Post by goldensandslash on Aug 18, 2022 19:13:23 GMT
Wizards Presents 2022 is supposedly the biggest announcement event that Wizards of the Coast has ever done. It is currently scheduled for August 18th at 9AM Pacific. At the time of this writing, that time period has not passed yet, but at the time of this writing's publication, it will have.
What was announced in it? Well... I don't know. From my perspective, it hasn't happened yet. But I'm gonna watch it and try to provide a written summary as I watch, so that people who are not into videos and livestreams can still enjoy what was announced.
I've done this before with other Magic livestreams, but this one will be different because this isn't a Magic livestream. It's a Magic and D&D livestream. I don't play D&D, so I won't be able to know what's important and what's not, beyond just making my best guess. So I'll do my best, but please forgive me if the D&D information is lacking.
That's why I say that I will "try" to provide a written summary. Oh, and, uh, because there is still Magic stuff within this stream, I am publishing this to Wyvern Forums's "Magic the Gathering" forum. If the presence of Dungeons & Dragons makes this belong in the "General" forum, then feel free to let me know, and I'll delete this thread and post a new one there.
Well, without further ado, it is now 8:55 AM, so we're just about ready to get started.
Five minutes to go...
Here we go.
Sydnee Goodman is here to host the event. Awesomely, whenever someone comes on-screen this stream, they have a little thing on the bottom saying the person's name, and ALSO THEIR PRONOUNS. Nice!
So, we start by talking about The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth, an upcoming Magic the Gathering Universes Beyond set. Nothing we haven't seen before yet...
Frodo and Balrog get cards, and we see artwork. Okay.
This set features new card treatments, including borderless theme cards. These are a set of 18 borderless cards that, when put together, form an entire panorama that supposedly tells the story of the entire book.
This set releases in Q3 2023, and will be Modern-legal and fully draftable. It's also coming to MTG Arena as an Alchemy set. It will come with a new battlefield, mastery pass, avatars, pets, and more.
----
Now time for Dungeons & Dragons stuff.
We're talking about something called "One D&D". They're talking about how 5th Edition is a good ruleset. And how it's going to build upon it.
The core rulebooks (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual) are getting revised.
These will be released in 2024. So yeah, it sounds like "One D&D" is just a 6th Edition type thing, except not called that. They seem to emphasize that this is building upon 5th Edition, and not just starting from scratch. All 5th Edition adventures will be compatible with One D&D.
D&D Beyond is a digital thing, but... I don't fully understand it.
Ah, I see. They're trying to make a way to play D&D digitally. We get to see some early pre-Alpha footage with the Unreal engine. You have a 3D environment to explore and can place figurines in, to play D&D digitally. Uh... okay.
It will be very customizable, to accommodate the wide variety of ways people play D&D. This is a very robust tool that lets you create your own D&D experience.
Playtest packages will be available starting in August. But an early playtest packet is available now at dndbeyond.com (well, not until 12pm)
The full "One D&D" experience will be available in 2024.
----
Magic's 30th anniversary is here, and Jimmy Wong is here to tell us about it.
We see various Magic players, including Post Malone, playing Magic.
Sigh. I hate that they combined Magic and D&D here, cause they have to show the absolute bare basics to people who play only one game and not the other.
Magic 30 is an event in Las Vegas that will celebrate 30 years of Magic the Gathering. It features hundreds of events, a draft of Beta, an Unfinity event hosted by Mark Rosewater, a cosplay competition, and Magic World Championship XXVIII.
There's even more stuff here to, such as an on-demand Modern tournament, that you must make top 8 of in order to get into that aforementioned Beta draft.
Notable people attending the event include Richard Garfield, Mark Rosewater, Jimmy Wong, Josh Lee Kwai, Evyn Fong, Mark Tedin, Mark Poole, Victor Adame, Ryan Pancoast, and Gavin Verhey. This will be on October 28th-30th.
We once again hear about the promos for the 30 years of Magic. We see the first three (Serra Angel, Ball Lightning, and Fyndhorn Elves), which we already saw on a previous livestream, but we also see the next three, previously unseen: Wall of Roots, Wood Elves, and Windfall.
----
And now it's time to talk about Secret Lair.
Secret Lair: 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit will contain 30 cards, each in their own booster wrapper, each celebrating a year of Magic, each with their own frame treatment and artwork by famous Magic artists.
Secret Lair Superdrop is coming on August 22nd. It includes a showcase from Victor Adame Minguez's artist series and the Showcase Dominaria United Secret Lair. Those are just two of the drops, others will be there too.
An upcoming Secret Lair will be a collaboration with Braindead, but no more info is provided than that.
----
This is the 35th anniversary of Legend of Drizzt.
Ginny Di is here to tell us about this. Every eBook and Audio book from The Legend of Drizzt series will be rereleased with new cover art.
There's a new book called The Legend of Drizzt Visual Dictionary. It will take you through the forgotten realms in high detail. You can explore the lore of The Legend of Drizzt in a very immersive guide.
A weekly webcomic about The Legend of Drizzt will be available. There's some detail given, but most of it just goes over my head.
I don't D&D.
----
Time for some more Universes Beyond!
We get a recap of the Universes Beyond that we previously got: The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Arcane, Street Fighter, and Fortnite.
Next up is Warhammer 40,000.
