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Weekly MTG Unveils Modern Horizon 2 Previews, Announces Return Of In-Store Play

Huge announcement by Wizards of the Coast details plans for new sets, old favorites, and the return of in-store play in the United States.

Counterspell, illustrated by Zack Stella

Blake Rasmussen was joined by Greg Tito, host of Dragon Talk, on Weekly MTG to break the news of the Summer of Legend, previewing new Magic sets, a new Dungeons & Dragons video game, and showing off tons of new cards.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

The show kicked off with the unveiling of a new action RPG video game set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons called Dark Alliance. The game releases on June 22 and preorders are available. Check out the official trailer below.

Modern Horizons 2

Magic cards and sets stole the show for the rest of the episode, starting with the first reveals from Modern Horizons 2, which has been pushed back a week. Preview season will begin on May 20 with reveals on Weekly MTG and then get into full swing on May 24. MH2 will have its official release now on June 18. To appropriately build hype, Rasmussen and Tito showed the enemy fetchlands with normal frames, extended frames, and old border frames like what was used in Time Spiral Remastered.

Not only will old border reprints be coming in MH2, but reprints will also introduce new cards to the Modern format, starting with Counterspell.

Another old border reprint coming to Modern is Sanctum Prelate with a special promo version.

Other previews for MH2 include: Brainstone, Diamond Lion, and Urza’s Saga.

Brainstone is a one-mana artifact that lets you Brainstorm by paying two and sacrificing it while Diamond Lion is two-mana 2/2 with the ability from Lion’s Eye Diamond. Urza’s Saga is the first Saga we’ve ever seen as a land, playing off the set of the same name. Urza’s Saga also shows off a new alternate art promo version of cards called “Sketch” using early versions of art work. MH2 packs will have one slot in each pack devoted to new-to-Modern reprints.

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures In The Forgotten Realms

Up next is the summer Standard-legal set coming to Magic, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. The set based in the world of D&D will feature iconic characters and tropes from the original fantasy game. This set will be released on July 23 with previews beginning on June 29. First up are the basic lands.

Tito took viewers through the lore on the basic lands and helped explain the significance of the iconic items and tropes on the rest of the previews. Check out Portable Hole, Power Word Kill, and Prosperous Innkeeper.

The real show-stealer from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was the new five-color legendary Dragon God, Tiamat!

It was also hinted that the evil dragons representing each color of Magic will be included in the set. From there, the two hosts teased what appears to be a new creature type, the Beholders.

The Beholders include a special art treatment depicting the original rules book and will showcase some of the strangest aberrations from the world of D&D.

Products for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms will include the usual types of booster packs, four new Commander decks, and another product yet to be announced.

To wrap up the D&D inspired set, check out the buy-a-box promo Vorpal Sword.

Just the casual one-mana card with the text “player loses the game” on it.

In-Store Play Returning

Wizards of the Coast (WotC) is lifting the sanctions on in-store play for the United States on May 28, joining Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Japan. Stores will still have to operate according to local guidelines, but players should be battling at local game stores by the end of the month.

Starting on June 18, WPN stores will have foil, old bordered copies of Fabled Passage to give away to customers purchasing $50 or more of sealed product.

On top of that great news, WPN stores will be receiving a limited supply of Mystery Booster product for draft and in-store play.

Historic Anthology 5 And Other MTG Arena News

The next installment of Historic Anthologies will be hitting MTG Arena on May 27, bringing 25 cards to the Historic format. The two previews for Historic Anthology 5 are Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and Whirler Rogue.

Jumpstart will also be returning to MTG Arena on June 4 through early July, offering players more chances to play and crack packs of the set with multiple Historic staples like Muxus, Goblin Grandee and Allosaurus Shepherd.

The next Arena Open, following the Sealed Strixhaven: School of Mages event this weekend, will be on July 31-August 1 and its format hasn’t been announced yet.

Finally, a new take on the Historic format will be tried out in July called Mirror, Mirror. The format will take banned cards and allow balanced versions of the cards to be played in Historic. Oko, Thief of Crowns and Teferi, Time Raveler were specifically mentioned as cards that will be offered with new versions.

Read the full article on the Summer of Legend from WotC here.