As far as I'm concerned, Wilds of Eldraine was a major win when it comes to the set's flavor. While its antecedent Throne of Eldraine hammered home the adventure theme and alluded to faerie tales of yore, Wilds of Eldraine truly takes the theme to the next level.

What's more, the set also included amusing easter eggs that lightened up the theme a good bit without being too cartoony. The perfect balance was struck between flavor, function, and fun, and this week I'm going to showcase some of the iconic art from the set to help relive the story that is Wilds of Eldraine.

Faerie Tale Classics

One of my favorite aspects of Wilds of Eldraine is the frequent references to real-world stories, many inspired by classic Disney tales. Let's take a look at a couple examples.

Starting in White, we have one of my favorite pieces from the entire set in Glass Casket, illustrated by Raoul Vitale. The art paints a somber, yet beautiful picture of a sleeping girl dressed in pure White, while scholars work frantically to find a cure.

Does this image look familiar to anyone? Bronteheroine is a website that contains a post describing the glass coffin as a prison within which sleeping women are frequently mistaken for dead or vice versa. Creepily, the beautiful sleeping corpse is a symbol of necrophilic desire, but let's not dwell too long on this symbolism.

Instead, let's focus on Disney's take - Snow White's burial in the glass, above-ground casket, where the prince falls in love. I could see a parallel also drawn to Disney's Sleeping Beauty, though I didn't find a glass casket when googling images from the film. The same story holds true, however, and this Magic art for Glass Casket is a phenomenal reprint of a classic faerie tale icon, even if a little voyeuristic in nature.

Let's shift gears to something a little more upbeat. How about The Princess Takes Flight, a Saga from Wilds of Eldraine with strong relation to the classic story, Rapunzel.

This time I'm not going to make the mistake of googling Rapunzel. I know I'll find some twisted interpretation based on some Brothers Grimm tale or the like. Instead, let me have my innocent appreciation for Julia Metzger's artwork, depicting a princess making her escape from the top of a tall tower on the back of a friendly unicorn. The townspeople don't look all that happy that the princess is taking flight, but who cares about their opinion? The neatest effect in the image is how the figure's long braided hair connects from the foreground to the window at the top of the tower in the background. It's a nice touch that underscores this card's connection to Rapunzel without being overly dramatic.

One of the most recognizable quotes from Disney's earlier films has to be, "Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" The answer much to the inquirer's dismay, is inevitably "Snow White."

In Wilds of Eldraine, Cynthia Sheppard had the opportunity to bring this iconic scene to life in Beseech the Mirror. "Beseech" is a fancy word meaning to ask, and the art shows a woman with blonde hair and dark clothes inquiring something of a mirror. What does she see? It looks like she's seeing a woman with dark hair and fair skin. Snow White, perhaps? I love the flavor of this card, and the art does a nice job bringing a classic Disney scene into the Magic multiverse.

Come to think of it, Snow White gets a number of shoutouts throughout Wilds of Eldraine's art. Here's yet another one in the Green's Commune with Nature.

Why do I think this is Snow White in Jodie Muir's artwork? Again, the central female figure in the art has dark hair, much as Snow White is depicted (at least in the Disney film). Most importantly, however, is how she's...well...communing with nature! Remember in the story how Snow White can sing and suddenly all the creatures of the woods would come to the cabin in the woods and help clean up? She was friends to the birds, squirrels, raccoons, etc. in the wild, just as this figure is in Commune with Nature. We don't see the next scene, but I bet after she's done communing, all the animals head into the house and sweep the floors and dust the curtains for her.

Let's not touch on the flavor text on the card, though. That's a good bit darker than I expected.

Instead, let's look at a couple legendary creatures from Wilds of Eldraine that directly link up to a faerie tale character. How about we look at two: Ruby, Daring Tracker and Eriette of the Charmed Apple.

