We're back with another Pauper set review!

This time we're not only covering the first release of 2026 but one of the most hotly anticipated in some time: Lorwyn Eclipsed. The original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks are well known for having quite a few cards that continue to impact the Pauper format to this day. A big part of this are the various typal synergies. You don't need to look far to see how massive the impact of Spellstutter Sprite has been over the years!

So, with a mountain of hype behind it and a return to a beloved world, it's time to take a look at what this brand new set has to offer. We'll be taking the usual approach of breaking down several of the mechanics of the set, taking a look at a bunch of cards along the way. After that we'll look at the rest of the cards of potential interest or notability.

There's a ton to cover, so let's not waste any more time and get straight to it!

Vivid

Let's kick things off with a simple one. The vivid mechanic is a cool new way of caring about the various colors permanents you control have. However, it's only on one common in this set.

Wildvine Pummeler may essentially be a big French vanilla beater, but it's pretty solid if you can lower the cost quite a bit. This is probably something that other formats might want to take advantage of. For example, Domain Zoo in Modern could make good use of this thanks to Leyline of the Guildpact. You could even get away with that in other formats too.

Unfortunately, Pauper doesn't have that density of good multicolored permanents that can substantially bring this cost down early in the game. As such, it's probably relegated to unplayable chaff, but it's definitely one I'd keep in the back of your mind. All it takes is one good multicolored deck for this thing to become a house, which may be more possible in the future as Wizards starts printing more hybrid cards for Limited.

Blight

The first card with blight that we saw - High Perfect Morcant - blighted opponents' creatures. That got players excited at the possibilities...until the rest of the set started trickling out, that is. Players realized very quickly that the majority of cards with blight would impact your own creatures, which makes it harder to utilize them. Only a handful make it in at common and most simply aren't all that great.

These four look somewhat close to playable, but the more you think about it, the less exciting they become. Sure, you can get multiple rummages off Gristle Glutton, but the cost is too steep. Yes, you can cast Wild Unraveling as Counterspell, but the counter suite of Pauper is generally strong enough that it's not worth doing. Similarly, Cinder Strike can hit for a large amount, but why not just play better removal spells that can kill at instant speed? The same logic applies to Bogslither's Embrace, which reads like it could be a good sorcery speed Cast Down, but in practice is rarely anything of the sort.

The one that maybe has an outside shot is Chaos Spewer. If you have a creature you don't mind dying, then this is an above-rate creature. It's even better if the creature is something you want to die, like in Mono-Black Sacrifice. The problem there, though, is the deck's whole appeal relies on you sacrificing the creatures, not simply having them die, so I'm less confident on where it would even be worth running in the end.

Changeling

Now we get into the returning mechanics of the set, of which there are quite a few. The first of these is changeling - an ability granting creatures every creature type. This proves extremely helpful for typal strategies.

Sadly, most of these options aren't all that great. They're mainly Limited filler pieces that help smooth out archetypes, but they're probably not good enough to do anything in Pauper. They're simply too generic.

The only one possibly worth calling out is Mischievous Sneakling. This creature is in the perfect colors for Faeries decks, is a faerie itself, and has flash. Sounds good, right? Well, not entirely.

It's nice that it is a faerie and that it has flash, but it doesn't really line up too great for Faeries decks. Those decks look for two things in their creatures: evasion and potent enters abilities. The deck's faeries are all good because they have some ability that synergizes well with bouncing them back via ninjas as well as having the evasion to get the ninjas on the board. The non-faerie, non-ninja creatures usually have flash and a worthwhile enters ability that makes it worth playing. The Sneakling lacks those, and while it may see some play, it just doesn't have the level of juice that its competitors have.

Stalactite Dagger is neat in that it's an equipment that gives you a token with all creature types. The problem there, though, is that this card won't auto-equip to it, making it not as attractive as historic options like Ancestral Blade.

I'll also take this opportunity to touch on the sole new Pauper-legal Kindred card: Firdoch Core. It also happens to have changeling so, hey, two birds with one stone. Sadly, Manaliths are pretty worthless, even if they can become creatures. Maybe it could be used in some control shells like Guardian Idol was once upon a time, but I think there's a world of difference between that and this. It's certain to be a staple for Pauper Commander fans, though.

Convoke

Last but not least for mechanics, we've got a couple of convoke cards. Merrow can be a decent rate if you can convoke most of it, but it's still not something I'm too terribly excited to play with. Unexpected Assistance is far more interesting, though. Meeting of Minds made a huge showing in Familiars lists, and while this does cost a bit more, it also digs deeper through your deck. Is that enough to make it playable? I'm not too sure, as I'm not a Familiars expert, but I'd imagine it's going to be tested to see if it's much more viable than the existing tech.

Now then, with all the mechanics out of the way, let's get into the individual card analysis!