We already know about this product, but apparently we're getting new info. It'll be in a livestream on September 12th.
There's four commander decks available, one for each of the following factions: the Imperium of Man, the Forces of Chaos, the Undying Necrons, and the Tyranids. Each deck is highly flavorful in terms of how they play. They captured the feel of how they play in the original Warhammer 40,000.
Each deck comes with a Sol Ring that has new art, and it's a different art for each deck, themed for that particular faction.
These decks are available in both regular edition and collector edition. The collector edition decks feature every card with a surge-foil treatment, which is said to be "beautiful".
This product will be available on October 7th.
The Secret Lair for Warhammer 40,000 will be available on October 17th.
----
New product announcement! The next Universes Beyond will be Doctor Who.
These will be four Commander Decks, and cover the show's 60-year-history. There will also be Collector Boosters and Secret Lairs.
----
And now we get... more D&D stuff? I think?
This is just some weird animation with a fable presented over it? I... really don't get it.
Okay, apparently that was a trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space.
Whatever the hell that is.
Protip: If your trailer confuses me about what the product even is... then it's a bad trailer.
Okay, now we get info. This is apparently a D&D campaign. It comes with three books. It is available today at dndbeyond.com and at Amazon and at your LGS.
The next thing they're talking about is Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. This is a war story, I think? F. Wesley Schneider is presenting this part, and he seems to be emphasizing that, so I'm guessing it's important.
God, I should just skip these D&D sections, shouldn't I?
Kate Irwin is also here talking about how this was made, and I don't really get it. Dragonlance is apparently something that they expect me to already know about...
There's a new race called the Kendor. I am still confused.
The Knights of Solamnia are a thing that you can be a part of. Or you can join the Mages of High Sorcery or... you know what? I give up.
There are new feats. What's a feat? I dunno.
New product announcement. Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn. This is a board game that adds a new experience to the D&D adventure. What the hell does that mean? Great question. Unsurprisingly, I don't understand and am just wandering around confused.
The physical book and the digital book are both available for preorder today at dndstore.wizards.com
New D&D starter products are coming to Japan later this year.
We get a trailer for this, and it's in Japanese, so... meh.
In all honesty, the trailer looks VERY cool, but it does nothing for me.
----
We get a recap of everything that D&D has done in 2022. Now we're gonna be getting a list of everything that they're gonna do in 2023.
Keys from the Golden Vault - Winter 2023
Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants - Spring 2023
Phandelver Campaign - Summer 2023
The Book of Many Things - Fall 2023
Planescape - Fall 2023
Hopefully all that appeals to you D&D players. Cause those are just words to me.
----
Now it's time for more Magic stuff. Okay, I am into this.
Dominaria Remastered will be a set featuring cards from 27 different sets that took place on Dominaria. It will be draftable, and feel like early Magic. Draft boosters and collector boosters are available.
Force of Will reprint confirmed.
It will have a normal version, a borderless version, and an old-frame version.
Arboria reprint is also confirmed. Same three frame treatments.
----
And now it's time for what you've all been waiting for: a list of upcoming products for Magic.
Dominaria United - Fall 2022
(and now they stall by talking about the Magic storyline for Dominaria United)
The Brothers' War - Fall 2022
Phyrexia: All Will Be One - Winter 2023
March of the Machine - Spring 2023
March of the Machine: The Aftermath - Spring 2023
Wilds of Eldraine - Fall 2023
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan - Winter 2024
So to summarize, we start with Dominaria United, going back to where Magic first started. Then we go back in time to The Brothers' War. After that, we get a return to New Phyrexia. Then is "March of the Machine", which is the culmination of the Phyrexian storyline that started in Kaldheim. This is the war with the Phyrexians, but who will survive? And what'll be left? Well, we get an epilogue in the form of "The Aftermath", which will deal with that. After that, we go back to Eldraine. This time, the focus isn't on the cities and castles, but the wilds around them. More classic fairy tales are here. And then we go back to Ixalan. Since The Immortal Sun is no longer on the plane, the world is quite different. We will be going spelunking here.
----
Now we get a recap of the stream that we literally just watched. This is... quite stupid.
----
And now it's time for the Dominaria United Debut, which is going to show off lots of preview cards from Dominaria United.
Jimmy Wong is hosting, and they once again put both names and pronouns on this stream as well. That's great.
We get a recap of storyline stuff that happened on Dominaria.
We get a quick note telling us about the Lost Legends promotion that we already knew about.
Harless Snyder, Ethan Fleischer, and Gavin Verhey tell us how the set was made and what they tried to make sure to include.
Liliana of the Veil || 1BB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Liliana || 3 || [+1]: Each player discards a card. || [-2]: Target player sacrifices a creature. || [-6]: Separate all permanents target player controls into two piles. That player sacrifices all permanents in the pile of their choice.
This is an iconic version of Liliana from Innistrad, but now it's being reprinted into Standard on Dominaria United. Liliana has apparently been on Dominaria for a while now.
This would be absolutely amazingly exciting, if not for the fact that they tweeted this preview card about an hour before the stream started. But it does have a borderless version that is new to this stream.
The Raven Man || 1B || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 2/1 || At the beginning of each end step, if a player discarded a card this turn, create a 1/1 black Bird creature token with flying and "This creature can't block." || {3}{B}, {T}: Each opponent discards a card. Activate only as a sorcery.
