Wilds of Eldraine introduced the Enchanting Tales bonus sheet toMagic: The Gathering, a collection of cards that fit Eldraine’s fairy-tale aesthetic while pumping out tons of valuable reprints for Commander and Constructed players alike. What it didn’t do well compared to previous bonus sheets was complement its Limited format in an organic and interesting way.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – Every Bonus Sheet, Ranked
Of the 63 total enchantments, only about a third are even playable in Draft or Sealed. While there are a few niche cards that can shape a draft around them, an unknowing player would do best to familiarize themselves with the handful of actual powerful Enchanting Tales cards before jumping into Wilds of Eldraine.
10Spreading Seas
Spreading Seas is a mid-power level card that’s easy to slot into decks at a low opportunity cost,provides easy bargain fodder, and frequently wheels in drafts. Some players have it pegged as unplayable, and while it’s not incredibly strong, it’s inoffensive and has the rare ceiling of shutting a player out of the game.
Enchanting an early land against a non-Blue player could throw them off completely, though it’s not a reliable enough plan to build towards. It does counteract Utopia Sprawl’s ‘enchant Forest’ text, so maybe there’s some big-brain sideboard potential for the Traditional enthusiasts out there.
9Stab Wound
Stab Wound was a break-out uncommon in Return to Ravnica, but underperformed in Magic 2015. It’s back in full force in Wilds of Eldraine, shanking its way into the top. If it simply trades for a creature, fine. But the real strength is landing it on a defensive creature, where it sits around bleeding the opponent out.
Most sacrifice synergies in WOE involve bargain, which makes it harder for non-token creatures to get out from underneath a Stab Wound. That’s not the case with Unruly Catapult, since artifactscanbe sacrificed to bargain, but stabbing a catapult is already dubious enough.
8Grasp Of Fate
Grasp of Fate’s presence at the top of the chart should be a clear indication of just how low-quality most of the bonus sheet is. It’s a Commander plant that just happens to work as a color-intensive O-Ring in Limited, and that’s all it needs to be.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – The Best White Enchantments For CommanderIt’s worse on average than The Princess Takes Flight, but has fewer demands. Grasp can take out tokens and be rebought with Stockpiling Celebrant, or offered up to a bargain card. Word to the wise: Be prepared for the fact that players have more main-deck enchantment removal than normal in this set.
7Knightly Valor
Wilds of Eldraine is perhaps the best Knightly Valor’s been since its debut in Return to Ravnica. Be patient and stick the landing for a super-sized vigilant attacker and another token friend, which feeds a lot of the themes of the set like bargain and celebration.
The trick is backing up your enchanted creature withsome sort of protection. You should already have Royal Treatment high in your pick orders, which is great with expensive augmentations and burly creatures. Moment of Valor works here too, though that card’s less of a priority in general.
6Curiosity
Slap Curiosity on Gingerbrute or Snarecaster Faerie while your opponent’s fumbling for removal and you might just run, run, run away with the game. You have to keep your creature alive though, which is made easier by having access to Spell Stutter and Ice Out.
Curiosity also combos with Unruly Catapult, turning every activation into an extra card, which will sometimes be another spell to untap the Catapult for another swing. You will probably get two-for-one’d at some point in the game, but you can usually bury your opponent in card advantage before that happens.
5Blind Obedience
Oh, the irony of recommending a card named Blind Obedience. Given the general speed of WOE Limited, simply forcing your opponent’s creatures to enter play tapped takes away a lot of their blocking potential, and nerfsgood haste creatureslike Ash and Realm-Scorcher Hellkite.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – Wilds of Eldraine Limited GuideExtort is the added touch that makes Blind Obedience sing. You have to play off-curve to some extent, but the life buffer helps against aggressive decks, and applies extra pressure if you’re the aggressor. It’s comically better than Leyline of Lightning on the same sheet, even considering the freebee leyline text.
4Goblin Bombardment
Wilds of Eldraine’s bonus sheet has a strange fixation on the Red-Black Rat deck, with Shared Animosity, Raid Bombardment, Village Rites, and Impact Tremors all seemingly pointing towards the same archetype. Goblin Bombardment trumps them all as one of the most oppressive cards in the format if built around correctly. Yes, even more oppressive than Oppression.
Thanks to celebration, the format is saturated with creatures that come with friends, or even removal spells that leave behind bodies. Goblin Bombardment plays board control with all these expendable bodies, turning cards like Harried Spearguard and Voracious Vermin into multiple on-demand pings.
3Hatching Plans
Sacrificing Hatching Plans to bargain is one of the best plays you can make in Wilds of Eldraine, giving you a two-mana draw-threeandfueling the bonuses on your bargain cards simultaneously. Four mana for Hatching Plans into a bargained Stopgap puts you up two extra cards while bouncing a creature.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – The Best Blue Cards In Wilds Of EldraineThe kicker is that it’s nearly impossible to disrupt. Destroying an enchantment triggers the ability, leaving Troublemaker Ouphe as one of the only clean answers to the card. Counterspells don’t line up well either since countering a spell that bargained Plans won’t stop the draw-3 trigger.
2Utopia Sprawl
Multicolor decks in Wilds of Eldraine combine green’s plethora of fixing and ramp options with powerful multicolor adventures. Utopia Sprawl is the best ramp option in the set, and one of the most valuable fixers, provided you biased toward green with enough Forests.
One of the pitfalls withramp effects like thisis that you’re able to draw them later, but bargain gives yousomethingto do with it, and cards like Tanglespan Lookout give it added utility even if the extra mana isn’t necessary. It’s part of the best possible starts in the format, and rarely useless late in the game.
1Bitterblossom
Bitterblossom is the single best card on the bonus sheet, which should be a known factor for anyone who’s played the card before. A turn-two ‘blossom provides all of the bargain fodder you need for an entire game, creates a steady stream of attackers and blockers, and even synergizes with the Faerie payoffs – The enchantment itself triggers Obyra, Dreaming Duelist, for example.
What’s more, the existence of bargain gives you an out when Bitterblossom starts to threaten your life total. Like Dark Tutelage on the same sheet, you’re able to reap the rewards of the card and rid yourself of the lifeloss burden should you not have already won with your Faerie army.
Next:Magic: The Gathering: The Best Wilds Of Eldraine Cards For Commander
