Released in July 2021, this set combined two gigantic properties- Magic and Dungeons & Dragons- for the first time. I mentioned in my previous post how Wizards should have licensed Harry Potter instead of doing an obvious ripoff in Strixhaven. For D&D, Wizards did just that, and the result was amazing. Now, it is easier, as Wizards owns both properties . . . regardless, D&D's fantasy world combined with Magic's game system were, in my mind, a smash hit.
AFR featured several things I enjoyed:
- 'choose one' cards: these are effectively modal cards, offering two or more modes, and enabling the players to choose one. I love flexibility, and these cards offered it. Two examples below- Dawnbringer Cleric and You Find the Villains' Lair. I also appreciated the flavor text (in italics preceding the dash) before each mode. It meant nothing for gameplay, but enhanced the adventuring feel.
- dice rolling: generally d20s, but sometimes other-sized die, rolling was a natural part of D&D and adapted well to Magic's environment. Cards like Contact Other Plane (below) show how a lucky roll could make a good card even better.
- 'class' enchantments: these enchantments allowed you to 'level up' for a stated mana cost, making the enchantment's effect increasingly powerful. See Ranger Class below.
- skeletons: I love tribal decks, and had wanted a viable casual skeleton deck. AFR had some key cards (Death-Priest of Myrkul and Skeletal Swarming among them- below) that made this possible.
Favorites
I mentioned several of these cards above, so I won't call out those again. Those that remain:
- Priest of Ancient Lord is a great inclusion in many white decks- life gain and cleric tribal among them.
- Deadly Dispute is amazing. Instant-speed with flexible sacrifice options to net you two cards and a treasure token. Nice.
- Shambling Ghast is a great opener. Just a 1/1, but with two good options when it dies, enabling removal or improving your mana base.
- Skullport Merchant rightly saw a lot of play. A nice sacrifice ability that could trigger multiple times in a turn (if you had the mana for it).
- Goblins got a few nice cards in this set. Battle Cry Goblin, Hobgoblin Bandit Lord, and Hulking Bugbear were staples in standard tribal decks; the first two made their way into a few modern goblin tribal decks as well.
- Red Dragon is representative of the 'dragon cycle' in this set- each color got a dragon with a nifty effect. At the uncommon level, they were not overly powerful, but I enjoyed the flavor.
- Froghemoth is a nice green card. Trample, haste, and a cool ability? Yes, please.
- Prosperous Innkeeper saw a ton of play in a variety of decks. Getting a treasure token initially plus life gain for every other creature you put on the battlefield made it a minor threat opponents needed to address.
- Werewolf Pack Leader is another solid green creature. Great card in any (standard, modern, etc.) 'green stompy' deck.
- Gretchen Titchwillow is a fun mana/card advantage option.
- Hall of Storm Giants is representative of the 'lands that can become creatures' cycle in this set. They were fun all around and saw frequent play.
Good Riddance
There were no cards I couldn't stand in this set. Though the handful shown below sure annoyed me . . . when my opponent was running them.
- Portable Hole and Teleportation Circle were nice/annoying removal/blink effects, respectively
- Tasha's Hideous Laughter, often combined with spells that copied it, could win games quickly
- Lolth, Spider Queen had abilities that made the games drag on forever
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed AFR a good deal. It may be one of my favorite all-time sets.
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