It's nice to finally see The Raven Man get a card. He's been an important part of Magic lore for a long time. Glad to see him finally have a card.
Squee, Dubious Monarch || 2R || Legendary Creature -- Goblin Noble || 2/2 || Haste || Whenever Squee, Dubious Monarch attacks, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token that's tapped and attacking. || You may cast Squee, Dubious Monarch from your graveyard by paying {3}{R} and exiling four other cards from your graveyard rather than paying its mana cost.
This is a fun Squee card. I like it.
Jhoira, Ageless Innovator || UR || Legendary Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/3 || {T}: Put two ingenuity counters on Jhoira, Ageless Innovator, then you may put an artifact card with mana value X or less from your hand onto the battlefield, where X is the number of ingenuity counters on Jhoira.
Of course we get a new Jhoira card. Looks like we got lots of flavorful characters this time around.
Zur, Eternal Schemer || WUB || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 1/4 || Flying || Enchantment creatures you control have deathtouch, lifelink, and hexproof. || {1}{W}: Target non-Aura enchantment you control becomes a creature in addition to its other types and has base power and base toughness each equal to its mana value.
Huh, another Zur card. Hopefully this one doesn't break Commander. Zur the Enchanter (from Coldsnap) is stupidly good in Commander.
Melissa DeTora talks about playtesting this set, both for Standard and Limited. She talks about Sol'kanar the Swamp King from Legends and said that she wanted to make another Sol'Kanar card.
Sol'Kanar the Tainted || 2UBR || Legendary Creature -- Elemental Demon || 5/5 || At the beginning of your end step, choose one that hasn't been chosen -- || • Draw a card. || • Each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. || • Sol'Kanar the Tainted deals 3 damage to up to one other target creature or planeswalker. || • Exile Sol'Kanar, then return it to the battlefield under an opponent's control.
Huh. So you get three powerful effects on your 5/5, and then your opponent gets it. That's... quite interesting. It's obviously playing around in the same space as Demonic Pact from Magic Origins. I like it.
Lord Windgrace (from Commander 2018) is a long-dead character, but we do get this card for him.
Soul of Windgrace || 1BRG || Legendary Creature -- Cat Avatar || 5/4 || Whenever Soul of Windgrace enters the battlefield or attacks, you may put a land card from a graveyard onto the battlefield tapped under your control. || {G}, Discard a land card: You gain 3 life. || {1}{R}, Discard a land card: Draw a card. || {2}{B}, Discard a land card: Soul of Windgrace gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
Yep, that's Lord Windgrace all right. Neat. It's amazing how flavorful this is to Lord Windgrace. Of course he would care about land cards. Haha.
Sarah Wassell is now here to talk about Booster Fun. We once again see those full-art basic lands that we previously saw. Apparently, stained-glass art is also here for all legendary creatures, including all the ones previewed above. And more, like this guy:
Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart || WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 1/3 || Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control. If you do, draw a card. || {3}{W}{W}: Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain vigilance until end of turn.
Huh. We're getting another Raff Capashen card? Geez, this set is oozing with flavor. I guess that's what you get on a return to Dominaria though.
Adarkar Wastes || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {W} or {U}. Adarkar Wastes deals 1 damage to you.
Karplusan Forest || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {R} or {G}. Karplusan Forest deals 1 damage to you.
Shivan Reef || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {U} or {R}. Shivan Reef deals 1 damage to you.
Sulfurous Springs || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {B} or {R}. Sulfurous Springs deals 1 damage to you.
Caves of Koilos || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {W} or {B}. Caves of Koilos deals 1 damage to you.
Yavmaya Coast || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {G} or {U}. Yavimaya Coast deals 1 damage to you.
Six of the ten painlands are back. They have borderless versions too. That's nostalgic. Looks like we're still missing a few though (Underground River, Brushland, Llanowar Wastes, and Battlefield Forge). Still, the ones we do have should help with casting all those multicolor legendary creatures.
Now we get a look at the Dominaria United Commander Decks.
Jaed Carthalion got his start as being a character from a Magic the Gathering comic book series. Then he was mentioned in flavor text in Modern Horizons. Then he finally got a card in Commander Legends, but now, he's got a card that's the face of a Dominaria United Commander Deck.
Jared Carthalion || WUBRG || Legendary Planeswalker -- Jared || 5 || [+1]: Create a 3/3 Kavu creature token with trample that's all colors. || [-1]: Choose up to two target creatures. For each of them, put a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of colors it is. || [-6]: Return target multicolored card from your graveyard to your hand. If that card was all colors, draw a card and create two Treasure tokens. || Jared Carthalion can be your commander.
I like it. Remember, this is a character who sparked after mastering all five colors of magic. Then he was a part of The Coalition. So this card REALLY works for him. The other Commander Deck has this as its face card:
Dihada, Binder of Wills || 1RWB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Dihada || 5 || [+2]: Up to one target legendary creature gains vigilance, lifelink, and indestructible until your next turn. || [-3]: Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put any number of legendary cards from among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Create a Treasure token for each card put into your graveyard this way. || [-11]: Gain control of all nonland permanents until end of turn. Untap them. They gain haste until end of turn. || Dihada, Binder of Wills can be your commander.
