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Introduction & Checking out Lorwyn Eclipsed
Last Updated: 10/1/2026
Hey, so I've had this site for a while, but am now making an effort to get it up and running properly. It's still very much a work in progress
(feel free to check around though), but dedicating time to working on it every day. I'll probably do a post on the main blog that will go more
in depth on who I am, but I just wanted to keep up with the reveal week for Lorwyn, so this is coming first.
"Why should I read what you have to say about anything?" - Good question, that I don't think I have an answer to. I like to think i'm a pretty
competent player, and I like talking about the game, so here I am. I lean mostly towards talking about standard at the moment, with a little bit
of commander and cube, and a focus within abzan colours. Most likely scenario is you probably finish reading having learnt a cool interaction you
didn't notice before, and if that happens, I'll be happy.
(This was meant to go up halfway through reveal season, but because I didn't make much progress on Wednesday I'm just going to wait to
upload it until i've seen the full set).
Onto Lorwyn
The article is going to go through them mostly in numerical order, with links to each section here (with a few exceptions to make it fit better,
so rooftop percher is going to be with the rest of the colourless cards instead of at the start). There's going to be a lot here, so I wouldn't
recommend reading it all in one sitting (it's going to take me multiple to write this).
White
Incredibly cool convoke payoff, making it very annoying to use combat tricks that involve damaging your creatures, and turning every
instant speed convoke spell into protection. Even though the effect does benefit merfolk most, the fact it works with any creatures
makes it very useful for any in colour deck. Hovever, it does not provide any protection against blight effects.
I feel so conflicted about the planeswalkers of this set, because they're both very cool, but I don't think they're powerful. Ajani here
has a somewhat solid +1 and +2 abilities, and as a fan of collected company, I think the ultimate is also a really cool design, fitting
with Ajani's life gain history, but it being a -8 feels so bad. I suppose since the set doesn't really have planeswalker removal it's not
that bad in the draft environment, but in anything else it doesn't feel great. Even if you had a doubling season on the battlefield it would
still require at least 2 +1 activations to use the ultimate. I do understand the design is to not make it too overpowered in commander, but it
leaves it feeling underpowered in any other format (except maybe this set's draft environment).
There's gonna be a bunch of cards where I don't think i have a lot to say, but including everything. Appeal to Eirdu looks like it could be nice
as a draft combat trick, and might slot in nicely to some pauper mono white lists.
I love Doran, but I'm not sure if I really see a home for this. Most commander decks that are built around this effect have easy access to it through
the commander, so they wouldn't really need access to an equipment that gives the effect to a single creature. I'll update this later down the line
when i've looked over more cards, and say if it even looks worthwhile as a draft pick.
I do enjoy the design of this Bridgid. 3 mana for a 3/2 body (that does come with a 1/1) doesn't seem very good for standard, but if she can stick to
the board until the next turn that's where she shines. investing G to transform her and then be able to tap her for large amounts of mana is amazing,
and she does play extremely well with badgermole cub, with the cub's mana increasing ability alongside the earthbend ability both working together to
increase the amount that Brigid can generate. Be warned that she only counts other creatures when making mana.
On top of that, if you don't need the mana anymore you can pay W to transform back, creating another kithkin token.
I don't think this will be a very useful card, only providing indestructible (in a draft environment with a lot of -1/-1 counters) at sorcery speed.
Might be a nice include if you're desperate for ways to remove -1/-1 counters, but there's a few better options in the set.
It's an ok anthem effect for kithkin decks, but where I think people are sleeping on it it's ability to be both an anthem effect AND a protection
spell. Combining the flash and champion abilities means that you can cast this in response to removal in a way that can't be responded to, since the behold + exile
is an additional cost. Another thing to note is that even though the effects that exile and return the card are separate (like
Severance Priest), there is no window to remove it before the target is exiled.
3 mana to create 2 1/1 creatures seems pretty solid in draft, then having a mana sink to create more looks like a nice bonus.
The classic removal spell is back in standard! Not sure how much play it will see, considering stroke of midnight doesn't see play in standard, but
exiling instead of destroying is important to note. It'll be competing with Ride's End for
decks that would want it (which currently also doesn't see standard play).
Oh damn, this one feels evil for commander. 7 mana 7/7 that turns off all an opponents' creatures permanently, turning them into 1/1 cowards with
no abilities. A very fun blink target. For limited you should note that the coward type doesn't replace it's other types, it is added in addition to its' other types,
so abilities that care about creature types still matter.
Oh I love this so much. It feels too expensive for standard, but I am definitely gonna try my best to make it work. As a commander this looks incredibly fun, using Eirdu's convoke ability to flood the board,
and then Isilu's persist ability to help it stick, providing a layer of protection from most removal.
Somewhat decent way to negate the effects of cards that make you blight your own creatures, or against opponents that seek to blight you. Being restricted to once per turn unless you
get the merfolk that untaps your creatures isn't very reliable though, especially since it enters as a 2/1, so any extra -1/-1 counter will immediately destroy it.
Cool way for creature types like merfolk and kithkin to fly over goblins, or defend against faeries. Recurstion is very cool to keep the pressure going.
3 mana Sunpearl Kirin (but only for creatures) doesn't seem very useful, especially compared to another spell in the set
Cool card for decks already focused around kithkin, doesn't provide much else.
