ELDRAINE — After the success of Magic’s initial visit to the plane of Eldraine, the fabled return was inevitable. Though Wilds of Eldraine would be crowned, it narrowly beat out the runner-up, Waffle House of Eldraine.
“Eldraine, a mash-up of every folk and faerie-tale ever told, has plenty of lore and locations to explore,” said Rankle, currently a 3/3 green Elk. “Once we heard everyone was coming back we knew the Waffle House off of Drury Lane would be a contender. Food is a big deal around here, mainly because everyone’s always drunk. It’s a popular spot. Even Obama showed up that one time. Loves the grits.”
With such a diverse plane one might expect an abundance of cuisine in Eldraine.
“It’s all just candy,” Rankle explained. “Gingerbread. Cookies. Lollipops. It sounds great but after about a week you want to throw yourself headfirst into the [c]Witch’s Oven[/c]. Happened to [c]Cauldron Familiar[/c] when he could only get candy corn instead of kibble. Sad. If he had only lived long enough to experience the All-Star Special. You’d be surprised how hard it is to get a decent meal that isn’t made out of children.”
Wizards head of R&D and Game Design Willard Smithens recalled how the choice divided his office.
“It’s usually easy to get everyone to agree on a single core concept for each expansion. Turns out half my office are raging alcoholics and Waffle House is something of a Christ-figure to them. The debate nearly devolved into a full-blown fist fight. Luckily, we had some greasy bacon, hash browns, and plenty of buttered waffles to soak up the alcohol, then sent them on an adventure to the shitter. However uncomfortable and highly unprofessional the near-tussle was, it convinced me to join team Waffle House. Both are renowned for food and fighting. Waffle House truly captured the essence of the plane of fables.”
In the end Waffle House of Eldraine became Wilds of Eldraine and even though the concept shifted, as an homage to the set that never was, they decided to keep some of the the Waffle House themed cards, specifically the ones that generate rat tokens.