Know Your Magic Flavors: The Legend of Drizzit Do-Urden

“Magictating” is defined as getting into the zone with your Magic the Gathering collection--thinking, planning, organizing, reminiscing about past games, and imagining future games. It is a combination of hard thinking about the game and calm meditation, reveling in the joy it brings you.

I couldn’t have written this article if I hadn’t listened to my students years and years ago. When I was younger I did not read the Forgotten Realms books. I was a Dragonlance kid, and I read well over a 100 of those books as I was growing up. Those, along with Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic the Gathering occupied the vast majority of my teenage years. I didn’t really visit the Forgotten Realms until I was teaching and some students all told me I would love the dark elf trilogy. I took them up on the invitation, and I’ve read nearly every single Drizzit Do’Urden book R.A. Salvatore has written (pronounced “Drizz-it”). The books are amazing. You’ll never read a better sword fight, and you’ll never root for a fantasy character quite like you will root for Drizzit. I wanted to take a moment to just bask in the flavor of all the cards from that epic series, and explain a bit about why they are so great while still leaving many items unspoiled. I want you to read those books because they are awesome. You should start with Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn. That trilogy covers Drizzt from his birth to his eventual Sojourn (journey) away from his homeland. That first trilogy will then lead to the next trilogy that were actually Salvatore’s first Drizzt books. If this sounds confusing, then don’t worry; the series is listed conveniently in a new format that numbers the first 17 or so in order. Once you finish the first book you’ll be so glad that you have the next 17+ books you want to read all lined up—no agonizing decisions to make! By the time you finish them all, well you’ll be wishing he had more in the works! Don’t worry—he will. Salvatore’s still very much alive, healthy, and writing.

Now, back to Magic flavor! Let’s dive into The Companions of Mithral Hall. Now, they won’t get that name until later on in the books, but it doesn’t spoil anything to call them that. They will go on a quest to find Mithral Hall early in the series. It’s a lost city of Dwarves—think that creepy goblin underground scene in Lord of the Rings, yeah, the one with the Balrog at the end. Anyway, speaking of beginnings…Drizzt Do’Urden (pronounced Drizz-it) is one of the most beloved characters in all of fantasy literature. I am not exaggerating. This character is just awesome. The way Salvatore writes him, and the way he includes journal entries from the character as reflective insights is just wonderful. I’ve been having students read this book for years in my Science Fiction and Fantasy class, and they always love it. Drizzt is why the series is so loved.

Looking at his card there’s a lot to digest. A five mana 3/3 isn’t exactly exciting when it’s got a two color requirement on top of that. Luckily, just like the real Drizzt, this is no vanilla creature. He’s got Double Strike, and that’s a flavor homerun right there. He’s a dual scimitar wielding, ambidextrous, badass. He’s no killer, so Deathtouch would’ve been a clear no-no, but Double Strike is perfect. He was trained to be a weapon master in the Drow City of Menzoberranzan. You learn all about his training in the book Homeland. It’s a great beginning to an amazing hero’s journey. Drizzt’s homeland is in the Underdark (think deeper than dwarves), and they worship the Spider-Queen Lloth (who we got a planeswalker card for too). Drizzt creates a 4/1 Cat creature named Guenhwyvar (pronounced Gwenivere and actually named after the author’s own cat…seriously), and as you may have guessed, she’s his inseparable cat-panion. She’s actually from the astral plane, and he summons her to the material plane (think soul stone Thanos and real world) using an onyx figurine carved in her likeness. When she “dies” in the real world it merely banishes her back to the astral plane to recuperate. Yeah, it’s amazing.

Now, his second ability (third if we count double strike) is interesting as well. Whenever another creature dies, if its power was greater than his, then he grows. This initially seems a perfect fit as when his cat companion dies to protect him he gets buffed and enraged and goes off to avenge her. However, that’s not the only way this fits so well. Drizzt takes down tons of foes, and they can often be way stronger than him, but his swordsmanship and ranger style skills enable him to win those fights. Giving him the ability to grow larger than high power/low toughness creatures fits with his ability to take on ridiculous odds. He fights his way through so many incredible battles only to be faced with horrific odds time and time again. He doesn’t always come out on top, but when he does it’s because of his awesome skill and his commitment to his beloved friends. He just knows how to flow through a battle and keep his momentum going. So, this ability is basically perfect. As your creatures die off Drizzt rises to the occasion, gets stronger, and helps then crashes in for double the vengeance. It’s the feel of Drizzt battling, but in the Magic the Gathering world’s rules. Perfect flavor!

