Tag: Eldraine

Magic has reinvented the tales of your childhood with the Wilds of Eldraine

The Wilds of Eldraine has brought many changes to Magic, but the most charming has been numerous references to fairy tales.

If Magic: The Gathering has managed to endure over time, it’s because it has been able to change and take on different forms. It has never been stuck in a single form or way of seeing things. It has navigated through the aesthetics of each era, the ways of doing things in each time, and also different ideas and settings. Magic doesn’t take place in an absolute monolithic universe. It takes place in a multiverse where practically anything is possible. That’s why it’s so fascinating, and why it can change radically from one set to another.

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The latest Magic set, “Throne of Eldraine,” was released just over a week ago. In this set, we journey to the plane of Eldraine, a world where fairy tales and Arthurian myths come together in an unusual yet fascinating combination. We’ve discussed the specific details of the set at another time, so this time we want to talk about something else. What makes this set special. All the references to fairy tales that we can find in Throne of Eldraine.

How could we begin to talk about Throne of Eldraine? Of course, in the only way possible.

Once upon a time, there was a young man who didn’t know his father. This young man was named Kellan, and he had both fairy and human blood in his veins. Driven by the curiosity to discover who his father was, he embarked on a mission to become a hero for his kingdom and defeat three wicked witches. Once upon a time, there was a young prince burdened with a heavy responsibility. This prince was named Will, and despite the death of the kings, he had decided to unite the kingdom and find a way to bring peace after a terrible war. Once upon a time, there was a young princess who couldn’t bear the loss. This princess was named Rowan, and unable to accept the death of her parents, she chose to separate from her brother and seek her own answers through violence.

Each one is the protagonist of their own story in their own way. They all face the same adversary: three witches, three sisters, with terrible powers. Hylda, Agatha, and Eriette. But as in every great story, there’s always a twist. Behind the witches, there’s an even more terrible power, someone who calls themselves Ashiok, pulling the strings from the shadows…

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If you want to know more about the fairy tale that Throne of Eldraine tells, Magic: The Gathering publishes a series of stories on their website with each new set, completely free, recounting the story of that set. Following its main characters and usually delving into secondary characters in some side stories, it’s their way of delving into the game’s lore. But that doesn’t mean their exploration of fairy tales ends there.

One way to play Magic is through draft. It’s basically playing with the cards you get in booster packs, which can contain cards of all kinds. Typically, sets design drafts around two-color archetypes. This is something that Eldraine has used to pay homage to various classic tales.

In Magic, there are five colors, which means there are ten combinations of two colors, ten possible draft archetypes. All of them make different nods to classic tales. Some are very explicit, like Ruby, Daring Tracker, who is Little Red Riding Hood, or Neva, Stalked by Nightmares, who is Snow White. But the funniest ones are those that reference classic tales through their interactions with the game’s mechanics. Totentanz, Swarm Piper is based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin and keeps creating rats, while Greta, Sweettooth Scourge is based on Hansel and Gretel and can sacrifice food tokens to produce different effects. These nods take the original stories and create fun gameplay effects.

Of course, the references to classic tales don’t stop there. Throne of Eldraine is full of nods to classic tales, some of which we’ve mentioned, and others we haven’t. Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty also make appearances, among others. The set is packed with cards that pay homage to this type of literature in a demonstration of boundless love. But we’ll leave it here for you to discover for yourself. Sometimes, you have to leave a few breadcrumbs to find your own path.

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“The Wilds of Eldraine” is the new Magic: The Gathering set, and it exudes fairy magic

In the new Magic: The Gathering set, The Wildlands of Eldraine, we visit a dimension where fairy tales are real

Summer tends to be a rather slow time for Magic: The Gathering fans. While there are tournaments, events, and some collections, they are generally smaller in scale. The last major collection usually comes out at the beginning of summer, and it’s not until September that the new tournament season, the World Championship, and, of course, the rotation begin. The first collection legal in the new Standard format.

To make a long story short, this means that every September a new collection is released, and all collections that came out two years ago cannot be played in Standard. Standard is a format where only collections from the last two years can be used. But this year, that has changed. Standard has been extended to three years, and there has been no rotation. However, this doesn’t mean we don’t have a new collection, even if we have to wait until next year for rotation to occur. And the excitement of seeing what cards it brings with it is just as high as if there had been a rotation.

This new collection is called “The Wilds of Eldraine.” Set in a fantasy world where humans live in an Arthurian reality and everyone else in a fairy tale reality, when both worlds collide, disasters occur. And in this collision, it’s happening on a grand scale.

Following the events of the previous sets, a plague is ravaging Eldraine. Many people fall asleep, and there’s no way to wake them up. With the king and queen dead, the young twin princes set out to find answers among witches, fairies, and other fairy tale creatures. And that’s what the entire collection is about. Evil witches. Mirrors that show you what you want to see. Magic beans. Knights coming back to life. And of course, many, many fairies.

All of this is enhanced, of course, by the mechanics unique to this collection. Some new, others returning from the past, all of them bring something special, something unique, that gives the feeling of being in a strange and playful world. These are roles, celebration, venture, and adventure.

Roles are a type of enchantment given to a creature. This assigns them a role, as if it were a play or a story, telling them what their function is. Perhaps they are a Monster, a Wizard, or a Villain. In any case, each Role provides specific benefits or drawbacks that change their characteristics. Similarly, Celebration is triggered as soon as we play two or more cards that remain on the table that aren’t lands. Because, what kind of celebration would it be if it were just one person?