So I guess this is a "legendary matters" card. Okay. I like how it's not necessarily legendary creatures, so you can use legendary noncreatures too.
Now they're showing off some of the box-toppers. As a reminder, these cards are reimagined versions of characters from Legends that had lame legendary cards back in the day. They are officially listed as being from Dominaria United Commander, so they aren't Standard-legal.
Stangg, Echo Warrior || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/4 || Whenever Stangg, Echo Warrior attacks, create Stangg Twin, a legendary 3/4 red and green Human Warrior creature token. It enters the battlefield tapped and attacking. For each Aura and Equipment attached to Stangg, create a token that's a copy of it attached to Stangg Twin. Sacrifice all tokens created this way at the beginning of the next end step.
Sivitri, Dragon Master || 2UB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Sivitri || 4 || [+1]: Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you or planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays 2 life for each of those creatures. || [-3]: Search your library for a Dragon card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || [-7]: Destroy all non-Dragon creatures. || Sivitri, Dragon Master can be your commander.
Now let's get back to the main set. We're gonna be taking a look at the villains of the set, the Phyrexians.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse || 2BB || Legendary Creature -- Phyrexian Praetor || 4/5 || Deathtouch || Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life. || Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life.
Naturally, Sheoldred has a Phyrexian-language version as well, just like all the previous Praetors have had. And a stained-glass version.
Benalish Sleeper || 1W || Creature -- Phyrexian Human Soldier || 3/1 || Kicker {B} (You may pay an additional {B} as you cast this spell.) || When Benalish Sleeper enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, each player sacrifices a creature.
Defiler of Dreams || 3UU || Creature -- Phyrexian Sphinx || 4/3 || Flying || As an additional cost to cast blue permanent spells, you may pay 2 life. Those spells cost {U} less to cast if you paid life this way. This effect reduces only the amount of blue mana you pay. || Whenever you cast a blue permanent spell, draw a card.
Yep. These are Phyrexian cards all right. Definitely a threat to the multiverse if they can find a way off of Dominaria. But hey, what about the mechanics of this set? Well, let's take a look.
The first mechanic is Domain, which we previously saw in Invasion block and in Conflux. Well, it's back.
Nishoba Brawler || 1G || Creature -- Cat Warrior || */3 || Trample || Domain -- Nishoba Brawler's power is equal to the number of basic land types among lands you control.
Another returning mechanic is Kicker. Paul Cheon and Marshall Sutcliffe talk about how it's the best mechanic in the game, due to how easy it is to understand "pay extra to get extra" as a game mechanic.
Archangel of Wrath || 2WW || Creature -- Angel || 3/4 || Kicker {B} and/or {R} (You may pay an additional {B} and/or {R} as you cast this spell.) || Flying, lifelink || When Archangel of Wrath enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, it deals 2 damage to any target. || When Archangel of Wrath enters the battlefield, if it was kicked twice, it deals 2 damage to any target.
Okay, that's an insane card. 2WW for a 3/4 flying lifelink is already pretty good. But then it also potentially does 4 damage spread between up to two targets if you pay six mana for it? Wow. And it has lifelink, so that damage will translate to lifegain (remember, lifelink isn't just for combat damage).
The next new mechanic is Read Ahead.
The Phasing of Zhalfir || 2UU || Enchantment -- Saga || Read ahead (Choose a chapter and start with that many lore counters. Add one after your draw step. Skipped chapters don't trigger. Sacrifice after III.) || I, II -- Another target nonland permanent phases out. It can't phase in for as long as you control The Phasing of Zhalfir. || III -- Destroy all creatures. For each creature destroyed this way, its controller creates a 2/2 black Phyrexian creature token.
So Read Ahead lets you start your Saga on any chapter you want, rather than always starting at Chapter I. I must say, I like what they are doing with Sagas. First Dominaria introduced them, then Theros Beyond Death pushed them to four chapters, then Kaldheim made them multicolor, and then Kamigawa Neon Dynasty let them transform into enchantment creatures. And now Dominaria United is letting them start in the middle. I like how each set seems to have their own take on it.
Here's the next mechanic:
Guardian of New Benalia || 1W || Creature -- Human Soldier || 2/2 || Enlist (As this creature attacks, you may tap a nonattacking creature you control without summoning sickness. When you do, add its power to this creature's until end of turn.) || Whenever Guardian of New Benalia enlists a creature, scry 2. || Discard a card: Guardian of New Benalia gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
Charismatic Vanguard || 2W || Creature -- Dwarf Soldier || 3/2 || {4}{W}: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
That's such a weird mechanic. It's just going to make combat math so much harder. I don't really like it, but I will wait until I play with it before judging too harshly.
As a reminder, Dominaria United is available on Arena on September 1st and available everywhere else on September 9th, with a prerelease on September 2nd.
We finish the stream with a teaser, which does look pretty cool, it shows that Ajani has been compleated.
Ajani, Sleeper Agent || 1G(G/W/P)W || Legendary Planeswalker -- Ajani || 4 || Compleated ({G/W/P} can be paid with {G}, {W}, or 2 life. If life was paid, this planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty counters.) || [+1]: Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a creature or planeswalker card, put it into your hand. Otherwise, you may put it on the bottom of your library.) || [-3]: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among up to three target creatures. They gain vigilance until end of turn. || [-6]: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a creature or planeswalker spell, target opponent gets two poison counters."
