Yes, the title is clickbait.
Except where it isn't. Here is the official WotC card image gallery. By way of contrast, here is the official March of the Machine gallery. Further contrast: MTGNexus gallery for Wilds of Eldraine, so you can see the difference.
The official gallery is full of information that offers an incredible amount of noise. Who approved that?
Thanks, I hate it.
Now, let's talk about the set, which I'm much more positive about!
White
The color feels very standard this set. Nothing stands out, which is a little surprising since White is supposed to be associated to Auras specifically. But it's not bad, either. I'm just not finding something to talk about-not the art, nor the mechanics; they work, they just aren't raising my eyebrows.
Blue
I really want Chancellor of Tales to be a bit beefier. I understand it needs to have a mana value of 4, otherwise it becomes breakable, but even with flying, a 2/3 isn't going to make the cut in a constructed deck.
And Extraordinary Journey seems very expensive. I suppose it's meant for Commander but as an Enchantment, I'm not sure it offers players the board wipe they want. Despite that, it's very in Blue as a color.
I really dig the tension represented on Ingenious Prodigy.
Black
There's something obvious that I'm missing about Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator's first line of text, because it's just so weird. There's something that they want to keep us from breaking easily, otherwise the card wouldn't be quite so expensive.
I appreciate the candy-themed monsters in this color. They are both creepy and fun, keeping the lighter elements of the set while still providing some excellent monstrosities.
I'm also curious if Not Dead After All is referring to Ayara, Widow of the Realm, letting us know she didn't die in March of the Machine. If that's the case, then I'm more interested in the story of this set than I was before...but I don't see much throughline in other cards. Perhaps a plot detail they will pick up in a future set?
Red
I've got a Rats deck and I'm keeping it around for now because of what Red is doing in WoE. We'll see how it plays out.
There's a few interesting takes on Red's abilities-Food Fight for example-but I'm really struck by the art for the color in this set. I feel like they really got to capture some great stuff. I can't pin any one point down, but overall I like what's been done.
Green
Feral Encounter is a weird card. It wants to do a LOT, but I don't know that it's worth it.
But the rest of the color seems to be falling into the same place White is: everything is fine, but nothing is standing out.
Multicolor
In WoE, the multicolor stuff feels like icing on the cake. There to illuminate draft archetypes, spotlight cool characters, and reinforce the set's mechanical themes. I actually like how this is handled.
Artifacts and Lands
Actually I can say much the same here as I did about multicolored cards. Nothing truly amazing, but all well blended into the set overall.
Overall; I like how they've decided to treat Auras in this set, working around the card disadvantage aspect of them. I don't appreciate the sheer number of them: the execution feels very inelegant. Still, there's some positives there.
I welcome back Adventures, those were always neat. I like the incorporation of different sorts of fairy tales, not just the reliance on Authurian legends that WoE brings. That really expands the world in positive ways.
I'm not so big on Celebration. The "nonland" clause makes me think it just won't be helpful as often as you'd like. Similarly, though Bargain fits very nicely into much of the set, it is a drawback mechanic that has me wondering if the Bargains are worth paying for. However, there are already Aristocrats decks out there, so perhaps something in Black or Black/Red could be really intriguing in the constructed realm.
All in all, I like where this is going and am looking forward to the pre-release!
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