New Magic the Gathering set in D&D!!

I started playing Magic the Gathering and collecting the cards about 12 years ago when I fell in love with the art and the fun text on the cards.  I played for several years, then moved on still attracted to the art on the cards.  My attention has returned to this great game as Magic the Gathering is now bringing a Dungeons and Dragons set "Adventures in the Forgotten Realms."  

There is so much I want to say about this that I will save for when I actually have the cards in hand, but once again the art is pulling me back.

One notable example of this is the Legendary Creature card that has the iconic character Drizzt Do'urden.  Anyone who has listened to the podcast CWK Pourover, will know that Drizzt Do'urden is my favorite fictional character of ALL literature I have read.  So, when in mid-May the original art for the Drizzt Do'Urden painting by Tyler Jacobson sold, I wasn't surprised at the price.  According to the MTG Art Market, the original painting for the card sold for $155,000.  It is a beautiful card with Drizzt and his magical companion panther Gwenhuvar leaping into battle.  

My fear with such interest in this set and the price of the original art is that the card will be impossible for ordinary MTG players (like myself) to attain.  I have no idea what the production rate of this card will be, but we have seen what secondary markets can do to trading card game assets like this.  My fear, however, leads to the excitement of more people discovering not only Drizzt Do'Urden but Dungeons and Dragons overall.  I hope this crossover brings MTG players into the role-playing game.  D&D has been slowly bringing Magic the Gathering into its lore with a couple settings books, Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros which I'm sure has brought D&D players to the MTG tables.  This collaboration makes a lot of sense, and I am really surprised that it has taken this long,.  Both of these games have long-standing players with a little crossover players, but this effort, I believe, will bring many of us together.  

Bottom line: this is an exciting time for both D&D and MTG players.  Keep an eye out for announcements from the Wizards of the Coast about this set which is to release on July 23.  

A Fun Trading Card Activity

I recently read a short article published online by Becket that gave me some ideas and fun ways to display a baseball card collection.  It would work with any card collection.  In essence, take a set of baseball cards, film cards, game cards, and choose your favorite nine cards from a set.  The criteria could be nine players from the same team, nine favorite signature cards, nine cards with your favorite art.  It could be anything that strikes you at the moment.

Choosing the nine cards is the fun of this activity!  It gives you a chance to review the collection in more detail.  In some cases, it lets you revisit a set that you haven't looked at in a long time.  Once you've got your nine cards chosen, then grab a clear, 9-pocket sheet for cards.  Arrange your cards how you want in the 9-pocket sheet then use that to display your cards!  You could display them in a frame to look at on a shelf or on the wall of an office, or you could collect sheets in a binder that you keep out for frequent viewing.  Instead of having the entire 2-inch thick set binder, this creates a binder of multiple sets in a small, easy-to-view binder of your favorite cards.  

I really like that in order to create set sheets of favorite cards, you need to really dig through sets of cards.  Pull those binders or card boxes out of the basement storage area, and look at those cards that you love so much!  What good are they doing hiding in the basement or crawl space or closet?  Sure, they are out of the way and protected, but didn't we buy them because they are fun to look at?  I also like when I get tired of looking at the nine I chose, I can revisit the set and switch them out for another nine and continue to enjoy my sets of cards.

I don't know about all of you, but I have cards all over the place that I never get to look at because they are carefully put away in boxes and carefully placed on shelves off the floor in my basement storage area. Why do I do that?  Yes, they are nice and organized and safe, but I never get to look at them.  I have Star Wars cards, Topps Baseball and Football, Pokemon cards, Magic the Gathering cards.  My kids have Hello Kitty and My Little Pony and Pokemon cards.  With this activity, we spent 20 minutes recently filling some sheets to enjoy.  That is all it took.  A few minutes to locate the boxes and 15 minutes to flip through a few stacks of cards that we hadn't seen in a few years.  It was fun and we shared some memories and stories about where we bought them and how hard we tried to fill sets.

Anyway, I am happy that I came across this post from Becket with this fun activity.  It gave new life to those old cards and brought my family together with a quick and fun activity.  Enjoy!