Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

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Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Dragon head in hexagon
Design	Andrew Veen (lead) Ben Petrisor James Wyatt Jules Robins Mark Gottlieb Morrigan Robbins
Development	Jules Robins (lead) Andrew Veen Taymoor Rehman Adam Prosak Ben Petrisor Kazu Negri Ken Nagle Max McCall Dave Humpherys Ben Hayes Bryan Hawley Mark Gottlieb Aaron Forsythe Ethan Fleischer Zac Elsik Andrew Brown Corey Bowen
Art direction	Zack Stella
Release date	July 23, 2021
Themes and mechanics	Dungeons, Dragons, Flavor words, Dice rolling (d20), Class enchantments
Keywords/​ability words	Venture into the dungeon, Pack tactics
Set size	281 + 121
Expansion code	AFR
Development codename	Zebra
Forgotten Realms Standard
Zendikar Rising Kaldheim Strixhaven: School of Mages
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Modern Horizons 2 Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commander Decks

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is a Dungeons & Dragons crossover Magic: The Gathering set which replaced the core set of the 2021-2022 standard rotation. It is the 88th Magic expansion and released on July 23, 2021. The name of the set is often abbreviated to Adventures in the Forgotten Realms or Forgotten Realms.

Set details

Bundle featuring Drizzt Do'Urden and Guenhwyvar

Mark Rosewater had worked on a Dungeons & Dragons TCG as early as 2016. Before that, the D&D Spellfire CCG had been created by TSR, Inc.. Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is a true collaboration between the two Hasbro teams. The D&D team worked with the Magic team on every aspect of the set, similar to how the Magic team worked with the D&D team on D&D Mythic Odysseys of Theros and D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica. The D&D team provided extensive feedback on both the visuals and lore of The Forgotten Realms. The visuals of the cards tell a story and many favorite D&D characters are mentioned in the flavor text.

This set contains 281 regular cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 60 rares, 20 mythic rares, 20 basic lands) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. Borderless cards are numbered #282-298, and showcase cards are numbered #299-358. Extended artwork cards are numbered #359-395. The Buy-a-Box card is #396 and the Bundle promo is #397. The FNM-treatment cards from the Universal promo pack are numbered #398-402.

As a first, the basic lands of this set feature flavor texts. These are structured as descriptions presented by a Dungeon Master. Showcase cards have a "classic rulebook frame treatment", pulled from the look and feel of illustrations in the the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. Nine showcase lands look like the classic covers of old module sourcebooks.

Storyline

Set Booster featuring a Mind flayer

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the D&D fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", the planet Toril is shared by humans, dwarves, elves, goblins, orcs, and other peoples and creatures. Technologically, the world of the Forgotten Realms resembles the pre-industrial Earth of the 13th or 14th century. However, the presence of magic provides an additional element of power to societies. There are several nation-states and many independent cities, with loose alliances being formed for defense or conquest. Forgotten Realms centers on Faerûn, a sub-continent in the northern hemisphere of Toril.

The Forgotten Realms are not considered to be canonically part of Magic's Multiverse. Some cards "play up the feel of an adventuring party together, taking on one big foe," such as Drizzt Do'Urden and some of his friends battling Frost giants in the north of Faerûn in the cards' art and flavor text.

Some iconic D&D characters, that have traveled the various D&D planes of existence, are being featured as Planeswalker cards. However, this doesn't mean that these characters have a planeswalker's spark in the same sense that the term has in Magic's lore. According to Wizards of the Coast, they wanted to make these characters as cool as they could possibly be, and as Planeswalkers were a regular part of new Magic sets - the Planeswalker card type in their opinion would make a great fit.

A D&D campaign for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was released by chapters:

1. In Scarlet Flames
2. The Hidden Page
3. A Verdant Tomb
4. Deepest Night
5. From Cyan Depths

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms has no Story Spotlights, but a series of cards represent the adventures of a party composed by Ellywick, Hama, Nadaar and Varis.

