Wilds of Eldraine, much like Throne of Eldraine, has a deep emphasis on flavor. Some mechanics, such as the use of Food tokens, are showcased in both sets. Cards like Gingerbrute were major highlights in Throne of Eldraine, and
Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender
Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender
Syr Ginger has trample, hexproof, and haste as long as an opponent controls a planeswalker.
Whenever another artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Syr Ginger and scry 1.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice Syr Ginger: You gain life equal to its power.
and
Tough Cookie
Tough Cookie
When this creature enters, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
{2}{G}: Until end of turn, target noncreature artifact you control becomes a 4/4 artifact creature.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this creature: You gain 3 life.
are ready to give off similar vibes. The charming nature of the Eldraine plane is definitely one of the focal points of Wilds of Eldraine as a whole, and the use of Fairy tale Sagas and the Enchanting Tales bonus sheet help get the point across.
Speaking of Fairy tales, one of the major Creature types featured in Wilds of Eldraine is none other than Faeries. Even one of the Wilds of Eldraine Commander decks is a Faerie typal deck with some very powerful new Commander options. Both
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor
Flying, deathtouch
Other Faeries you control get +1/+1.
Whenever another Faerie you control dies, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
and
Alela, Cunning Conqueror
Alela, Cunning Conqueror
Flying
Whenever you cast your first spell during each opponent's turn, create a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying.
Whenever one or more Faeries you control deal combat damage to a player, goad target creature that player controls.
are top-notch Commanders. Spoilers for that deck have not kicked off yet, but should soon.
While there isn’t much information yet about the specific contents of the Commander deck itself, there have been plenty of decent Faeries already spoiled in the main Wilds of Eldraine set. For anyone looking to upgrade their current Faeries-centric EDH deck, Wilds of Eldraine spoilers have you covered.
Other Legends
One of the more interesting Faerie cards from Wilds of Eldraine is Talion, the Kindly Lord. Talion lets you choose a number between one and ten as it enters the battlefield and provides card advantage whenever an opponent plays a spell with mana value, power, or toughness equal to the chosen number. This card has a lot going for it, especially in EDH. First of all, in a multiplayer game, it’s quite likely at least someone is going to have to play into it. Given that you also have face-up information regarding your opponent’s Commanders, you can at minimum choose a number that matches the mana value of one of your opponent’s Commanders.
You also can use your intuition based on what Commanders your opponents are playing. For example, if one of your opponents is playing Ezuri, Renegade Leader as their Commander, it might make sense to choose the number one. Even though Ezuri itself doesn’t have mana value, power, or toughness equal to one, it’s likely that many of the Elf Creatures in their deck have one power given the abundance of Elf mana dorks in the format. Chances are, this card is going to reward you at some point, and has the chance to be backbreaking, depending on the composition of each opponents’ hands.
While Obyra isn’t a super flashy Legend, it’s a great addition to a Faerie typal Commander deck nonetheless. As a two-mana Faerie with Flying and Flash, it’s evasive and lets you hold up mana for various interactive Instants when necessary. It also has the added bonus of causing each opponent to lose a life whenever a Faerie enters the battlefield under your control. In a deck planning to flood the board with Faeries, the life loss can really add up. This card is cheap, and while it doesn’t have quite as high of an upside as a card like Talion, it fills its role quite nicely.
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Adventure Faeries
Another card that isn’t super flashy but slots well into the Faeries archetype is Picklock Prankster. Adventure cards are often naturally strong, as they are both flexible and essentially allow you to cast multiple spells out of one card. For two mana, you can cast this card as an Instant to mill four cards, then return an Instant, Sorcery, or Faerie card from among those cards to your hand. From there, this card goes into exile, and you can pay two more mana to get a three-toughness Creature with Flying and Vigilance.
While neither part of the card is super efficient, this card offers some solid card selection on top of a cheap, evasive Creature. Even though this Creature isn’t super strong on its own, just like many other typal strategies, cards like
Coat of Arms
Coat of Arms
Each creature gets +1/+1 for each other creature on the battlefield that shares at least one creature type with it. (For example, if two Goblin Warriors and a Goblin Shaman are on the battlefield, each gets +2/+2.)
and Obelisk of Urd can make all of your cheap Faeries into problematic threats. Not only does evasion make your Creatures more likely to deal damage in combat, but there are plenty of synergies to be had, such as using cards with Ninjutsu to generate additional value. In this sense, these otherwise relatively weak cards work very well together to form a strong, cohesive gameplan.
Spellscorn Coven fits well into this gameplan as well. For three mana, you can delay an opponent’s powerful play. Then, the following turn, you get access to a four-mana Flier that forces each of your opponents to discard cards. Pair this with Ninjutsu cards or ways to blink it and you can really abuse this ability.
If you do choose to go heavier on the Adventure theme, Chancellor of Tales is a decent payoff. There aren’t a ton of Faeries with Adventure, but even maximizing cards like Murderous Rider that aren’t directly on-theme but are decent cards on their own is a powerful option to have. While this likely fits best in a deck with more dedicated Adventure synergies, there are a handful of other strong Faeries with Adventure, such as
Brazen Borrower
Brazen Borrower
Flash
Flying
This creature can block only creatures with flying.
.
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Additional Strong Options
Likeness Looter is another strong two-mana play. As an efficient Faerie that can loot away excess Lands and dig for action, the card is already decent. However, this card can also become a copy of a Creature in your graveyard, except it has Flying and retains this ability. With some powerful Creatures to discard, this is a nice option to have. This card also works well with reanimation effects as an efficient discard outlet.
Another card that works well with both Faeries and reanimation effects is Talion’s Messenger. This card not only lets you loot when you attack with one or more Faeries, but it also grows your Faeries over time.
For a Creature type that isn’t overly abundant, each of these Faeries helps provide players who enjoy the archetype with a solid range of options. Both the primary and secondary Faerie Commanders from the Dimir Wilds of Eldraine Commander deck are powerful payoffs for building a deck around the Creature type, and the Faeries featured in the Wilds of Eldraine main set should provide a big boost to the archetype.
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