Wilds of Eldraine Mechanics

The people of Eldraine may have triumphed over the invading Phyrexian forces, but now the plane has awakened to a new problem. The Wicked Slumber, they call it: a curse spreading throughout Eldraine unchecked. While the new high king tries to bring order to what's left of the realm, his twin follows her heart in search of a magical cure to bring back the Eldraine they all once knew so everyone can live happily ever after, once and for all, in the story of Wilds of Eldraine. You can also follow along with previews and see all the cards as they're revealed in our new and improved Card Image Gallery.

Enchanting Tales

Before we dive into the mechanics, let's take a look at Enchanting Tales, a group of 63 returning fan-favorite enchantments featuring new storybook-inspired frames, art, and flavor text.

Enchanting Tales cards have their own expansion symbol and set code (WOT). They're not Standard legal unless they also appear in another set that's legal in Standard. In fact, they are legal in any format where they're already legal. So, Commander is a go.

If you open one in a sealed deck event, it's part of your card pool and you absolutely can play with it. If you open one in a booster draft event, you can play with it, but only if you draft it. If you don't, you must pass it with the rest of the booster to the next player.

Wilds of Eldraine also has new cards, and those new cards have mechanics. First up, it's time to know your role.

Role Tokens

In this grand tale, we all have our roles to play. Role tokens are seven new predefined tokens, each one an Aura with enchant creature. Six of them are created by cards in the main set. One card in the Commander decks adds the seventh. The bonuses (or drawbacks, in one case) each Role gives are as follows:

• 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.

Any time a creature has more than one Role controlled by the same player attached to it, the creature keeps the newest Role and all the others controlled by that player are put into the graveyard (and then cease to exist as they're tokens). Let's walk through a few examples to see exactly how this plays out.

Example 1: You control a creature and attach a Wicked Role token to it. Evil laugh! Later in the game, you attach a Monster Role token to it. Evil rawr? Monster is the newest Role, so that token stays and the Wicked token heads to the graveyard. Rawr!

Example 2: You control a creature with a Monster Role token attached to it. Rawr! Your opponent attaches a Cursed Role token to it. Tiny rawr? Each token has a different controller, so both stay on the battlefield attached to the cutest little Monster … who's a good Monster? You're a good Monster!

Example 3: Pickles (I named the little Monster from the previous example) then gets a Royal Role attached to it. This takes the place of the Monster Role, so the Monster Role token heads to the graveyard. The Cursed Role token is controlled by a different player, though, so it sticks around. Prince Pickles the Cursed has been through a lot and needs a nap.

Bargain

Eldraine can be a strange plane, and sometimes you must come ready to bargain. Bargain is a new ability that allows you to sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as an additional cost to cast a spell. Exciting! You do get something for doing so, of course.

On permanent spells like Troublemaker Ouphe, the ability that rewards you for bargaining will usually take the form of an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability. If you choose not to bargain the spell, that ability simply doesn't trigger.

Instants and sorceries with bargain offer a variety of rewards for accepting the deal. If you see "instead," you get an upgraded version of a spell's effect to replace what you'd get if the spell wasn't bargained.

Note the last line: the replacement effect that exiles permanents applies whether Torch the Tower was bargained or not. If you don't see "instead," bargaining will usually net you an additional effect added on to the spell's base effect.

And finally, some cards with bargain make the resulting spells cost less mana to cast. If you have an artifact, enchantment, or token you don't mind parting with, bargain cards are ready to make a deal.

Celebration

The Phyrexians are gone! Now's no time to sleep (Why is everybody asleep?), so let's celebrate! Celebrate is a new ability word that highlights abilities that care if two or more nonland permanents entered the battlefield under your control during the turn.

The two nonland permanents don't have to have entered at the same time. It also doesn't matter what happened to the permanents after they entered. They may no longer be on the battlefield. They may be under someone else's control. They may somehow have turned into lands. As long as they were nonland permanents when they entered, they entered under your control, and there were at least two of them, celebration abilities will be happy. In fact, in Ash's case, Ash can be one of the permanents.

Note that gaining control of a permanent that's already on the battlefield doesn't count as that permanent entering the battlefield. Also, turning a land you control into a nonland permanent is fun, but it's not cause for this brand of celebration.

Adventures

Eldraine is a plane of adventure, so it's no surprise that adventurer cards make their return. Some permanent cards (mostly creatures, but other permanent types get in on the fun) in the set have their own personal Adventure that occupies the lower left corner of the cards. Adventures have their own name, mana cost, type line, and rules text. Each Adventure is an instant or sorcery.

Say you're casting the card pictured above. You choose whether you're casting Besotted Knight or Betroth the Beast. You'll pay the appropriate cost, and the spell will go on the stack as normal. It can be countered or responded to, like most spells. If you chose Besotted Knight, and the spell resolves, it will enter the battlefield under your control.

Casting an Adventure is very similar. Betroth the Beast goes on the stack, you choose its target, you pay its cost, and you see where fate takes you. If the spell resolves, you follow its instructions, but then the story gets interesting. Rather than putting the card into the graveyard, you exile it. It's now on an adventure. Exciting!

Once a card is on an adventure, you may cast the permanent spell from exile. This could happen on the same turn you cast the Adventure or on a future turn. But remember that the Adventure spell goes to exile only if it resolves. For example, if you cast Betroth the Beast and it doesn't resolve for any reason (e.g., it's countered or its target goes away in response), the card will be put into your graveyard and you'll lose the opportunity to cast Besotted Knight.

While a permanent with an Adventure is on the battlefield, ignore the Adventure and all its text. This is also true while the card is anywhere else, except while on the stack after being cast as an Adventure. This is especially important for cards with Adventures of a different color, like Decadent Dragon. While on the battlefield, Decadent Dragon is a red creature with mana value 4. It's a red creature card in your hand, library, and graveyard. If you cast Expensive Taste, the spell is a black instant spell with mana value 3.

I'm Not Sure What Wilds Pun Rosewater Will Use … So, Wilds 'n Out? That One Seems Safe

It's time to dust off those old storybooks and return to Eldraine. There's so much to behold, it's truly a feast for the eyes … if you can only keep them open. You can preorder Wilds of Eldraine products before Prerelease from your local game store, online retailers like Amazon, and elsewhere Magic is sold. See you at the Prerelease!