• You Hear Something on Watch
• You See a Guard Approach
• You See a Pair of Goblins
• Choose Your Weapon
• You're Ambushed on the Road
• You Come to a River
• You Come to the Gnoll Camp
• You Happen On a Glade
• You Find the Villains' Lair
• You Find Some Prisoners
• You Find a Cursed Idol
• You Meet in a Tavern

Marketing

Collector booster featuring a Beholder

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is sold in regular 16-card Draft Boosters (one card being a marketing card), Theme Boosters (five monocolored and 1 "Dungeon Theme Booster"), Collector Boosters, Set Boosters, the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Bundle, and four Commander decks. The set also features revamped Welcome Boosters. The Draft Boosters feature artwork from Drizzt Do'Urden. There are three different set boosters, featuring art of Grand Master of Flowers, True Polymorph and Iymrith, Desert Doom. The Theme Boosters feature art from Dungeon Map (Dungeon), Nadaar, Selfless Paladin (), You Find the Villains’ Lair (), Acererak the Archlich (), Delina, Wild Mage () and Owlbear (). The Collector Boosters feature art of Baleful Beholder. The Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Gift Edition Bundle was released on August 6, 2021. With the release of Forgotten Realms, 48 cards were rotated into The List.

Events

• Magic Online and MTG Arena release: July 8, 2021
• Tabletop Prerelease: July 16-22
  • Commander Dueling (casual side events)
• Launch party: July 23–25, 2021
• Friday Night Magic: July 23–September 3, 2021
• Commander Nights: July 26–September 9, 2021

Promotional cards

Ampersand card

• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare.
• Other events: cards from the Forgotten Realms universal promo pack.
  • The seasonal dark-frame promos are: Portable Hole, You Find the Villains’ Lair, Power Word Kill, Magic Missile and Prosperous Innkeeper
• Buy-a-Box: foil Alternate art Vorpal Sword.
  • Riceball promos: three alternate art Orb of Dragonkind versions, featuring "Onigiri"-style characters by illustrator Kawasumi were released in Japan only.
• Bundle promo: Treasure Chest
• Ampersand cards: Every WPN Premium store receives two copies of every Rare and Mythic Rare in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms with an all-new treatment not found elsewhere in the set: the iconic D&D ampersand in a glossy, transparent overlay on the front of each card. The are to be used as participation prizes or sales promos.

Tokens, emblems and dungeons

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms features 22 tokens, emblems, and dungeons.

1. 3/3 Angel creature with flying, for The Book of Exalted Deeds.
2. Icingdeath, Frost Tongue, a legendary Equipment artifact with "Equipped creature gets +2/+0", "Whenever equipped creature attacks, tap target creature defending player controls" and equip , for Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant.
3. */* Dog Illusion creature with "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to twice the number of cards in your hand", for Mordenkainen.
4. 1/1 Faerie Dragon creature with flying, for Feywild Trickster.
5. The Atropal, a 4/4 legendary God Horror creature with deathtouch, for Tomb of Annihilation.
6. 1/1 Skeleton creature, for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Death-Priest of Myrkul, and Skeletal Swarming.
7. 2/1 Spider creature with menace and reach, for Drider and Lolth, Spider Queen.
8. Vecna, a 8/8 legendary Zombie God creature with indestructible and all triggered abilities of the exiled cards, for The Book of Vile Darkness.
9. 2/2 Zombie creature, for Acererak the Archlich, The Book of Vile Darkness and Wight.
10. Boo, a 1/1 legendary Hamster creature with trample and haste, for Minsc, Beloved Ranger.
11. 1/1 Devil creature with "When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to any target", for Zariel, Archduke of Avernus.
12. 1/1 Goblin creature, for Battle Cry Goblin, Den of the Bugbear, Goblin Morningstar, Lost Mine of Phandelver, Swarming Goblins, and You See a Pair of Goblins.
13. Guenhwyvar, a 4/1 legendary Cat creature with trample, for Drizzt Do'Urden.
14. 2/2 Wolf creature, for Elturgard Ranger, Ranger Class and Varis, Silverymoon Ranger.
15. Treasure artifact, for Deadly Dispute, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Forsworn Paladin, Grim Bounty, Herald of Hadar, Hoarding Ogre, Hoard Robber, Improvised Weaponry, Instrument of the Bards, Kalain, Reclusive Painter, Lost Mine of Phandelver, Old Gnawbone, Plundering Barbarian, Prosperous Innkeeper, Shambling Ghast, Skullport Merchant, Spiked Pit Trap, Thieves' Tools, Treasure Chest, Treasure Vault, Unexpected Windfall, Xorn, and You Find a Cursed Idol.
16. Emblem for Ellywick Tumblestrum.
17. Emblem for Lolth, Spider Queen.
18. Emblem for Mordenkainen.
19. Emblem for Zariel, Archduke of Avernus.
20. Dungeon of the Mad Mage is the backside of token #12.
21. Lost Mine of Phandelver is the backside of token #6.
22. Tomb of Annihilation is the backside of token #5.

