In a wide ranging episode of Weekly MTG and follow up article, Wizards of the Coast clued us into what the next few months will look like in the world of Magic.
Leading the way is Modern Horizons 2. The set will feature cards that are mostly new to the Modern Format – five exceptions being the enemy colored Fetch Lands from Zendikar. These five will appear in the set at Rare and will also get two special frame treatments: one borderless art and one featuring the pre-8th Edition frame, now known as the Retro Frame.
Modern Horizons 2 will feature 42 reprints that are new to Modern, and each Draft Booster will feature one of these cards. Two have been revealed – Sanctum Prelate is this set’s Buy-a-Box promo and gets the Retro Frame treatment. The second is Counterspell, coming in a regular and a borderless art version. Yes, Counterspell will be legal in Modern starting in June.
Modern Horizons 2 will feature Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, and Collector Boosters. Spoiler season will begin on May 24 with the entire set being revealed on June 2. And, in addition to Borderless and Retro Frames, certain cards will be getting a Sketch treatment, where the alternate art will depict the artist’s sketch of the work, occasionally featuring a snippet of the art description in the place of flavor text.
Following Modern Horizons 2 will be Magic’s first crossover set: Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Drawing on the rich lore of Dungeons & Dragons, this set will feature some key elements from the role playing game with both Tiamat and The Vorpal Sword being revealed today. As with all Premier Releases, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will get Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, and Collector Boosters. There will also be an alternate art treatment that resembles a page out of an old role playing book.
But that’s not all! Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will also have six theme boosters – one for each color and one special theme to be revealed later. There are four Commander decks coming with the set as well and their names have been revealed:
- Aura of Courage
- Dungeons of Death
- Draconic Rage
- Planar Portal
Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms preview season begins on June 29.
As if those weren’t enough releases, between Modern Horizons 2 and Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms there will be another Secret Lair Drop. However the contents of this one have yet to be announced.
The next segment dealt heavily with the return of in-store play and supporting Local Game Stores. The Covid-19 Pandemic shuttered in-store play for much of the world over the past year, with some stores starting to safely reopen. Wizards announced that in-store play would be able to be sanctioned in the United States starting May 28. As an incentive to bring people back into brick and mortar shops, starting June 18 anyone who spends $50 or more on sealed product at select WPN locations will get a Retro Frame foil Fabled Passage. There will be five other cards given a similar treatment for the remainder of this year. Additionally an allotment of Convention Edition Mystery Boosters will be released to select WPN locations.
Capping today off was the announcement of Historic Anthology V for Arena. Historic has seen a massive shakeup thanks to the addition of the Mystical Archive cards and on May 27, 25 new cards will be added to the format. We found out two of these cards today: Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, and Whirler Rogue. And that’s not all – later this summer a special event on Arena will take certain banned cards and “rebalance” them for a limited time and only for the special event.
