Today, I'm going to do something I haven't done before. I'm going to start telling card-by-card design stories before the previews for the set are finished. All but one card is public, and that will be my preview card for today. I thought it would be fun to see the card evolve before you know how it ended up. That said, let's get to the stories.

Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes

I decided to start today with Minsc and Boo. You'll see there's a method to my madness. We'll begin with the first version of the card:

Jaheira the Bold (version #1)
1G
Legendary Creature — Human Elf Druid
2/1
Skilled (You may add a feat from your deck and its colors to this commander.)
6: This creature becomes your choice of a 4/4 Beast with hexproof, a 4/7 Beast with vigilance, or a 7/5 Beast with trample.
//FEAT 1G// This creature's activated abilities cost up to X less to activate, where X is the number of creatures you control.

For starters, you'll notice this slot is mono-green and isn't a planeswalker. That's because Minsc didn't begin as a multicolor card or as a planeswalker. In fact, this slot didn't even start as Minsc. And yes, Jaheira is in the set. I'll get to that. This version of Jaheira played into her ability to shapeshift into animals. This ability, or at least the 4/4 part, would get used on Halsin, Emerald Druid.

The more interesting part of this card is the reference to a mechanic that never made it into the set—skilled/feat. Feats were kind of a monstrous emblem that initially showed up on all the monocolor legendary creatures. You could pay their cost to permanently turn them on and grant your commander that ability for the rest of the game, even if it left the battlefield and returned. In addition, if your commander had the skilled ability, you could choose the feat of another card and put it into your command zone. Then once your commander was on the battlefield, you could spend the cost to permanently turn it on. Your commander having a feat added that color to your commander's color identity. Skilled creatures were allowed to use the feat that was on them.

This is one of the mechanics the Vision Design team tried before they ended up with Backgrounds. As I explained last week, Commander Draft sets need a means to allow players to expand their colors if they draft a monocolor commander early. As you will see today, it lasted a little while, and they tried several different versions of it.

Jaheira the Bold (version #2)
1G
Legendary Creature — Human Elf Druid
0/1
Skilled (This commander starts the game with a feat from your deck.)
Ward 2
CARDNAME gets +X/+0, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control.

The next version is still Jaheira, but they tried a different execution of shapeshifting into animals. At this point, they moved the feats from the monocolor legendary creatures to monocolor non-legendary creatures at lower rarities to raise their as-fan in the draft. Also, the card gets moved from uncommon to rare.

Jaheira the Bold (version #3)
1G
Legendary Creature — Human Elf Druid
0/1
Ward 2
CARDNAME gets +X/+0, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control.

At this point, the Vision Design team gave up on feats.

Jaheira the Bold (version #4)
1G
Legendary Creature — Human Elf Druid
0/1
Background (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander.)
Ward 2
CARDNAME gets +X/+0, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control.

This was the earliest incarnation of Backgrounds.

Wilson, Talking Bear (version #5)
1G
Legendary Creature — Bear Warrior
2/2
Story (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander. Pay its cost to unlock it this game.)
T: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may reveal it and put it into your hand. If it's a Gate card, put it onto the battlefield instead. Whenever you tap a Gate for mana, add one mana of any color.

It's at this point that the team decided to change this slot from Jaheira to Wilson. This is where we get to see some of the quirkiness of how designs work. Both stayed in the file, but Jaheira moved to a different slot because it seemed like she was a good fit for the mechanical space that slot was exploring. While I normally show you cards evolving in a single slot, today's column will demonstrate how cards can change between slots as other cards seem like a better execution of the creative of the character, object, or spell. We'll get to Jaheira later in this article.

Wilson is a talking bear. He doesn't do much other than be a bear, although he does love potions of healing. My best guess is that they liked this design as a Gate-helping card and were just looking for a character to put it on. Wilson, being a bit of a blank slate, was the one they tried first.

Story is an early version of choose a Background. Like the feats, they had a similar quality of "cast it once, and it applies to your commander for the rest of the game." You'll notice as I go through cards that you will see templates ebb and flow as the team, and eventually the editors and rules manager, try to figure out how best to word it.

Wilson, Well-spoken Grizzly (version #6)
1G
Legendary Creature — Bear Warrior
2/2
Story (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander. Pay its cost to unlock it this game.)
You may activate CARDNAME's Background ability twice rather than once this game.

The Gate flavor felt wrong for Wilson as the Gates are in the city and Wilson's a forest dweller. Their next attempt on Wilson was to make him the one commander that gets two Backgrounds, the idea behind this being that he's simply a bear, but you could have fun combining Backgrounds to create cool decks with him.

