One of the best developments in Magic: The Gathering over the past few years has been the rise of bonus sheets. Secondary mini-sets of reprints bundled in with a regular release, bonus sheets have quickly become one of the most popular elements of any set they’re in. Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive, The Brothers’ War’s Retro Artifacts, and March of the Machine’s Multiverse Legends all added spice to their limited formats, and added some much-needed value to opening packs.

Wilds of Eldraine is the latest to include a bonus sheet, with the Enchanted Tales. These are all enchantment cards from across Magic’s history, given a new storybook art style, and include some heavy hitters like Rhystic Study, Doubling Season, and Bitterblossom. Like Wilds of Eldraine itself, this should be a slam dunk, but, having played the set and opened some packs, I’m struggling to be as excited about Enchanted Tales as I should be.

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On paper, Enchanted Tales slaps. Enchantments are one of the only card types to have not received a bonus sheet yet (along with planeswalkers, lands, and technically battles), and lord knows we’ve needed some of the cards here to be reprinted. There’s never a situation where reprinting a card and making it more accessible will be a bad thing, and you only need to look at the secondary market’s price of Smothering Tithe to see that in action. I bought that sucker for almost £30 two years ago, and now it’s worth only a third of that.

The art style is exquisite. Like other bonus sheets, it’s a very set-specific aesthetic that won’t fit into every deck, but as pieces of art these storybook takes on famous cards are a delight. I particularly love Sneak Attack, with the Giant unsuccessfully hiding in the bush. It’s whimsical and magical, and represents everything special about Eldraine.

I even love the manga alt-art style. After last year’s Jumpstart 2022 put me off, Eldraine’s brought me right back on board the weeaboo wagon. If I don’t get my hands on an Ojou-sama laughing version of Smothering Tithe, I don’t think I’ll ever feel complete and satisfied with my life.

With high reprint equity and a beautiful art style, it feels weird to say I’m underwhelmed by the Enchanted Tales, and yet here we are. The big problem is that that you can separate every card in this subset into two piles: they’re either great for Eldraine’s limited environment (the only place you can play them outside of the formats they’re already legal in) but aren’t particularly tasty reprints, or they’re top-tier reprints that are all but unplayable in limited.

Knightly Valor by Matteo Bassini

Take my darling Ojou-sama Smothering Tithe. It’s a staple in Commander, because the addition of two more players drastically increases how many Treasure tokens you can make with it. In a one-on-one match at an Eldraine pre-release, it’s completely pointless. Your opponent is always going to pay the two mana to prevent it, and if they don’t they’re likely playing something that wins them the game anyway.

This isn’t just one card fuelled by my weird obsession with Smothering Tithe, though. Rhystic Study? Useless for the same reason. Parallel Lives? Worse than useless, especially in a format as focused on tokens as Wilds of Eldraine. The Leylines? Not necessarily useless, and I appreciate finally having versions without Noah Bradley’s art on them, but still not great. Instead, you’re more likely to want to take the more viable reprints that are much less visually interesting, like Hatching Plans, Stab Wound, or Dragon Mantle.

Nature's Will by Matteo Bassini

Of course, this isn’t a problem unique to Enchanted Tales. The Brothers’ War had the likes of Ivory Tower gumming up the works, and whatever possessed Wizards to throw Divine Gambit into the Mystical Archive we will never know. But those at least served a purpose in their relevant sets, with lots of the sets caring about artifacts or non-permanent spells in a way Wilds of Eldraine doesn’t about enchantments. It cares about Role tokens, sure, and it even likes enchantments going into the graveyard to an extent. But the enchantment theme of Eldraine is much weaker than that of, say, Theros, where we had cards that cared about enchantments being cast. At least a Smothering Tithe would also be a constellation trigger had this been Theros: Beyond Death.

Sneak Attack by Matteo Bassini

The Enchanted Tales sheet just feels uneven. You’re hunting for mythic rares you have an astoundingly low chance of finding, only to realise they won’t help you in a game of Wilds of Eldraine. Or, on the flip side, you’re hoping to pull one for your Commander deck, and instead whiff into a billion copies of Hatching Plans and come away feeling bad.

There’s always going to be an element of random chance to booster packs, and that is part of the appeal for lots of people. But bonus sheets need to serve two different audiences simultaneously, which is a challenge Wizards didn’t quite meet this time around. We want reprint equity and an engaging limited environment, not two smaller sets catering to each group rammed together under one banner. Or maybe I’m just salty about not getting that Smothering Tithe. Who knows?

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