MTG devs explain why Wilds of Eldraine’s features Commander Masters reprints

The latest MTG set, Wilds of Eldraine, features some incredible reprints in a new “Enchanting Tales” selection. However, we wanted to know why some were included so close to Commander Masters.

MTG’s next set, Wilds of Eldraine, is continuing what developer Wizards of the Coast calls “booster fun”. The concept brings in everything from alternate art on cards to reprints or even serialized cards. It’s been going for a little while now, with its announcement in 2019 leading to things like the Godzilla cards or The One Ring.

With Wilds of Eldraine, this will entail what WOTC is calling “Enchanting Tales”.

What is Enchanting Tales in MTG?

Enchanting Tales is a curated list of classic MTG cards, a little different from any other list. Wizards are including 63 different Enchantment cards – mainly for Eternal formats like Commander – all with unique fairytale artwork to match the set’s theme.

However, some of the cards that we’ve seen so far have only just appeared in Commander Masters. Common reprints in the game aren’t new, but often times reprints are spread out. This list includes cards like Doubling Season, a high-priced card, and sought-after for shenanigans in Commander games. Before Commander Masters, it had only been reprinted three times.

With the surging popularity of the Commander format, it makes sense for Wizards to increase the output and versions of a single card. Though, it would also have to consider the secondary market in ours and the wider player base’s opinion. The card currently goes for a minimum of about $50.

Those in the MTGFinance subreddit speculate that the card’s price will begin to crash after the wave of excitement after release. Though, some speculate the new art in the Enchanting Tales will keep its price or higher.

Wizards elaborates on Enchanting Tales featuring Commander Master reprints

We asked Wizards of the Coast what went into the decision-making behind some of the reprints. We spoke with Mike Turian, the Product Architect for MTG:

“With Commander Masters, we knew we wanted to bring back player favorites of cards that players have been wanting to see return including enchantment cards.

“So cards like Doubling Season, which is a Commander player favorite, was a card that we knew that players who needed more would love to see the Chuck Lukacs art return.”

Turian seemed excited about the inclusion of new art for some well known cards from MTG’s history:

“Giving our artists the opportunity to bring a whole new style (and a goose hydra!) to cards like Doubling Season was also an opportunity that was too good to pass up.”

Though, through the excitement, he did mention that it’s more of getting these cards into more players hands:

“In the end, we made the choice to have a few of the Enchanting Tales cards overlap with Commander Masters selection to both give players the chance to get a classic Magic take on favorite reprints as well as the fun new Enchanting Tales versions.”