As someone who used to love playing insidious roots in standard, I really love the design of this. Also just quite solid in draft, where you can treat it as a 1/2 that summons
a 1/1 when it's dead.
Nice way to punish decks that get too frivilous with attacks, or merfold decks that don't have access to cards like adept watershaper.
At worst this is a 5 mana enchantment that creates a 1/1 and gives all your creatures +1/+1 (only on your turn), which is pretty good. Very nice payoff to kithkin/token
focused decks.
As much as I love the art for this, a creature with no abilities that has an additional cost (even if it can be as little as revealing a kithkin or shapeshifter from your hand)
that has a slightly better version of one of the effects of Momo doesn't seem incredibly good.
Amazing card. The first prerelease I attended was a Bloomburrow one, and I remember Brightblade Stoat
being a very nice card to have, and this is that but with an additional bonus just for having creatures on the battlefield. Even if you don't have a lot of creatures when you play this,
the first strike allows it to be an efficient blocker until you want to cash in on the attack ability.
A seven mana 3/3 in a colour that isn't the main focus on vivid as a mechanic means that I doubt this will see much play. Best you can hope for is it to be in hand when a card
like Tam is on the battlefield to get 5 1/1s alongside it.
4 mana Oblivion ring that gives you 2 life is ok. Not to see play outside of limited, but it's fine.
Very nice upside for a card, letting you tap a merfolk/changeling to recur a creature. Very unlikely that your opponent will let it survive one attack, but if you can resummon
anything from the graveyard it's already done its' job.
Much better blight hoarder than the burdened stoneback for white, letting you turn it into bonus card draw, and starting out as 1/4 (instead of stoneback starting out as a 2/2).
I am going to be trying to make this work in standard as part of a standard abzan blink deck. Not a big selection of enters effects to make the first ability incredible in limited,
but preventing damage for a turn is nice. With merfolk you can tap them all (either attacking of for a convoke spell), then blink them, and cast a convoke instant without the fear
of being attacked.
I don't know a lot of what cards people are talking about, but I feel like this one is going to be doing a lot in standard. An instant speed blink effect that returns the creature
immediately (not at the end step), bringing a 1/1 friend too, seems very nice to have. I may be biased as someone who wants to play abzan blink, but i truly think it's a very cool card.
Basically free removal for attacking or blocking creature is quite nice. Much better on defense than attack, but unless your opponent has an adept watershaper you should be good.
One specific thing to keep in mind with blight, is that if blight is 2 or higher, you can just choose a 1/1 token and put all the counters there to minimise the cost. With that in mind,
the flexibility to destroy an artifact or enchantment alongside a large creature is real nice. The idea is you can make a 1 for one into a 2 for 2, but making use of tokens can make it more
akin to a 1.5 for 2. Or even if you have a card like moonlit lamenter you can put the counters on and then later on turn it into card draw.
a 3 mana 2/2 isn't very good stat-wise, but as a bonus for the initial lack of stats, it does come with white's best effect for removing counters from creatures. It can be argued that
the card draw lamenter provides is the best way to remove counters in this colour, the efficiency that the dounguard can remove counters is not something to be taken lightly.
With the amount of -1/-1 counters in this set, the true effectiveness of Rhys will be limited, but it can somewhat effectively give a layer of protection to some creatures.
The second ability can help when you've stacked too many -1/-1 counters onto a single creature.
Somewhat generic combat trick for limited. The first strike allows you to trade 1 for 1, leaving your creature on the battlefield, which is nice.
4 mana 3/3 flyer that surveils 1 is fine. Nothing exciting, but not bad either.
Consistent way of removing counters from itself. I'm assuming since the triggered abilities are staggered that you can remove counters even if there are no legal targets to return
to the battlefield. If not that's my bad, but it's how i've interpreted the ability.
Fine removal for white in limited. Less effective against merfolk that can still use it to convoke, or blight-focused archetypes that can just stack counters on the creature, but
can still remove a creature from the board.
Very good as a limited card, but I think this is an incredibly cool pauper card, being able to get a 5/6 vigilant creature essentially for free.
A way to turn the kithkin "go wide" strategy into a "go tall" one, which is quite nice, allowing you to use the rest of the board to block. Watch out for it when used alongside
Doran, since it is a 0/5 and therefore would gain +5/+5. Or even the bark of Doran effectively turning it into a 6/6.
Cool mana sink, not much else. (I do love their face here though T_T)
Fairly ok passive merfolk, most likely will attack unblocked to most archetypes, and unlikely to die to faeries as it has 3 health, while providing higher
attack to other creatures.
I love the flavour of this artwork in particular, the lantern light luring creatures towards it, alongside an ability eerily similar to eating a food token.
I don't think there's much other than that here, maybe a little lifegain to keep you going against aggressive decks.
Very much akin to a Coeurl, but allowing you to tap another creature in addition, to help
trigger some tap abilities. I don't think this is anywhere near as useful though, even with the reduced mana cost of the creature and the activated ability.
Very cool punish to opponents that don't have some unity between creature types. You must choose an opponents creature as well as one of your own, so there is no
way to wipe the opponents' entire board with this spell. Best case scenario is their worst creature surviving.
