Quick Verdict
To venture into the dungeon, you either choose a dungeon card from outside the game and enter its first room, or move down to the next room of the dungeon you are already in. Each room has a one-time effect, you can only go forward, and finishing the last room completes the dungeon. There are three dungeons: Lost Mine of Phandelver (7 rooms), Dungeon of the Mad Mage (9) and Tomb of Annihilation (5).
Venture into the dungeon in MTG is a keyword action from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (July 2021). It sends you down a dungeon, a special card that lives in the command zone and gives you a one-time effect each time you step into a new room. The deeper you go, the better the payoff, and finishing a dungeon unlocks bonuses on cards such as Nadaar, Selfless Paladin.
Here is how the rules work, every room in all three dungeons, and which cards are worth building around.
Venture Into the Dungeon: Rules in MTG
When a card says to venture into the dungeon:
- If you are not in a dungeon, choose a dungeon card from outside the game, put it into the command zone, and place your venture marker on its first (top) room.
- If you are in a dungeon, move your venture marker to the next room, along one of the arrows.
- Whenever you enter a room, its ability triggers.
A few rules decide almost every dungeon question:
- Dungeon cards are not part of your deck or sideboard. Every player can use any dungeon.
- You can only move forward. Never backwards, never sideways. Where a room has two exits, you choose.
- One dungeon at a time. You can't start another until the current one is done.
- Completing a dungeon. When the last room's ability resolves, the dungeon is completed and removed from the game. It is a state-based action, so it happens as soon as the last room is done.
- You may re-enter a dungeon you have already completed. The slate is clean each time you choose.
- If you venture while in the last room, you complete that dungeon and start a new one.
Choosing the dungeon or room is part of resolving the venture itself. Players can't respond between choosing and the room's ability triggering.
The Three Dungeons
Lost Mine of Phandelver (7 rooms)
The beginner's dungeon. Every room helps you, and the path is short.
| Room | Effect | Leads to |
|---|---|---|
| Cave Entrance | Scry 1 | Goblin Lair or Mine Tunnels |
| Goblin Lair | Create a 1/1 red Goblin | Storeroom or Dark Pool |
| Mine Tunnels | Create a Treasure | Dark Pool or Fungi Cavern |
| Storeroom | Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature | Temple of Dumathoin |
| Dark Pool | Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 | Temple of Dumathoin |
| Fungi Cavern | Target creature gets -4/-0 until your next turn | Temple of Dumathoin |
| Temple of Dumathoin | Draw a card | Complete |
The shortest route is four rooms. It is the safest pick because nothing in it costs you resources.
Tomb of Annihilation (5 rooms)
The short and painful dungeon. Its early rooms hurt every player, including you.
| Room | Effect | Leads to |
|---|---|---|
| Trapped Entry | Each player loses 1 life | Veils of Fear or Oubliette |
| Veils of Fear | Each player loses 2 life unless they discard a card | Sandfall Cell |
| Oubliette | Discard a card and sacrifice a creature, an artifact and a land | Cradle of the Death God |
| Sandfall Cell | Each player loses 2 life unless they sacrifice a creature, artifact or land | Cradle of the Death God |
| Cradle of the Death God | Create The Atropal, a legendary 4/4 black God Horror with deathtouch | Complete |
You can finish it in three rooms through the Oubliette, but that route costs you a card and three permanents. The other route is a longer walk that costs life instead. The reward at the end is a 4/4 deathtouch creature.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage (9 rooms)
The long dungeon with the largest payoff.
| Room | Effect | Leads to |
|---|---|---|
| Yawning Portal | You gain 1 life | Dungeon Level |
| Dungeon Level | Scry 1 | Goblin Bazaar or Twisted Caverns |
| Goblin Bazaar | Create a Treasure | Lost Level |
| Twisted Caverns | Target creature can't attack until your next turn | Lost Level |
| Lost Level | Scry 2 | Runestone Caverns or Muiral's Graveyard |
| Runestone Caverns | Exile the top two cards of your library; you may play them | Deep Mines |
| Muiral's Graveyard | Create two 1/1 black Skeletons | Deep Mines |
| Deep Mines | Scry 3 | Mad Wizard's Lair |
| Mad Wizard's Lair | Draw three cards and reveal them; you may cast one without paying its mana cost | Complete |
Every path through it is seven rooms, so you can't shorten it. You will need to venture seven times, which is a lot, but the last room draws three cards and casts one for free.
