A draftable Commander set on Faerun
Battle for Baldur's Gate is the second Commander Legends set: a supplemental release you draft, but toward a hundred-card Commander deck rather than a forty-card one. It is set on Faerun, following Adventures in the Forgotten Realms the year before.
Its lasting contribution is the Background. A legendary creature that says "Choose a Background" can take a legendary Background enchantment as a second commander, which gave two-card commander pairings to colors and strategies that Partner never reached.
Themes
Choose a Background
Backgrounds are legendary enchantments that act as a second commander for any legendary creature with this ability. Unlike Partner it pairs a creature with a static buff rather than another body, which is why it opened up commanders that Partner never covered.
The initiative
One player has the initiative at a time. Taking it sends you into the Undercity dungeon, and you venture further each upkeep until somebody deals combat damage to you and takes it. A single shared resource everyone fights over.
The Undercity
The set's only dungeon, and a much larger one than the Forgotten Realms dungeons. It is tied to the initiative rather than to venture, so you cannot enter it without taking that fight on.
Myriad
When a creature with myriad attacks, make an attacking token copy for each other opponent. A multiplayer-only mechanic, and Commander Legends is exactly where it belongs.
Where You Can Play It
Baldur's Gate is a supplemental set, so it was never Standard-, Pioneer- or Modern-legal. Here's where CLB cards are legal.
Standard was never in play for this set, so no rotation has ever touched it. Nothing here leaves Modern, Legacy, Vintage or Commander either. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
You draft three boosters as usual, but you are building a hundred-card singleton deck with one or two commanders, so the picks that matter most are the legends and Backgrounds rather than the curve.
Commander-first drafting
Supplemental Commander format
Rather than settling into a color pair, you are usually drafting toward the best commander or commander-plus-Background pairing you can open. Backgrounds make that easier, since one can slot onto a creature you took several packs earlier.
FAQ
No. It is a supplemental set, so it was never Standard-, Pioneer- or Modern-legal. CLB cards are legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage, and its commons are Pauper-legal.
A legendary enchantment that acts as a second commander for any legendary creature whose text says 'Choose a Background'. Unlike Partner it pairs a creature with a static buff rather than another creature, which opened up commander pairings Partner never covered.
Only one player has the initiative at a time. Taking it puts you into the Undercity, and you venture further into it at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. An opponent takes the initiative from you by dealing combat damage to you.
The set's only dungeon, and a considerably larger one than the Forgotten Realms dungeons. It is tied to the initiative rather than to venture, so you cannot enter it without taking that fight on.
You draft three boosters as usual, but you are building a hundred-card singleton deck with one or two commanders rather than a forty-card deck. The legends and Backgrounds are the picks that shape your deck.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate released on Jun 10, 2022; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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