If you’ve met me in the last 10 years of my life, you’ve probably thought of me as the “Dungeons & Dragons Guy.” But if you knew me in the 10 years prior to that, you’ve probably heard of me as the “Magic: The Gathering Guy.”
Now, Dungeons & Dragons is entering Magic: The Gathering. They’re the two biggest franchises out of Wizards of the Coast (WotC). They’re both owned by the same company (Hasbro). It would seem like a no-brainer for them to come together.
Magic: The Gathering (MtG) is a Trading Card Game (TCG) where you and a friend grab a deck, and versus each other. Decks may be constructed out of a specific colour, a certain tribe, based on combo, or maybe based on the metagame, the flavor of the weeks, months, seasons, whatchamacallit. Players are called spellslingers or planeswalkers.
Every player falls into certain stereotypes:
- You may be a Timmy, who just wants to cast big splashy spells…
- You might just like to build combos like a Johnny… or
- You just like building decks, because of the flavor… You’re a Vorthos.
I’m a Magic: The Gathering player from say the ‘90s or early ‘00s, and I remember my first pack was the Classic Sixth Edition Tournament Packs. Nowadays, you’ve to buy them in Booster Boxes with a whole bunch of Boosters inside. Back then, they used to release Novels that tied into the card sets.
There’s lore and characters that go hand-in-hand with the card art, the flavour, the names… tying them together to give the world it’s own vibe. Only recently, novels and comics have made a comeback. We’re starting to see Magic: The Gathering grow back into its lore-centric space.
I used to play in the Type-2 (T2) Tournaments back in the early ‘00s. But since then, I’ve drifted towards Dungeons & Dragons… I was tricked into joining Dungeons & Dragons when I was in University: Basically, I joined the Board Games Club where they said there was a free spot. I sat down, and cue years of peer pressure. I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons since then… and 10 years on: I’m a Dungeon Master.
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a game where you and your bunch of friends get together, with the Dungeon Master (DM) to go through an adventure together. Unlike Magic: The Gathering, there is no “Winning” like most competitive games. In this case, Dungeons & Dragons is more of a cooperative game because you’re trying to experience an adventure, defeat the big baddie, discover a twist… It’s all about: the journey along the way. It’s also just an excuse for people to hang out.
To play Dungeons & Dragons, it’s highly recommended you get a Player’s Handbook (PHB) and if you’re a Dungeon Master, you probably want to get the Monster Manual (MM) and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG). For absolute beginners, I would recommend the Starter Set.
Seeing these two franchises coming together has been… interesting, to say the least.
What’s so cool about this is that about a couple of years ago, two planes from Magic: The Gathering were turned into Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks. There’s Ravnica, and then there’s Theros. Eberron, Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, etc. Not to mention all the homebrew worlds that Dungeons Masters themselves have created for their own campaign… and because we lived in a digital age: it’s really cool that we’re starting to see campaigns that started as Podcasts (Acquisitions Inc.) and YouTube series (Critical Role) being turned into hardcopy sourcebooks… and now that the whole multiverse of Wizards of the Coast is finally converging/opening up, with all this talk of multiple planes from Wizards of the Coast converging across whole franchises. It fits in nicely with Starters Sets like the Rick & Morty Box.
But in Magic: The Gathering, the first time we encounter Ravnica was all the way back in 2005, and Theros in 2013. The Vorthos in me is probably thinking Wizards of the Coast is going about this backwards because two famous planes are being turned into sourcebooks in Dungeons & Dragons before we get a sourcebook on Dominaria!
But I digress, this is really cool: we’re finally getting a Dungeons & Dragons set in Magic: The Gathering, and it is no less from the Forgotten Realms. If you’ve checked out all the SPOILER lists for all the cards in the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set (AFR): you’re going see many iconic Dungeons & Dragons things, objects, characters, places, situations… turn up as Magic: The Gathering cards and that’s really, really cool. You’ll have fantastic artifacts like The Book of Vile Darkness. You’ll have the Vorpal Sword. You’ll have Portable Hole. And it’s got my favorite monster, the Gelatinous Cube.
If you’re a Magic: The Gathering player like me, and a Dungeon Master, this is going to be a huge deal because it opens a huge array of options for both players of Magic: The Gathering in terms of where the storyline will take us, the kinds of cards sets, and whole lot more worlds for your multiversal campaigns to visit. It especially excites me because I’m more of a Vorthos player… and as a Dungeon Master
As a comic book nerd, it’s going to be really cool to power scale across Magic: The Gathering. Like how does Tiamat stack up against Nicol Bolas. Although he was defeated in Magic: The Gathering’s storyline, we could still have Nicol Bolas turn up in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
So here’s hoping that we see more cards based on characters, places, things, situations… coming from the planes that were primarily from Dungeons & Dragons appearing in Magic: The Gathering, and vice versa. I’m still waiting for that New Phyrexia sourcebook… I’ve not played Magic: the Gathering for the last few years… and this is probably going to be the card set to bring me back to Friday Night Magic (FNM). I think I’m going to build a deck.
Now is a really good time (dungeoneers) to reach out across the aisle, talk to your Magic: The Gathering friends how to play Magic: The Gathering, and vice versa for you Spellslingers or Planeswalkers (if you’re old like me) to reach across the aisle and find out from our dungeoneers how to roll for initiative.
Every game is a new campaign.
Everything you love from Dungeons & Dragons meets Magic in the Forgotten Realms! Play cards featuring fan-favourite characters, and battle with iconic monsters like beholders, mimics, mind flayers, and—of course—legendary dragons!
If you want to actually play the Role-Playing Games, check out the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. These rulebooks introduce you to the vast multiverse of D&D and invite you to create unique characters and worlds within it.
play Dungeons & Dragons today!