Magic: The Gathering’s newest mainline set is here, and Lorwyn Eclipsed marks the return to the dual realms of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor – destined to eternal day and eternal night, in that order.
Sporting some fun new mechanics, some killer art and a healthy product line-up for play of all kinds, the vibes with this release are pretty good, and I’ve been having a decent time cracking boosters and getting my magical arse kicked in Commander using the assortment of kit that Wizards of the Coast sent over for our perusal.
But for me, someone who continues to claim they only “dabble” in Magic despite sinking money into just about every new set that releases, Lorwyn Eclipsed is less about immersing myself into a lore and history I’ll never be fully caught up on, and more about the little guys.
Given the fantastical, pastoral setting of Lorwyn and its dimly-lit counterpart, Shadowmoor, you can expect a generous cohort of little freaks and critters in this set, and they do not disappoint. So let’s do something different here and attempt to cover off some of the important features of this new set, in the context of some of the scrunkliest little suckers it has to offer.
Let’s start with a look at Auntie Ool, Cursewretch, one of the commanders available in Blight Curse, the black-red-green commander deck that Wizards sent us for the purposes of checking out Lorwyn Eclipsed (the other available option is a five-colour banger called Dance of the Elements).
This old girl’s sporting one of the new keywords in the set, Blight, an action that involves placing a certain number of -1/-1 counters on a creature in exchange for some effect. In some cases, it’s a targeted move against your opponent, in others it’s essentially an added cost to weigh up against using powerful abilities.
Auntie Ool’s is especially potent, combining with Ward to enact Blight 2 (so, two added -1/-1 counters) on a creature that attacks it, which in turn activates a second ability that watches for -1/-1 counters being placed on creatures and either gives Ool’s controller a draw or takes one life from their opponent for each counter. Diabolical.
There are even cards that enter battle with -1/-1 counters on them, offering effects for their removal, meaning you can willingly replenish their counters with Blight for potentially unlimited uses of some potent abilities.
Or let’s consider Luminollusk. Like, really consider it and why the fuck it looks like that.
The new wrinkle here is Vivid, another new keyword for Lorwyn Eclipsed that encourages placement in multi-colour decks by offering boons based on how many colours the controlling player has on the board at the time. For this card, it’s a blessing of life – plus it’s got Deathtouch, so if looking at this monstrosity didn’t already make you want to throw it in the grinder you can send it out for punishment all the same.
Other examples of Vivid might let you draw cards, set the power of a creature, search for lands and a heap more, all based on how many colours exist among the cards you control. I’m not typically brave enough to rock more than two colours in a deck that I’ve cobbled together myself, but that Dance of the Elements pre-con Commander Deck is certainly in my sights as a way to dip my toes into the full spectrum. You could also get around with hybrid mana spells, of which there are a fair few in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Then we’ve got the Changeling mechanic, which isn’t necessarily new, but is absolutely filthy with wonderfully weird little dudes in this set. The whole deal with Changeling is that it denotes a creature whose type is… well, all of them. This is obviously super handy in a deck where you’re targeting a particular creature type, especially for filling in deficits when you’re drafting.
Anyway my pick here is Flock Impostor because I’m genuinely unable to decide if I want to cuddle or strangle that thing.
As a kind of follow-up to Changeling, Kindred is another returning mechanic that allows non-creature permanents to have creature types – and there are even some Kindred cards in Lorwyn Eclipsed with Changeling.
Clachan Festival is also the literal definition of a Little Guys card.
There are more returning keywords and mechanics in Lorwyn Eclipsed, but these are the ones I’m having the most fun with and that have the greatest prevalence of tiny, weird things.
Here are some of my personal Lorwyn Eclipsed little guy pulls for your viewing pleasure:
All told, Lorwyn Eclipsed is a fun new set with plenty to offer whether you’re after interesting mechanics and deckbuilding/drafting potential, a return to a classic MtG realm full of fantastical beasts… or you’re just here for the little guys.
It’s available right now, too! For more info, you can find the official web page right here.
Products for Magic: The Gathering – Lorwyn Eclipsed supplied by Wizards of the Coast
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