On the cusp of spoiler season for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, we stand eager and hungry for any bit of information we can get. Even the leaked land card (seen to the right) gets The Magic Tavern abuzz with speculation and anticipation. But, something we’ve grown accustomed to getting always has us trying to piece the puzzle together even more. That’s Maro’s expected teasing of things to come.
His grand list of teasing riddles have us running for our card boxes and cruising the internet for any sort of information to help us untangle this mystery Maro aka Mark Rosewater of Wotc has laid before us. And, as always with speculation, sorry if we get it right (sorry, not sorry) and spoil it for you. If this is you, you might want to move along. And, if we’re wrong. Sorry again and feel free to tell us your answers to these enigmatic jumble of phrases in the comments below. This is after all a discussion.
So, let’s begin.
“A NEW ENCHANTMENT SUBTYPE”
Now, before we even guess what this could mean, we need to know what has come before.
- AURA
- SAGA
- RUNE (Introduced in Kaldheim)
- CURSE (Introduced in Innistrad)
- CARTOUCHE (Primarily in the Amonkhet)
- SHRINE (Introduced in Champions of Kamigawa)
- SHARD (Only seen in conjunction with the Planeswalker, Nico Aris in Kaldheim)
Auras are enchantments that enhance a creature when attached to it (Daybreak Coronet). Sagas proceed in several different actions that take a certain number of turns and reads like chapters to a story (Kiora Bests the Sea God). Runes were introduced in Kaldhiem and may attach to a creature or equipment (Rune of Speed). Curses are enchantments that enchant PLAYERS and affect them negatively (Curse of Vengeance). Cartouches were introduced in Amonkhet and gives the enchanted creature a +1/+1 counter and a color specific keyword followed by a secondary ‘enter the battle field effect (Cartouche of Strength). Shards were only seen as products of the Nico Aris planeswalker card. And Shrines trigger an ability at the controller’s upkeep and grow with each shrine you successfully play (Houden of Infinite Rage).
Since the Dungeon mechanic was spoiled earlier today and it definitely WASN’T an enchantment. I’m not sure what it could be. Does anyone out there have any ideas? lol
“A CREATURE WITH A DEATH TRIGGER THAT MAKES AN EQUIPMENT TOKEN”
The only other creature or any type of card I could find that actually made ‘equipment tokens’ was Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith from Commander Legends.
This would be the first time it’s come to standard and, this time as a death trigger!
My best STAB (get it?) is the god, MASK who, although didn’t die to become it, became the legendary sword Godsbane during the infamous ‘Time of Troubles’ when the gods were forced to walk the Faerun. While in this form he fell into the hands of many. But the most well known is the god Cyric who used it to kill several gods.
IS IT TIME TO ROLL THE DICE IN STANDARD?
“something only seen previously in Un-sets comes to black border” seemed obvious to me; especially when you realize we’re dealing with Dungeons and Dragons. Dice rolls are about to come to standard. Where before they were regulated to the zany world of the UN series, the staple of roleplaying games of all types, DICE, are about to become canon in standard. And why not? We already have coin flips. I can’t wait to see how they facilitate this into the card game. Is it part of you completing the dungeons? Are their ability checks? Are you rolling damage? Like I said, I can’t wait!!
DECIDING WHERE THE STORY’S GOING?
Another enigmatic comment from Maro’s Mysteries was ‘cards that let you decide where the story goes’. Now, as an avid Roleplaying nut and Dm, this excited me. But I can hear the whining now! So many players could care less about the Vorthos/story of MTG. And, NOW, you’re going to have them creating stories in a card game? Deciding where the story goes? This is going to heat up a lot of the old school.
“Keep your stories out of my card game!” I can hear them say.
Well, as always, this is a buffet and not a elementary lunch line. You get to chose what you play and don’t play. But god forbid if any card of this sort becomes a must play card in the Meta. I’m in, but I know this will lose some.
SPOILER! Obviously the card where you decide the story is the Dungeon cards spoiled after I wrote this article. This is obviously for the old school D&D fans and probably wont sit well with the hard core MTG fans. But it’s not like they’ve passed on something only to come back to it latter…like Mutate.
VECNA IS A LOCK IN THIS SET!
When I saw Maro say that there would be a card that made a legendary creature token named VECNA, I was stunned.
Vecna has been a long running godly staple in D&D for a while. The Lich that ascended to godhood was the original author of THE BOOK OF VILE DARKNESS. He holds sway over the domains of death, Arcana and Secret Knowledge. But why is there a card that makes a Vecna Token?
Vecna was actually defeated in battle at one time. But the mistake made was allowing him to leave a bit of himself behind. Two powerful artifacts, The Hand of Vecna and The Eye of Vecna were still imbued with the Liches will. Building a decent following, he was able to bring the two artifacts together and reform.
Now, apparently and for the best, Wotc isn’t going to play Exodia with the hand and eye, but I predict they will both be on one card and, after certain requirements are made, this will be the card that creates the Vecna Token.
DRIDERS ARE ALSO IN THIS SET
How could you ever think of having Drizzt and Lolth and not get Driders?
Well, with MARO’s inclusion of ELF SPIDER in the creature types, It’s a given that that was placed there just for the Driders. And, in MTG mechanics, Driders will work in both elf and spider tribal!
MARO GIVES US A CREATURE FROM OUR LIST!
well, folks, we have Owlbears!
One of the type descriptions given was ‘Bird Bear’.
DRAGON KNIGHT? SPOILED!
If you google Dragon Knight and Forgotten Realms, all you will get is the Purple Dragon Knights of Corymyr. But when Wotc gives a creature description, they are usually exact and to the point with their wording. When they say Dragon Knight, they don’t mean a knight riding a dragon. No. This means an actual Dragon who is a knight!
And here he is! We have Dragonborn in MTG!
Is their way of bringing Dragonborn into MTG? Actually, that’s all I can think of here.
DEVIL GOD
I told the gang here at The Magic Tavern that Wotc probably wouldn’t spend much time on the higher up devils and demons since they weren’t really specific to Forgotten Realms. But I DID tell them that if they did, the one to bring to MTG is the deity of indulgence, the master of the nine hells himself, Asmodeus!
Oh, so much flavor to be hand here. Oppression. Power. And does that mean that the Demon lord, Demogorgon, won’t be far behind?
This is what jumped out at me. Tell us in the comments what we missed and, especially, what you think all of this means. And, THANK YOU, Maro for being so damned mysterious!
AoE Table Top 