Everything you need to know about Wilds of Eldraine

Story and theme

This time the set will focus on the magical forests on Eldraine rather than the knight and castles on the plane. Each color combination is based around a popular fairy tale. The phyrexians are gone but three powerful witches put a curse on the plane causing a lot of people to fall asleep and not wake up. This expansion also marks the start of a new story arc called The Omenpath arc.

New and returning mechanics

-> Adventures

Adventures are finally back and with it many new powerful cards with this mechanic. Cards with an adventure allow you to cast the adventure part and then play the normal side. Adventures could only be found on creatures or artifacts but now they can also be on enchantments. 

Another new thing is that adventures can now also be a different color than the original card which can be seen on cards like Cruel Somnophage or Scalding Viper.

-> Food tokens

Food tokens are also back, as always you will mostly find them in green or black and you will be using them for value rather than gaining life with them. We also finally get a card for a fan favourite character - Syr Ginger which will fit into the food decks.

-> Bargain

The first new mechanic introduced in this set is bargain. Bargain is similar to kicker, just instead of paying a bit of mana for a bonus you need to sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token. You can find it on many cards in the set like Farsight Ritual or Troublemaker Ouphe. Bargain also synergises with the next upcoming mechanic...

-> Role tokens

We all have our roles to play and these new tokens will help us. Each one of them are enchantment auras and there are 6 different kinds (one more in the commander precon):

• Cursed — Enchanted creature has base power and toughness 1/1.
• Monster — Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.
• Royal — Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has ward {1}.
• Sorcerer — Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever this creature attacks, scry 1."
• Wicked — Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and "When this Aura is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, each opponent loses 1 life."
• Young Hero — Enchanted creature has "Whenever this creature attacks, if its toughness is 3 or less, put a +1/+1 counter on it."
• (Commander) Virtuous — Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control.

Each of these give you a small bonus but can also be sacrificed to bargain. Now that is synergy!

-> Celebration

The last new mechanic is celebration. It is the main theme of the boros archetype in the set and will give you a bonus if two or more permanents entered the battlefield under your control this turn. 

You can find it on cards like Ash, Party Crasher and Gallant Pie-Wielder. The phyrexians are gone so let's celebrate!

A collector's guide

Wilds of Eldraine looks like quite the set for collectors. You can collect the beautiful full art basics or cards with the returning "showcase adventure treatment". This frame will be found on 7 mythics and 13 rares in the set.

Another important thing is the Enchanting Tales bonus sheet. You will find a card from Enchanting Tales in every pack and the sheet features powerful enchantments from all of magic's history. All of the cards are borderless and special art which gives them a "fairy-tale" look. There are a total of 63 cards in Enchanting Tales and among them are powerful and expensive cards like Bitterblossom, Doubling Season or even Necropotence...

Some cards in Enchanting Tales will also have the anime or confetti foil treatments. These will be found on the mythics and rares of the bonus sheet.

Important dates

Here is the list of all important dates:

Wilds of Eldraine Preview Events:

• Wilds of Eldraine Story: August 8–14
• Debut and Previews Begin: August 15
• Card Image Gallery Complete: August 25
• Loading Ready Run's Pre-Prerelease: August 26
• Streamer Event on MTG Arena (formerly Early Access): August 31
• Command Zone's Game Knights Wilds of Eldraine Commander Gameplay: September 6
• Global Tabletop Launch (Including Starter Kit): September 8

Wilds of Eldraine Gameplay Events:

• Prerelease at Your Local Game Store: September 1
• MTG Arena Release: September 5
• WPN Game Store Open House: September 8–10
• Friday Night Magic: September 8–November 3
• Commander Nights: September 9–November 9
• MagicCon: Las Vegas and Magic World Championship XXIX: September 22–24
• WPN Store Championships: September 30–October 8
• Alchemy: Wilds of Eldraine Release: October 10

Author: Tomas Solovic

Date: 17.8. 2023