Today, Wizards of the Coast revealed that Magic: the Gathering’s Fall set will be called Throne of Eldraine. (Update: Wizards has officially revealed Throne of Eldraine.)
Throne of Eldraine announcement from Screen Rant.
Invitations from the Royal Courts of Eldraine appeared at the Magic Booth at San Diego Comic-Con this morning. The inside of the invite shows images of Faeries, as well as the logo for Throne of Eldraine and its prerelease dates, which will be September 28-29, 2019.
The art on the invitation focuses on Faeries, one of Magic’s most notorious tribes. They are most associated with the plane of Lorwyn, which is one of Magic’s most-requested planes to return to. However, Magic’s Head Designer Mark Rosewater confirmed last month (and reiterated today on Twitter) that the Fall set, codenamed “Archery” and now known to be Throne of Eldraine, would be set on a new plane, not an existing plane like Lorwyn.
Mark Rosewater confirming that Throne of Eldraine is not set on Lorwyn.
Rosewater also confirmed on Tumblr that the new plane was in fact called Eldraine and that we would only spend one set on the plane. The Winter set, the set after Throne of Eldraine codenamed “Baseball”, will take place on a different plane.
Rosewater also took to his Tumblr to knock down speculation that Throne of Eldraine would be a Faerie-centric set, despite the focus on Faeries in the invitation’s art. “Since [Faeries were] the only hint [on the invitation] about the world beside the name, the assumption was made the Faeries must matter a lot to the world,” he said. “They’re there. There are Faeries in the set, but nowhere at the volume or importance that people seem to be assuming.”
Mark Rosewater says that Throne of Eldraine won’t be a Faerie-focused set.
Faeries, along with many other tribes, were a focus of the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor sets from 2007-2008 and formed the core of a U/B Faerie deck that dominated Standard at the time with cards like Mistbind Clique and Bitterblossom.
Gerry Thompson's Standard U/B Faeries
| Creature (12) 4 Mistbind Clique 4 Scion of Oona 4 Spellstutter Sprite Spells (19) 4 Ancestral Vision 4 Cryptic Command 4 Rune Snag 4 Terror 3 Nameless Inversion Enchantments (4) 4 Bitterblossom | Lands (25) 5 Island 2 Faerie Conclave 4 Mutavault 4 River of Tears 4 Secluded Glen 4 Underground River 2 Pendelhaven Sideboard (15) 1 Nameless Inversion 4 Fledgling Mawcor 3 Flashfreeze 3 Damnation 4 Thoughtseize |
Throne of Eldraine is expected to be officially revealed in Mark Rosewater’s San Diego Comic-Con panel on Saturday evening. The panel will show off (among other things) the plane of Eldraine, as well as the Planeswalker that will be the face of the set, a Planeswalker that calls the new plane of Eldraine home. Unfortunately, the panel will not be streamed, but Wizards will be livetweeting the panel.
Stay tuned to Hipsters of the Coast for more information about Throne of Eldraine as it becomes available.
Update 7/18/19: Added Mark Rosewater’s statement about Throne of Eldraine not being a Faerie set-focused, the name of the plane, and info about the Planeswalker that will be the face of the set.
Update 7/18/20: Added Mark Rosewater’s statement that the Winter set will take place on a different plane.
Update 7/25/19: Throne of Eldraine’s story will be told in Kate Elliot’s The Wildered Quest ebook, which will follow Rowan Kenrith and set the stage for Throne of Eldraine’s story. The ebook will be available on on September 4, 2019 for $3.99.