The upcoming Magic: The Gathering expansion is inspired by the romantic Arthurian legend of Camelot and Grimms' Fairy Tales, and the set is already reminding fans of an MTG block that also features fairies, giants, and elves, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. After all, they both share similar fantasy themes, lighter-than-normal tone, and they both feature tribal creatures like fairies and giants, but according to Magic head designer Mark Rosewater, despite their similar themes and visual styles, they are entirely different.
"Lorwyn didn't have a fairy tale theme," Rosewater said on his Blogatog. "It had a few creature types that overlap (Faeries, Giants, Elves, etc. - but so do multiple sets) and a lighter than normal tone. I think people think of it as s fairy tale set because it was the closest we'd ever gotten at the time, but now that we've made an actual fairy tale set, hopefully you can see the difference."
While fans can see how Throne of Eldraine and the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block are similar in a lot of ways, they're clearly different when it comes to mechanics, other tribal creatures (There are no Kithkins in Eldraine), and Throne of Eldraine features more characters and references to familiar fairy tales while Lorwyn doesn't really feature any of them.
Throne of Eldraine, the 82nd Magic expansion, is set to release on October 4. Prerelease events will take place on September 27 to 29.
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