Minsc (version #7)
3G
Legendary Creature — Human Barbarian
3/3
Story (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander. Pay its cost to unlock it this game.)
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, if you don't control a Hamster, create a 1/1 red Hamster creature token named Boo tapped and attacking.
If you already control a Hamster, put X +1/+1 counters on CARDNAME where X is its power.

I believe at this point they decided there was another slot in the file that could turn into Wilson. This also opened up the slot to adding a character they'd been wanting to include—Minsc. Minsc had appeared in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (AFR), but he's a popular character specifically tied to Baldur's Gate, so the team decided they were going to make a new card for him.

Obviously, Minsc must involve Boo, his Hamster companion, so the original version made a creature token of Boo and then gave you a way to make it bigger. Boo, for those unaware, is a miniature giant space hamster, so him getting more powerful is part of his flavor.

Minsc (version #8)
2G
Legendary Planeswalker — Minsc
Starting Loyalty - [blank]
Story
+1 Make Boo
-2 something
-8 something cool

It was at this point that the design team decided to make Minsc a planeswalker. It was bit controversial, both because Minsc was a legendary creature in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and not particularly a magic user like most of the other planeswalkers, but he's one of the most popular characters connected to Baldur's Gate, so the team felt he was the right choice. The reason I printed this version was because I want to point out that sometimes you just stake out something in the file, not because you know what it's going to be, but you want your team to start thinking about how to do it. This version just gave the bare bones structure of what they wanted out of the design.

Minsc & Boo, Derring-Duo (version #9)
2GG
Legendary Planeswalker — Boo
Starting Loyalty - 4
Story (This commander can start with a Backstory in the command zone. Add its color identity to this commander.)
+1: Create a 1/1 red legendary Hamster named Boo with trample and haste. If you already control a creature named Boo, instead put two +1/+1 counters on it.
-2: Boo deals damage equal to his power to target creature or planeswalker.
-8: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control named Boo have base power and toughness 20/20."
CARDNAME can be your commander.

This was the first stab at filling in the abilities based on the structure laid out in the last version of the card. The card had to make Boo, so he became the +1 ability. The +2 became a bite for Boo to damage other creatures. The -8 ultimate combos with the -2 ability and allowed Boo to become the giant space hamster he was born to be. Note that story, the proto-Background, was still on the card. Minsc was monocolor and playable as a commander, and all the monocolor commanders had the story ability. Finally, the wordsmith in me wants to point out that derring-duo is a play on "derring-do," an old expression meaning "showing heroic courage." Note that they made Boo the planeswalker instead of Minsc as he was the more powerful of the two.

Minsc & Boo, Derring-Duo (version #10)
2GG
Legendary Planeswalker — Boo
Starting Loyalty - 4
Story (This commander can start with a Backstory in the command zone. Add its color identity to this commander.)
At the beginning of each upkeep, if you don't control a creature named Boo, create Boo, a 1/1 red Hamster with trample and haste.
0: Put a +1/+1 counter on Boo, then put loyalty counters on CARDNAME equal to Boo's power.
-X: Creatures you control have base power and toughness X/X until end of turn.
CARDNAME can be your commander.

This is the first version that allowed you to keep making new Boo creature tokens with a triggered ability. The 0 loyalty ability is actually a plus ability, one that scales with Boo. This also let you boost Boo in other ways to speed up your ability to acquire loyalty. The card went down from three loyalty abilities to two as the triggered ability and "can be commander" text each took up their own section and the most we can do on a planeswalker card is four. (This is a frame limitation.)

Art Description:

****PLANESWALKER – VERTICAL ASPECT RATIO***

Setting: *Pentagon*

Color: Green LEGENDARY planeswalker

Location: City of Baldur's Gate (see p.63-67, plus attached references)

Action: Show the human-hamster duo that are MINSC AND BOO (see attached references). Show Minsc in a heroic pose, with one arm held up like a falconer. Perched on that arm is Boo, who stands on his hind legs, looking alertly in the direction of the viewer. Both Minsc and Boo are eager to jump into fighting against evil! Let's zoom in on Boo a bit more—Minsc can be cut off slightly more than normal for a planeswalker card to give Boo a bit more of the spotlight.

Focus: Minsc and Boo

Mood: A good-hearted duo, eager to take on danger together!

It was at this point that the art was commissioned. I thought it would be fun today to show you all the art descriptions for the cards I'm talking about. Note how the art director provides the artist with a lot of references, as the characters involved have a specific look. "Pentagon" was the codename for the set.

