As of this coming weekend Magic: The Gathering, arguably the world’s hottest buying and selling card sport, has a brand new competitor. Ravensburger’s Disney Lorcana launches on Aug. 18 and, after its debut at Gen Con in Indianapolis, plenty of heads are being turned by the brand new hotness. It’s a potent mixture of traditional animated characters like Cinderella, Sew, and Frozen’s Elsa that has Disney followers and TCG collectors each lining up for product. That’s what makes Magic’s newest set so very conspicuous — it’s additionally chockablock with fantastical royalty and fairy story characters.
Magic’s subsequent set of playing cards, titled Wilds of Eldraine, contains loads of characters and themes that share a typical ancestry with traditional Disney movies. They embody questing knights, apple-wielding witches, and winged fairies. A few of its playing cards even evoke the brightly-colored, fantastical landscapes pictured in traditional movies like Sleeping Magnificence and Snow White. However all of these options seem distinct sufficient — and public area sufficient — to not increase the hackles of the authorized group lurking deep contained in the Magic Kingdom.
However it’s a little bit of a coincidence, wouldn’t you say? We put the query to Elizabeth Stewart, senior communications supervisor at Wizards of the Coast, throughout a non-public press briefing final week.
“‘Was scheduling this set a aware effort to straight compete with the launch of Disney Lorcana utilizing public area characters?’” mentioned Stewart, reciting our query through the name. “No,” she mentioned plainly. “[Given] that we work on our units fairly effectively far upfront, I don’t assume we even assume we even knew Disney Lorcana was a factor when this factor was being designed.”
Given previous precedent, the assertion checks out. Disney Lorcana was a intently guarded secret till August 2022 when it was introduced to the world. Little or no of the artwork was proven previous to this 12 months, and the foundations weren’t even obtainable till April. Magic writer Wizards of the Coast usually works on its playing cards units — each the foundations and the artwork that accompanies them — years upfront. Head designer Mark Rosewater makes that very clear on his private social media accounts, the place he actively engages with the group each day. In the meantime, leaders from Wizards have offered on that matter at trade conventions up to now.
When did work on Wilds of Eldraine really start? Principal sport designer Ian Duke, additionally responding to Polygon’s query, mentioned he’s been engaged on these playing cards for a minimum of two years. He additionally mentioned that he was added to the venture pretty late within the sport, and work had been continuing with artwork and different subjects even earlier than his time with the set.
It’s additionally essential to notice that Wilds of Eldraine is a sequel to a beforehand launched set of playing cards known as Throne of Eldraine, which featured many comparable characters and motifs. That set was launched in 2019, and Magic is well-known for revisiting units similar to this up to now. It’s carried out so a number of instances over the previous few years, revisiting areas similar to Dominaria, Kamigawa, and Innistrad. Additionally, Wizards positively likes to poke enjoyable at current franchises when it’s in a position. Look no additional than Strixhaven: Faculty of Mages, which is just about an enormous Harry Potter goof. They even despatched out a set of scarves within the press equipment.
So did the powers that be at Wizards spool up a fairy story themed set of playing cards to straight compete with Disney Lorcana? No, most likely not. Did they make a set of playing cards that lightly goofs on established Disney properties? Completely… in 2019. However did the corporate go to any nice lengths to forestall the discharge of Wilds of Eldraine in the identical timeframe, thereby avoiding any potential shopper confusion? That sort of deference appears extremely unlikely. Why would a longtime model need to pull its punches, particularly when squaring off in opposition to the highly effective cardboard avatar of Mickey Mouse himself?