This card also has a Phyrexian-language version.
And then we see some card art of what appears to be Jaya's death. Somber music plays... and the livestream ends.
What was announced in it? Well... I don't know. From my perspective, it hasn't happened yet. But I'm gonna watch it and try to provide a written summary as I watch, so that people who are not into videos and livestreams can still enjoy what was announced.
I've done this before with other Magic livestreams, but this one will be different because this isn't a Magic livestream. It's a Magic and D&D livestream. I don't play D&D, so I won't be able to know what's important and what's not, beyond just making my best guess. So I'll do my best, but please forgive me if the D&D information is lacking.
That's why I say that I will "try" to provide a written summary. Oh, and, uh, because there is still Magic stuff within this stream, I am publishing this to Wyvern Forums's "Magic the Gathering" forum. If the presence of Dungeons & Dragons makes this belong in the "General" forum, then feel free to let me know, and I'll delete this thread and post a new one there.
Well, without further ado, it is now 8:55 AM, so we're just about ready to get started.
Five minutes to go...
Here we go.
Sydnee Goodman is here to host the event. Awesomely, whenever someone comes on-screen this stream, they have a little thing on the bottom saying the person's name, and ALSO THEIR PRONOUNS. Nice!
So, we start by talking about The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth, an upcoming Magic the Gathering Universes Beyond set. Nothing we haven't seen before yet...
Frodo and Balrog get cards, and we see artwork. Okay.
This set features new card treatments, including borderless theme cards. These are a set of 18 borderless cards that, when put together, form an entire panorama that supposedly tells the story of the entire book.
This set releases in Q3 2023, and will be Modern-legal and fully draftable. It's also coming to MTG Arena as an Alchemy set. It will come with a new battlefield, mastery pass, avatars, pets, and more.
----
Now time for Dungeons & Dragons stuff.
We're talking about something called "One D&D". They're talking about how 5th Edition is a good ruleset. And how it's going to build upon it.
The core rulebooks (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual) are getting revised.
These will be released in 2024. So yeah, it sounds like "One D&D" is just a 6th Edition type thing, except not called that. They seem to emphasize that this is building upon 5th Edition, and not just starting from scratch. All 5th Edition adventures will be compatible with One D&D.
D&D Beyond is a digital thing, but... I don't fully understand it.
Ah, I see. They're trying to make a way to play D&D digitally. We get to see some early pre-Alpha footage with the Unreal engine. You have a 3D environment to explore and can place figurines in, to play D&D digitally. Uh... okay.
It will be very customizable, to accommodate the wide variety of ways people play D&D. This is a very robust tool that lets you create your own D&D experience.
Playtest packages will be available starting in August. But an early playtest packet is available now at dndbeyond.com (well, not until 12pm)
The full "One D&D" experience will be available in 2024.
----
Magic's 30th anniversary is here, and Jimmy Wong is here to tell us about it.
We see various Magic players, including Post Malone, playing Magic.
Sigh. I hate that they combined Magic and D&D here, cause they have to show the absolute bare basics to people who play only one game and not the other.
Magic 30 is an event in Las Vegas that will celebrate 30 years of Magic the Gathering. It features hundreds of events, a draft of Beta, an Unfinity event hosted by Mark Rosewater, a cosplay competition, and Magic World Championship XXVIII.
There's even more stuff here to, such as an on-demand Modern tournament, that you must make top 8 of in order to get into that aforementioned Beta draft.
Notable people attending the event include Richard Garfield, Mark Rosewater, Jimmy Wong, Josh Lee Kwai, Evyn Fong, Mark Tedin, Mark Poole, Victor Adame, Ryan Pancoast, and Gavin Verhey. This will be on October 28th-30th.
We once again hear about the promos for the 30 years of Magic. We see the first three (Serra Angel, Ball Lightning, and Fyndhorn Elves), which we already saw on a previous livestream, but we also see the next three, previously unseen: Wall of Roots, Wood Elves, and Windfall.
----
And now it's time to talk about Secret Lair.
Secret Lair: 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit will contain 30 cards, each in their own booster wrapper, each celebrating a year of Magic, each with their own frame treatment and artwork by famous Magic artists.
Secret Lair Superdrop is coming on August 22nd. It includes a showcase from Victor Adame Minguez's artist series and the Showcase Dominaria United Secret Lair. Those are just two of the drops, others will be there too.
An upcoming Secret Lair will be a collaboration with Braindead, but no more info is provided than that.
----
This is the 35th anniversary of Legend of Drizzt.
Ginny Di is here to tell us about this. Every eBook and Audio book from The Legend of Drizzt series will be rereleased with new cover art.
There's a new book called The Legend of Drizzt Visual Dictionary. It will take you through the forgotten realms in high detail. You can explore the lore of The Legend of Drizzt in a very immersive guide.
A weekly webcomic about The Legend of Drizzt will be available. There's some detail given, but most of it just goes over my head.
I don't D&D.
----
Time for some more Universes Beyond!
We get a recap of the Universes Beyond that we previously got: The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Arcane, Street Fighter, and Fortnite.
Next up is Warhammer 40,000.
We already know about this product, but apparently we're getting new info. It'll be in a livestream on September 12th.