Blue
Nice protection spell that can also act as a combat trick.
Removal spell that locks down a creature, and makes it unblightable. The creature could still be championed, or blinked with Personify or Morningtide's Light.
Punishes opponents for going tall, or even just locking out their best creatures. If you can tap this every turn (which given the stats is quite likely), it can
effectively lock out their 2 best creatures permanently.
Free instant speed bounce spell that can target any nonland permanent (including your own), whilst also being a 3/3 body is incredibly valuable.
1 mana 1/1 flyer that can turn into a draw engine once you've emptied the faeries from your hand is real nice. On top of that making it so that
the turn you activate the ability won't force you to let an opposing planeswalker to survive another turn, like how the effect of Enduring Curiosity
would. (I am not saying this card is better than Curiosity, it most definitely isn't, but it's still got power of its own).
Cool combat trick.
Very nicely wedges itself between the trickiness of faeries and the tap/untap focus of merfolk. If you have a tapped creature and a convoke spell
you can essentially play this for 1 mana (pay 3 for the creature, untap other creature you control, then tap them both to pay for convoke).
Worst case scenario for this is a 3 mana 2/3 flyer with flash, which is quite nice. But with any effect that makes you blight every turn this can turn
into an incredibly oppressive engine. Only hitting noncreature spells can hurt it in limited, where there's more of a creature focus, but it means this
is basically impossible to remove in any way other than through combat (and even then combat tricks are unlikely to work).
Very versatile storm counter. I think in limited this shines most against merfolk, where if they have tapped creatures to convoke a spell, and the creatures have
triggered abilities upon being tapped, you can counter them all at once, while gaining a large amount of flyers. In standard I expect this might show up more if
Ugin, Eye of the Storms ever becomes more rampant, being able to efficiently
counter the planeswalker and it's exile trigger.
Unblockable attacker that lets you tap another creature every turn is quite nice for safely activating a tap ability every turn.
A free instant speed Distant Melody? Real valuable for blue kindred decks.
Remeber that it draws for each permanent, so that includes any artifacts/enchantments with kindred.
Pretty nice limited flyer, can act as a great blocker too. Watch out for any untap abilities like glamermite when trying to cast a removal spell on this.
Ok body, that can swing in for 4 when you cast a spell with mana value 4+. Elementals care about the spell's mana value, not how much mana was spent to cast,
so spells with convoke work really well here.
Starts out as a 2 mana 1/2 with no keywords, but just being a creature that can sit on the board and accrue value by drawing cards or slowing down the opponent
while growing as a threat is powerful.
I think this is most useful in merfolk, as a way for them to fight against faeries, but even just in general a free aura that gives +2/+2 and flying, while redrawing
is a very nice tool to have.
This looks like so much fun. From a draft standpoint if you can somehow manage to get a deck with both this and bitterbloom Bearer you can use it to turn your entire board
into something like Illusion Spinners to end the game on the spot. I can't wait to see what kinds of fun board states this gets up to in other formats, like commander.
I love this name so much, it's so fun. The effect is quite generic, it's the standard witness protection copy, but it does take away creature types, which is an important
thing to remember.
Really unsure how to feel about this Oko, it just doesn't seem incredibly powerful. I suppose you can immediately +2 on the turn you play it, and then depending on the board
state next turn you can either flip to make some elk tokens to defend yourself, or +2 again with the hope of using the ultimate on the third turn it's in play. Once that ultimate is down
it's most likely game over.
Free clone that also retains its' changeling ability? Very nice.
Oh my god this is going to be so useful and annoying in merfolk decks, tapping it to generate a bunch of tokens you can use to block and pay for convoke spells.
Nice way for decks built around vivid to slow the opponent down without going down on cards in hand.
I think this is very much more of a commander card than any other format, where you can play a card that generates tokens of a creature type whenever you cast an
instant/sorcery, letting you focus more on spellslinging than focusing on creating 3 permanents of the chosen type to get the copy trigger ready to activate. Once again
remember that this does say permanent of the creature type, so those kindred artifacts/enchantments are good to help.
Man-o'-War with 1 extra power (but not the ability to target itself). Very much for a draft filler.
I feel like this has been printed way more, although that might be because it's printed in the sets i've seen most (Bloomburrow, Baldur's Gate and Foundations). Just a cool way to rebuy
enters effects and delaying your opponents most threatening creatures. Best enters archetype looks to be vivid, so something to watch out for if you play it in limited.
This set's version of mulldrifter, no evoke ability, but a higher upside if you're building around vivid.
Really cool addition to merfolk decks, with any convoke spell this is basically free.
Nice loot effect for merfolk, outside of limited do not see it seeing play outside of merfolk commander decks.
Great counter reprint for standard and limited, since it's always going to have a target at somepoint through the game, unlike spell pierce and annul.
Nice evasion landcycler that can also survive a decent amount of blight if needed.
Cool filler blocker to slow down games of limited.
Conditional board clear for elemental decks. does not clear changelings or opponents also running elemental decks. Additionally, only hits creatures,
so kindred permanents are safe from being bounced.
Nice combat trick to bounce any creature or spell on the stack. Like the way it can also act as a memory lapse when needed.
Very nice protection/card draw flip creature. Important to remember that protection includes blocking, so the shadowmoor side can make another creature
unblockable (unless your opponents control a colourless creature).
