Take The Initiative In Magic: The Gathering’s New Commander Legends: Battle For Baldur’s Gate Set

Next month, Wizards of the Coast is mixing two of its biggest properties once again, but this time with a Commander twist. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate brings D&D flavor back to Magic: The Gathering in a fully draftable set focused on the Commander format.

Like the previous Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set from last summer, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate let’s Magic players step foot into the existing role-playing world of Forgotten Realms, but with a tighter focus on the settlement of Baldur’s Gate. The set takes inspiration from the D&D rulebooks and adventures and uses locations and characters from Bioware’s classic Baldur’s Gate video games and Larian Studio’s upcoming Baldur’s Gate III. Minsc, Boo, and a few others are still active, only this time they’re in Planeswalker forms!

Let’s look at some of the cards and mechanics coming in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate.

Initiative

Monarch is an iconic mechanic in Commander matches for decades. Battle for Baldur’s Gate brings a new version to this set, with the “initiative”. The initiative in Dungeons and Dragons determines the turn order for players and NPCs, but the Magic version works a little differently. 

A spell that contains the words “take the Initiative” must be cast for the person sitting at the table to win the initiative. This will give that player the chance to venture into a special dungeon named after the legendary Forgotten Realms location, Undercity, which can only be ventured into by someone with the initiative. You will not be able to use any other venture cards in order to move forward in this dungeon. If the player with the initiative is dealt combat damage by another player, that player takes the initiative and can reap the rewards found within Undercity when their upkeep step comes around.

Here are the official rules for the initiative on the mechanic’s reminder token:

Backgrounds

Battle for Baldur’s Gate offers a smart way to add additional colors and legends to your commander without having them create more creatures using the difficult-to-balance “Partner” mechanic. You can use Backgrounds to cast enchantment card from your Command Zone. These spells can be used as stand-ins for Commanders. To do this, pair them with legendary creatures from the set. Because it acts like a Commander, the same rules apply to these spells, including having to pay more for the spell each time it’s been cast from the Command Zone. 

Background enchantments can be used as pseudo-Commanders. You can put them in the deck just like other cards. However, it can add a lot of flavor by giving your deck-leading general a sad or heroic story. While both of these spells are active on the battlefield they can also be used to augment the Commander. Maybe your legend was raised by giants, belongs to a cult, or was born into nobility. The cards are the only way to find out what your story is. 

Adventures return

This is the key mechanic that was introduced in Throne, Eldraine. It’s back big and provides a great deal of value for all spells it uses. The Adventure card has two functions. One is to create a creature, and one is for instant or sorcery. Casting the Adventure portion of the spell will cost you the cost. It resolves the section’s effects just like any other spell. However, it exils the card and does not go to the graveyard. You can then cast the half of your creature at sorcery speed, just like if you were casting it from your hand.

For a game that is centered on adventure and questing, Adventures make a great addition. Except for the fact that there are more Adventure cards at Battle for Baldur’s Gate, the mechanic has not changed much since Eldraine’s halcyon days.

D20 dice rolling

Wizards proved to be a reliable dice-rolling mechanic for a Dungeons and Dragons set. You can also roll a 20-sided die if a card allows it. Different results will have different effects on different cards. 

While dice rolling may not be competitive in the traditional built formats, it can still be a fun mechanic in draft. Commander Commander is also incredibly enjoyable to use for building around. There have been ways of manipulating the outcome of your rolls to stack the odds in your favor in past sets, so I’m hoping we see more as preview season rolls on for Battle for Baldur’s gate.

Commander Legends Battle for Baldur’s Gate comes very soon. The pre-release events will begin June 3rd and the set release on June 10th. Magic: The Gathering Arena will be receiving a Battle for Baldur’s Gate edition with Alchemy Horizon: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. It brings more than 250 cards to Arena’s Alchemy, Historic and Historic formats. The digital set will be available on July 7.

On May 24, we’ll reveal an exclusive preview of the set, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for it on our site!