Adventure

Adventure
Spell Type
(Subtype for instant/sorcery spells)
Storm Scale	3
Statistics	122 cards 18% 23.8% 15.6% 18.9% 22.1% 0.8% 0.8% as of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
Scryfall Search
type:"Adventure"

Adventure is a spell type, a subtype seen on instants and sorceries attached to permanent cards, primarily appearing on creatures. It was introduced in Throne of Eldraine. Permanents with Adventures are called adventurer cards in the rules, and are referred to as cards that "have an Adventure" when this attribute is significant to other cards.

Initially, Adventures only appeared on creature cards, though the rules did not specify any type restrictions. As such, they could, and eventually did, appear on other permanent types. They currently appear on artifacts and enchantments in addition to creatures.

Description

Adventure spells are thematic instants or sorceries that relate to a permanent. In this way they are an unusual mix of normal split cards, Aftermath spells, Evoke, and Entwine. Casting the Adventure half of a card represents going on an Adventure, which potentially could become mechanically relevant. The permanent is flavored as being part of the adventure in some way, whether it be an adventurer going on a quest, or something encountered along the way. When the Adventure resolves, the card is exiled. When exiled as part of the resolution, the permanent spell may be cast from exile.

Adventure spells only exist on the stack. In all other zones, the characteristics of an Adventure are ignored; only the characteristics of the permanent apply. This means they are not instants or sorceries card in any other zone. Notably, as of Wilds of Eldraine, permanents may now have Adventures of different colors, for instance: Cruel Somnophage is not blue nor multicolored, even though Can't Wake Up is blue. However, if one were permitted to cast blue, sorceries, or two-mana spells from a zone Cruel Somnophage is in, Can't Wake Up could be cast but not Cruel Somnophage.

Due to their flavor, Adventure cards were a perfect fit for a Dungeons & Dragons crossover set, reappearing in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. Adventures appeared on artifacts for the first time, representing magic items found during a quest.

With the return to Eldraine in Wilds of Eldraine came the return of Aventures to Standard. This time, Adventures made their first appearance on enchantments, as a cycle of "Virtues" with great importance to the five courts of Eldraine. Additionally, this set marks the first appearance of single-colored permanents with off-color Adventure spells. There is also one multicolored Adventure on a multicolored Legendary Creature.

As another member of the two-spells-in-one design category, Adventures are popular, and there are no particular caps on the costs, which means they can be developed reasonably. While the original batch were high on the power scale, the design problem is that it is more difficult to make a cohesive Adventurer card. Overall, it rates at 3 on the Storm Scale.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Adventurer Card

Cards with a two-part card frame (one part of which is inset on the left) on a single card. See rule 715, “Adventurer Cards.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 715. Adventurer Cards
  • 715.1. Adventurer cards have a two-part card frame, with a smaller frame inset within their text box.
  • 715.2. The text that appears in the inset frame on the left defines alternative characteristics that the object may have while it’s a spell. The card’s normal characteristics appear as usual, although with a smaller text box on the right.
    • 715.2a If an effect refers to a card, spell, or permanent that “has an Adventure,” it refers to an object for which these alternative characteristics exist, even if the object currently doesn’t use them.
    • 715.2b The existence and values of these alternative characteristics is part of the object’s copiable values.
    • 715.2c Although adventurer cards are printed with multiple sets of characteristics, each adventurer card is only one card. For example, a player who has drawn or discarded an adventurer card has drawn or discarded one card, not two.
  • 715.3. As a player casts an adventurer card, the player chooses whether they cast the card normally or as an Adventure.
    • 715.3a When casting an adventurer card as an Adventure, only the alternative characteristics are evaluated to see if it can be cast.
    • 715.3b While on the stack as an Adventure, the spell has only its alternative characteristics.
    • 715.3c If an Adventure spell is copied, the copy is also an Adventure. It has the alternative characteristics of the spell and not the normal characteristics of the card that represents the Adventure spell. Any rule or effect that refers to a spell cast as an Adventure refers to the copy as well.
    • 715.3d Instead of putting a spell that was cast as an Adventure into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves, its controller exiles it. For as long as that card remains exiled, that player may cast it. It can’t be cast as an Adventure this way, although other effects that allow a player to cast it may allow a player to cast it as an Adventure.
  • 715.4. In every zone except the stack, and while on the stack not as an Adventure, an adventurer card has only its normal characteristics.
  • 715.5. If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name and the player wants to choose an adventurer card’s alternative name, the player may do so.

Rulings

On an Adventure marker

• Adventurer cards are permanent cards in every zone except the stack, as well as while on the stack if not cast as an Adventure. Ignore its alternative characteristics in those cases. For example, while it's in your graveyard, Giant Killer is a white creature card whose converted mana cost is 1. It can't be the target of the triggered ability of Mystic Sanctuary.
• When casting a spell as an Adventure, use the alternative characteristics and ignore all of the card's normal characteristics. The spell's color, mana cost, converted mana cost, and so on are determined by only those alternative characteristics. If the spell leaves the stack, it immediately resumes using its normal characteristics.
• If you cast an adventurer card as an Adventure, use only its alternative characteristics to determine whether it's legal to cast that spell. For example, if Giant Killer is exiled with the last ability of Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, you can't cast it as Chop Down.
• If a spell is cast as an Adventure, its controller exiles it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard as it resolves. For as long as it remains exiled, that player may cast it as a creature spell. If an Adventure spell leaves the stack in any way other than resolving (most likely by being countered or by failing to resolve because its targets have all become illegal), that card won't be exiled and the spell's controller won't be able to cast it as a creature later.
• If an adventurer card ends up in exile for any other reason than by exiling itself while resolving, it won't give you permission to cast it as a creature spell.
• You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions for the creature spell you cast from exile. Normally, you'll be able to cast it only during your main phase while the stack is empty.
• If an effect copies an Adventure spell, that copy is exiled as it resolves. It ceases to exist as a state-based action; it's not possible to cast the copy as a creature.
• An effect may refer to a card, spell, or permanent that "has an Adventure." This refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has an adventurer card's set of alternative characteristics, even if they're not being used and even if that card was never cast as an Adventure.
• If an effect refers to a creature card, creature spell, or creature that has an Adventure, it won't find an instant or sorcery spell on the stack that's been cast as an Adventure.
• If an object becomes a copy of an object that has an Adventure, the copy also has an Adventure. If it changes zones, it will either cease to exist (if it's a token) or cease to be a copy (if it's a nontoken permanent), and so you won't be able to cast it as an Adventure.
• If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative Adventure name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose.
• Casting a card as an Adventure isn't casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to the Adventure.

Gallery

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External links

• Mechanic Spotlight: Adventures (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube.