Table of Contents – Ultimate Guide to AFR Limited and Prerelease
Chapter 1 - Top Commons for Limited and Prerelease
Chapter 2 - Top Uncommons for Limited and Prerelease
Chapter 3 - Guide to Combat Tricks and Removal Cards by Colour
Chapter 4 - Guide to Dice Rolling
Chapter 5 - Guide to Dungeon Venturing
Welcome all to the Ultimate Guide to Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Limited and Prerelease. It’s time for the Guide to Dungeon Crawling. With a Dungeons & Dragons set, you need to have Dungeons. There are three Dungeons that you progress through and although at first I thought that that would be a low number, it seems to work out well and gives you plenty of options to choose from. Today I’m going to be talking about the Dungeons themselves as well as all the cards that allow you to either venture into the Dungeon or get benefits from completing a Dungeon. The more I play with Dungeons, the more I realize that they provide a ton of value and the Dungeon you choose is often a tougher choice than you might think.
Before I talk about the cards that allow you to venture into the dungeon, let’s look at the three Dungeons available for you to venture into.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage
This is the longest Dungeon, but the one with the best rewards. The three key payoff Dungeon rooms for Dungeon of the Made Mage are usually Twisted Caverns. which can shut down an attacker for one turn, Runestone Caverns, which will provide some card advantage, and the final room, Mad Wizard’s Lair, which draws you three cards and allows you to cast one for free. Being able to Scry for a total of six along the path of the Dungeon helps your card selection while you venture.
Lost Mine of Phandelver
This is a reasonable length Dungeon at four floors that provides good options right off the bat with a Scry 1. What you choose on the next floor will be dependant on your game state, but both are good options. Even Level 3 provides three strong options that can help you out. Most often if you're ahead in the game you'll head left in the Dungeon and be aggressive, while going right helps you cast better spells thanks to the Treasure token and can shut down an attacker for a turn. In the end, you get to draw an extra card and you can restart into a new or the same Dungeon with your next venture.
Tomb of Annihilation
This is the Dungeon you want to venture into if you want to be aggressive. Each floor of the Tomb of Annihilation is meant to reduce your opponents’ life total and resources down as quickly as possible. The amount of life, permanent, and card loss might make it harder for your opponent to catch up if you have solid pressure on them. In the end, once you complete the Dungeon you get a 4/4 Deathtouch God that'll add put more pressure on your opponent.
To make it easier for you, I’ve broken Dungeon cards down by colour so you can have an easier reference to what you’re looking for and what colours are the best for Dungeon Crawling.
White Dungeon Cards
Venturing into the Dungeon Cards
Ranger’s Hawk is a nice one-drop flyer for only one mana. Your odds of using it to venture into a Dungeon though are relatively small. It might be hard to tap three mana and two creatures during your own turn just to venture into the Dungeon. If you want instant venturing, look no further than Veteran Dungeoneer. You get a solid 3/4 body that gives you a free venture when it enters the battlefield. The best of the bunch for White though is Planar Ally. Not only is it a strong flyer, but it can also give you repeated trips into the Dungeon each time it attacks.
Dungeon Payoff Cards
Gloom Stalker isn’t the best payoff card for completing a Dungeon and in most cases, I would stay away from it. Double Strike is a powerful keyword to have on a creature but in the early-to-mid game you’ll just be stuck with a 2/3 creature for three mana.
Nadaar, Selfless Paladin is one of the best Dungeon cards you can get in the set. Not only can it help you venture into the Dungeon multiple times, but all your other creatures also get +1/+1 when you finish a Dungeon. If you have this card you'll want to get the most value out of it by playing other Dungeon venturing cards.
Blue Dungeon Cards
Venturing into the Dungeon Cards
To start off you have the counterspell Bar the Gate which is one of the few ways to venture into the Dungeon at instant speed. Displacer Beast allows you to venture into Dungeon repeated times. Fly is a great Aura to have in your deck as it turns any one of your creatures into a Planar Ally. It adds evasion plus repeated ventures into the Dungeon, giving you a better chance to complete a Dungeon quicker. Secret Door is a good early game blocker and in the late game can help you venture into the Dungeon possibly multiple times per turn. Shortcut Seeker has an ability that leads to wanting you to attack with it but often is better suited as a blocker with its five toughness.
One of the best venturing cards in the set though is Yuan-Ti Malison. You can get it out on turn two and attack without fear of being blocked turn after turn. Each time you damage the opponent you get to venture into the Dungeon. Works even better if you can add Equipment into the mix.
Dungeon Payoff Cards
Eccentric Apprentice is a solid 2/2 Flying creature that gives you a free venture into the Dungeon when it enters the battlefield. If you can manage to complete a Dungeon, you can shut down one of your opponents’ large creatures by turning it into a 1/1 Bird.
