Magic dungeons and initiative: how to advance
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“Venture into the dungeon” and “venture into Undercity” can both advance a dungeon you already occupy. When you are not currently in one, however, their starting permissions differ: ordinary venture cannot start Undercity, while venture into Undercity starts that particular dungeon. The initiative creates opportunities to venture into Undercity and can move between players.
Your dungeon progress belongs to you. Taking the initiative from another player does not transfer their room marker or force you to continue their route.
A dungeon is a separate game object
Dungeon cards start outside the game and can be placed in the command zone by the appropriate venture instruction. They are not creatures, lands or other permanents on the battlefield. Do not include one in your main deck as though drawing it were how you gain access to it.
Each dungeon contains rooms connected by arrows. A venture marker records your current room. Entering a room triggers that room's printed ability. The physical card is a map for a rules procedure, not an object an opponent can ordinarily destroy with “destroy target permanent.”
At a multiplayer table, give each player's progress a clear separate representation. Two people using Undercity do not share one marker just because the printed map is identical. A spare reference card or separate labeled markers can keep simultaneous routes understandable.
Ordinary venture chooses an eligible starting dungeon
When an effect tells you to venture into the dungeon and you are not in a dungeon, choose one that this instruction allows you to start. The original Adventures in the Forgotten Realms dungeons use this procedure. Undercity has its own entry restriction and cannot be selected simply because it looks more attractive.
After the eligible dungeon is placed in the command zone, move the marker into its first room and handle that room's triggered ability. If you are already in a dungeon, ordinary venture advances along an arrow to an eligible next room instead of letting you abandon the current map for another.
Plan a route from your current room, not from an imaginary restart at the entrance. The arrows constrain your next choice. You cannot jump across the card to a desired reward just because another route reaches it.
Venture into Undercity checks whether you are already inside
If you are not currently in a dungeon, venture into Undercity starts Undercity specifically. You do not replace it with another dungeon from your collection. If you are already in a dungeon, the instruction advances your existing dungeon, even if that dungeon is not Undercity.
For example, a player partway through Lost Mine of Phandelver takes the initiative. The resulting venture into Undercity instruction does not eject them from Lost Mine. They advance their existing map according to its next room choices.
Likewise, ordinary venture can advance an Undercity you have already entered. The special restriction governs starting that dungeon, not every later advancement through it. That distinction is the key to understanding how cards from the two sets can work together.
The initiative is one shared designation
No player has the initiative at the start of a normal game until an effect gives it to someone. Once introduced, only one player has it at a time. Another player taking it causes the previous holder to lose the designation; it does not create a second independent initiative for the new player.
An effect that says to take the initiative can do so even if you already hold it. That event still produces the associated venture into Undercity opportunity. Keeping it and taking it again are therefore different ways the table can describe a turn, even though the final holder may be unchanged.
Use a single visible initiative reminder near the holder. The reminder belongs with the designation, while each dungeon map and progress marker remains with its own player. Physically separating those objects prevents the misconception that the map must pass with the initiative.
Taking and keeping it create advancement opportunities
Whenever a player takes the initiative, the inherent initiative ability leads that player to venture into Undercity. The player who has the initiative at the beginning of their upkeep also receives the relevant venture opportunity. Holding it through an opponent's turn can therefore matter even without playing another initiative card.
The timing is upkeep, not immediately when you untap or whenever you announce a new turn. Put the relevant triggered ability through the normal procedure. The room ability generated by entering a room is another object to resolve; do not compress several steps so tightly that opponents lose a legal opportunity to respond.
For practice, narrate a turn as “beginning of upkeep, initiative trigger, venture, enter the next room, room trigger.” This makes clear which instruction moved the marker and which printed reward is now waiting to resolve.
Combat damage can transfer the initiative
When one or more creatures controlled by another player deal combat damage to the initiative holder, the relevant inherent ability allows that attacking player to take it. An attack that is blocked and deals no combat damage to that player does not accomplish the same thing merely because the attacker survived.
Damage to a planeswalker or battle is not combat damage to its associated player. Nor is arbitrary noncombat damage automatically a way to take the initiative. Read the transfer condition precisely before moving the reminder across the table.
If several creatures hit the holder simultaneously, do not assume that every creature creates a separate free dungeon advancement. The initiative's wording refers to one or more creatures for the event. More complicated multiple-player or extra-damage-step cases should be resolved from the actual events and triggers.
| Current state | Instruction | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| No dungeon in progress | Venture into the dungeon | Start an eligible ordinary dungeon |
| No dungeon in progress | Venture into Undercity | Start Undercity |
| Ordinary dungeon in progress | Venture into Undercity | Advance that existing dungeon |
| Undercity in progress | Venture into the dungeon | Advance Undercity |
| Another player takes initiative | Your existing progress | Your marker stays on your map |
Room abilities use the stack
Entering a room triggers its printed ability. Apply target selection and resolution requirements where the ability has them. A room promising a useful effect does not exempt that effect from the ordinary rules governing targets and responses.
Suppose you choose a route leading to an ability that targets a creature. The creature's availability matters when the trigger is put on the stack, and its legality matters again at resolution. Moving the marker does not guarantee the effect will successfully benefit the creature you intended.
However, players do not respond halfway through the venture instruction before you have selected and entered the room. Distinguish the action that advances the marker from the resulting triggered ability. This avoids inviting a response at a nonexistent intermediate point.
Completing a dungeon does not reset every other player
A dungeon is completed through its final-room procedure. Once the final room's ability resolves or otherwise leaves the stack, the dungeon leaves the game as prescribed. A later eligible venture can start a new dungeon; you do not ordinarily loop straight back to the entrance without another instruction.
Other players' dungeon cards are unaffected merely because you finished yours. If a card cares whether you have completed a dungeon, your completed-history condition is separate from whether you currently occupy one.
When a new venture instruction arrives while the final-room ability is still relevant, consult the detailed dungeon rules rather than stacking markers on the final room and guessing. The completion timing can be more precise than the table's shorthand of “I reached the end.”
Losing the initiative does not erase progress
If another player takes the designation, keep your current dungeon and marker. You lose the upkeep advancement associated with holding initiative, but another ordinary venture or a later initiative event can continue your own route.
This gives a practical reason to include more than one kind of advancement in a dungeon strategy. You may progress without controlling initiative, but the exact card must provide a legal venture instruction. An unrelated attack or draw does not advance the marker by association.
For a table with frequent transfers, record holder and room separately in a brief note. “Ana holds initiative; Luis is in room two; Ana is in room three” contains the needed information. “Ana owns the dungeon now” does not.
Prepare the reference cards before playing
Bring clear dungeon references and an initiative reminder if your deck uses them. Check your cards' current Oracle text and the format's legality rather than assuming every initiative card is legal everywhere. A card's mechanic and its eligibility in a particular format are different questions.
Before a learning game, walk through one ordinary venture, one initiative transfer and one upkeep trigger. These three situations expose most mistaken assumptions without requiring a complex board. Agree on how markers will be displayed so neither player has to infer hidden progress from memory.
Frequently asked questions
Can ordinary venture start Undercity?
No. Undercity's entry restriction requires venture into Undercity. Once you are already inside it, ordinary venture can advance the existing dungeon.
Do I take the other player's dungeon when I take initiative?
No. You take the shared designation. Each player's dungeon progress remains their own, and your venture instruction checks your current dungeon state.
Can I take initiative again while already holding it?
Yes, if an effect tells you to do so. Taking it again still creates the associated advancement opportunity; it does not give you multiple initiative designations.