Themes and mechanics

The three dungeons that were released

Cards throughout Adventures in the Forgotten Realms directly reference the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, but also some aspects of role-playing games in general.

The set introduces the Dungeon card type. Dungeons don't go in your deck. Rather, they start outside the game and are played in the command zone.

Dungeons are connected to the venture into the dungeon mechanic. This can be the effect of a spell, an activated ability, or a triggered ability. If you venture into the dungeon while you don't have any dungeons in the command zone, you put the dungeon of your choice into the command zone and put a venture marker on the first room, at the top. Every time you enter a room, including the first room, its room ability triggers. These abilities all read "When you enter this room, [the effect printed in the room]." When you complete a dungeon certain cards receive a bonus.

A new mechanic is pack tactics, an ability word that causes an effect whenever creatures attack with total power 6 or greater.

Aside from pack tactics, the set adopts a very loose approach to ability words, which are used to represent themed actions or monster abilities instead of grouping similarly functioning cards. These are called flavor words.

Dice rolling is used for the first time in a black-bordered set, always in the template "Roll a d20".

Limited archetypes

AFR Bundle d20

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms features the following limited archetypes:

• : Venture value (Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker)
• : Sneak attack (Krydle of Baldur's Gate)
• : Treasure matters (Kalain, Reclusive Painter)
• : Pack tactics (Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll)
• : Life gain (Trelasarra, Moon Dancer)
• : Venture faster (Barrowin of Clan Undurr)
• : Roll a d20! (Farideh, Devil's Chosen)
• : Death matters (Shessra, Death’s Whisper)
• : Equip your heroes (Bruenor Battlehammer)
• : Ramp into abilities (Gretchen Titchwillow)

Card types

The set introduces a new enchantment type: Class.

The set introduces the Bard, Beholder, Gnoll, Halfling, Hamster, and Tiefling creature types. Citizen appears for the first time as a black-bordered creature type (save for previous appearances on tokens).

The Bahamut, Mordenkainen, Lolth, Zariel and Ellywick planeswalker types are introduced.

A curiosity occurring in this set in regards to creature types is that the class takes precedent over race in terms of color. For example, Orcs are majority Black and Red in Magic, but three of four Orcs printed in this set are a Blue Orc Rogue (Guild Thief), a Green Orc Ranger (Intrepid Outlander) and a White Orc Knight (Devoted Paladin). Smaller, humanoid, flightless Dragons appear as Dragonborn, holding classes as White Knights or Green Bards. Other oddly colored races appear also.

Cycles

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms has six cycles:

Cycle name
Planeswalkers	Grand Master of Flowers	Mordenkainen	Lolth, Spider Queen	Zariel, Archduke of Avernus	Ellywick Tumblestrum
	Five mythic rare planeswalkers.
Legendary dragons	Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant	Iymrith, Desert Doom	Ebondeath, Dracolich	Inferno of the Star Mounts	Old Gnawbone
	Five mythic rare legendary Dragons.
Fast manlands	Cave of the Frost Dragon	Hall of Storm Giants	Hive of the Eye Tyrant	Den of the Bugbear	Lair of the Hydra
	Five rare lands that enter the battlefield tapped if the player controls two or more other lands. Each of them can turn into creatures until end of turn.
Color hosers	Divine Smite ()	Ray of Frost ()	Ray of Enfeeblement ()	Burning Hands ()	Hunter's Mark ()
	Five uncommon instant-speed spells that get more effective when targeting a permanent of a specific color.
Chromatic dragons	White Dragon	Blue Dragon	Black Dragon	Red Dragon	Green Dragon
	Five uncommon Dragons with a Breath flavor word representing a triggered ability.

