Wilds Of Eldraine Cements Eldraine As One Of Magic: The Gathering's Most Important Settings

thegamer.com:

While Wizards Presents gave us plenty of surprises for Magic: The Gathering in 2023, one of the biggest shocks was that Wizards has seemingly catered to me, and me alone, by producing a set I’d predicted almost two years ago, in one of my favourite settings the game has ever produced. With Wilds of Eldraine, we’re heading back to Magic’s fairy tale-inspired world, and I couldn’t be happier.

More than just being one of my favourite settings, Wilds of Eldraine helps solidify Eldraine as one of Magic’s most unexpectedly vital settings. More so than even big names like Ravnica, Zendikar, Dominaria, or Innistrad, Eldraine is becoming the glue that holds Magic together.

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To understand the importance of Wilds of Eldraine, it’s important to understand the history of Eldraine. While it’s colloquially known as “the fairy tale world”, Eldraine actually started life as two different sets: one based on Arthurian legend, and the other on more Hans Christian Anderson-style fairy tales. Before long, it was decided that the Arthurian themes of the original Throne of Eldraine weren’t enough to carry a whole set, and so Eldraine’s two halves – the Arthurian keeps and castles, and the fantastical, fairy tale wilds – were merged into a single set that became the Throne of Eldraine we saw hit print.

While Throne of Eldraine was a home run in terms of flavour, many of us have long wondered about what we missed out on. The set was heavily focused on the Arthurian half of the mashup, with the ‘Wilds’ relegated to a place only really mentioned in the supporting story instead of in the cards itself.

With Wilds of Eldraine, Wizards has the chance to unleash that held-back fairy