4 mana creature that generates card advantage for casting other 4+ mana cards is nice to have for the elemental archetype.
Free way to remove any nonland permanent from play.
The new card in the "thirst for" cycle, quite nice, but I don't think it's as good as the next card.
Free way to draw 3 discard 1 at instant speed is quite good.
The body on this creature is ok, but having the ability of stapling surveil 2 onto any spell that can be cast at instant speed is amazing
and can completely take over games if left unchecked.
Nice way to disincentivize the opponent from blocking, letting you get in for more damage.
Merfolk sorcery that can bounce any 2 nonland permanents for free, and then creating some merfolk tokens to keep an advantage and get a rebate
for tapping creatures to pay for it is a nice addition.
Cool version of counterspell that at worst is a version of refute without the loot ability,
but with a card that benefits from having counters on it can become a counterspell that generates advantage for you.
Black
Versatile removal that can kill a small creature or discard a nonland permanent.
Not a great combat trick, but giving a creature wither for the attack could be a nice way to lower the threat that an opposing creature imposes. DO NOT try to flash in rhys against
this, since wither negates the persist ability.
Fine one drop that could maybe pick off an opponents' creature with 1 health.
Bitterblossom stapled to a creature is insanely cool, generating constant value over the course of a game.
Nice removal spell. Again, a warning to not use Rhys to try and protect your creature from this.
massive blight hoarder which is cool. No intrinsic way to remove counters, but it can hold a ton. Then if you are able to spread the counters elsewhere it's probably the best target in the set
for Doran/Bark of Doran.
Don't know how relevant the convoke on this card will be, since it benefits most from having your creatures in the graveyard instead of the battlefield. Still a very good lategame play to swing the game
in your favor.
Better Bastion of Rememberance with the slight cost of blight 1? Very nice tool for aristocrat strategies.
Also important to note that it is also a goblin for behold costs.
meh combat improver for goblin strategies.
Nice sorcery speed removal that exiles.
I really like how weird (heh) this card design is, the best way to consitsntly provide -1/-1 counters to both players, whether the opponent wants them or not.
Very easy way to remove counters from this creature. Starting out as a 2 mana 2/2 is ok, but being able to become a 5/5 is so good. Even with putting a -1/-1 counter on it
every turn, a 2 mana 4/4 is an incredibly good card.
Fine board wipe, most comparable to cards like Malicious Eclipse, but permanent.
Probably the best card to pair with Creakwood Safewright, allowing you to surveil 1 every turn, and then turn it into card advantage later in the game.
This artwork is so beautiful, but the effect is aggresssively ok.
5 mana reanimate, with a slight downside if it's not cast in one of your main phases. Given the Duskmourn instant speed reanimate hasn't seen any play,
I doubt this will either (and the Duskmourn one doesn't even come with a downside, instead having the versatility of destroying a creature instead if required).
4 mana discard creature that doesn't even let you select what is discard? Not very good.
BIG elf payoff card, being removal on a creature, and letting another creature swing in for a large amount of damage. Works best if you also have a way to give trample to
guarantee the damage goes to the face.
I guess this could be a recursive stab effect? Does not look good in the slightest though, and any other removal is probably worth taking over this.
Nice rebuy effect for goblins and elves, that can fit nicely into both being a changeling.
Wow this card is so cool, being both a way to rebuy goblins from the graveyard, and ways to create copies of them to apply pressure to the opponent. My only issue
is that the stats are very low, but I guess that is a fair balance to such cool effects.
Provides blight (or you lose 3 life) every turn as a cost for getting a 6/6 for 4 mana. Somewhat ok, works best if you have small tokens to throw away and try to close
the game out as soon as possible.
Nice way for aristocrat strategies to negate blight. Important to remember that you still surveil 1 even if there are no -1/-1 counters to remove.
Feels like it should be a sticky unit, but blight bypasses indestructible, so not as good as you might think. Could see it fitting in very nicely in greasefang decks in Pioneer.
Small creature for 3 mana, if it can even get in once it's pretty good in limited. anything more than that is a great bonus.
I think this might be my single favourite card of the set. Amazing with any mill effects like Cache Grab,
which can remove 4 counters for only 2 mana (at instant speed) as long as the cards you mill are permanents. It's such a powerful threat, able to quickly become a 7/7 menace for 1 mana,
and heavily providing value to enable other blight strategies.
I don't think this is as good as people like to think it is. Still good, but not as good. Despite having the same effect (with a bonus lifegain stopping clause) as Original Maralen,
that gets the benefit of being able to fit nicely into the command zone, while this is just an enchantment.
Nice threat that opponents are unlikely to block if they control 2 or more creatures, providing constant chip damage each turn.
I love this reprint, being a changeling is incredible for some cards that can search for them that come up later, and also being able to be beheld for any creature archetype.
Also denies targeted creatures creature types until end of turn.
Ok body for a creature, with a ton of value for playing instant speed.
Mind rot that can also remove the blight from a creature you control is quite a versatile tool. But being 4 mana is a little rough against more aggressive decks.
