Magic: the Gathering in 2026 starts out with a bang heard across the Blind Eternities with a return to the beloved plane of Lorwyn in Lorwyn Eclipsed. If there's one thing Lorwyn (and Shadowmoor) has always understood, it's that Black does not need to be loud to be dangerous. It thrives in the margins.

Lorwyn Eclipsed leans hard into that identity. Black in this set is about accrual, recursion, and board states that slowly tip until your opponents realize they're already dead. For EDH players, especially those of us who value texture over brute force, Black comes out of this set with interesting tools to blight your opponents with.

Let's start with the standouts.

Bitterbloom Bearer

Bitterbloom Bearer is a beautiful callback to Lorwyn's Bitterblossom. Flash, flying, tiny body, and a slow bleed of life for incremental board presence. But in Commander, that text box does far more than it initially suggests.

A 1/1 Faerie on each of your upkeeps is not trivial. It is repeatable fodder that fuels aristocrats, sacrifice engines, Skullclamp-style card draw, and Faerie synergies. The life loss is largely cosmetic in Black decks that are already structured to convert life into advantage.

This card shines in decks that care about creatures entering, dying, or simply existing to be used as resources.

Key cards that pair well:

• Maralen, Fae Ascendant - Each Faerie token triggers her ability ensuring that you get value from nabbing your opponents cards each turn.
• Pitiless Plunderer - Every Faerie token that dies becomes mana. Suddenly Bitterbloom Bearer is not a slow value card, but a ramp engine that quietly enables explosive turns.
• Phyrexian Altar - A free sacrifice outlet that converts every Faerie into mana. Bitterbloom Bearer ensures the altar never runs out of fuel, enabling long turns or combo lines without needing extra setup.

Twilight Diviner

Twilight Diviner is a graveyard player's dream. Surveil 2 on entry is already solid, but the real value is in its triggered ability. Turning graveyard entries into token copies is absurdly potent in most reanimation shells.

This is not a generic goodstuff card. It demands intention. But when built around properly, it becomes a recursive engine that turns self-mill and sacrifice into exponential advantage.

Key cards that pair well:

• Muldrotha, the Gravetide - An all-star reanimator Commander that enables consistent graveyard casting. With Twilight Diviner on board, every creature cast from the graveyard doubles its presence.
• Kheru Goldkeeper - Adds a Treasure to that token copy because all graveyard-obsessed players know that there is no real ceiling to accruing value.
• Living Death - A classic finisher that becomes downright oppressive already. Choosing to make a token copy of one from ALL returning creatures is an added bonus.

Dawnhand Dissident

At first glance, Dawnhand Dissident seems to require too many hoops to jump through. But, what makes this card interesting is flexibility. You are not locked into one mode. Early game, you surveil to sculpt draws. Mid-game, you disrupt graveyards. Late game, you turn excess counters into threats stolen from any graveyard.

Dawnhand Dissident is a flexible utility piece that supports multiple Black strategies at once. Blight counters provide surveil early, graveyard disruption when needed, and cost reduction later to enable turns where mana constraints matter less. Looking through Lorwyn Eclipsed's card gallery reveals many interesting interactions with cards pays off when you remove counters - looking at you Moonshadow.

Key cards that pair well:

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician - Counter manipulation, sacrifice outlets, and card draw all in one. Yawgmoth turns Dawnhand Dissident into a resource engine rather than a utility creature.
• High Perfect Morcant - The blight counters created by Morcant give Dawnhand Dissident more relevant targets for proliferate-style play patterns. Together, these cards pressure opposing boards while advancing your own counter-based synergies.
• Poxwalkers - Casting cards from exile is not a drawback here. Dawnhand Dissident's exile mode becomes a payoff enabler, repeatedly bringing Poxwalkers back and turning disruption into recursion.

Bloodline Bidding

Bloodline Bidding is a new card, but it enters Commander with an effect that typal or kindred players already understand very well. Mass recursion tied to creature type has always been one of the strongest ways for tribal decks to recover from sweepers or convert a full graveyard into a sudden board swing.

Convoke is what pushes this card over the top. Kindred decks naturally flood the board, making it easier to cast Bloodline Bidding ahead of curve or after a partial rebuild.

Key cards that pair well:

• Patriarch's Bidding - The original benchmark for tribal recursion. Running both increases consistency and makes board wipes far less scary.
• Kindred Discovery - Branching into Blue gives you a surge of card draw when you resolve Bloodline Bidding.
• Haunting Voyage - A more recent take on tribal recursion that plays well alongside Bloodline Bidding for redundancy and inevitability.

Boggart Mischief

Boggart Mischief is a Goblin version of Bastion of Remembrance. What this does differently is that it gives you two different bodies while Bastion only gives one. The other relevant thing is that this enchantment is specific to goblins which restricts you to draining the table only if a Goblin you control dies.

However, Boggart Mischief also has a Goblin sub-type meaning it counts as a goblin for multiple other cards! Which ones? Well, see below.

Key cards that pair well:

• Wort, Boggart Auntie - Recurs Boggart Mischief if it ever finds itself in your graveyard.
• Grub's Command - This sorcery's first mode lets you copy Boggart Mischief so that you can double the drain and gain.
• Goblin Matron - This momma enters and lets you find any Goblin... including this enchantment.

The Shadows Deepen Over Lorwyn

Black in Lorwyn Eclipsed is about patience. About setting up engines that outperform what everyone else is doing at the table. These cards reward players who plan three turns ahead and understand that Commander is rarely won in a single moment (unless you're resolving Bloodline Bidding and returning all your Elves or Goblins or Faeries back for an instant army.)

We've started Magic: the Gatheringin 2026 with an absolutely stellar set that Swamp-tapping mages will adore. Now, let us all go forth and spread the blight in our next Commander games.