Which dungeon should you choose?
Take Lost Mine of Phandelver when you only expect to venture a few times: every room is useful. Take Mad Mage when you have repeatable venture, such as Dungeon Map or a Nadaar attack trigger, and can reach the bottom. Take Tomb of Annihilation when a card, such as Acererak the Archlich, needs you to complete it, or when you want the 4/4 deathtouch quickly.
The Best Venture Cards
Nadaar, Selfless Paladin ({2}{W}). Vigilance, and it ventures whenever it enters or attacks. Once you have completed a dungeon, your other creatures get +1/+1. It doesn't matter whether Nadaar was on the battlefield when you finished.
Acererak the Archlich ({2}{B}). If you haven't completed Tomb of Annihilation, it returns to your hand when it enters and you venture into the dungeon. Cast it, bounce it, repeat, until you finish the Tomb. Once you have, it stays and makes 2/2 Zombies each time it attacks.
Triumphant Adventurer ({W}{B}). Deathtouch, first strike on your turn, and it ventures whenever it attacks. A two-mana creature that explores the dungeon every turn.
Dungeon Map ({3}). A mana rock that can pay {3} and tap to venture at sorcery speed. Reliable and colourless.
Dungeon Descent. A land that taps for colourless and can pay {4}, tap, and tap an untapped legendary creature you control to venture at sorcery speed.
Yuan-Ti Malison ({1}{U}). Can't be blocked as long as it's attacking alone, and ventures when it deals combat damage to a player.
Radiant Solar ({5}{W}). A 6-mana flying lifelink Angel that ventures whenever it or another nontoken creature you control enters. It can also be discarded for {W} to venture and gain 3 life.
Midnight Pathlighter ({2}{W}{U}). Your creatures can't be blocked except by legendary creatures, and you venture whenever they deal combat damage to a player.
Bar the Gate ({2}{U}). A counterspell for a creature or planeswalker spell that also ventures. One of the few instants that moves you down a dungeon.
Thorough Investigation ({2}{W}). Investigates whenever you attack, and ventures whenever you sacrifice a Clue.
Venture vs the Initiative
The two are easy to mix up. Venture into the dungeon lets you choose any of the three dungeons. The initiative is a designation that sends you into one specific dungeon, Undercity, each time you take it and at every one of your upkeeps while you keep it. It passes to a player who deals combat damage to you.
Venture is a mechanic you control. The initiative is a resource everyone fights over. Our guide to the monarch and the initiative covers Undercity, the rooms, and why the initiative was banned in Legacy and Pauper.
Common Misconceptions
"Dungeons are cards in my deck." They aren't. They live outside the game until you venture.
"I can go back and pick a different room." Only forward.
"I can only complete each dungeon once." You can pick the same dungeon again after you complete it.
"Venturing is the same as the initiative." The initiative always sends you into Undercity. Venture lets you pick.
"The last room is optional." Entering the last room triggers its ability, and completing the dungeon happens when that ability resolves.
Where Dungeons Fit
Venture is a mechanic from the Dungeons & Dragons crossover. It is most at home in Commander, where the slower pace lets you reach the final room, and the dungeons' effects scale well with scry and card-draw decks. For more of the keywords you will see on newer cards, our complete MTG keywords glossary covers the rest.
Citations & Resources
- Wizards of the Coast: Comprehensive Rules — venture and dungeons
- Scryfall: Every dungeon card
- Scryfall: Every card that ventures into the dungeon
- Scryfall: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Related Guides
- The Ultimate MTG Keywords Glossary — every keyword, with a printable cheat sheet
- MTG Monarch and The Initiative — the initiative ventures into Undercity, and was banned in two formats
- What Scry Means in MTG — the effect on most of the dungeon rooms
- The Ring Tempts You in MTG — the other level-up mechanic, with an emblem instead of a dungeon
- MTG Formats Explained — where venture decks are legal
- MTG Phases and Turn Structure — when upkeep ventures happen
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