This is definitely in my top 5 for favourite cards of the set. It is essentially a slightly worse Fatal Push doesn't seem that great,
but it's definitely in the right direction for what standard needs right now. 1 mana to destroy any creature with mana value 2 or less (and also give a little life gain, if you have creatures to spare).
Love this as an "anti-persist" effect, returning to the battlefield exclusively if it has -1/-1 counters on it.
Fine draft card, providing a little fuel to the graveyard when it enters.
Nice combat trick, that lets you remove an opponent's creature while also being able to create a 2/2 to replace your own.
Out of the main vivid colour focus, so not got that much going for it, but can be useful to stabilize for elemental decks.
Incredible way for goblins to dismantle the hand of opponents. All it takes is around 2 other goblins to put a real dent in the opponents hand, and depending on their deck focus, can force the opponent to let you cast a few of their instants and sorceries.
If you manage to get this card early in draft, make a note of getting a Dose of Dawnglow, so you can turn it into a reanimate that creates 2 creatures.
Tokens and graveyard shenanigans are so cool, and this lets you play with both.
instant speed way to fetch your best cards from the graveyard, providing a bonus if you've built around the same creature type is pretty nice. This only hits creatures though, not cards with kindred.
Red
The Lorwyn side of Ashling is ok as a card, rummaging on enter, but the real value of this card comes from it's Shadowmoor incarnation. Generating 2 mana every turn to help you ramp to those high cost spells is incredibly useful at
supporting the elemental 4+ mana cost archetype.
Great to pair with the changelings from the set, especially the hybrid ones that have other keywords that can benefit from gaining double strike.
Very hard hitter for the goblin decks, allowing them to turn the go wide strategy into a tall threat.
Great 2 for 1, even at sorcery speed.
Ok card, most useful as a finishing threat to make sure cards get through to hit face, but falls short when facing against go wide strategies.
Very nice draw 3 for red.
Very nicely slots into elemental decks, being a 4 mana card that hits the opponent just for playing more elementals. Also, the wording on this means that the
elementals you play do the damage to opponents, so if you play one with lifelink you will gain life from it.
1 mana deal 2 to a creature is nice, especially when most cards that enter with -1/-1 counters are around that toughness. And if they grew a little before you would get to cast it,
blighting 1 allows it to hit a much larger variety of creatures.
Free way to double all damage from sources of the chosen type. This doesn't specify creatures, so can include any kindred cards that deal damage. Very nice paired with Champion of the Path.
Standard draft 3 drop that comes with another body, helps with goblin gameplan, despite having no built in keywords.
Instant speed removal that can also generate card advantage is quite nice, although it lacks a lot of the efficacy that other types of red removal provides.
I have not seen how this interacts with -1/-1 counters, as in do they reduce the amount of cards that you get to look at? I assume not, but I could see it going either way.
Remember you do only get to choose one of the exiled cards to play.
Ok blocker for elementals, that generates value on casting large spells. One of the best ways for red to consistently defend against flyers.
Cool vivid support card, being a 2 mana 1/1 creature that can take out an opponents' creature is pretty nice.
Great way for elemental decks to remove creatures while still maintining their 4+ mana card gameplan.
Don't really see a place for this. Can be a somewhat evasive attacker, but doesn't really feed into any archetype's gameplan well.
Very nice way for elementals to cast big spells, especially as extra copies of Ashling's Shadowmoor ability. Also allows your elementals to play into both big mana and vivid strategies, since it
is able to create mana of any colour.
Alonside the previous card, this both plays into the elemental big mana and vivid strategies with the treasure token.
Very cool mix of abrade and a fight spell.
I love the flavour of this card, even moreso given there's no creatures that have the goat type in the set. Really cool way to punish people from playing
changelings.
I'm sure you've already heard the synergy this has with extra turn spells, letting you cast 2 per turn. Other than that it's just a solid way of doubling up on
instants and sorceries (also lets you cast sorceries mid combat).
It's fine as a way to delve deeper into your deck, but other than that I don't think this is very useful.
Incredible card, providing one sided counterspell protection. Important to consider that ward counters spells, so if both player control this creature, the ward ability is useless.
Also amazing name, I can never hate you Hexing Squelcher.
Nice cantrip to push damage at face.
Oh this card is so cool. Both casting from hand and flashback triggers any mana value 4+ cards, and if you create a token of an elemental you can use that to help pay for the
flashback behold cost.
Basic landcycler for mountains that can provide a redraw later in the game.
Great way to benefit from blight, turning it into damage at your opponent. Does not work for blighting opponents, since they are the ones putting counters on their creatures.
Crazy cool boon for mono red decks, being the ones that can make the most use of both the global haste ability, and the reliance on basic lands to double up the amount of mana
they create. Especially so now that we're entering an era of standard with all shocklands, so manabases are going to get greedier and less reliant on basics.
Another incredibly cool card, I'm waiting to see the build that will inevitably get played near launch where you use this to cheat a Famished Worldsire
into play for only 5 total mana.
Nice combat trick for red decks.
In the video where this was revealed, they went to explicitly mention the synergy this has with Glen Elendra Guardian, which is very powerful. On top of that, it can just be a 3/2 that refunds itself over 2 turns.
I was genuinely surprised to see that this is a new card and not a reprint. Very valuable way to remove any planeswalkers you see.
Pretty standard creature that draws a card when it dies. Can fill an empty slot pretty well if needed in limited.