The former is of course a Magic depiction of Little Red Riding Hood! I never pictured Little Red so muscular and ready for action with all the weaponry she carried. Ekaterina Burmak modernizes Ruby with a flair for trouble and a brave demeanor! Notice how there are at least four dark, menacing wolves in the background who are hesitant to strike at Ruby. She's ready for anything, and this story ends a bit differently from the original faerie tale. Even the flavor text indicates her strength: "Neither the sharpest thorns nor the foulest beasts would stop her from finding her brother."

The latter, Eriette of the Charmed Apple, must be Queen Grimhilde (aka the Evil Queen). She is certainly decked out like a queen would be, sitting on a throne with her royal livery. The fact that she's evil shines through with her dark clothing and sinister facial expression, brought to life magnificently by Magali Villeneuve, one of my all-time favorite artists. The dead giveaway, however, is that deceptively and dangerously beautiful apple she's so gracefully holding. After reading that flavor text, we know what Eriette's intention is with this apple. "Hush now. I need your beauty sleep." Look out Snow White!

Some Fun Flavorful Shoutouts

While my favorite component of Wilds of Eldraine is how the set references so many popular faerie tales from classic literature (and Disney film fame), I also appreciate some of the less serious cards in the set. These are the cards with which Wizards of the Coast took some creative license to bring some humor into Eldraine.

My absolute favorite in this category has to be Mintstrosity, a portmanteau of "mint" and "monstrosity." Doesn't Slawomir Maniak nail this one on the head?

I love the Green slime dripping off the candy cane colored creature! Perhaps the best touch is the buried swords in the background, implying this horror already defeated formidable foes and is ready to continue wreaking havoc in the woods. Let's just hope the creature doesn't run into Scooby Doo - I could see the talking, crime-fighting dog simply eating Mintstrosity to death.

I'd also place Candy Grapple in the same category as Mintstrosity.

In reality, the attacking apple would be terrifying, especially if it's poisonous (venomous?). Sure, the central figure looks frightened, and the background that Konstantin Porubov illustrated sure looks dark and intimidating. But can we really be that frightened of a candy apple? Even the flavor text is meant to be facetious, even as the subject matter is more dire.

Lastly, I want to talk about the upgrade the Gingerbread Man received in Wilds of Eldraine. In the set, we of course have the reprint of Gingerbrute, originally printed in Throne of Eldraine. This time, however, we also received two upgraded versions of the delicious, fictional character in Tough Cookie and Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender.

Both of these cards depict an angry, menacing, adorable gingerbread cookie posed and ready to attack! In Tough Cookie, Milivoj ?eran shows the gingerbread man with angry eyebrows and mouth wide open ready to fend off the monsters attacking him. In Michal Ivan's Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender, we see a gingerbread woman wielding a carving fork and riding a bucking gingerbread horse as she leaps into battle! Those grapes never stood a chance.

Both of these arts are fun ways of showcasing a generally comical food character, and they're both some of my favorites from the set.

Wrapping It Up

Wilds of Eldraine may not have been the flavor everyone loves. Some players may have been turned off by the cringeworthy puns and menacing cookie and candy characters. That being said, I think it delivered successfully on what the set was striving to accomplish. We had a nice combination of Magic multiverse with classic faerie tale stories that made this one of the most recognizable sets of the 2020's to date. I bet if you looked at a random card from Wilds of Eldraine, you'd be able to tell it is from that set just based on the artwork alone.

Does the successful execution of this flavorful set mean we'll return to Eldraine for a third time? Possibly, but not in 2025. It took around four years for Wizards of the Coast to bring us back to Eldraine the second time, so if I had my guess I would say it's highly unlikely we'll return a third time before 2027. Even then, I could think of a number of other worlds Wizards of the Coast would likely want to return to over this one.

With this in mind, if you enjoyed Wilds of Eldraine you may want to pick up a couple boxes to save for down the line in case we don't return for a while. No other sets will deliver the same playful punch and real-world story references in the same way that Wilds of Eldraine did!