Phenomenal fairy tale folklore abounds in Magic: the Gathering‘s newest set, Throne of Eldraine (ELD). Two new cards, Gilded Goose and Golden Egg, add to the theme by riffing off fantasy tropes about finding wealth in the form of metallic waterfowl.
Gilded Goose appears in several fairy tales, often as an object of desire held captive by giants or hidden in tree trunks. In Magic, it’s a sweet token engine that looks like a great build-around piece for complicated combos.
Firstly, it answers a mystery introduced by Oko, Thief of Crowns earlier today—what does Food do? As the reminder text above reads, it gives you a token that has minor life gain attached!
Alone, Food is a pretty weak mechanic. That’s where Gilded Goose steps in, though. Just give it some food (do electroplated birds eat electroplated bread crumbs?) and it’ll spit out some mana of any color you’d like! This card isn’t particularly powerful, but at one mana, it can wear a lot of hats. Good job, birds.
Golden Egg, a clearly related card to Gilded Goose, pulls off some more color fixing. This common card is most notable for its “cantrip” effect—drawing a card. Though it also has some color fixing and life gain abilities (it’s just like Food!), so don’t count it out. In fact, it slots in pretty well with OmniTears, so go ahead and get your yolks out.
