What's funny is that since the "core people" in Ixalan are inspired by Native American cultures, it makes no sense that he has a Spanish nickname/title.
I mean the actual names of the actual folks are all vaguely nahuatl, it's not super shocking that the colonizers coming in are translating into a colonial language. It's sort of how they do stuff.
But he remembers being called Abuelo by "his people," i.e. not the colonizers, right? Unless you assume he and the person he was talking to in the story said "grandpa" in their native language, and the story writers "auto-translated" it into Spanish for some reason.
I was expecting fixed cascade, but that is just more flexible cascade and why is there someone whose name is just "Grandpa."
In the story, Abuelo is a spirit summoned by Quintorius. He's so old he doesn't remember his own name, but he does remember that he used to be called "Abuelo", so he goes with it.
What's funny is that since the "core people" in Ixalan are inspired by Native American cultures, it makes no sense that he has a Spanish nickname/title.
I'm still so salty that UB worked out for them. They print a ******* Coca-Cola vending machine and people go "oh wow I love this." They literally transformed Magic into some Weiss Schwarz ass crossover fest and are getting rewarded for it. Thanks I hate it
I mean, if we have learned one thing from WotC worldbuilding in recent years is that they love their tropes, and it seems to be working out for them. Do something everyone knows, put a slight spin/different coat of paint on it, boom. Everybody loves it. I have my gripes with this approach, but it does seem to be what the majority wants, so...
The flavor text of Verdant Outrider is interesting, but it does make it sound like basically all the courts are in shambles while, on the cards, most of them seem to be fine except for maybe Ardenvale.
Overall, Eldraine 2.0 goes a bit too much into the silly direction (whereas the first Eldraine set pretty much hit the sweet spot for me in terms of tone) and the cards don't to a very good job of telling you what's happening. Even filtering out only the story spotlights, it seems all over the place.
As usual, the aspects that are like the most are relegated to the side (I'd really like to know the story of the Redtooth elves and their curse which apparently gets broken by the Archon of the Wild Rose), but poor small company WotC didn't have enough money for side stories this time around, so the best I'll get is a low-effort blurb in the "The Legends of Wild of Eldraine" article.
That beast token is amazing. The bird too, but I think I still prefer the egret/heron one from the Commander sets.
Also, the egg on that one food token looks delicious
In the meantime, I have no clue where in Europe has the folk tales of the man-eating rats with butcher knives and Wizards still was daring enough to put them in this set.
I don't think it's based on a real folk tale. It's an extrapolation from the Pied Piper reference - in the original story you have a lot of rats, and in the MtG version those rats (or at least some of them) are also sentient. I actually like this "taking a reference and going from there" approach, but the sudden appearance of all this beastfolk (also Werefoxes, Fauns etc.) kind of comes out of nowhere. It doesn't feel like they were always there and just had the focus adjusted on them, but like they suddenly plopped into existence because WotC needed to fill the slots that they couldn't fill with knights and other inhabitants of the realm. I know that this seems like I'm splitting hairs (and I know that I'm part of a tiny minority here), but since the game itself has become mostly irrelevant to me, this kind of creative consistency stuff is what I'm most interested in.
Personally, the biggest head screw in Wilds of Eldraine's story (IMO) is that the Cursed Slumber didn't look like it got broken or weakened at all, yet Will still decided to reward Ruby and Kellan like it did get broken.
Right now I still haven't read the actual story and am evaluating the creative of the set purely through what I'm seeing on cards, and from this perspective it doesn't seem like the Wicked Slumber is that big of a deal. One of the coolest cards spoiled so far has been Court of Ardenvale imo, because it shows some of the Phyrexian invasion aftermath. But otherwise, Eldraine seems very well pul-together for a world that was just assaulted by Phyrexians, and the sleeping curse things looks like it's a minor issue at worst. I definitely have to read the story before my final verdict, but I think they could've done a better job at showing the effects of the invasion and the Wicked Slumber.
They have said since last time that peoples lives and events on Eldraine mimic the events and beats of fairy tales over and over. Witches will often use sweets to lure in children to eat, peasant girls will often be sent to balls by a mysterious and magical benefactor to try and find true love before midnight and royal and nobel blooded scions will find themselves cursed and/or locked away in some tower by a dragon/witch/ect.
