D&D General MtG Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Spoiler Thread

[Scribe]

This why I thought they would be lands with venture being an activation cost or something.

As it is? OK cool I guess.

 

[MoonSong]

Here’s the lead designer of Magic acknowledging that Dungeons are parasitic:

Blogatog — I thought that R&D tries to avoid parasitic...

Here is a link without trackers

 

[Maxperson]

That isn’t what parasitic means. A parasitic mechanic is one that doesn’t function outside of a specific environment supporting it. Splice onto Arcane is the classic example, because the mechanic only works if your deck runs a lot of Arcane spells, which have hardly been printed outside of Kamigawa block. On the other hand, Energy Counters are commonly thought of as parasitic because they are designed to work best together, but aren’t actually parasitic because you don’t need other cards that interact with Energy counters to make them work - you can just throw a card with the mechanic into any deck and it’ll still work fine.

Dungeons are parasitic because you need a certain critical mass of Venture cards for them to function. You can’t just put Gloom Stalker into any deck, because unless you’re running a bunch of cards that let you Venture into the Dungeon, you’ll never be able to Complete a Dungeon to get his double strike online. Yes, Dungeons do have synergy with other mechanics, but so does Splice onto Arcane. The reason they’re parasitic is because most of them are going to be useless outside of a dedicated Dungeon deck.

All that said, I don’t think it’s a problem that Dungeons are parasitic. It’s a gimmick mechanic in a one-off set that’s specifically outside of normal MtG canon, which as this very thread demonstrates, a lot of people who aren’t normally magic fans are likely to buy to play on its own. If there was ever a good time and place for a parasitic mechanic, this is it. Parasitic mechanics also aren’t necessarily bad. They’re just somewhat limited in playability. This seems like a perfectly fine mechanic to be parasitic, because folks who are going to want to play with it are surely going to want to build around it heavily.

I agree. I don't see a problem with "parasitic" sets. It seems to me that if you want to play a dungeon deck, make one. If you don't, don't. I mean, there are all sorts of decks that aren't fit to use cards outside their focus. Like pretty much all of them. That a deck doesn't use a lot of cards from every legal set isn't an issue.

 

[Charlaquin]

I agree. I don't see a problem with "parasitic" sets. It seems to me that if you want to play a dungeon deck, make one. If you don't, don't. I mean, there are all sorts of decks that aren't fit to use cards outside their focus. Like pretty much all of them. That a deck doesn't use a lot of cards from every legal set isn't an issue.

The “problem,” such as it is, with parasitic mechanics is that they have a shorter shelf-life than other mechanics. You don’t need a “flashback deck” to make good use of cards with flashback, so those cards will always have a home, no matter how the competitive metagame shifts. It’s also easier for R&D to slot flashback cards into new sets without having to build the set around them. On the other hand, Splice onto Arcane is useless without a lot of Arcane spells, so it’s hard to make new cards with it without building a set around them, which means Arcane decks very rarely get new cards, and so can’t keep up with the evolving metagame.

Of course, none of this matters if you’re not playing competitively. And the popularity of Commander has insured there’s a home for just about any mechanic or gimmick you could want.

 

[Maxperson]

The “problem,” such as it is, with parasitic mechanics is that they have a shorter shelf-life than other mechanics. You don’t need a “flashback deck” to make good use of cards with flashback, so those cards will always have a home, no matter how the competitive metagame shifts. It’s also easier for R&D to slot flashback cards into new sets without having to build the set around them. On the other hand, Splice onto Arcane is useless without a lot of Arcane spells, so it’s hard to make new cards with it without building a set around them, which means Arcane decks very rarely get new cards, and so can’t keep up with the evolving metagame.

Of course, none of this matters if you’re not playing competitively. And the popularity of Commander has insured there’s a home for just about any mechanic or gimmick you could want.

Yep. While competitive play is big, it's far from the only focus of the game. Regardless of the cards that they can't or don't use because of "parasitic" mechanics, they'll still be able to make decks and have at it. These sorts of things are fun for the rest of us.

 

[MoonSong]

The “problem,” such as it is, with parasitic mechanics is that they have a shorter shelf-life than other mechanics. You don’t need a “flashback deck” to make good use of cards with flashback, so those cards will always have a home, no matter how the competitive metagame shifts. It’s also easier for R&D to slot flashback cards into new sets without having to build the set around them. On the other hand, Splice onto Arcane is useless without a lot of Arcane spells, so it’s hard to make new cards with it without building a set around them, which means Arcane decks very rarely get new cards, and so can’t keep up with the evolving metagame.

Of course, none of this matters if you’re not playing competitively. And the popularity of Commander has insured there’s a home for just about any mechanic or gimmick you could want.

And don't forget cubing.

 

[Charlaquin]

And don't forget cubing.

Truuuuuuueeeee!! Cubes are awesome.

 

[Cadence]

All the basic lands are out now...

 

[bedir than]

I laughed at the marketing, but yes I will be getting the basic lands to use for adventure and campaign creation, as well as to set scenes.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

All the basic lands are out now...
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Gorgeous and I love the Flavor Text, but once again they forgot there are regions outside the Swordcoast. I'd be more upset if a new Campaign Setting book for FR wasn't coming.