Goldmeadow Nomad

It's been a long time since Doomed Traveler was a playable card. In fact, truth be told, I can't even recall a time where it was good enough for Pauper at all. That begs the question of how good something like this can be. A 1/2 up front for one mana is a good rate so it's a matter of whether it's worth paying for the other creature later.

What I like about it is that this blocks a number of small Red creatures while also having the flexibility to choose when your creature comes back. Despite this, I'm hardly convinced it's good enough for White Weenies, but I imagine it's worth trying out if nothing else.

Keep Out

This is sort of like the opposite of a Destroy Evil, which kills any creature with over 4 toughness. In this case, it's basically taking out something with four or less toughness, but only if it's tapped. That makes it harder to utilize effectively, but modal spells are usually solid to have, so chalk this up to being another solid sideboard option depending on the meta.

Reluctant Dounguard

It's not hard at all to get this up to a 4/4 in a White Weenies deck or similar token-heavy strategy. However, it makes me think back to the time of something like Martyr's Soul and people thinking that card was quite good and ended up doing nothing. I'd be very leery about leaning on a 3-mana creature - especially one that's effectively a vanilla 2/2 to start - but the potential is there for trying it out in small numbers.

Aquitect's Defenses

Starlit Mantle has rarely been a fringe player and this is just better. Given just how fringe that card has been, though, I wouldn't bet on one additional toughness making this worthwhile.

Blossombind

These tap down cards have proven to be largely irrelevant in the Pauper format. That said, it is worth noting that this one also prevents counters from being added to the creature. Right now there isn't really any use for that, but I can see a world where that might come up.

Glamermite

Sadly, this is about it as far as faeries goes for Pauper in this set. Pestermite has shown up a nonzero amount in Pauper before and this is better if you only care about tapping/untapping creatures. However, part of the appeal to Pestermite is that you can hit lands, artifacts, and more, making this a bit rougher in that regard. The key point there is being able to untap a land with your Pestermite to continue holding up interaction, making this far less ideal as a result.

Silvergill Peddler

Provided you have a way to tap and untap this with ease for some kind of beneficial effect, it can be a solid means of churning through your deck. That's a lot of work to make something like that viable, though, and as such I'm willing to say this just won't end up being playable at all.

Summit Sentinel

We've seen a nonzero number of decks interested in cards like this in other colors (see Outlaw Medic, for example) but those usually come with other benefits. You can play this, use it as a blocker, and then get a card when it dies or you can just play Augur of Bolas instead. That gets you a relevant card up front and still leaves you with a solid 1/3 blocker. There's basically no chance I'd want this alongside Augur and as such, it's likely just left by the wayside.

Auntie's Sentence

This definitely strikes me as one of the best commons in the set. -2/-2 for 2 mana isn't great, but it's the flexibility and modality that makes it great. Getting to remove a creature or pick a card out of the opponent's hand rocks. Sure, you can't hit instants or sorceries like you can with Pilfer, but the option to do either or is fantastic and the rate is solid. Even then, I'm not sure where you'd play it over existing options, but it's good enough to give it some serious shine.

Barbed Bloodletter

If you really want to give a creature wither for a turn, this is a way to do it, I suppose. The bummer is that it doesn't give wither any time beyond that, meaning you're left with a relatively unexciting piece of equipment. I wouldn't bet on this showing up basically anywhere.

Bile-Vial Boggart

It's another in the long line of Festering Goblin variants, but this one is only a goblin and not a zombie. Regardless, Festering Goblin and its ilk have been outclassed and unplayable for years. This is a pretty easy pass.

Blight Rot

There are so many better removal spells that I'm hesitant to even mention this card. However, I could imagine an odd meta edge case where you want to give the -1/-1 counters vs. an outright destroy effect or plain -X/-X. By and large, though, just stick to the usual suspects for removal.

Boggart Prankster

It's worth noting that this doesn't need to be the creature attacking to give the buff, meaning you can hold it for a block while you get your attacks in. That said, goblin decks are either hyper aggressive Mono-Red decks or else are combo decks. They don't want something like this.

Heirloom Auntie

Oh hey, Mono-Black Sacrifice is a deck right now. That makes it pretty trivial to remove the counters from this. Despite that, it's difficult to justify going too heavy on it when you're already running three creatures that get much bigger than this with ease (Carrion Feeder, Mortician Beetle, Bloodthrone Vampire). What I like about this, though, is it still triggers the surveil on each death, which can provide a means to set up your turns in addition to being a big threat. You definitely don't want too much of this, but I could see a copy or two.

Moonglove Extractor

Admittedly, I got a little excited about this one before my local friends reminded me that Audacious Thief was a card. Thief has never seen play, so why would this? It is an elf, so is that anything? Probably not - even if the Black cost is probably easier to pull off than you may think. Even with Timberwatch Elf and Nyxborn Hydra making this a viable threat alongside Elves' heavy life gain, this is too little and too weak to do much of anything.