Minsc & Boo, Derring-Duo (version #11)
3RG
Legendary Planeswalker — Boo
Starting Loyalty – 4
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, and at the beginning of your upkeep, if you don't control a Hamster, create Boo, a legendary 1/1 red Hamster creature token with trample and haste.
+2: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature. It gains double strike until end of turn.
0: You may sacrifice a creature. When you do, CARDNAME deals X damage to any target where X is its power.
-N: Draw cards equal to the highest power among creatures you control. CARDNAME can be your commander.

It turned out putting Backgrounds on planeswalkers was problematic as the cards all referred to creatures and many of the abilities just didn't make sense on planeswalkers. The team solved this problem by making all the planeswalkers multicolor, which meant adding red to Minsc. This allowed them to create an ability where you can "fling" a creature (slang for sacrifice a creature to deal damage equal to its power) as it matches a move Minsc often uses where he throws Boo at his adversaries ("Go for the eyes, Boo!"). The final ability was a way to have a big impact if you can make Boo large enough.

Minsc & Boo, Derring-Duo (version #12)
4RG
Legendary Planeswalker — Boo
Starting Loyalty – 5
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, and at the beginning of your upkeep, if you don't control a Hamster, create Boo, a legendary 1/1 red Hamster creature token with trample and haste.
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature for each loyalty on me.
-3: You may sacrifice a creature. When you do, CARDNAME deals X damage to any target and you draw X cards where X is its power.
CARDNAME can be your commander.

This is the last iteration of Minsc and Boo before the printed one. You can see the team is circling in on the abilities they want (make Boo, make Boo larger, fling Boo). They're just trying to find the right execution. The final version of the card locks in how many counters to put on Boo, reduces the cost to fling, and changes the card's mana value and starting loyalty. Finally, they turned the planeswalker subtype back to Minsc as Boo is clearly the creature token made by it.

Jaheira, Friend of the Forest

Now, it's time to look in and see how Jaheira ended up.

Kagain, the Greedy (version #1)
4G
Legendary Creature — Dwarf Warrior
4/4
Skilled (This commander starts the game with an additional feat. Add feats as a sorcery.) Whenever this creature attacks, untap all lands you control.
//FEAT 3G// Whenever you tap a land for mana, add G.

The theme for today's story is that nothing begins as it ends. This card began as a character named Kagain, who didn't go to print. This is another early card making use of the skilled/feats ability. Note how the creature's natural ability combos with its feat.

Kagain, the Greedy (version #2)
2G
Legendary Creature — Dwarf Warrior
1/3
Skilled (This commander starts the game with an additional feat. Add feats as a sorcery.)
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, create a Treasure token.

As we saw on the last card, the feat ability was moved off the legendary creatures. This design tried a variant on Heartbeat of Spring where the land produces one extra mana, but just one time and not one each turn.

Kagain, the Greedy (version #3)
2G
Legendary Creature — Dwarf Warrior
1/3
Background (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander.)
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, mill a card.
Whenever you mill a land card, return that card to your hand.

This next version tried a different take on landfall by providing you future mana. My best guess is that milling was playing into other themes.

Jaheira, Druid Harper (version #4)
2G
Legendary Creature — Human Elf Druid
3/3
Story (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander. Pay its cost to unlock it this game.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, mill a card.
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, return target land card from your graveyard to your battlefield.

This is the point where Jaheira changed slots from what would become the Minsc slot to what ended up being the slot she was printed in. Rather than play up her animal shapeshifting, this version of the card played up her druid nature. Note that the card fills a similar mechanical void to what Kagain was doing (and is one of the main reasons she moved slots rather than changing in the slot she was in).

Art Description:

SETTING: *PENTAGON*

COLOR: Legendary creature associated with green mana

LOCATION: The service counter in an inn and tavern

ACTION: Please show the headstrong JAHEIRA, a half-Black/half-white biracial HALF-ELF HARPER DRUID, as she sits at the counter, looks over her shoulder at the camera, and inadvertently causes pink iris flowers to grow from the wood of the counter where she touches it . . . Also see reference for Harpers, and see pp. 90 of the Zebra world guide for half-elves and pp. 138-140 for druids. If possible, we may see the half-moon motif in her clothing, the octagonal pin with the Harper symbol, and the unique detailing on the Harper cape, but combine the Harper look and colors with that of the druid reference and some unique styling and accessories to give her a unique and legendary appearance.

FOCUS: Jaheira.

MOOD: A strong and caring hero.

NOTES: tied to Jaheira's Haze, ART ID #425936

As you can see from the finished art, they stayed pretty close to this art description. Because Jaheira appears on a second card, that was also called out in the art description. Artist Mila Pesic illustrated both pieces.

