Magic Untapped provide an overview of the upcoming Baldur's Gate Magic: The Gathering set.

Commander Legends - Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for Baldur's Gate, the new Magic: The Gathering set coming out on June 10, is the collectible card game's second foray into the world of D&D.

To help you out with the set's new mechanics and provide an overview of the set overall, Magic Untapped has put together a quick look primer for you.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hey there, Magic players.

Barry White for MagicUntapped.com and Magic Untapped here on YouTube.

On June 10, the second of (currently) two Dungeons & Dragons/Magic: The Gathering sets – Commander Legends - Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for Baldur’s Gate (a set based around the popular location within D&D’s Forgotten Realms which served as the setting for a couple of popular computer games back in the day) – will be coming out.  And, despite being a Commander-designed set, Battle for Baldur’s Gate is made to be drafted (just like with the original Commander Legends set that came out during COVID.)

To that end, Battle for Baldur’s Gate will be available in 20-card draft boosters, each of which contain a guaranteed one legendary creature or planeswalker, one legendary background (more on those in a bit), 1 non-legendary rare or mythic rare card, three uncommons, 13 commons, one foil card of any rarity, and one token, advertisement, or dungeon card.

When drafting this set, you’ll take two cards at a time rather than the traditional one and will wind up putting together a minimum 60-card deck with which you’ll play against your opponents.

But, despite Battle for Baldur’s Gate being a draft-centric set, there are other product offerings that are designed not for drafting, but simply for pack cracking.

That includes Set Boosters, which have the more traditional quantity of 15 cards per pack, but can have a higher proliferation of rare and mythic rare cards, as well as guaranteed cards featuring showcase, foil, and foil-etched treatments, and the possibility of a reprinted card from Magic’s “The List.”

And just like with the last couple of Magic releases, the set’s bundle will contain eight set boosters, as well as an oversized dungeon card, 20 foil basic lands, 20 non-foil basics, an oversized red-and-pink d20, and a traditional foil, alternate-art version of the new card Wand of Wonder.

There’s also Collector Boosters, which are made largely for, well, collectors in mind.

Like set boosters, Collector Boosters, are 15 card packs.  Unlike set booster packs, Battle for Baldur’s Gate collector boosters contain a total of six rare and/or mythic rare cards per pack, including an extended art rare or mythic rare cards from the Battle for Baldur’s Gate commander decks, and even more cards with the set’s special treatments.

And, speaking of the Commander Legends - Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for Baldur’s Gate pre-constructed commander decks, Wizards of the Coast is releasing four of them:

• Black/White “Party Time”
• Black/Blue “Mind Flayarrrs”
• Blue/Red “Draconic Dissent”, and
• Red/Green “Exit from Exile”

In addition to each having a fully playable, 100 card commander deck, each will also contain one rare or mythic rare from Battle for Baldur’s Gate collector booster, as well as a traditional foil common or uncommon in the set’s rulebook showcase style.

Now, as for the set itself, Commander Legends - Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for Baldur’s Gate will feature a nice little assortment of mechanics both new and returning.

Returning mechanics include Adventure, Goad, Myriad, Party, and d20 dice rolling.

The Gate subtype is also returning, along with a handful of “gates matters” cards.

New mechanics being debuted in the set are:

• Initiative, which is a player’s designation akin to the Monarch mechanic found in the Conspiracy sets.  Only one player at a time can have the initiative and, both when they take it as well as during that player’s upkeep, it allows them to venture into the set’s new dungeon, The Undercity.  In fact, it’s the only way a player can access or progress through the new dungeon at all.
• Backgrounds, which synergize with the “Choose a background” instruction that appears in the rules text of various legendary creatures throughout the set.  Backgrounds are legendary enchantments can be used like a partner for your commander and, as such, add to your deck’s color identity.  They’re also used to more-or-less customize legendary creatures by giving them an extra ability.

As far as the specific cards players can expect to find in Commander Legends - Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, we’ve only seen a portion of what will ultimately be in the set, including new planeswalkers, neat reprints of iconic older cards, and so on.  Cards are going to continue to be revealed all the way until May 31 going into the set’s prerelease, which begins Friday, June 3.

So, what do you think of Commander Legends - Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for Baldur’s Gate?  Does the set excite you?  Are you going to check out any prerelease events?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below, and don’t forget to support Magic Untapped by tossing a buck in our tip jar on Patreon.

I’m Barry White.  Thanks for watching.