Multicolored cycles

Cycle name
Gold legends	Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker	Krydle of Baldur's Gate	Kalain, Reclusive Painter	Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll	Trelasarra, Moon Dancer	Barrowin of Clan Undurr	Farideh, Devil's Chosen	Shessra, Death's Whisper	Bruenor Battlehammer	Gretchen Titchwillow
	Ten uncommon gold legendary creature spells. Each is a signpost for a draft archetype.

Vertical cycles

Cycle name
Dragonborn	Nadaar, Selfless Paladin	Wandering Troubadour	Jaded Sell-Sword
	Three humanoid Dragons without flying.
Gnomes	Oswald Fiddlebender	Feywild Trickster	Clever Conjurer
	Three non-artifact Gnomes.

Pairs

Mirrored pair		Description
The Book of Exalted Deeds ()	The Book of Vile Darkness ()	Two mythic rare legendary artifacts with MMM mana cost. Each of them has a life-related token creation triggered ability and activated ability. Each shares the name with a sourcebook published by Wizards of the Coast for D&D, and both are also powerful magic items often found across D&D's publication history.
Demilich ()	Flameskull ()	Two mythic rare skeletons that could come back after death or play other cards.
Instrument of the Bards ()	The Blackstaff of Waterdeep ()	Two rare legendary artifacts with M mana cost, an activated ability and an effect applicable in the beginning phase.
Skullport Merchant ()	Prosperous Innkeeper ()	Two uncommon Citizens that create a treasure when they enter the battlefield and have a creature-related ability.
Trickster's Talisman ()	Reaper's Talisman ()	Two uncommon Equipments with equip costing M.
Dueling Rapier ()	Paladin’s Shield ()	Two common Equipments with flash that attach themselves to a creature when they enter the battlefield. One gives +2/+0 and the other +0/+2.
Air-Cult Elemental ()	Earth-Cult Elemental ()	Two common Elementals costing MM and having a removal effect upon entering the battlefield. In D&D the elemental cults are tied to the Elemental Evil.
Armory Veteran ()	Dwarfhold Champion ()	Two common creatures with mana cost 1M and a static ability as long as they are equipped.

Reprinted cards

• Bag of Holding, first printed in Core Set 2020 (rare to uncommon).
• Charmed Sleep, first printed in Throne of Eldraine.
• Evolving Wilds, first printed in Rise of the Eldrazi, last seen in Commander Legends
• Plummet, first printed in Archenemy, last seen in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.

Functional reprints

• Scaled Herbalist is a functional reprint of Llanowar Scout, except for creature types.
• Steadfast Paladin is a functional reprint of Bishop's Soldier, except for creature types.

Notable cards

• Mimic is the first non-token treasure.
• Vorpal Sword is an alternate-win or -loss card.
• Soulknife Spy, Arcane Investigator, and Aberrant Mind Sorcerer are the first monoblue Elves. The last of these is the strangest, as neither Shaman nor Elf are primarily blue types, unlike Wizard or Rogue.
• Both Delina, Wild Mage and The Book of Vile Darkness (as well as the Commander deck card Mantle of the Ancients) received errata before they were officially released.

Banned cards

• The Book of Exalted Deeds references Platinum Angel's anti-losing text, giving an Angel that text for . Angels are usually not known for being cheap or resilient; however, in this Standard rotation, Faceless Haven allowed players a temporary Angel that would live on the board as a Land — the most resilient card type — for the rest of the game. Hence, Wizards banned the Book for the preview-queue Standard 2022, emphasizing that this would not be the case post-rotation, due to its Best-of-One nature, much like Nexus of Fate over 2019-2020.

Preconstructed decks

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms features four Commander decks that are released as a regular part of a set's product line, each containing 17 new cards..

Theme deck name	Color Identity					Commander
Aura of Courage	W	U			G	Galea, Kindler of Hope
Dungeons of Death	W	U	B			Sefris of the Hidden Ways
Draconic Rage				R	G	Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients
Planar Portal			B	R		Prosper, Tome-Bound

External links

• Dungeons & Dragons Wiki
• The Forgotten Realms Wiki
• D&D Lore Wiki

• Mark Rosewater (August 2, 2021). "Odds & Ends: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (August 9, 2021). "Odds & Ends: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.