![]() ![]() Contrast that to our next card: Phyrexian Unlife.Ĭaitlin: Terrifying in a good way. ![]() Rob: Right, there’s a very inorganic but naturalistic, almost Social Realism vibe to this one. Love the design of all the plants to make it look like gears. Also, Land Tax is sick.Ĭaitlin: Yeah, that’s super cool. It’s used very generously throughout the set and it looks sun-dappled in the best of ways. Rob: Yeah, the consistent use of golden light in these White cards really makes a cohesive palette for the set. It’s also very Disney, but in the right way. Literally adding depth through practical effects.Ĭaitling: This replicates that. These are really cool because they so clearly have layers of depth the way Sleeping Beauty has, which, Sleeping Beauty was a really special Disney movie because they actually layered–it’s actual layers of scene– I think it’s entirely too busy, but that’s me.Ĭaitlin: Don’t disagree, but I like that it’s busy.Ĭaitlin: Yeah, it totally is. Yeah, I like that it goes from sort of Pop Art on the edges to being very detailed in the center. (long digression about the history of Phyrexia follows and has been cut)Ĭaitlin: Love it. ![]() To throw off the Phyrexian invasion, they cast a sleeping spell over the fairytale world of Eldraine. Rob: So, the plot of this set is Sleeping Beauty. The heart kind of looks like an apple, which is, I’m sure, intentional, and the vines around it make me think of Sleeping Beauty. We’re going to start with White.Ĭaitlin: I find this one really compelling. So these are all real, tournament-legal Magic cards, but they look a little different from the old orcs & dorks illustrations you’ve seen. This time, they’ve choked that back, and to balance it, they’re including powerful cards from Magic’s past with art that’s reminiscent of classic fairy-tale illustration. This is our second visit–the first time, it was 2019 and the set was kind of busted, by which I mean the cards were too good. It’s part Into the Woods, part Arthurian legend. Rob: Alright, so background: Eldraine is Magic’s fairy-tale world with some courtly Brit myth thrown in there. The conversation has been edited for clarity and does not cover every card in the Enchanted Tales subset. What follows is a conversation between the two of us as Caitlin first sees the Wilds of Eldraine Enchanting Tales cards–these are her first reactions, without any previous awareness of the set or its aesthetics. People want to see themselves as an archetype.”Ī Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist player and never-drafter, Caitlin’s experience with Magic is mostly limited to Commander and the cards I excitedly bring to her like a cat bringing home prey. Fairy tales are designed to reinforce cultural expectations in young children, and it’s important to review them to see what past cultures prioritize and how people fit into those cultures. The practice of building empathy–the opposite of apathy, right?–is why they’ve had a lasting impact on culture for centuries. “I have more than an affinity–really more of a mild obsession–with children’s book art and a deep love of fairy tales and fables and their use in helping us see the world in different and instructive ways. She’s a graduate of the University of Texas, where she received her Master’s in Early Childhood Education, and I couldn’t think of anyone better suited to review the aesthetics of Wilds of Eldraine’s Enchanting Tales variants. Caitlin recently wrapped up a four-year tenure at Richland Library, where she was a Children’s Library Associate. Those touchstones are clear in the aesthetics, but they’re updated by a fantastic cast of new Magic artists, from Shafer Brown to Eva Eskelinen to Matteo Marjoram, all of whom create fairy-tale-inflected art with a Magical twist.Īs a new father and a spouse to a children’s library employee, I’m saturated in children’s art, and I’ve developed a critical eye–but nothing close to the expert eye of my wife, Caitlin. This time, we have iconic Enchantments, and Wizards has knocked it out of the park: almost every card is a tournament playable or casual staple, and the art is evocative and whimsical–a wonderful mix of Arthur Rackham, Gustave Doré, and the D’aulaires. The fact that Wizards has returned to this marketing technique four times in three years underlines that it’s successful. Wilds of Eldraine is the latest Magic set to boast a supplement sheet of bonus cards, following in the footsteps of Strixhaven, The Brothers’ War, and March of the Machine. ![]()
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