MTG Wilds of Eldraine: 10 best cards in Magic the Gathering's latest set
The stuff of legends.
The best Wilds of Eldraine cards are the stuff of legends - which is very fitting given the setting of fairy tales and myths that makes up the Magic: The Gathering plane.
MTG’s last Eldraine set was one with a lot of interesting new mechanics and cards, so we’re expecting pretty big things from our first return here as a result.
Best Wilds of Eldraine cards MTG
- Rowan, Scion of War
- Farsight Ritual
- Stroke of Midnight
- Decadent Dragon
- Asinine Antics
- Virtue of Knowledge
- Eriette of the Charmed Apple
- Scalding Viper
- Questing Druid
- Realm-Scorcher Hellkite
Despite this not being an official Universes Beyond set, there are still plenty of nods to things like Grimms' Fairy Tales that make it feel a bit like a crossover. The result is a set that is filled with cards that feel vaguely familiar in their naming and effects.
There are a lot of Wilds of Eldraine cards that nearly made the cut. The one we want to note is Blossoming Tortoise. This four-mana 3/3 lets you mill cards and return lands from the graveyard to the battlefield, butit also makes it cheaper to activate any land abilities you have and makes land creatures you control stronger too. It’s probably not competitive, but it is a really interesting bit of design that’ll see play in Commander if nowhere else.
This latest Magic: The Gathering release is a very clever set that has our attention, not just in terms of power, but design. It would be easy to choose the best Wilds of Eldraine cards based on their flavour alone - literally, thanks to some food-based picks - but we’ve gone with their overall strength.
1. Rowan, Scion of War
Keep hitting yourself
Rowan, Scion of War is a three-mana Black and Red 4/2 with menace, which means it can only be blocked by two or more creatures. Along with that, it has a tap ability that reads: “Spells you cast this turn that are black and/or red cost X less to cast, where X is the amount of life you lost this turn. Activate only as a sorcery.”
Only being able to activate this as a sorcery means it’ll have to be on your turn, but all you need to do is find a way to drain your own life and you can save a lot of mana with ease. Even if you only lose one life, you’re still saving one mana per card you cast - and that could lead to game-changing turns.
2. Farsight Ritual
Looking to the future
Good card draw spells are almost essential in a lot of the best MTG decks. The ability to draw cards quickly and efficiently is something that can turn a good deck into a great one, so finding the best card draw spells is a big deal.
Farsight Ritual is an exceptional card draw spell. This card costs four mana, is instant and has bargain, which means you can sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token as you cast it for a better effect.
It reads: “Look at the top four cards of your library. If this spell was bargained, look at the top eight cards of your library instead. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.” Being able to choose the best two cards from the top eight cards of your deck is pretty much going to guarantee you find what you need. Even if it’s only four, it’s still pretty potent.
3. Stroke of Midnight
Better than a pumpkin
We love a good bit of spot removal. This card will see problems disappearing faster than Vanish - or whatever your carpet cleaner of choice is. For three mana, Stroke of Midnight is a White instant spell that lets you destroy a target nonland permanent, before its controller creates a 1/1 White human token.
That’s such a negligible downside that it’s almost laughable, and the fact that this can target any nonland permanents means that it can be used in so many situations that you’d be foolish not to have it in your deck.
4. Decadent Dragon
Everyone loves treasure
Treasure tokens are one of the most powerful mechanics in Magic: The Gathering and they’ve only gotten better as time has gone on.
Decadent Dragon is a four-mana 4/4 with flying and trample that creates a treasure token whenever it attacks. That’s already good enough, frankly, but it also has an adventure.
The adventure is a three-mana Black instant that lets you exile the top two cards of an opponent’s library. You can then not only look at them whenever you want, but also play them as long as they remain exiled.
Stealing someone’s stuff and also making treasure tokens to cast said stuff is always good. In MTG, not in real life. Just so we’re clear.
5. Asinine Antics
No more threats
Asinine Antics is a four-mana Blue sorcery that puts a Cursed Role token aura on every creature your opponents control. This token turns the enchanted creature into a 1/1, making this a very effective way to turn a potentially deadly fight into little more than a passive-aggressive argument.
It’s just a shame it’s not an instant. Oh, wait - you can actually pay two extra mana to allow you to cast it as though it had flash, letting you play it at any time you could use an instant.
It’d be easy to overlook this card as not being a proper board wipe, but if you combine it with a few defensive creatures, or even a way of dealing one damage to everything, you’ve got a very potent spell.
6. Virtue of Knowledge
Double your something
Virtue of Knowledge is a five-mana enchantment that makes it so that if a permanent enters the battlefield and causes a triggered ability on one of your permanents, that trigger happens twice. That’s a famously abusable ability, and was a big part of the reason why so many people hated Panharmonicon back when it was released in Kaladesh.
However, this card also has an adventure called Vantress Visions, which is a two-mana instant that lets you copy an activated or triggered ability you control.
Both of these abilities can change a game in an instant, making this a card that people will come to fear.
7. Eriette of the Charmed Apple
Auras for everyone
Eriette of the Charmed Apple is probably going to be one of the most annoying commanders to face off against. However, unlike many of the best MTG commanders, this card could also be a massive danger in other formats, too.
This three-mana Black and White 2/4 makes it so that each creature that’s enchanted by an aura you control can’t attack you or your planeswalkers.
It also makes it so that each opponent loses X life and you gain X life, where X is the number of Auras you control at the beginning of your end step. Not only can you lock out your opponent’s creatures by enchanting them, you can then win the game by simply ending your turn a few times.
8. Scalding Viper
Snakes with some pain
Steam Clean is the adventure side of this card. It lets you return a target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand for just two mana. The other side of this is the Scalding Viper itself, which is a two-mana 2/1.
This creature reads: “Whenever an opponent casts a spell with mana value 3 or less, Scalding Viper deals 1 damage to that player.” Basically, if you’re against a deck that purposefully keeps their cards cheap, a single copy of this card could end them. If you get a couple out, they’re not even going to be able to play Magic.
9. Questing Druid
A quest to victory
Here we have an adventure card. The spell side of things is a two-mana Red instant that lets you exile the top two cards of your library, which you can play until your next end step. If you do this on an opponent’s turn, you can effectively just see the next two cards you’ll be drawing and likely play both of them.
The creature side of things is Questing Druid, a two-mana green 1/1 that reads: “Whenever you cast a spell that's white, blue, black, or red, put a +1/+1 counter on Questing Druid.”
In the right deck, this card isn’t just card draw but a terrifying threat, as it could grow absolutely massive fairly quickly.
10. Realm-Scorcher Hellkite
All is ash
Realm-Scorcher Hellkite is a six-mana Red 4/6 with flying and haste. It also lets you pay two mana to deal one damage to any target, which can be really useful for taking out small but annoying threats or killing an opponent outright.
It also has bargain; if you choose to sacrifice something as you cast it, you instantly get four mana in any number of combinations when you cast. You could either spend that mana to shoot two things for one damage each, or just cast an entirely different spell.