Black Dungeon Cards
Venturing into the Dungeon Cards
Clattering Skeletons provides you a nice four-power creature to attack or trade-in combat with. Once it dies you’ll get a nice reward of venturing into the Dungeon. You can bring it back to your hand while getting another venture into the Dungeon with Fates’ Reversal. Good value for a two-mana card depending on the strength of the creatures in your graveyard. Zombie Ogre sits on the battlefield as a strong blocker and can rack up some ventures into the Dungeon if any creatures die during your turn. If you would like some repeated trips into the Dungeon you can try Yuan-Ti Fang Blade. With its Deathtouch keyword, your opponent could be left with a tough decision of allowing you to venture multiple times or making an unfavourable block. Precipitous Drop is a nice removal spell that gets better if you’ve completed a Dungeon. It’s a nice way to get a little more value out of your removal.
Dungeon Payoff Cards
Dungeon Crawler gives you an early game two power creature for only one mana. Later in the game, it becomes a recursive threat whenever you complete a Dungeon.
Aceerak the Archlich can be one of the best Dungeon venturing cards in the game. If you don’t mind venturing into the other two Dungeons and staying away from Tomb of Annihilation, you get to repeatedly venture into the Dungeon. You can cast it multiple times until you decide you want to complete Tomb of Annihilation and have it as a creature on the battlefield.
Red Dungeon Cards
Venturing into the Dungeon Cards
Kick in the Door isn’t the best venture card and only really works if you have enough mana and a creature to cast it with. It can be used to surprise your opponent though with Haste. Zalto Fire Giant Duke is a threat, but with its low toughness, it might not survive more than one attack. If you can find a way to pump its toughness it can be a real threat.
Green Dungeon Cards
Venturing into the Dungeon Cards
Find the Path is a way to ramp while getting to venture into the Dungeon when it enters the battlefield. Intrepid Outlander is a great two-mana creature with great stats for its mana cost, but it'll be hard until later in the game to trigger its Pack tactics ability and venture into the Dungeon. Wandering Troubadour is a great way to get repeated ventures into the Dungeon. With it in play, your land drops provide a little more value than usual. You Find a Cursed Idol is a great situational removal card that if you have no targets can be used to get a Treasure token and a venture into the Dungeon.
Venturing and Payoff Cards
Varis, Silverymoon Ranger is one of the quickest ways to complete a Dungeon. Each creature or planeswalker you cast (once each turn) allows you to venture into the Dungeon. Whenever you complete a Dungeon you're rewarded with a 2/2 Wolf token. If you're really serious about completing some Dungeons though, look no further than Ellywick Tumblestrum. Its positive loyalty ability allows you to venture into a Dungeon and its ultimate ability gives you a major bonus for each Dungeon you’ve completed.
Multicolour and Artifact Dungeon Cards
Venturing into the Dungeon Cards
Triumphant Adventurer is a great attacker that’s hard to kill unless you double block it, and when your opponent does they'll lose the best creature of the two. Usually, it'll be let through for one damage since it has Deathtouch and First Strike. This allows you to venture multiple times over a few turns. Dungeon Map is a great mana rock that later in the game can be used to venture into the Dungeon during your turn. It’s great early as mana and when you don’t need the mana turns into repeated value. Fifty Feet of Rope is a little more expensive to activate and doesn’t provide any mana. It can keep a creature tapped down for three mana a turn if you really need to.
Dungeon Payoff Cards
Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker – This is a great payoff cards for Dungeon decks as it basically doubles your Dungeon rewards. You might have to splash a colour just to play it, but with Treasures going around, it shouldn’t be that hard to do.
Barrowin of Clan Undurr gives you a free venture into the Dungeon when it enters the battlefield. If you've completed a Dungeon, you’ll be able to bring a creature back to the battlefield.
I hope that this AFR Guide to Dungeon Crawling will provide you with enough information to help you start completing those Dungeons at a record pace. Thanks again for reading Chapter 5 of the Ultimate Guide to AFR Limited and Prerelease. This completes the guide for this set, and I really appreciate you joining me for the ride. If you’ve missed any of the other chapters for this guide, click below to check them out.
Table of Contents – Ultimate Guide to AFR Limited and Prerelease
Chapter 1 - Top Commons for Limited and Prerelease
Chapter 2 - Top Uncommons for Limited and Prerelease
Chapter 3 - Guide to Combat Tricks and Removal Cards by Colour
Chapter 4 - Guide to Dice Rolling
Chapter 5 - Guide to Dungeon Venturing
