Like many, I was initially very disheartened about the release of the Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica -book for D&D. It seemed to be a monetized version of the previous Planeshift-line of supplementary and cross-promotional products that WotC used to make for free, and which were small in size and just some casual fun to delve into. To me, the product offered nothing inherently new and interesting, and it just felt like WotC was pushing MTG's IP into an avenue it didn't need to expand into, casuals after all don't typically enjoy complicated systems and D&D 5e is the most easy-to-enter revision of D&D ever, and as such has a very different demographic to let's say 3.5e, which I feel is more close to the core MTG audience.

But I just watched the first Acquisitions Incorporated Ravnica session, and I have to say it didn't feel at all as forced as I thought it'd feel. Instead what I got was some nice worldbuilding, a lot of natural-feeling inter-guild conflicts and some small droplets of lore felt actually supplementary to the current Ravnica block. The whole plane feels now more "alive" to me than it has felt for a long time.

Now, the DM himself made a few casual "errors" here and there (like mentioning how some Vedalken were dancing in a blood circus etc.), but those kinds of off-tone remarks are understandable when you're improvising, and it was his first real session with a party that's been adventuring for over a decade now.

Overall, as a long time fan of D&D, MTG and Acquisitions Incorporated, I'm actually hyped for their next session, for Alliances and for whatever plane they're doing a crossover next. Color me fucking surprised.