As we all know, Wizards of the Coast owns both the collectible card game “Magic: The Gathering”, and the world’s largest tabletop roleplaying game “Dungeons & Dragons”. With this in mind, as well as knowing that the toy/gaming megacorporation Hasbro owns WotC, I have to ask:
Why hasn’t WotC found a way to blend M:tG with D&D?
Now, I do know that there has been some small crossovers between these two games. WotC has published a couple of books for D&D that are based off of M:tG settings, and they have also published an expansion for M:tG based off of D&D, so there is that. But this isn’t what I’m talking about, no. I mean something a bit more… mechanical in nature.
I’m thinking more like spell and ability cards.
Yes, I know that there are third-party cards you can buy for D&D, which cover various spells and abilities for D&D. My Lovely Bride™ and I own several packs of those cards, in fact. But this isn’t what I had in mind.
I think WotC should create their own spell and ability cards for D&D, likely for the next edition coming in 2024. These would allow for the removal of spell slots from D&D entirely, and change the game into something new and innovative. What I’m thinking of is a system where characters can create their own decks of spells/abilities, with the size of said deck determined by the level of the character. Players could then place spells/abilities into their character’s deck as they wish, based upon what is available to their class.
Players would then draw a few cards (number determined by their level) at the start of a conflict, which represent what they can do in that round. After each round, everyone draws new cards to bring their hand back to full, and if their deck is exhausted, then they may only play what is left in their hand, until they run out of those cards. This would only apply to spells and special abilities, obviously. Regular actions like normal attacks, reactions, and the sort would be separate from deck abilities, and usable as normal.
While this is different than the current system D&D 5e handle spells and class actions, it really isn’t all that different, in the long run. A Dungeon Master could homebrew the game to incorporate something like this rather easily, especially if they found a way to print out cards for spells and such. No, I wonder why WotC hasn’t taken this one step further:
Make these cards part of their own collectible card game.
This would not only give Hasbro a new revenue source for D&D, it would allow WotC a new venue for introducing spells and abilities to D&D, without the trouble of publishing new books for the game. Think of it this way: WotC can only sell each new book a limited number of times, as there are only so many people playing the game. But they can sell new card sets over and over, as players of D&D will buy cards like crazy, as will people who just play the card game.
Now I’m not saying this is a good idea, it is actually rather predatory, and would be bad for D&D players in the long run. I’m just a bit surprised that the folks at WotC, and especially their corporate overlords in Hasbro, have not ordered this be a part of the next edition of the game. For a company responsible for “Magic: The Gathering”, this would seem to be the next, natural evolution for their plans for “Dungeons & Dragons”
In my opinion, this sort of system would kill D&D eventually, but for at least a few years, this would make Hasbro billions of dollars… and this is all they care about.
