MTG: The Gods Of Adventures In The Forgotten Realms
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms gives the gods and goddesses of Dungeons & Dragons a taste of Planeswalking power in the upcoming Magic set.
Magic: the Gathering is no stranger to gods and other divine beings possessed of incomparable power. Well, almost incomparable power. After all, you can pretty readily compare the power of a god to the power of a Planeswalker. In fact, I’m pretty sure Nicol Bolas has gone out of his way to either become or eat a god in the past–all that to say the non-canonical (because WotC are, at the end of the day, the same sort of cowards who would refuse to put Waluigi in Smash) Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, is home to some pretty fantastic representation of gods in D&D. Especially if your looking for the kinds of deities and demigods who never get so much as a stat block, these cards are a great way of looking at ’em.
First up, the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut himself, who has been given the title Grandmaster of Flowers, a nod to the older editions of D&D where high level monks would have to duel each other to achieve higher levels and there was only one Grandmaster of Flowers. Here, Bahamut is a Planeswalker who is represented with the typical 7 canaries, but instead of the old man we’re used to, Bahamut looks straight out of a boy band–and more power to him.
This isn’t our first time seeing the Spider-Queen Lolth, but if we didn’t include her, the driders that live in the shadows of our office would absolutely devour us. A solid choice for anyone looking to play with spiders, life totals, and lots of death.
Similarlyl, we’ve seen Tiamat before, and with the multicolor treatment, she does represent all five colors of Chromatic dragons. And when you cast her, you get five dragons following in her footsteps. So. If you like dragons, this is the card for you. Bonus points if you build a deck with her and Bahamut together. But on to the other new gods:
Zariel is questionably divine. She used to be an angel who fell to hell and became an archduke and now she’s something… more, represented by her categorization as a Planeswalker. Maybe more of a demigod than a full on deity, Zariel is still plenty powerful, especially since she comes with a bunch of exploding devils and the ability to have two combat phases.
Finally, the big scheming bad guy of D&D, the master of the Nine Hells, Asmodeus himself. The fallen god maybe? The lore on Asmodeus’ origins varies from edition to edition, but Asmodeus has always been too powerful for stats. Here, though, he is a simple (and appropriate) 6/6 that comes with a contract that will surely not come back to bite you in any way.
Happy adventuring!
