Wilds of Eldraine’s first trailer, showing the Magic: The Gathering plane’s twisted fairytales with stop motion papercraft was great, but it didn’t delve very far into the MTG set’s story. Luckily, Wizards of the Coast released a second Wilds of Eldraine trailer today: an anime scene with music by Attack on Titan composer Hiroyuki Sawano.
This second MTG trailer comes in the form of a dramatic anime scene, complete with intense dialogue, a sibling sword fight in the rain, and flashbacks to dead parents and long-over childhoods interspersed with shots of a cracked framed photo.
Wizards seems to love itself an anime trailer that tugs on the heart strings, as we saw early last year with Kamigawa Neon Dynasty’s anime short, which focused on Kaito and The Wandering Emperor. This time we see the conflict between Will and Rowan Kenrith, who have very different ideas about what is best for Eldraine. Will wants to reunite the knightly courts, and Rowan… wants to put everyone to sleep. It’s not a very morally grey conflict.
Interestingly, it feels like the story told in this animated short is rather different to the one relayed by the Wilds of Eldraine story articles. In this, Rowan comes across as more of an antihero, and eventually leaves after praising her brother’s ‘strong mind’. In the written content, meanwhile, she calls him weak and then blast off with lightning powered Iron Man flight.
The trailer seems to have garnered a mixed reception on social media, though Twitter is overall more up on it than Reddit. Some praise its storytelling or overall spectacle, while others argue it doesn’t showcase what’s special about Eldraine, or criticise the animation when compared to Kamigawa’s trailer.
It seems Wizards is going hard on the anime with this set, also releasing a series of anime treatments for some of the ‘Enchanting Tales’ enchantment cards.
Check out our picks for the best Wilds of Eldraine Standard cards, and the best MTG Arena decks right now. We also have an up to date guide to all the MTG Arena codes.