Fall is coming which means trips to the Apple Orchard, pumpkin carving, hanging Halloween decorations and playing scary video games. Besides Fall themed activities, it also means a new MtG block is being released, but this one has me rather intrigued. It’s titled Throne of Eldraine and it’s a story book themed MtG set. Normally, I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of fairy tales, but this seems to intertwine the “lighter” tales with a darker edge. I wanted to preview this set and share my excitement with a new, bold take on a MtG set.

Throne of Eldraine is described on Magic the Gathering’s website as a “storybook land of castles and cauldrons”. Part of my love for the Magic the Gathering pre-releases is the lore behind each set. There’s a story going on underneath all of the games everyone gets to play. I try to end up purchasing a bundle which consists of boosters, a deck box, plenty of land cards and a special booklet containing extra art and story background behind the set. After researching, I found out the booklets were discontinued which is a shame because the booklet would be perfect for Throne of Eldraine. No matter what though, I do intend on purchasing boosters or a pre-release kit for this set.

Throne of Eldraine has new card art styles along with a brand new planeswalker. The new cards can be seen in the picture I took a screenshot of on Magic the Gathering’s website. On the far right card, it shows the new design of the card’s abilities. It looks like a picture book with one side saying what type of card it is including abilities, with the right side saying a quote from the card. I’m thrilled at this design because it doesn’t look too forced, yet it fits right in with the whole “storybook / fairy tail” theme.

There’s also a new planeswalker. Planeswalkers are cards that can “walk the realms” in Magic. Normally most cards will battle on one plane or one of the realms in Magic. However, planeswalkers have added abilities because they can travel throughout the realms in Magic. They are harder to kill, but provide more added benefit for a player. There’s a new one introduced in this set and I’m absolutely loving the art for this character.

Here is Oko! Oko looks like a pretentious, pompous teenage boy looking to cause mischief in Eldraine. The attention to detail is what catches my attention with his bright blue arms and blue sparkle emanating from his sword. As far as his abilities, I’m not quite sure what food tokens do. The second ability isn’t too bad especially if the opponent has a bad creature, turning it into an elk may be lifesaving. The third ability would come in handy though being able to swap for an opponent’s creature. I would be interested to see how he plays out in a game.

Throne of Eldraine is open for pre-order for both local game stores and for Magic the Gathering: Arena. The pre-release will happen starting Friday September 27th with the actual release being on October 4th. Pre-releases are one of my favorite ways to play Magic because I get to play with the cards early, but also being challenged by having to create a deck without knowing which cards I will pull. I’m getting better at putting decks together, but it’s still a challenge for me. If you’re playing in this pre-release, tell me what you think of some of the new cards in the comments below.