Wizards of the Coast has given us our first real look at Magic The Gathering's upcoming Commander-focused set, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. In it, a number of reprints have been confirmed, as well as returning art styles from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
It also announced that Magic The Gathering Arena will be getting its own version of the set in the form of Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate, which adapts the cards from being built for Commander to Arena's own Alchemy format instead.
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate is the successor to two sets – 2020's Commander Legends, which introduced 'Commander Draft' in the first booster product made for the format, and 2021's Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, the first time D&D has crossed over into MTG. Set in the famous D&D city of Baldur's Gate, the set will include a large number of new legendary creatures to build around. As announced on the WeeklyMTG sneak preview stream and later posted on the official website, it will also include a few more as-your-Commander Planeswalkers, such as Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes.
Though this was only a preview ahead of the full reveal and spoiler season starting May 16, which means no new mechanics were shown off, we did have confirmation of some of the Commander-focused reprints we'll be seeing in the set. In particular, it was announced that five of the ten Bond Lands (the five not included in the original Commander Legends) would see reprints alongside Reflecting Pool.
We'll also get a reprint of one of Magic's most famous instants, with Lightning Bolt being printed at common rarity. Lightning Bolt isn't used in any Standard-legal sets any more because of how powerful three damage for one mana can be, but it's a staple in multiple other formats, making its inclusion here excellent. As part of Lightning Bolt's reveal, it was also shown that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms' rulebook art treatment showcase frame is coming back, but this time will also be found on more than just creatures.
It wasn't all reprints, though, as a few new cards were shown off. The first was the aforementioned Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes, a red/green Planeswalker that can serve as your Commander. We also had the red artifact Wand of Wonder, which can exile cards off the top of your opponents' libraries until they hit an instant or sorcery, and allow you to cast them for free.
For black, we were shown off two splashy creatures. The first is Ancient Brass Dragon, a 7/6 flyer that rolls d20s to pull creatures out of your opponents' graveyards and put them on the battlefield under your control. The second is the terrifying Elder Brain, which forces an opponent to exile their hand, draw a new one, and lets you play lands and cast spells from the exiled cards.
Unlike Commander Legends, which only had Draft and Collector's boosters and a couple of preconstructed Commander decks, Battle for Baldur's Gate is getting the full set treatment. The 20-card Draft and 15-card Collector's boosters are being joined by Set boosters, bundles, and prerelease packs. There will also be four Commander precons: the white/black Party Time, blue/black Mind Flayarrrs, the blue/red Draconic Dissent, and red/green Exit from Exile. Face Commanders haven't been announced for these yet, but they will be following the new format set out by Streets of New Capenna and feature a 'Collector Booster Sample Pack' that contains a couple of the cards you'd normally find in a Collector's booster.
While Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate isn't coming to MTG Arena (as Arena doesn't support Commander), it will be getting a similar set with Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate. Alchemy Horizons is said to include "hundreds of new cards", and will be treated as a full set release distinct from the usual Alchemy sets we've had released for Crimson Vow and Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. It's likely that this set will include many of the cards in Commander Legends that are suitable for two-player play, with others being digitally rebalanced to work better.
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate's preview season begins on May 16, ahead of an in-store prelease on June 3 and a full launch on June 10. Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate will launch at some point in July.