There's four commander decks available, one for each of the following factions: the Imperium of Man, the Forces of Chaos, the Undying Necrons, and the Tyranids. Each deck is highly flavorful in terms of how they play. They captured the feel of how they play in the original Warhammer 40,000.
Each deck comes with a Sol Ring that has new art, and it's a different art for each deck, themed for that particular faction.
These decks are available in both regular edition and collector edition. The collector edition decks feature every card with a surge-foil treatment, which is said to be "beautiful".
This product will be available on October 7th.
The Secret Lair for Warhammer 40,000 will be available on October 17th.
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New product announcement! The next Universes Beyond will be Doctor Who.
These will be four Commander Decks, and cover the show's 60-year-history. There will also be Collector Boosters and Secret Lairs.
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And now we get... more D&D stuff? I think?
This is just some weird animation with a fable presented over it? I... really don't get it.
Okay, apparently that was a trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space.
Whatever the hell that is.
Protip: If your trailer confuses me about what the product even is... then it's a bad trailer.
Okay, now we get info. This is apparently a D&D campaign. It comes with three books. It is available today at dndbeyond.com and at Amazon and at your LGS.
The next thing they're talking about is Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. This is a war story, I think? F. Wesley Schneider is presenting this part, and he seems to be emphasizing that, so I'm guessing it's important.
God, I should just skip these D&D sections, shouldn't I?
Kate Irwin is also here talking about how this was made, and I don't really get it. Dragonlance is apparently something that they expect me to already know about...
There's a new race called the Kendor. I am still confused.
The Knights of Solamnia are a thing that you can be a part of. Or you can join the Mages of High Sorcery or... you know what? I give up.
There are new feats. What's a feat? I dunno.
New product announcement. Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn. This is a board game that adds a new experience to the D&D adventure. What the hell does that mean? Great question. Unsurprisingly, I don't understand and am just wandering around confused.
The physical book and the digital book are both available for preorder today at dndstore.wizards.com
New D&D starter products are coming to Japan later this year.
We get a trailer for this, and it's in Japanese, so... meh.
In all honesty, the trailer looks VERY cool, but it does nothing for me.
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We get a recap of everything that D&D has done in 2022. Now we're gonna be getting a list of everything that they're gonna do in 2023.
Keys from the Golden Vault - Winter 2023
Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants - Spring 2023
Phandelver Campaign - Summer 2023
The Book of Many Things - Fall 2023
Planescape - Fall 2023
Hopefully all that appeals to you D&D players. Cause those are just words to me.
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Now it's time for more Magic stuff. Okay, I am into this.
Dominaria Remastered will be a set featuring cards from 27 different sets that took place on Dominaria. It will be draftable, and feel like early Magic. Draft boosters and collector boosters are available.
Force of Will reprint confirmed.
It will have a normal version, a borderless version, and an old-frame version.
Arboria reprint is also confirmed. Same three frame treatments.
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And now it's time for what you've all been waiting for: a list of upcoming products for Magic.
Dominaria United - Fall 2022
(and now they stall by talking about the Magic storyline for Dominaria United)
The Brothers' War - Fall 2022
Phyrexia: All Will Be One - Winter 2023
March of the Machine - Spring 2023
March of the Machine: The Aftermath - Spring 2023
Wilds of Eldraine - Fall 2023
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan - Winter 2024
So to summarize, we start with Dominaria United, going back to where Magic first started. Then we go back in time to The Brothers' War. After that, we get a return to New Phyrexia. Then is "March of the Machine", which is the culmination of the Phyrexian storyline that started in Kaldheim. This is the war with the Phyrexians, but who will survive? And what'll be left? Well, we get an epilogue in the form of "The Aftermath", which will deal with that. After that, we go back to Eldraine. This time, the focus isn't on the cities and castles, but the wilds around them. More classic fairy tales are here. And then we go back to Ixalan. Since The Immortal Sun is no longer on the plane, the world is quite different. We will be going spelunking here.
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Now we get a recap of the stream that we literally just watched. This is... quite stupid.
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And now it's time for the Dominaria United Debut, which is going to show off lots of preview cards from Dominaria United.
Jimmy Wong is hosting, and they once again put both names and pronouns on this stream as well. That's great.
We get a recap of storyline stuff that happened on Dominaria.
We get a quick note telling us about the Lost Legends promotion that we already knew about.
Harless Snyder, Ethan Fleischer, and Gavin Verhey tell us how the set was made and what they tried to make sure to include.
Liliana of the Veil || 1BB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Liliana || 3 || [+1]: Each player discards a card. || [-2]: Target player sacrifices a creature. || [-6]: Separate all permanents target player controls into two piles. That player sacrifices all permanents in the pile of their choice.
This is an iconic version of Liliana from Innistrad, but now it's being reprinted into Standard on Dominaria United. Liliana has apparently been on Dominaria for a while now.
This would be absolutely amazingly exciting, if not for the fact that they tweeted this preview card about an hour before the stream started. But it does have a borderless version that is new to this stream.
The Raven Man || 1B || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 2/1 || At the beginning of each end step, if a player discarded a card this turn, create a 1/1 black Bird creature token with flying and "This creature can't block." || {3}{B}, {T}: Each opponent discards a card. Activate only as a sorcery.
It's nice to finally see The Raven Man get a card. He's been an important part of Magic lore for a long time. Glad to see him finally have a card.