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However, the two most interesting mechanics are the last two. “Negociar” allows us to sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token to get an extra effect. Because if we’re dealing with witches, it’s normal to have to sacrifice something of ours for them to grant us their true power, right? On the other hand, “adventures” are split cards. If we play the left part, we can exile it and then play it from outside our hand. Or we can play it directly from the left side and forget about the right side. It’s a very strong mechanic due to its versatility, which has been problematic in other collections, but here it seems much more balanced.

To know which colors and cards will be the best, we’ll have to wait a bit, but there are already very clear first impressions. And we have good or bad news, depending on your preferences. Because, once again, it seems that Black is going to remain the dominant color in the game.

Beseech The Mirror, Mosswood Dreadknight, and Decadent Dragon are three of the most powerful cards in the collection. “The End” is a great card to work against the biggest threats within its own color. For the rest, at least, there are interesting general-purpose pieces. Green has the amazing “Up the Beanstalk,” and cards like “The Irencrag” and “Collector’s Vault” should see a lot of play due to their versatility. And if you’re wondering, of course: the new rare lands will surely find their place in more than one or two decks, especially if the matches are not very fast.

On the other hand, that’s not the only thing included in “The Wilds of Eldraine.” In this collection, in every booster pack, there is at least one bonus card. A card from what they’ve called the Enchanting Tales. There are 63 classic enchantments with new illustrations, which will delight both veteran players and those who play more casual formats.

It’s also appealing to those who play Limited. This is the format where you open between three and six booster packs and build your deck with what you choose and what you get. The Enchanting Tales add more variety, but due to the power level of the collection, it requires more skill and relies less on simply getting the best card or card combination possible. Unless there is a very abrupt shift from what we’ve seen, it will make for a very enjoyable collection to play in Limited.

For all these reasons, “The Wilds of Eldraine,” which was released on September 5th in Magic: The Gathering Arena and on September 8th in physical form, feels like a successful collection. Even without rotation, it doesn’t feel like it will fall short, nor does it force its place through cards that may need to be banned. The Enchanting Tales and the fascinating setting make it a very interesting and refreshing collection, and we’re eager to learn more about what the future of this game will bring.

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The new Magic: The Gathering collection takes us on a visit to a whole fairy tale

In the new Magic: The Gathering collection we return to the lands of Eldraine where we will face wild fairies and wicked witches.

The Throne of Eldraine is one of the most beloved and feared collections of recent years. Introducing a beloved mechanic like Adventure, significantly raising the power level of the cards, printing cards that had to be practically automatically banned, such as Oko, Thief of Crowns and Once Upon a Time, and featuring a uniquely fantastical setting that blended Arthurian myths and 18th-century European romantic legends in equal parts, the collection was a resounding success. That’s why it shouldn’t surprise us that we’re returning to Eldraine once again this September.

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“The Wilds of Eldraine” is the upcoming Magic: The Gathering standard collection, and once again we return to Eldraine. However, not without consequences. After the Phyrexian invasion, the king and queen have perished, and the only way to halt the invaders was to cast a spell that put them to sleep, never to awaken. The problem is, this spell also affected many inhabitants of Eldraine, who remain asleep even after the invasion has ended, and it seems to be spreading among those still awake.

This forms the foundation of the collection, and thus, this time there will be scarcely any knights, palaces, or Arthurian references. The focus shifts to myths and legends, to the Wilds, the realm of fairies, and where witches roam freely, with a slight twist: this time the influence hails from European folktales.

This is something evident both in the cards themselves and in the draft archetypes. There are characters inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack (of beanstalk fame), and many other characters that, in turn, represent a unique combination of the two colors that make up each of the archetypes in this collection and how they are played. This original twist makes drafting “The Wildlands of Eldraine” feel similar to drafting “The Lord of the Rings: The Middle-earth Saga,” where it’s like choosing a specific theme to play under, allowing you to create a coherent thematic deck when playing limited.

But perhaps what stands out the most about the collection are the mechanics – both returning and introduced for the first time. Among these, three mechanics have the most potential to make an impact in constructed formats: Bargain, Role, and, of course, Adventure.

Spells with Bargain are cards that allow us to sacrifice a token, artifact, or enchantment to apply a predetermined extra effect. Roles are aura tokens that can be attached to creatures, cannot stack, and grant benefits or drawbacks to the specific creature. And Adventures, as veteran players are well aware, are cards split into two halves, where the right half can be cast, then the card is exiled, and then the left half can be cast as if it were in your hand, but not the other way around.

In “The Wildlands of Eldraine,” Adventure cards were very powerful, with some of them even being considered too powerful, a fact that Wizards of the Coast has taken into account. That’s why now there are Adventures that have different colors of mana in each of their halves or where the right side is more costly than the left, aiming to prevent the creation of cards with the same prevalence and ferocious consistency as the legendary Bonecrusher Giant.

In addition to all of this, there are the typical releases, such as two new Commander decks. One is blue and black, centered around fairies, while the other is red and white, focusing on tokens and counters. What’s most unusual is that both collector and set boosters will come with a bonus card called “Enchanting Tales.” These are famous and frequently played enchantments from Magic’s history, reprinted for the occasion and only legal in formats they were already legal in before, featuring new artwork inspired by fairy tales.

All of this will also make its way to Magic: The Gathering Arena. With the customary change of the game board, simulating a pop-up storybook theme, and accessible avatars, bundles, and battle passes, the same content available in the physical game will be accessible on the online platform as well.

“The Wilds of Eldraine” will be available on September 8th in physical form, and on September 5th around 5 PM Spanish time on Magic: The Gathering Arena. And just like every September collection that marks the start of a new rotation – even if that’s not the case this year (as Standard now has a three-year rotation) – there’s no better time to get into Magic than with this gorgeous collection that’s truly a fairy tale come to life.

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