In an unsurprising turn, Magic: the Gathering finally paired up with its sister brand Dungeons & Dragons to produce the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica sourcebook. It wouldn't be long until we got this on the Magic side with a full Dungeons & Dragons expansion. Titled Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, this set entered Standard and showcased many beloved aspects of Wizards of the Coast's other major property to a whole new audience. With 20 all-new mythics coming with the set, it's time to go through and rank them all!

Grab your sword and shield and let's venture into the dungeon!

• 20. Flameskull
• 19. Grand Master of Flowers
• 18. Ebondeath, Dracolich
• 17. Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant
• 16. Ellywick Tumblestrum
• 15. Mordenkainen
• 14. Zariel, Archduke of Avernus
• 13. The Book of Vile Darkness
• 12. Inferno of the Star Mounts
• 11. Iymrith, Desert Doom

Number Ten

The Tarrasque represents one of the most epic monsters in the world of Dungeons & Dragons which made it quite exciting to see here. The card was quite controversial when it released, with many D&D fans seeing it as not quite representing exactly how epic The Tarrasque truly is in the game. Nevertheless, it remained an excitingly large creature for Commander fans the world over.

Number Nine

As the card's name implies, players everywhere love Minsc and Boo, thanks in no small part to the classic Baldur's Gate video games. Their representation here feels a little bit simplistic, yet remains fun and flavorful. It's the perfect sort of card to appeal to a casual Timmy/Tammy and to a longtime D&D fan looking to explore what Magic has to offer.

Number Eight

Many players were confused by The Deck of Many Things. The design is extremely convoluted and reads strange. However, there's a lot of allure to the card as well, with many a hellbent player hoping to roll that natural 20 and take out their opponent in the process. This made this card a great option for various casual luck-based decks and would only gain further attention as time went on.

Number Seven

Few cards frustrate players like Sen Triplets, which stops players from casting their spells and instead gives you the option to play them instead. Xanathar, Guild Kingpin works in a much similar manner, though in a bit less insufferable way. Rather than ripping cards out of your opponents' hands, Xanathar takes them off the library. This lets your opponents continue to be able to play the game but still allows you to both steal from them and sabotage them as well, making for a real favorite in games of Commander.

Number Six

Demilich is a great contender for being perhaps the most overhyped card of the set. Players everywhere were confident if would push decks like Izzet Phoenix by being able to cast it cheaply, recast additional spells from your graveyard, and even reanimate it with ease. In practice, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze and it fell off quickly. Despite this, it continues to make infrequent Constructed appearances to this day, showing that even though it wasn't good as people hoped, it could still hang in the competitive sphere.

Number Five

For the most part, I'd argue that this set missed its mark for trying to be an exciting set for your typical Dungeons & Dragons player to enjoy. However, there were certainly a handful of cards that could make just about anyone excited. Tiamat is an excellent example of this, providing players with a fantastic rendition of one of D&D's classic iconic monsters. Better still, it gave dragon lovers everywhere another legend to build an awesome Commander deck around.

Number Four

If you played Acerarak in any format, odds are you weren't playing it how it was meant to be played. Ideally, the card wants you to go through the Tomb of Annihilation dungeon and play it straight. In reality, players used the card in a variety of combo decks that generated infinite mana and cast Acererak over and over again. Rather than going through Tomb of Annihilation, you'd instead go through Lost Mines of Phandelver and slowly drain your opponent's life away until they lose. A powerful card for very niche decks.

Number Three

Turns out that this book was far more powerful than players could've ever dreamed of. The idea behind it is that you could turn any angel you control into a Platinum Angel, providing an exciting iteration on this classic design. In practice, though, players realized very quickly that if you combined the card with Faceless Haven or Mutavault, it became nigh impossible for you to lose the game. Couple this with the fact that land destruction was hard to come by and it was a major reason for Faceless Haven eventually getting banned in Standard.

Number Two

This was the era where Wizards was starting to go arguably a bit too crazy with treasure tokens. Old Gnawbone encapsulated this, providing absolutely no shortage of mana to any player that could connect with it. While the card barely took off in Constructed play, it didn't need to. The treasure making coupled with it being a massive dragon made Old Gnawbone an instant casual all-star that had Commander players everywhere frothing at the mouth to get their hands on copies of it.

Number One

I would argue that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was a fairly underwhelming set when it came to Standard. While not explicitly a Core Set, it very much had a Core Set power level with few ot the familiar cards those releases carry. Even The Book of Exalted Deeds wasn't that strong, but the play patterns were rough enough that it gained some sort of a reputation. Lolth, Spider Queen bucks this trend though and was without a doubt one of the strongest cards in Standard of the time, fueling a whole host of Black-based midrange and control decks in the process.

Paige Smith

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