Two new cards for Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming set, Throne of Eldraine (ELD), embrace the darker side of high fantasy.
Witching Well and Witch’s Cottage both reference witches and dark places you shouldn’t visit, so of course they’re looking to be some of the more powerful additions to Magic slingers’ collections.
For a one-drop artifact, Witching Well is surprisingly powerful. It hits the board and immediately lets you finesse the top of your library with its scry ability. Then, later on, you can pay some mana and get rid of it to reload your hand. It’s hard to say no to this kind of value and Witching Well could make an impact on Standard just based on value alone.
Notably, this is the first colored artifact of the set, hinting that more may be on the way. Mana-restrictive artifacts have been slowly made more prominent throughout Magic‘s set design and Witching Well shows the clear benefits to this route.
Witch’s Cottage, on the other hand, is a unique land that also counts as a Swamp if you simply need black mana. But in decks that are more dedicated to Swamps, it becomes a powerhouse, bringing the best creature in your graveyard back to your library so you can summon them again.
Lands that double as spells with no additional mana cost are considered some of the most powerful designs around. One such card, Field of the Dead, has even warped Standard around it by providing free zombies as the game goes longer. Expect Witch’s Cottage to get lots of attention from deck brewers looking for free value.
