round questing and journey. Aside from there being extra Journey playing cards in Battle for Baldur's gate, nothing in regards to the mechanic has modified because the halcyon days of Eldraine.
D20 Cube Rolling
I am of the opinion {that a} set primarily based round Dungeons and Dragons wants a cube rolling mechanic each time, and Wizards didn't let me down. As soon as once more, you may roll a twenty-sided die each time a card deems it authorized to take action, with completely different outcomes of the roll performing completely different results on a given card.
Cube rolling is not all that aggressive of a mechanic, at the very least not in conventional constructed codecs, nevertheless it's a blast in draft, and is extremely enjoyable to construct round in Commander. There have been methods of manipulating the end result of your rolls to stack the percentages in your favor in previous units, so I am hoping we see extra as preview season rolls on for Battle for Baldur's gate.
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate is coming very quickly, with pre-release occasions beginning on June 3 and the total set launch taking place on June 10. Magic: The Gathering Enviornment gamers can even be getting a model of Battle for Baldur's Gate with Alchemy Horizon: Battle for Baldur's Gate, which brings over 250 playing cards to Enviornment's Alchemy and Historic codecs. That digital set will drop on July 7.
We'll have an unique preview card for the set to disclose on Might 24, so maintain a watch out for that on the positioning subsequent week!