Pretty nice finale spell to finish off opponents. Then in standard or commander you can combo it with The Walls of Ba Sing Se to deal 30 damage to
every opponent and creature they control. Feels very similar to Chandra's Ignition.
Amazing way to push through damage for red decks, that can also generate mana advantage at the same time. You can target the same creature multiple times, so works even if it's the only creature on the battlefield.
Ok way to create tokens as a red creature. Most likely is a 4 mana 2/1 that comes with 2 1/1s, but could throw a 1/1 away to make 2 more.
Just an incredibly powerful dragon, letting you double up on any and all removal, and even letting red removal bypass indestructible.
Once again a real nice card that doubles up on the focus elementals have in the limited environment, the double strike making it a reliable creature in combat, with vivid meaning it could deal up to 10 damage at once (very cool with the elemental champion).
Also itself being 4 mana works with that aspect of the elemental package.
Nicely synergises with Lasting Tarfire to deal 4 to each opponent each turn.
Cool removal spell that lets you rummage.
Don't think it's as good as some other haste granters, like Raccoon Rallier, but any haste for aggressive decks can be useful.
Green
Pretty generic fight spell. Being sorcery speed kinda sucks, but at least it comes with a slight attack boost.
I really want this to be great, but I just have nightmares of casting it to flip 5 lands. Very high gamble prospects.
Incredible reprint to standard, I can so easily see playing this into a turn 3 abzan card, which would then let me tap the bloom tender to cast another 3 mana card.
That isn't even considering how it could easily been broken. I've been saving this vivid interaction for this, but playing Bloom Tender alongside a Leyline of the Guildpact
means it can tap for WUBRG on turn 3.
Cool reprint, the hexproof doesn't combat against blight, but the hexproof can still protect against some removal spells.
Very nice way of removing counters, and a very threatening card for only 2 mana. Ward 2 and trample is insanely good. Paired with something like Torpor Orb
it doesn't even start off as a 1/1, meaning it's an instant major threat.
Good way to push damage against swarm decks, that can most of the time be a 5/5.
Green Sun's Zenith in standard is a cool new tool for decks. It requiring you to behold 2
creatures of the creature you want to summon's type kinda sucks, but if you have 1 or 2 changelings you can gain a ton of flexibility in the type of creature you search for.
Cool draw engine for elf decks, and also just a 4 mana 6/6 with a minor downside.
Reclamation Sage with more creature types? Very good card!
Ok card, great if you can get a turn where you unload your hand of creatures onto the battlefiedld.
Nice combat trick to surprise faerie players that get too confident.
Nice way to rebuy cards attached to a creature.
Incredible card. If it was just the enters ability it would be very playable, but having decent stats and being able to untap another permanent every turn provides a ton more value.
The green aura combat trick of the set, the temporary trample is nice, but I don't think it's as good as blossoming defence in a limited environment.
The 2 mana green mana dork of the set, can synergise well with Doran (and Bark of Doran), or just be a good blocker.
It's fine. A way to slightly slow down decks with the lifegain and deathtouch.
Nice ramp for elf strategies, although it requires a lot of setup to be useful.
Way for elf decks to maybe stock the graveyard, or at least set up the next few draws. functionally identical to Wary Thespian (outside of the creature types).
Not a great target for blight.
Essential to pick up at least one of these in limited if you manage to draft a Moonshadow, as it can speedrun counter removal if you build your deck around permanents.
Outside of limited it is just a worse version of Cache Grab (which incidentally has got a little better with the amount of changelings in this set counting as squirrels).
A 4 mana 4/3 that draws on entry is fine. Not that great.
Cool payoff to the elf strategy of filling the graveyard, creating a major threat with trample. Counts all creatures in play and graveyard.
Passive enchantment that helps you set up your future draws in draft, and can then destroy later to create a major board presence. Counts all elf cards, including changelings and kindred cards.
Nice 3 mana ramp and great blink target. Mutavault tokens can be real powerful, and this card alone can trigger the behold 2 required for Celestial Reunion to let you fetch any creature from your deck.
Permanent fight spell for green that also gives a major buff to stats.
Great payoff for vivid decks, being able to act as a mini Craterhoof, although it doesn't have haste or provide other creatures with trample.
Exploration that can fetch a few basics from the deck. Not the most powerful, but shines best in 5 colour elemental decks.
Good blocker. Not much else.
Could maybe be a useful way to push damage, but doesn't seem particularly great.
Amazing reward for leaning into a mono green deck, where it can be deployed as early as turn 4.
Wild that they made a Heroic Intervention free for creatures that share a creature type.
Ok this card is really cool, but watch out. It's one of the ways that you can stop lands from being colourless, in this case being a way to improve the effects of vivid abilities. But as a resident Ugin fan
you do need to watch out for this giving Ugin the ability to destroy the attached land. (Can happen with both Eye of the Storms and the Spirit Dragon versions of Ugin).
Heavily depends on the creatures in your deck, but I feel the best scenario for this is the Great Forest Druid with the elemental champion, where you can give both creatures +7/+7 and trample.
Could be a cool way to let you still attack with creatures you want to also keep available as blockers.
A 3 mana ramp spell that gets better the later you cast it. It still creates the token even if you fail to find a basic land too.