Jaheira, Friend of the Forest (version #4)
3G
Legendary Creature — Human Elf Druid
3/5
At the beginning of your upkeep, return target land card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Choose a Background <i>(You can have two commanders if one of them has this ability and the other is a Background.)</i>

The designers kept tweaking how Jaheira interacts with lands. The final printed version moves to rare from uncommon and has a bit larger of an effect, but a good commander design that you would want to build around.

Wilson, Refined Grizzly

Next, we look in on Wilson to see how his design played out.

Faldorn, Nature's Claw (version #1)
2G
Legendary Creature - Human Druid
4/4
Defender
Skilled (You may add a feat from your deck and its colors to this commander.)
//FEAT 4G// Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, put four +1/+1 counters on up to one target land you control. It becomes a 0/0 creature with haste, vigilance, and "When this creature dies, return it to its owner's hand."

Wilson's slot also started with another character, one who also had skilled/feats. As this was an uncommon creature, it had no base ability (other than technically defender, which is a drawback) but had a powerful feat once you could cast it. This design worked a lot like an invoker (slang for a cheap creature that has a high activation cost).

Faldorn, Nature's Claw (version #2)
4G
Legendary Creature - Human Druid
4/4
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put four +1/+1 counters on up to one target land you control. It becomes a 0/0 creature with haste and "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped."
Skilled (You may add a feat from your deck and its colors to this commander.)
//FEAT 2G// Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has vigilance and trample.

The card was moved to mythic rare and the initial feat effect was moved to the creature, which gained a new feat. It also lost defender. Being mythic rare allowed us to juice the card a little as its impact on Limited was greatly reduced.

Faldorn, Nature's Claw (version #3)
2G
Creature - Human Druid
2/2
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Skilled (You may add a feat from your deck and its colors to this commander.)
//FEAT 3G// This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control.

The next version kept the Druid flavor but changed both the base ability and the feat effect.

Faldorn, Nature's Claw (version #4)
2G
Creature - Human Druid
3/3
Double-Skilled (This commander starts the game with two additional feats. Add feats as a sorcery.)
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, if the number of lands you control is greater than its power, put a +1/+1 counter on it. If it's power is greater than the number of lands you control, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

This is the point in the design where the feats moved off of the legendary creatures. This is the precursor to the card we saw earlier that could have two Backgrounds.

Wilson, Well-spoken Grizzly (version #5)
3G
Legendary Creature — Bear Warrior
4/4
Story (As the game starts, you may add a Background and its color to this commander. Pay its cost to unlock it this game.)
You may cast creature and enchantment spells as though they had flash.
CARDNAME and other creature and enchantment spells you cast can't be countered.

The card was moved from mythic rare to rare, and this was where Wilson moved to when he left Minsc's slot. I'm not sure why Wilson is tied to enabling casting creatures and enchantments. My guess is that they wanted to have Wilson as a character and were looking around trying to find the right design.

Wilson, Well-spoken Grizzly (version #6)
1G
Legendary Creature — Bear Warrior
2/2
Story (This commander can start with a Background in the command zone. Add its color identity to this commander.)
CARDNAME can't be blocked by more than one creature.
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, you may have target creature block it this turn if able.

They made the next version a little more Bear-like, making the ability about combat. Also, it was decided that the Bear should be 2/2, Magic's classic power/toughness pairing for Bears.

Art Description:

*** EXTENDED-ART TEMPLATE WITH LIVE AREA OF STANDARD ASPECT RATIO ***

SETTING: *PENTAGON*

COLOR: Legendary creature associated with green mana

LOCATION: A grove in the woods

ACTION: Please design WILSON, a very friendly, intelligent, and "well-spoken" GRIZZLY BEAR, who's holding a potion of green liquid in a vial near his mouth as if it's a fancy cup of tea, with one pinkie extended. Wilson should very obviously just be a normal bear (not anthropomorphic), but one who has very refined taste. He does not wear clothes.

FOCUS: Wilson.

MOOD: "Well hello there! May I offer you some tea?"

This is the point at which Wilson was illustrated. Note how the artist is always informed what art ratio they need to do the painting at based on how it's going to be printed.

Wilson, Well-spoken Grizzly (version #7)
1G
Legendary Creature — Bear Warrior
2/2
Story (This commander can start with a Backstory in the command zone. Add its color identity to this commander.) This spell can't be countered. Trample, vigilance, reach, hexproof, haste

Finally, they moved the card from rare to uncommon and simplified it a bit. Mostly just giving it a bunch of creature abilities. The printed version lost hexproof and haste but gained ward 2.