Scarblade's Malice

Toxin Analysis has proven to be a really potent card alongside Krark-Clan Shaman. So, it begs the question: would you rather have a clue token or a creature token? Naturally there could be potential synergy with Elves too, but those decks aren't likely to want this. You do have to be wary about providing a benefit to opposing Elves lists by boosting their Priest of Titanias, Timberwatch Elfs, and Wellwishers. If you're using Krark-Clan Shaman, though, it's probably not a huge issue.

Boneclub Berserker

Four mana is a lot, but this is a major threat if it comes down in a dedicated Goblins deck. The big problem there becomes finding a way to give it evasion or trample or the like, but if you can pull it off, this is a beating. I'm not going to go so far as to suggest that this will be good, but it raises the question: can good old pure Goblin Aggro make a comeback?

Elder Auntie

This is another kind of card that does it a bit too, but I'm not sure how good this is compared to the existing options. You already have the likes of Mogg War Marshal, Goblin Instigator, Dragon Fodder, and Krenko's Command. Do you really want another one at 3 mana instead of two? I sure don't.

Enraged Flamecaster

There are historically a decent number of ways to cast high mana value spells for cheap or free. Naturally part of this is a callout to evoke creatures, but it works with things like warp and free spells like Fireblast or Snuff Out. The body here is really fragile and I don't think there's a density of spells to make it do anything, but there's some very real future potential for cards like this going forward - especially if WotC prints more cards with the effect.

Reckless Ransacking

I tend to write these sort of pump spells off when it comes to Pauper. They've proven solid in other formats that have access to the likes of Slickshot Show-Off, Emberheart Challenger, and Leyline of Resonance. Pauper lacks something like that and the cards have time and again proven to not be super great. This one is the first that leaves a treasure behind, and I find that interesting. I'm not sure it's enough to make something like this actually playable, but it's definitely a lot better than the other spells of this sort in the context of Pauper.

Dawn's Light Archer

A flash reach elf has some game against a deck like, say, Faeries. However, there are far more effective answers already for Elves lists like Scattershot Archer, Spidersilk Armor, Viridian Longbow, and even Lys Alana Bowmaster if you're really feeling bold. Play those instead, and some of them are great in your non-Elves Green lists also.

Gilt-Leaf's Embrace

Three mana is a lot. Like, a lot. However, giving your creature indestructible, trample, and a big power boost? That's a pretty potent effect. The surprise element can really get someone if you run this as like a one-of in Bogles. The deck already plays 3-drop auras well and used to play Cartouche of Strength, so this as a fun-of, one-of could prove solid. I'm not very hopeful that it could have a shot elsewhere, however.

Great Forest Druid

Most two-mana dorks only tap for one kind of colored mana - usually Green. This one can tap for any color, which is a huge plus, and its toughness is big enough to dodge Lightning Bolt. There's enough one-mana ramp spells that I don't think this is worth it, but I'll say there could be a home for it somewhere I can't think of. There's enough going for it that it might be better than it initially appears in the right kind of deck.

Midnight Tilling

Cache Grab has shown up a minor amount over the last few years, primarily in Dredge style lists. Within the context of Pauper - i.e. a format that will almost never have squirrels - this is basically the same thing. Thus it begs the question: do you want copies 5-8 for your deck? If so, then here you go.

Safewright Cavalry

Pumping elves up sounds cool for an Elves deck, but I'll cut right to it: Wildheart Invoker is just miles better than this. Even that has always been a fringe player, but with Priest of Titania mana, you're getting so much more bang for your buck at the eight-mana activation vs. five.

Unforgiving Aim

As you can probably tell from this and many other reviews, I am nothing if not a sucker for a good modal spell and hot damn is this a nice one. All three of these modes are good on an instant, though three mana is perhaps a bit of a bummer. Adding the option to get a creature ensures you never have a dead card, though, which is where the strictly worse Crushing Canopy failed in the past. The only real downside I can see here is the lack of artifact removal, which given how prevalent those are in the current meta likely makes this a far less attractive option.

That wraps another Pauper review and the first of 2026! That said, I'll be honest with you all: this set isn't great for the format. Many were hoping for some strong faeries, elves, and goblins - among other cards - and we just didn't get them. Most of what we did get isn't moving the needle at all. It's a bit of a shame, and one can only hope it doesn't mark the start of a trend throughout 2026.

That having been said, it won't be long until our next set, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tentatively set for a preview season in mid-to-late February. Given the "leaks" that came about this weekend, however, it'll be interesting to see if anything changes in regards to that. As of the writing of this piece, WotC still hasn't done a formal write-up on what happened and what plans are going forward so we'll just have to see what comes next.

Until next time!

Paige Smith

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