Magic meets D&D - and not in a good way

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
I've been getting my daily emails from WotC about the cards that are going to be published in their next set that revolves around Forgotten Realms and all I can say is "Can you get any greedier?" Nothing like ramming two of your major products together in the most violent way and while it makes fans of both happy, you're going to be doing a great job of alienating those that have never played a paper and pencil game in their lives...

I know that it will undoubtedly make them (and their shareholders) lots of money, but as always I have to ask, at what cost?
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
So I've known about this for a long time and I've kind of been dreading it. I kinda-sorta agree with your assessment, but my gripe with this isn't really that I think it's greedy, although I agree with you about alienating players.

I discovered Magic: the Gathering in 1997 and have been hooked ever since. I collect cards from every set. Since starting my current job, I've been able to participate in every prerelease event for every new set, and I buy just about every new Magic product that comes out. I even bought one of those monstrously expensive Collector booster boxes for Modern Horizons 2. Basically, I'm a Magic superfan. I also play D&D. In fact, I'll be playing D&D tonight. I first played in 2000 or 2001, not long after WotC acquired the property. I played 3rd Edition with some of the same friends I played Magic with back then. I actually got into older editions through Spiderman's games hosted here. And I did go on hiatus from D&D for a long time, but I got back into the game in 2018 and now one of the shelves in my bedroom is packed full of 5th Edition D&D books. So I'm already invested in both of these games and already spend more money than most on WotC products. In theory, I should be the ideal target audience for this set. And yet, I don't like it.

Even though no one has accused me of being hypocritical, for some reason I feel like it's important to clarify why I'm in favor of some things and not others. I liked the Godzilla Series cards in Ikoria. I also liked the Ravnica sourcebook for D&D. Both of those were crossovers. But details matter.

The Godzilla series cards were presented as alternate treatments for the monsters of Ikoria. WotC introduced a new plane with its own fleshed-out details, characters, and story. These cards were akin to video game reskins of existing characters. There wasn't some silliness in the lore where we're told that Mothra actually lives on Ikoria and fights Narset or anything like that. It was just a cool little thing for those that wanted it. And for those who weren't interested, the default versions of those same cards were more widely available than the alternate versions anyway. Same deal with the Secret Lair basic lands that had Godzilla on them. Apart from the Buy-a-Box exclusive (which was already a controversy with previous sets anyway), it seems that the consensus among Magic players was that this was all fair and was a good way to handle extracurricular content on Magic cards. So of course, WotC didn't want to keep doing the thing that the players liked, and had to switch to something else instead.

As for the Ravnica sourcebook for D&D, it's important to note that D&D isn't the Forgotten Realms setting and the Forgotten Realms setting isn't necessarily D&D. One is a game and the other is a setting for the game, which has also been used in other games and products. The Forgotten Realms setting isn't even the original setting for D&D. It's the one WotC has been pushing hardest with 5E, but D&D players have had sourcebooks for different setting since before I was born. So I think that if the company that already owns D&D and M:tG anyway wants to use M:tG settings to make D&D sourcebooks, that seems like a good idea. The way D&D works as a game is that sourcebooks are always option at the discretion of the DM and party, and you'll generally only use one setting sourcebook at at time, if any. So something like the Ravnica book for D&D is actually even more optional than alternate versions of Magic cards. If you don't like the version of Gilded Goose that is done in the style of a John James Audubon painting, then too bad, I might be using it anyway. But if you don't like Ravnica and you're playing D&D, you can just not play in that campaign setting.

This upcoming Magic set is a Standard-legal Magic set that takes the place of the core set for this year. Magic players cannot reasonably avoid Adventures in the Forgotten Realms if they aren't interested in D&D or the Forgotten Realms setting. It would be like trying not to participate in the core set. And it's more than just aesthetics at work too. WotC have really embraced the setting when it comes to card design. Mechanics like external "dungeon" cards and rolling a d20 are pretty extreme for Magic, the sort of thing that was previously reserved for silver-bordered sets. Now it's going to be part of Standard Magic. Not just for the D&D fans, but for everyone.

If this had been done tastefully, I'd have totally embraced it. If some horror in a new set had an alternate version reskinned to look like Xanathar from the Forgotten Realms, I'd likely have sought out that special version of the card to put in a deck. If they'd released a Secret Lair with D&D art, I'd probably purchase it.

Maybe greed is at play here, but I suspect that the bigger issues are delusion and sycophancy. I'd bet that WotC really think that they're going to lure a bunch of D&D enthusiasts to play Magic by making their flagship new set into something that resonates with D&D players. But in my experience, those of us who enjoy both games enjoy them for what they are separately, and we don't want to make the one game more like the other game. I don't want to roll dice in my Magic games an I don't want to shuffle my library in my D&D campaigns. The D&D players I know either already play Magic or won't start now. I'm sure that WotC would love to double-dip on their customers, but making a hamfisted D&D-based Magic set isn't likely to achieve very much of that, and will do a lot more to alienate existing players.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I mean, I assume that Sphere of Annihilation probably was a bit of a top-down design, but it's kind of clever and the card works. It seems cool to have that delayed effect, so by the time the Sphere would go off, the person who cast it might run the risk that it's no longer optimal. And we need more cards that kill planeswalkers anyway.
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
I like Sphere of Annihilation, but I just wish that it was colorless instead of black. Sure, being black helps fit its "Tomb of Horrors" origins, but it also makes it extremely vulnerable to cards like Ugin...
 
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