Giant growth that can also draw a card could be nice.
I don't know whether I like this or not. Could be cool in commander, but watch out for it in limited with the amount of cards it mills.
Cool that it just looks for elves in the entire graveyard instead of just within the milled cards.
Very similar to Pawpatch Formation, but costing 1 more and creating a 2/2 instead of drawing a card.
I feel like the most valuable aspect of this is the token creature, but having access to the other options is great too.
Great target for cards like thoughtweft charge to eat opposing creatures, while letting other creatures go through for bonus damage.
Hinterland Sanctifier with deathtouch is a real nice card, helping massively slow games down with lifegain and deathtouch to discourage the opponent attacking.
Most likely will be a 4 or 5 mana 6/5 with reach and trample, but with a card like Tam it can be on the battlefield as early as turn 3.
Multicolour
I love how cool Abigale is, but i'm not currently quite sure where she fits in. Turning off the abilities of some creatures can be incredible, like
Cecil or Rakshasa.
Wild that this is the only command that's an instant and not a sorcery. There's a lot of good options here, the token being great alongside the elemental champion, since the copy does not require the additional cost.
After that, the board wipe is great for wiping out boards of small creatures, then drawing cards and treasure creation are great when there's no targets for the other abilities.
Great to pair alongside boggart mischief to keep pinging the opponent.
Bre is a really cool twist on the classic Brion Stoutarm, creating a really interesting card design
that I would love to try out in commander.
Wild way to flood the board, or even act as removal if needed.
The first in the cycle of evoke elementals, able to go wide early game or push damage late game. When cast properly it can instantly push in for 8 damage, plus any other creatures you have already on the board.
Fine card. If you have a creature to sacrifice it's a pretty powerful 3 mana 5/4, but if not it becomes a 3 mana vanilla 3/2.
The first of a group of hybrid mana changelings, each with a single keyword. 4 mana 3/4 reach (which is basically just a treefolk with more creature types) is a fine slot fill, not much else.
Might be worth picking up if your deck lacks reliable ways to deal with faeries.
For evoking, you probably want to be casting this for BB, but getting the UU ability later in the game could be nice to swing things in your favor.
Incredibly powerful signpost to go for merfolk in draft. Anthem effect that lets you double up on convoke spells or even just attack and keep creatures available to block.
Another cool way to untap your merfolk, not as consistent as the Deepchannel Duelist, but can catch opponents by surprise with it, and then attack next turn to get the extra damage.
As much as I would love to see a competetively viable Doran, I don't know if this will see much play outside of commander. As a blocker, it has the opportunity to be wild, becoming a 5/10, but I would love to see it have reach.
Does pair nicely with the Surly Farrier though, gaining vigilance and becoming a 6/11 when it attacks.
Really cool thievery spell, can exile a bunch of cards from the opponent's deck and cast a few spells. Again, don't know if it's great in 1v1 formats, but it absolutely shines in commander.
Going to lump the eclipsed cycle together, since they're all basically the same. Keep in mind these can also fetch changelings and kindred cards.
Emptiness is so versatile, I can easily think of scenarios where I would want to evoke it for either effect, and then being able to get both when drawn later is really valuable.
Another shapeshifter with a single keyword, cool to apply pressure, but there's a lot of better options.
A very nice midrange threat that you can keep feeding mana to to gain an advantage, with the hope of reaching the final stage where it can end the game by itself.
Nice way to rummage through your deck with elemental mana value 4+ synergy.
Another hybrid changeling, this time with trample.
Hell yeah, new Bairn. Cool to give a few stats to creatures you control.
Say that the final ability trigger hits 3/5 cards being goblins, that would mean the card draws 3 and then can either act as removal, apply pressure or double up on your best goblin on the board, which is real versatile.
I don't think this is as amazing as people think, but can still apply a lot of pressure if left to accrue value. Might be too slow for standard, but definitely gonna be wanted for commander.
Feels like a worse version of Brie Stoutarm, but can still provide a way for white or red decks to block flyers.
I'm sure Kirol could be part of some cool deck to gain advantage of doubling triggered abilities, I just don't really see it. On the bright side, it could very easily slot into goblin or kithkin decks, where it could easily have creatures to tap.
Might also be worth considering in merfolk, to trigger tap abilities.
Early game can be cool card selection, and later game turns into a major token generator. Since it just requires discarding a card alongside mana, it makes lategame land draws into amazing tools to swarm the board with creatures, so you never have a dead draw.
Really interesting hybrid between elf and faerie decks, that also lets you steal from opponents. Cool commander, and if chosen to be at the helm of an elf deck it gives them a reason to run cards like
Bitterblossom (other than it just being a good card).
Free way to create a flyer, that comes with an extra 1/1. Pretty nice to have, and with hybrid mana means it can work with merfolk, faeries and kithkin.
Yet another hybrid changeling, this time with flash.
Pretty good elf anthem, that essentially draws a card when it dies, and 2 of them can chain together and loop infinitely.
NOGGLE ROGUE!!! Pretty decent body that creates 2 treasure tokens, pretty good include in decks that can run it to help ramp to bigger cards, or fix mana for vivid decks.