I think it's precisely this "these things happen all the time" aspect that gives me the Un-Set vibes. When the worldbuilding feels like it's telling you "What do you mean, the Hansel and Gretel? There have been dozens of them!", it does end up feeling like a joke.
I think this isa great idea for a design point. When looking at cards I know the Snow Queen themed cards are for the WU tap deck ect so its easy to see what cards are meant to be drafted together as they are recognizable.
From a gameplay design standpoints it's clever, I agree. But from a pure creative standpoint, I'm on the fence. I know that Magic is a game first and that all the fluff is of secondary importance, but if that's the lens you're viewing things through, it feels a bit lacking imo.
Generic folk tales are similar enough to fairy tales for scholars to make the connection and treat them similarly, and I'm fairly sure references to folk tales like "Lazy Jack", "East of the Sun and West of the Moon", "The Black Bull of Norroway", "Snow White and Rose Red", and "The Boots of Buffalo Leather" remain resonant even if people don't know these folk tales deeply.
See? I know exactly none of these folk tales. Maybe I would recognize them if I looked them up or had them told to me, but as someone who didn't grow up in an English-speaking country, these titles mean nothing to me. Granted, that wouldn't bother me as long as WotC did their thing well and used them as inspiration/jumping-off points for building their own stuff. But (especially for Eldraine this time around) WotC doesn't seem interested in building their own world. They just want to take stories that literally everyone knows, throw them all together and go "you recognize this, right? Now buy the product." And if you're just aiming for that ("resonance" as Maro calls it) - especially considering that MtG is a global brand - then I'd say The Snow Queen or The Sorcerer's Apprentice is as deep as you can go.
Yeah, maybe I'm being overdramatic and I'm sure it will all work out fine for WotC('s shareholders) in the end. But I still find it a bit disappointing that they're going for the grab bag of popular stories and tropes (the second time already for some of them) and show little willingness to build something that could give planes like Eldraine more staying power even after all the popular references have been done. It kind of worked for Innistrad, but even there the over-reliance on superficial stuff left the most recent return feeling a bit lacking.
Maybe I'm just looking at old Eldraine with rose-colored glasses, but looking at all the cards that are being spoiled and their art, Eldraine seems a bit more un-set-esque this time around. The courts not being in the focus as much, and "lore space" on cards instead mostly being given to the same handful of very recognizable faerie tales, makes the world feel even more like one big reference/in-joke than its own thing. For some of the faerie tales, it's weird when you think about how there already were references to them in the original set (Curious Pair, Trail of Crumbs, Queen of Ice, etc) and now there are new references, just much more "pushed" and over the top. It almost seems like the two Eldraines aren't connected, or that the new Eldraine is a "soft reboot."
Also, the faerie tales they chose don't really seem to serve any purpose other than being a recognizable thing that people can latch onto (and a base for the ten draft archetypes). Lore-wise, they seem to all just exist parallel to each other instead of painting a picture of the Wilds of Eldraine or Eldraine after the Phyrexian invasion.
Ultimately I think this kind of worldbuilding is kind of unsustainable. Sure, there are a lot of faerie tales, but only a few of them are popular enough that you can build a set on them. I'm honestly not sure if we're ever going to see another return to Eldraine, simply because the material they're drawing from seems to be running thin already.
UB continues to turn me off of the actual card game, but as far as art and worldbuilding goes, Eldraine and Ixalan look nice. Looking forward to their spoiler seasons.
Here we go, this is the most fun part in a new set's release schedule, before the stories start getting put up and turn out to be disappointing.
Kind of a bummer that they decided to reduce the Arthurian elements. They helped to balance out Eldraine a bit so it wasn't just a 100% top-down "do you recognize these popular Fairy Tales?" theme park. I hope by giving the the main fairy tales so much room, they expand on them a bit and add their own stuff (instead of just making 1:1 references). At least the art they showed so far looks good. Such a pleasant set to look at after the recent few, which were all rather boring art-wise imo.
I do love that UB fae play a big role in the story, Talion looks neat. Color-wise, red seems to be a bit under-represented (it gets no witch and no major fairy tale).
I guess Kellan could end up sparking at the end of the story, like Quintorius in MOM, or use an Omenpath to go where the story requires him next (it's called the "Omenpath arc" after all). I suppose him doing the quest on Eldraine will allow him to solve another part of the bigger conflict down the line
Yes, the double meaning of the abbreviation "UB" was the basis for my comment.
