MTG Speculation: Gods of the Forgotten Realms

Well, Magic the Gathering’s big cross over with D&D is just a little over two months away and we already have a few spoilers. The biggest of which is the card announced for the mighty Dragon God, Tiamet. AND, with renewal season just a few months past that, we have to wonder if Adventures in the Forgotten Reams will fill in the void we will feel when Theros’s indestructible gods leave standard.

With the revealing of the card, Tiamet, Dragon God, it seems like the gods of Forgotten Realms may just be what standard needs. But which ones? There are SO many to choose from. And the crew here in The Magic Tavern who have adventured in the Forgotten Realms back in 3rd Edition and beyond have begun to do what we do best: Speculate.

So, after much deliberation, these are the top ten OTHER gods that we would like to see showing up in the next Magic set. These are, of course, debatable (drop YOUR opinions in the comments or on our social media) and are only our best speculation.

BAHAMUT

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We figure the first sure thing would be to bring in Tiamet’s nemesis, Bahamut. He was brother to Tiamet and god of wisdom, enlightened justice and all good, metallic dragons. As Tiamet is all colors aka WUBRG, we believe Bahamut should be colorless.

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On top of all that, we really think we should get many of both the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons in some form. There is SO much flavor to cards representing, say, a Black Dragon or a Gold Dragon. Just how many of them we get is all up to Wotc.

CORELLON LARETHIAN

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One of the things that is highly important to MTG is their tribal decks. And there are several of the gods of Faerun aka the Forgotten Realms that fill this bill well. But more than any other tribal, elves seem extra important to them. This makes Corellon Larethian, the patron god of the elves, the most likely to show up in this set.

I think the most obvious color set for Corellon would be at least green, if not green/white. More elf tokens maybe? But definitely should ramp elves.

LOLTH, SPIDER QUEEN OF THE DROW

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On the opposite spectrum of the elves are the Drow. These dark skinned underdark dwellers worship an Abyssal Queen of both Drow and Spiders named Lolth.

Edit: An amazing surprise is making Lolth a planeswalker! The above is the actual card spoiled from Wotc for the set. It’s going to be a great ‘death tribal’ card that will grow with the death of your creatures and build a spider army. Not enthused with the ultimate cause it’s rather confusing and full of math.

MORADIN, FATHER OF THE DWARVES

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Another important tribal in MTG is Dwarves. With the influx of Dwarven cards from Kaldheim, including the Dwarven god of the Forgotten Realms, Moradin, would be a golden choice.

Red should be the main color, but with the Patron god of the Dwarves being lawful good, White may be necessary. Once again, making Dwarf Tokens, tutoring dwarf cards or adding counters or temporary ramps would be optimal.

GRUUMSH, GOD OF THE ORCS

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I think the ultimate tribal that Forgotten Realms can bring BACK to mtg would be ORCS. It’s been a while since we have seen ANY orcs in Magic the Gathering. Strixhaven brought us two new orcs which may be a hint that Gruumsh actual god of orcs could be making an appearance. Although, to be fair, the two they gave us where sophisticated shaman and not the kind of orcs we see almost everywhere else and, definitely, not the kind of orcs Gruumsh would support.

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But sets that have come out in the past year have opened up a nice handful of orcs right under our radar. Commander Legends especially dropped some nice pirate orcs that Gruumsh would definitely get behind.

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But, it’s a new age in both mtg and D&D, right. The age of racial stereotypes is over and maybe Wotc is ushering in a new orc tribal dynamic. Either way, we would LOVE to see orcs as a creature type make a comeback and bring some much needed support for the orcs and finally open up a LORD for orc tribal!

SELUNE AND SHAR: NIGHT AND MOON

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Of all of the gods of Faerun, Shar and Selune have the most ancient bit of lore. Their story goes as far back as the creation of the world of which the Forgotten Realms exists. Two goddesses, some say, are two sides of one coin . One a power of darkness. Another a moon goddess of light. These two, we think, are indispensable if you are to include gods in this set.

Shar would sport the blue/black colors of Dimir and Selune, the white blue colors of Azorius. There is SO much lore to pull from; I cannot even begin to fathom what these cards will do. ALSO, I think these two could work as Dual Modal gods. And, in retrospect, possibly, also, Lolth and Corellon could as well.

TYR, THE MAIMED GOD

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There seems to be a lot of black being talked about here. But one of the major gods of the Forgotten Realms is Tyr, the god of justice. Lawful good and pure white. He’s definitely bringing the shutdown like exile that nasty creature or even prevent damage or maybe, I don’t know, lifegain. But no, he’s not green, right?

KELEMVOR, FAIR LORD OF DEATH

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What would a group of gods be without a god of death?

And Faerun has a quite interesting Lord of death in Kelemvor. It’s quite a story. If you like lore, you should go read it. But the culmination of said story brought us a quite unique god of death. Unlike most who are mono black and full of sinister, scary flavor, Kelemvor is a more benign and fair. He is one of the few gods of death anywhere that promotes the end as not to be feared.

His colors should be balanced between the enemy colors white and black and, probably, should do something cool and balanced when things die.

BANE, THE BLACK HAND

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Bane is actually a real Rakdos god. He brings pain, hatred and tyranny to any situation. I can see his card doing damage and sacrificing his own creatures for power.

Now, obviously, this is not ALL of the gods of Faerun. And it is definitely not all of them that deserve the mtg treatment. But these are the ones that the collective at The Magic Tavern thought the most likely. Now, STEPS has a few also-rans that he would like to see make the list and may drop a follow-up article. And, as always, we would love to hear your opinions. Those of your Tavern Wizards that also have played D&D in Faerun probably have your own list. What are your arguments for some other additions? Hit us up in the comments or on social media (links on the home page).