Hybrid changeling with lifelink. This one might be the best of them to include in the elemental archetype, especially with the elemental champion. Plus it being out of the main colours for vivid means it can fix those colours and provide
both black and white for vivid effects.
Expensive card, but being able to double up on noncreature spells is insanely cool.
This might be my favourite creature that can remove counters from itself, although I feel I am biased towards this type of effect. Paying 2 mana to increase its' stats and return a creature to the battlefield is really cool.
Great pickup if you have a Twilight Diviner.
Cool way for vivid decks to get card advantage, specifically going for nonland cards that you can choose to cast. You don't have to pick them all, if you can't or don't plan on casting some you can just let them be shuffled back
for later. Could also let them be exiled to help thin the deck.
Great way to turn blight into card advantage for goblin or elf decks. Or even maybe elemental decks if you feel like you expect to be blighted.
Very bad card to get in hand, but discarding or milling it feels very useful.
I feel like the best options for this are the lifelink/stun abilities, letting your board swing for a major amount of damage and gaining life. The other options are also pretty good,
especially for cards that also generate tokens.
Key player in the vivid archetype, Tam just makes every vivid card go into overdrive.
Cool way for kithkin to make the token strategy go tall.
The most expensive of the command cycle. Fair given that it can add 2 cards to hand and remove an opponents' creature. Could also work well with Thoughtweft Lieutenant,
where the command can provide a major stat increase while the Lieutenant gives trample.
4 mana elemental, which is decent, that can then double up any other elemental triggers. This'll be wildly powerful alongside the evoke elementals in particular.
Another elemental incarnation with decent abilities when evoked, although I don't think it's as good later in the game (the 3 damage anywhere is always going to have value, not as much with the land in hand).
Alright body, but amazing effect turning every instant into bonus card draw. Being a may ability too is great, since you can just choose not to if your health or deck is getting low.
Good way to turn playing creatures into card selection, usable by basically any deck.
Both of these effects are valuable enough to use individually, and great even in the later stages of the game.
Colourless
Fine way to fetch a land for draft deck.
Very similar to Boulderborn Dragon, although I don't think as good. Exiling up to 2 cards from graveyards
on enter (and at sorcery speed) doesn't seem incredibly useful.
Very powerful coat of arms effect, I feel like this could be a great include in shapeshifter/sliver deck that runs
Thrumming Hivepool. Additionally though, as someone who got back into the game right after
the phyrexian invasion (around wilds of eldraine) it has been a little weird barely seeing anything through the game about the fallout. This is nice to see though.
Pretty nice draft 1 drop, giving you a reward for sticking to a creature type, and being able to rebuy one when needed.
I would especially keep this in mind when playing in either black or white, since it can return nameless inversion and
crib swap alongside the other kindred spells of the creature type you're building around.
Nice piece of ramp that can attack or defend later on. Also a shapeshifter so can be fetched by any abilities that specify a creature type.
Can also use it to trigger behold effects consistently.
Wild that this is the only scarecrow in the main set, thankfully we have the cool jund reaper in the commander set. Pretty standard
mana filter creature, can work well with Doran (both the creature and equipment).
It does cost 4 instead of 3, but very solid version of Herald's horn.
Triggering the upkeep ability on enter is pretty nice, letting it act as a surveil instead of just seeing what you will draw is useful to dig through the library, and it reducing the cost of cards of the type is so much
cooler than focusing on creature cards only, since there's a whole lot of kindred going around with this set.
Incredibly fun looking card, I really want to try and get it equipped to a bitterblossom bearer, or in a Cadira, caller of the small commander deck.
Mostly looks like a nice bonus for the vivid draft archetype, letting you get an extra colour in the effect. Doubt the activated ability will occur much though,
unless your deck includes Tam.
Springleaf drum being back in standard is incredibly cool to see, can see it slotting very nicely into gran-gran decks, basically turning her into a gene pollinator
that can loot and provide mana discounts once you hit the lesson threshold.
Runed Stalactite with job select? hell yeah sign me up.
Being a changeling makes it a nice slot filler for any creature type deck you have for drafting. Better than Kyoshi battle fan
and Monk's fist. (12/1/26 edit: this does not snap onto the token. Still a cool card, but not as cool).
Lands
Nice draft card to have, can be useful with decks focused around kithkin or elves, where you can add treefolk to the deck and add
this as a way to get the colour of mana you aren't using. Best archetype for this is definitely elementals, since they show up in all colours.
What is there to say about the shocklands. Definitely up there for best cards in the set (especially the double sided ones). Very excited to
use temple garden and overgrown tomb in standard.
Final thoughts are that this is an incredibly cool set, and you should go to prerelease for it if possible (I know I am). Hopefully I've at least taught you
one interaction that you can use to your advantage.
I've learnt that I never want to do a full set analysis like this again (This page has entirely been created from scratch and filled with delusional ramblings in about 3 days).
Next time I'll most likely just go for more in depth draft/prerelease guides and top cards of the set. I didn't switch to doing this halfway through because i'm stubborn and wanted to prove
that I could do this. I apologise if some of the card talk just felt useless, it's incredibly difficult to have opinions about every card in a set, especially when there's a baseline that are just there to be
draft fillers. Also I've learnt that the magic card database on their website does not currently have champion of the clachan or champion of the weird on there.
Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you in the next blog post ^^
