SDCC: Magic: The Gatherings Mark Rosewater on the very first D&D cards

Before the players found out that it was actually pretty good, Magic the GatheringThe latest set of cards was very polarizing. Called Adventure in the forgotten realms (AFR), it’s a set based on the other major Wizards of the Coast property – Dungeons & Dragons. At San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Chief Designer Mark Rosewater and Lead Designer Jules Robins shared a taped conversation (recorded before the release of the Strixhaven Set in April), a kind of post mortem for a set that now seems destined for great things. In it, they talked about the main controversies that came with the release, namely dungeons and dice.

For a long time, the distance between the two main intellectual traits of Wizards was deliberate, although both offer an engaging high-fantasy experience.

“Don’t cross the streams,” explained Mark Rosewater. “Originally, the idea was left magic being magic and let Dungeons & Dragons be Dungeons & Dragons, and we really kept them separate for many years. ”

Decades later, the concept changed. James Wyatt of Wizards endeavored to create free downloadable source books based on popular magic

Sentences – Plane Shift: Innistrad, Plane Shift: Amonkhet, Plane Shift: Kaladesh, and Level shift: Ixalan. The effort then expanded to include physical and digital source books at full price Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, Mythical Odyssey of Theros, and Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (which will be available on November 16). It was later a suggestion from Aaron Forsythe, Vice President of magic Design that spawned Universes Beyond. It’s a broader, collaborative effort to bring in different IPs to become magic Cards. Warhammer 40,000 and JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books will be the source for the first two sets of this initiative, however AFR is practically a prequel.

“What if other IPs appeared on? magic Tickets? “Said Rosenwasser.” When the conversation got going, one of the things that came up very quickly came up, well, why not? Dungeons? “

Tomb of Annihilation ends with Cradle of the Death God, which allows players to win a 4/4 token with Deathtouch.

Originally, the dungeon mechanic was supposed to include a second, separate deck or cards. “Sometimes you were about to move your marker, explore a new room, and figure out where you were going in that dungeon when it came up,” said Robins. It didn’t work out as the play tests made it difficult to manage the variance, let alone how casual and competitive magic Players would have difficulty navigating the dungeons.

Getting this mechanic right was critical for the team, as traversing dungeons is an evergreen feature of D&D. Combine the taste that D&D demands with a mechanic eager to support both casual and competitive magic Player is a difficult job. Through revisions, the team has settled in to something you will now see when you leave AFR Draft and set booster.

“What if the room doesn’t have its own challenges, but the Magic cards are the ones to guide you through the dungeon?” asked Robins. The design team completed the creation of three dungeons to offer the option of choice, an experience you often see in D&D.

Sample cards included in the first dungeon decks.

In order to increase the individuality of the set, rolling the dice is a new mechanism for those with a black border magic Cards and refers to how you would play in a D&D session.

“We’re starting again with capturing things that people love from D&D. There’s this amazing moment of tension where you’re trying to do something very important, rolling the D20 and see if it works, ”Robins said. The team toyed with the idea of removing cards from the top of your deck or using dice with fewer sides to even out the variance. However, they chose to use a D20 because it is so iconic at D&D

that it would be a missed opportunity to use something else.

“When we tested the dice cards, the dice was very polarizing,” said Rosewater. Dice roll offers a high variance that often determines the outcome of the game during early play testing. Combining the fun tension of rolling the dice and not losing the game right away was a difficult but achievable feat when it came to design AFR.

Three cards with no art. — Prototype cards for testing the cube mechanics in *Adventure in the forgotten realms*.

It took almost 30 years, however magic and D&D have finally crossed the streams and united in something truly unforgettable. Aside from these hurdles, it will be interesting to see how the future holds magic Cards can be combined with other IPs outside of the franchise to further develop this collectable card game. People may be annoyed about the upcoming licenses of Universes Beyond, Space Marines and Hobbits turning into Planeswalkers, but with AFR The team seems to have earned the respect of the fans. With the experience of AFR Under the belt of the design team, you will be prepared for the challenges ahead – similar to a journey to the Forgotten Realms.