A set made entirely for 2HG play! Battlebond drafts are going to be amazing.
For normal sets these Release Notes help you with the less intuitive interactions of new cards in 2HG. But for Battlebond, Wizards has been very careful to avoid most of those tricky templates. Almost all cards work pretty straightforward, so this is a very short article.
Also because most of the cards were designed or selected to play better in 2HG it would be a bit silly to have a “Hidden Gems” article as that would just be a list of 75% of the set, very much not hidden at all! Here’s a general strategy article from wizards.com.
For the general rules explanations read the Battlebond Mechanics article that introduces “your team”, “partner with” and “assist”. For the Battlebond-specific rules for draft and sealed read this page. Then there are of course the Release Notes that explain specific cards.
And here follow just a few more notes on individual cards. Happy battlebonding everyone!
Archfiend of Despair
- In 2HG even though you share a life total with your teammate, life loss (and life gain) still happens to players individually. For example if a single 2/2 creature attacked your teammate and they took 2 damage, that counts as them having lost 2 life this turn, but you haven’t lost any life this turn, even though your life total changed.
Eager Construct
- You scry simultaneously with your teammate, so you can both look at each other’s card before deciding what to do with them.
Ember Beast & Loyal Pegasus
- If your teammate is also attacking or blocking with at least one creature, these aren’t alone!
Stunning Reversal
- In 2HG you win or lose as a team together so this prevents both of you losing the game, but only you draw the cards.