Squee, Dubious Monarch || 2R || Legendary Creature -- Goblin Noble || 2/2 || Haste || Whenever Squee, Dubious Monarch attacks, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token that's tapped and attacking. || You may cast Squee, Dubious Monarch from your graveyard by paying {3}{R} and exiling four other cards from your graveyard rather than paying its mana cost.
This is a fun Squee card. I like it.
Jhoira, Ageless Innovator || UR || Legendary Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/3 || {T}: Put two ingenuity counters on Jhoira, Ageless Innovator, then you may put an artifact card with mana value X or less from your hand onto the battlefield, where X is the number of ingenuity counters on Jhoira.
Of course we get a new Jhoira card. Looks like we got lots of flavorful characters this time around.
Zur, Eternal Schemer || WUB || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 1/4 || Flying || Enchantment creatures you control have deathtouch, lifelink, and hexproof. || {1}{W}: Target non-Aura enchantment you control becomes a creature in addition to its other types and has base power and base toughness each equal to its mana value.
Huh, another Zur card. Hopefully this one doesn't break Commander. Zur the Enchanter (from Coldsnap) is stupidly good in Commander.
Melissa DeTora talks about playtesting this set, both for Standard and Limited. She talks about Sol'kanar the Swamp King from Legends and said that she wanted to make another Sol'Kanar card.
Sol'Kanar the Tainted || 2UBR || Legendary Creature -- Elemental Demon || 5/5 || At the beginning of your end step, choose one that hasn't been chosen -- || • Draw a card. || • Each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. || • Sol'Kanar the Tainted deals 3 damage to up to one other target creature or planeswalker. || • Exile Sol'Kanar, then return it to the battlefield under an opponent's control.
Huh. So you get three powerful effects on your 5/5, and then your opponent gets it. That's... quite interesting. It's obviously playing around in the same space as Demonic Pact from Magic Origins. I like it.
Lord Windgrace (from Commander 2018) is a long-dead character, but we do get this card for him.
Soul of Windgrace || 1BRG || Legendary Creature -- Cat Avatar || 5/4 || Whenever Soul of Windgrace enters the battlefield or attacks, you may put a land card from a graveyard onto the battlefield tapped under your control. || {G}, Discard a land card: You gain 3 life. || {1}{R}, Discard a land card: Draw a card. || {2}{B}, Discard a land card: Soul of Windgrace gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
Yep, that's Lord Windgrace all right. Neat. It's amazing how flavorful this is to Lord Windgrace. Of course he would care about land cards. Haha.
Sarah Wassell is now here to talk about Booster Fun. We once again see those full-art basic lands that we previously saw. Apparently, stained-glass art is also here for all legendary creatures, including all the ones previewed above. And more, like this guy:
Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart || WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 1/3 || Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control. If you do, draw a card. || {3}{W}{W}: Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain vigilance until end of turn.
Huh. We're getting another Raff Capashen card? Geez, this set is oozing with flavor. I guess that's what you get on a return to Dominaria though.
Adarkar Wastes || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {W} or {U}. Adarkar Wastes deals 1 damage to you.
Karplusan Forest || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {R} or {G}. Karplusan Forest deals 1 damage to you.
Shivan Reef || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {U} or {R}. Shivan Reef deals 1 damage to you.
Sulfurous Springs || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {B} or {R}. Sulfurous Springs deals 1 damage to you.
Caves of Koilos || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {W} or {B}. Caves of Koilos deals 1 damage to you.
Yavmaya Coast || Land || {T}: Add {C}. || {T}: Add {G} or {U}. Yavimaya Coast deals 1 damage to you.
Six of the ten painlands are back. They have borderless versions too. That's nostalgic. Looks like we're still missing a few though (Underground River, Brushland, Llanowar Wastes, and Battlefield Forge). Still, the ones we do have should help with casting all those multicolor legendary creatures.
Now we get a look at the Dominaria United Commander Decks.
Jaed Carthalion got his start as being a character from a Magic the Gathering comic book series. Then he was mentioned in flavor text in Modern Horizons. Then he finally got a card in Commander Legends, but now, he's got a card that's the face of a Dominaria United Commander Deck.
Jared Carthalion || WUBRG || Legendary Planeswalker -- Jared || 5 || [+1]: Create a 3/3 Kavu creature token with trample that's all colors. || [-1]: Choose up to two target creatures. For each of them, put a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of colors it is. || [-6]: Return target multicolored card from your graveyard to your hand. If that card was all colors, draw a card and create two Treasure tokens. || Jared Carthalion can be your commander.
I like it. Remember, this is a character who sparked after mastering all five colors of magic. Then he was a part of The Coalition. So this card REALLY works for him. The other Commander Deck has this as its face card:
Dihada, Binder of Wills || 1RWB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Dihada || 5 || [+2]: Up to one target legendary creature gains vigilance, lifelink, and indestructible until your next turn. || [-3]: Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put any number of legendary cards from among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Create a Treasure token for each card put into your graveyard this way. || [-11]: Gain control of all nonland permanents until end of turn. Untap them. They gain haste until end of turn. || Dihada, Binder of Wills can be your commander.
So I guess this is a "legendary matters" card. Okay. I like how it's not necessarily legendary creatures, so you can use legendary noncreatures too.
Now they're showing off some of the box-toppers. As a reminder, these cards are reimagined versions of characters from Legends that had lame legendary cards back in the day. They are officially listed as being from Dominaria United Commander, so they aren't Standard-legal.
Stangg, Echo Warrior || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/4 || Whenever Stangg, Echo Warrior attacks, create Stangg Twin, a legendary 3/4 red and green Human Warrior creature token. It enters the battlefield tapped and attacking. For each Aura and Equipment attached to Stangg, create a token that's a copy of it attached to Stangg Twin. Sacrifice all tokens created this way at the beginning of the next end step.
Sivitri, Dragon Master || 2UB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Sivitri || 4 || [+1]: Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you or planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays 2 life for each of those creatures. || [-3]: Search your library for a Dragon card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || [-7]: Destroy all non-Dragon creatures. || Sivitri, Dragon Master can be your commander.
Now let's get back to the main set. We're gonna be taking a look at the villains of the set, the Phyrexians.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse || 2BB || Legendary Creature -- Phyrexian Praetor || 4/5 || Deathtouch || Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life. || Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life.
Naturally, Sheoldred has a Phyrexian-language version as well, just like all the previous Praetors have had. And a stained-glass version.
Benalish Sleeper || 1W || Creature -- Phyrexian Human Soldier || 3/1 || Kicker {B} (You may pay an additional {B} as you cast this spell.) || When Benalish Sleeper enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, each player sacrifices a creature.
Defiler of Dreams || 3UU || Creature -- Phyrexian Sphinx || 4/3 || Flying || As an additional cost to cast blue permanent spells, you may pay 2 life. Those spells cost {U} less to cast if you paid life this way. This effect reduces only the amount of blue mana you pay. || Whenever you cast a blue permanent spell, draw a card.
Yep. These are Phyrexian cards all right. Definitely a threat to the multiverse if they can find a way off of Dominaria. But hey, what about the mechanics of this set? Well, let's take a look.
The first mechanic is Domain, which we previously saw in Invasion block and in Conflux. Well, it's back.
Nishoba Brawler || 1G || Creature -- Cat Warrior || */3 || Trample || Domain -- Nishoba Brawler's power is equal to the number of basic land types among lands you control.
Another returning mechanic is Kicker. Paul Cheon and Marshall Sutcliffe talk about how it's the best mechanic in the game, due to how easy it is to understand "pay extra to get extra" as a game mechanic.
Archangel of Wrath || 2WW || Creature -- Angel || 3/4 || Kicker {B} and/or {R} (You may pay an additional {B} and/or {R} as you cast this spell.) || Flying, lifelink || When Archangel of Wrath enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, it deals 2 damage to any target. || When Archangel of Wrath enters the battlefield, if it was kicked twice, it deals 2 damage to any target.
Okay, that's an insane card. 2WW for a 3/4 flying lifelink is already pretty good. But then it also potentially does 4 damage spread between up to two targets if you pay six mana for it? Wow. And it has lifelink, so that damage will translate to lifegain (remember, lifelink isn't just for combat damage).
The next new mechanic is Read Ahead.
The Phasing of Zhalfir || 2UU || Enchantment -- Saga || Read ahead (Choose a chapter and start with that many lore counters. Add one after your draw step. Skipped chapters don't trigger. Sacrifice after III.) || I, II -- Another target nonland permanent phases out. It can't phase in for as long as you control The Phasing of Zhalfir. || III -- Destroy all creatures. For each creature destroyed this way, its controller creates a 2/2 black Phyrexian creature token.
So Read Ahead lets you start your Saga on any chapter you want, rather than always starting at Chapter I. I must say, I like what they are doing with Sagas. First Dominaria introduced them, then Theros Beyond Death pushed them to four chapters, then Kaldheim made them multicolor, and then Kamigawa Neon Dynasty let them transform into enchantment creatures. And now Dominaria United is letting them start in the middle. I like how each set seems to have their own take on it.
Here's the next mechanic:
Guardian of New Benalia || 1W || Creature -- Human Soldier || 2/2 || Enlist (As this creature attacks, you may tap a nonattacking creature you control without summoning sickness. When you do, add its power to this creature's until end of turn.) || Whenever Guardian of New Benalia enlists a creature, scry 2. || Discard a card: Guardian of New Benalia gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
Charismatic Vanguard || 2W || Creature -- Dwarf Soldier || 3/2 || {4}{W}: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
That's such a weird mechanic. It's just going to make combat math so much harder. I don't really like it, but I will wait until I play with it before judging too harshly.
As a reminder, Dominaria United is available on Arena on September 1st and available everywhere else on September 9th, with a prerelease on September 2nd.
We finish the stream with a teaser, which does look pretty cool, it shows that Ajani has been compleated.
Ajani, Sleeper Agent || 1G(G/W/P)W || Legendary Planeswalker -- Ajani || 4 || Compleated ({G/W/P} can be paid with {G}, {W}, or 2 life. If life was paid, this planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty counters.) || [+1]: Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a creature or planeswalker card, put it into your hand. Otherwise, you may put it on the bottom of your library.) || [-3]: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among up to three target creatures. They gain vigilance until end of turn. || [-6]: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a creature or planeswalker spell, target opponent gets two poison counters."
This card also has a Phyrexian-language version.
And then we see some card art of what appears to be Jaya's death. Somber music plays... and the livestream ends.