Speaking of Drizzt’s beloved friends, let’s start with his stout buddy, Bruenor Battlehammer. He’s a typical grumpy old dwarf that’s tough as nails, and an amazingly talented weapon-smith. He even crafts an incredible battlehammer, but we’ll talk about that later. No, he doesn’t end up using the hammer, he prefers his ax. Now, as you know he grants each creature +2/+0 for each equipment they are using, and we can chalk that up to him not allowing anyone to use inferior weapons in his presence. Heck, his very presence basically guarantees that he’s upgrading anything that is being used around him. He’s probably doing the work for free, because he allows everyone to Equip for free as well. Well, not everyone each turn, but one each turn. That makes sense as he’s only one dwarf, and what else can a bearded grumpy butt kicking dwarf do each turn besides kick butt and outfit one other person each attack with the best weapon out there? Exactly, he’s a pure flavor win. His flavor text is awesome as well. It’s from one of the books, he’s out looking to help his best bud, Drizzt, and Bruenor is darn good at helping save his best friend from some pretty awful situations.

Bruenor’s adopted human daughter is Catti-brie of Mithral Hall. She quickly becomes a force to be reckoned with, and honestly if any one of us had been raised by a weapon forging, ax swinging, family forging father like Bruenor…well, we’d be totally deadly too! He’s trained his daughter to look after herself and her family. She does that and more. As you may have guessed, she is deadly with a bow. Having first strike and reach totally fit that aspect of her battle personality. She’s typed perfectly as a human archer, and whichever weapon she uses, she really knows how to get the most out of it. Giving her +1/+1 counters for each time she attacks with an equipment on her makes even more sense as she really does grow with the weapons she uses. Mythical weapons abound in The Forgotten Realms, and Catti-Brie is no stranger to utilizing them herself. The ability to extract all of her knowledge and ability to exact a punishing blow is also wonderfully represented by her second ability as well. This card really serves to make her exactly what she feels like in the books: a peerless and powerful warrior that is constantly growing and developing in her journey to help her friends and family.

The last character I’ll chat a bit with you on is Wulfgar of Icewind Dale. Icewind Dale is the punishingly brutal arctic tundra that the first books Salvatore wrote about Drizzt and his friends (The Crystal Shard) take place. Icewind Dale is not a friendly climate, and so anyone that survives in it must be incredibly hardy. Wulfgar is from a tribe of barbarians that lives in that tundra. He’s a ferocious warrior, and is often first into battle. He usually just charges right in and cries out the name of his war god, “Tempus!”, as he overwhelms his opponents. His Melee based ability makes perfect sense for him, as he has an unquenchable thirst for battle. His love for battle is further reflected by allowing him to literally double triggers for other Creature’s attacking abilities. That’s all very solid, and I’m thrilled they made him a tough 4/4 creature, because he’s big beefy barbarian. I think he could give Conan a run for his money! This card is also a big flavor win for me. I wish they had somehow incorporated his battle hammer, but alas, we can’t have everything now can we?

Dungeon Descent - Kasia 'Kafis' Zielinska

Overall, these four characters do an excellent job introducing you to what they’d be like in the Magic world. It’s cool to be able to see them reflected as such, and I’m very excited to hear about people who discover the books from the cards. This crossover was a wonderful fit, and I am so glad it happened. The cards in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms are the most flavorful ones we’ve had since War of the Spark. There’s just so much lore to be mined, and Magic does a great job representing that lore with Magic styled footnotes. That’s all I have for today, but don’t stop reading…go get Homeland and enjoy the next several hours diving into your own corner of The Forgotten Realms! Happy reading!