What's funny is that since the "core people" in Ixalan are inspired by Native American cultures, it makes no sense that he has a Spanish nickname/title.
Overall, Eldraine 2.0 goes a bit too much into the silly direction (whereas the first Eldraine set pretty much hit the sweet spot for me in terms of tone) and the cards don't to a very good job of telling you what's happening. Even filtering out only the story spotlights, it seems all over the place.
As usual, the aspects that are like the most are relegated to the side (I'd really like to know the story of the Redtooth elves and their curse which apparently gets broken by the Archon of the Wild Rose), but poor small company WotC didn't have enough money for side stories this time around, so the best I'll get is a low-effort blurb in the "The Legends of Wild of Eldraine" article.
Also, the egg on that one food token looks delicious
I don't think it's based on a real folk tale. It's an extrapolation from the Pied Piper reference - in the original story you have a lot of rats, and in the MtG version those rats (or at least some of them) are also sentient. I actually like this "taking a reference and going from there" approach, but the sudden appearance of all this beastfolk (also Werefoxes, Fauns etc.) kind of comes out of nowhere. It doesn't feel like they were always there and just had the focus adjusted on them, but like they suddenly plopped into existence because WotC needed to fill the slots that they couldn't fill with knights and other inhabitants of the realm. I know that this seems like I'm splitting hairs (and I know that I'm part of a tiny minority here), but since the game itself has become mostly irrelevant to me, this kind of creative consistency stuff is what I'm most interested in.
Right now I still haven't read the actual story and am evaluating the creative of the set purely through what I'm seeing on cards, and from this perspective it doesn't seem like the Wicked Slumber is that big of a deal. One of the coolest cards spoiled so far has been Court of Ardenvale imo, because it shows some of the Phyrexian invasion aftermath. But otherwise, Eldraine seems very well pul-together for a world that was just assaulted by Phyrexians, and the sleeping curse things looks like it's a minor issue at worst. I definitely have to read the story before my final verdict, but I think they could've done a better job at showing the effects of the invasion and the Wicked Slumber.
I think it's precisely this "these things happen all the time" aspect that gives me the Un-Set vibes. When the worldbuilding feels like it's telling you "What do you mean, the Hansel and Gretel? There have been dozens of them!", it does end up feeling like a joke.
From a gameplay design standpoints it's clever, I agree. But from a pure creative standpoint, I'm on the fence. I know that Magic is a game first and that all the fluff is of secondary importance, but if that's the lens you're viewing things through, it feels a bit lacking imo.
Yeah, maybe I'm being overdramatic and I'm sure it will all work out fine for WotC('s shareholders) in the end. But I still find it a bit disappointing that they're going for the grab bag of popular stories and tropes (the second time already for some of them) and show little willingness to build something that could give planes like Eldraine more staying power even after all the popular references have been done. It kind of worked for Innistrad, but even there the over-reliance on superficial stuff left the most recent return feeling a bit lacking.
Also, the faerie tales they chose don't really seem to serve any purpose other than being a recognizable thing that people can latch onto (and a base for the ten draft archetypes). Lore-wise, they seem to all just exist parallel to each other instead of painting a picture of the Wilds of Eldraine or Eldraine after the Phyrexian invasion.
Ultimately I think this kind of worldbuilding is kind of unsustainable. Sure, there are a lot of faerie tales, but only a few of them are popular enough that you can build a set on them. I'm honestly not sure if we're ever going to see another return to Eldraine, simply because the material they're drawing from seems to be running thin already.
Kind of a bummer that they decided to reduce the Arthurian elements. They helped to balance out Eldraine a bit so it wasn't just a 100% top-down "do you recognize these popular Fairy Tales?" theme park. I hope by giving the the main fairy tales so much room, they expand on them a bit and add their own stuff (instead of just making 1:1 references). At least the art they showed so far looks good. Such a pleasant set to look at after the recent few, which were all rather boring art-wise imo.
I do love that UB fae play a big role in the story, Talion looks neat. Color-wise, red seems to be a bit under-represented (it gets no witch and no major fairy tale).
I guess Kellan could end up sparking at the end of the story, like Quintorius in MOM, or use an Omenpath to go where the story requires him next (it's called the "Omenpath arc" after all). I suppose him doing the quest on Eldraine will allow him to solve another part of the bigger conflict down the line