Now less than a week away from release, Magic: The Gathering’s latest set, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, promises big decks, big dragons, and plenty of mechanics both new and old such as Party.
First introduced in Zendikar Rising, Party is one of the many returning mechanics you’ll find in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate even has a preconstructed deck themed around the party mechanic, aptly called “Party Time”.
Whether you’re constructing a deck or just want the mechanic’s lowdown, here’s everything you need to know about Party!
What is Party in Magic: The Gathering?
A Party consists of up to four creatures with the specific creature types of Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard. Unlike triggered or activated abilities, a player’s Party is an everpresent status that is checked upon for other abilities.
A player does not have to fill every slot in their party for it to be active. Instead, the majority of abilities that check a player’s party will simply use the party size as a number between zero and four. Typically, the more a Party is filled, the more powerful the effect on cards that check for the mechanic.
The effect of some Party cards will only activate when a player has a “full party”. This condition is met when a Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard fill every role in a player’s party.
What are the rules for Party in Magic: The Gathering?
It is important to note that individual creatures in a Party can only be counted once towards the status of a Party. This includes creatures that have multiple of the relevant creature types, such as [Tooltip]Gravelgill Duo[/tooltip]. As a result, to have a full Party a player must have, at minimum, four creatures in play.
Additionally, the spaces in a Party cannot be filled by multiple of the same creature type. This means a board consisting of a Rogue, a Warrior, and five Wizards would only count as a Party of three.
How to use Party in Magic: The Gathering
Introduced in Zendikar Rising, the Party mechanic is still in its infancy with fewer than forty cards sporting the mechanic. This means that a constructed deck built around the party mechanic may lack potency.
Thankfully for eternal formats such as Commander, there are countless Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard cards from throughout Magic: The Gathering’s history that can be used to enable the Party effect.
Alongside the relevant creature types, any Party-themed deck should also make sure to include the Kaldhim artifact [tooltip]Maskwood Nexus[/tooltip]. Additionally, Changeling creatures make an obvious inclusion in any Party deck since they count as every creature type.
