Fairy tales, and the oldest set still in Standard
Wilds of Eldraine is the second visit to Magic's fairy-tale plane, and the set that matters most for anyone working out what Standard currently contains: it is the oldest set still legal, so the format reaches back to September 2023 and no further.
Its lasting design contribution is Role tokens. Rather than print a dozen small Auras, the set gives you six named Aura tokens that any card can hand out, and a creature can only carry one Role at a time. That single restriction is what stops them stacking into something unfair.
Themes
Role tokens
Six named Aura tokens: Cursed, Monster, Royal, Sorcerer, Wicked and Young Hero. A creature can only have one Role you control at a time, so attaching a second sacrifices the first. That cap is the whole reason they are safe to hand out so freely.
Bargain
An optional additional cost. As you cast the spell you may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token to make it better. Food tokens and Roles make it far easier to turn on than it first looks.
Celebration
An ability word for effects that check whether two or more nonland permanents entered under your control this turn. A token plus a creature clears it, which is why it plays better than a two-spell condition would.
Adventure
Cast the spell half from your hand, exile it, then cast the creature later. Returning from the first Eldraine set, and still the cleanest card-advantage engine in a Limited deck.
Food
Also back from Throne of Eldraine. Beyond the lifegain, Food is the easiest thing in the set to feed to bargain.
Where You Can Play It
A release usually ships more than one set code, and they don't all share the same legality: the main set is Standard-legal while Commander cards are eternal-only. Here's each code in Wilds of Eldraine.
A bonus-sheet printing doesn't change a card's legality, so each card is legal wherever that card already was. The sheet itself is a Commander, Legacy and Vintage product.
Standard legality is current as of August 2026. There is no rotation in 2026, and Wilds of Eldraine is one of the two 2023 sets still in the format. It leaves at the February 2027 rotation, when 2025–2027 becomes the pool, and stays legal in Pioneer, Modern and the eternal formats after that. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
A full ten-pair format, and a well-regarded one. Roles cut across every pair, so the archetypes are defined more by what they do with a Role than by whether they get one.
All ten two-colour pairs
Full ten-pair format
Adventure creatures anchor the blue-green and white-blue end, the Wicked and Cursed Roles pull black-red toward sacrifice, and celebration rewards the pairs that make tokens cheaply.
Commander
Two decks, each built on a different half of the set's identity.
Virtue and Valor
Ellivere of the Wild Court
Green-white, built on Roles and Auras and making one creature enormous.
Fae Dominion
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor
Blue-black Faeries, flash and control.
Building one of these into something of your own? The precon buying guide covers how to judge a deck, and the Commander deck template is the shape to build toward.
FAQ
Yes. It is the oldest set still in Standard, which is why the format reaches back to September 2023 and no further. It leaves at the February 2027 rotation, when 2025 to 2027 becomes the pool.
They are six named Aura tokens: Cursed, Monster, Royal, Sorcerer, Wicked and Young Hero. A creature can only have one Role you control at a time, so attaching a second one sacrifices the first. That cap is what keeps them from stacking into something unfair.
It is an optional additional cost. As you cast the spell you may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token to get a better effect. Food tokens and Role tokens make it much easier to turn on than it first looks.
Two or more nonland permanents entering under your control in the same turn. A token plus a creature clears it, which is why it triggers more often than a two-spell condition would.
No. Enchanting Tales is a bonus sheet of reprinted enchantments, and a bonus-sheet printing does not change a card's legality. Each card stays legal wherever it already was.
Two: Virtue and Valor, led by Ellivere of the Wild Court, and Fae Dominion, led by Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Wilds of Eldraine released on Sep 8, 2023; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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