Today's Preview Card

It's time to tell the story of today's preview card.

Peer Tutoring (version #1)
1B
Sorcery
Search your library for a card with mana value X or less, where X is the number of creatures in your megaparty. Reveal that card, add it to your hand, then shuffle your library. (Your megaparty is any number of creatures you control with unique pairs of creature types.)

This slot was for a black card. It began as a rare tutor. You can see another mechanic that didn't make it into the set, megaparty. Megaparty was a riff on party, from Zendikar Rising, but in D&D, there are twelve classes not four, so the tweak on the ability was that it was looking for unique combinations of race and class creature types. So megaparty would count every creature that had at least two creature types that were unique, in combination, on that card. For example, a Merfolk Wizard, two Goblin Warriors, a Goblin Shaman, and a Serpent would count as a megaparty of three. (It counts everything save the Serpent and the second Goblin Warrior.)

Peer Tutoring (version #2)
B
Sorcery
Search your library for a card with mana value X or less, where X is the number of creatures with a unique class you control. Reveal that card, add it to your hand, then shuffle your library.

The card then changed from a rare black card to a mythic rare black card, which is where the slot stayed until it saw print. Megaparty had been removed and in its place the design team was trying effects that cared about how many unique creature types you had. So, using the same example of a Merfolk Wizard, two Goblin Warriors, a Goblin Shaman, and a Serpent, you would have six unique creature types (Goblin, Merfolk, Serpent, Shaman, Warrior, and Wizard).

Warlock's Pact (version #3)
1BB
Enchantment
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you lose half your life, rounded up. Put that many blood counters on CARDNAME.

I believe this was where the file started in set design. The team didn't want the black tutor, so they started experimenting with a different design. You'll notice they never finished it. The card told you how to get blood counters but not how to use them. I wanted to include this to show that sometimes slots get filled half-designed as the team figures out what they want to do with it. This card did show that they were interested flavorfully in filling the slot with some kind of warlock pact, which does stay in flavor all the way to print.

Hexblade (version #4)
4BB
Artifact — Equipment
You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life. Whenever you gain life, draw that many cards and put that many +1/+1 counters on equipped creature instead. Equipped creature has haste, lifelink, and "At the beginning of your end step, you lose the game unless this creature attacked this turn."
Equip - Pay 4 life.

The hexblade is a popular warlock pact, so the team liked the idea of making some kind of lich Equipment, something that gives you power but comes at a cost. This led the team to include the first ability, which gives you a way to "survive death" and keeps you from dying when you get to 0 life. The card does build in a way for you to lose, forcing you to act in a certain way (attack each turn with the equipped creature) or die.

Art Description:

*** EXTENDED-ART TEMPLATE***

Setting: *Pentagon*

Color: Black artifact

Location: Unimportant—your choice.

Intent: This is a warlock's pact blade, a weapon granted to the warlock by their demonic patron.

Action: Design a warlock's PACT WEAPON, which appears as a curved SCIMITAR. Give it a unique, cruel design. Maybe we see it as it's materializing in the warlock's hands, taking solid shape out of swirls of DARK SMOKE—it can be summoned out of thin air at a moment's notice. Sigils of MALEVOLENT PURPLE MAGIC glow on the scimitar blade.

Focus: The pact weapon

Mood: A cruel gift granted by a demonic master

Notes: This art will print with TWO DIFFERENT ASPECT RATIOS: (1) the standard aspect ratio and (2) with extended margins (please see attached template). Please compose the illustration to fit cropping for the standard aspect ratio and fill the extended margins with additional, fun details as Easter egg reveals on the card printed with the extended aspect ratio.

Now it was time for the card to get art. You'll notice as I show you multiple art descriptions that there's a structure for how they're assembled (setting, color, intent, action, focus, mood, and notes).

Hexblade (version #5)
4BB
Artifact — Equipment
As long as CARDNAME is equipped to a creature, you don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
If you would gain life, put that many +1/+1 counters on equipped creature instead. Whenever equipped creature dies, you draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is its power.
Equip – Pay 4 life.

The surviving at 0 life was tied to the creature being equipped. The team wanted the equipped creature to grow and for the player to have some way to draw cards for life, the idea being that your life is more of a resource than normal. This penultimate version was close in spirit to the final version, but as you will see, there was some tweaking of the effect.

"Storytime Is Over"

That's all the time I have for today. As always, I'm eager to hear your feedback, about today's article, any of the cards I discussed, or on Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. You can email me or contact me through any of my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Join me next week for more card-by-card design stories from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.

Until then, may you make a dark pact with a powerful weapon. You know, if you want to.