The Puns of Eldraine

Wilds of Eldraine is the latest Magic release, and it returns to the popular plane introduced in 2019: Eldraine, the land of fairy tales and Arthurian lore (or their Magic equivalents, anyway). The first Eldraine set, Throne of Eldraine, had powerful cards but maintained a whimsical tone; this latest release has followed suit. One thing I enjoy the most about it? Puns.

From Oxford, puns are "a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings." I remember seeing them for the first time in the original Eldraine set:

These three cards show both kinds of puns:

- Belle of the Brawl and Mad Ratter are the second type, where they play on "Belle of the Ball" and "Mad Hatter," respectively.

- Giant Opportunity is the first type, where that is an expression meaning "a great circumstance that one could leverage for success," but here conveys the meaning "create a literal giant creature."

Wilds of Eldraine ups the ante; below are the cards with puns that I observed:

In most cases, which type of pun each is should be obvious, and I leave it to the reader. But I will mention one: Hearth Elemental puns on an older Magic card, Earth Elemental:

This type of pun applies to what Magic players call "callback" cards, which I discuss here. If you know the game well, you will pick up on (and hopefully appreciate) it. Otherwise, it will mean nothing to you.

Wordplay is fun and, I believe, important. Language is beautiful and powerful, and I appreciate that Magic leverages puns here. Magic cards can also be a way to teach vocabulary . . . but more on that another time.