In a brief flash, Lorwyn Eclipsed previews have officially come and gone. Coming right off of the holiday season, the set had an extremely brief preview season of just one week. With tremendous amounts of previews every day, there's a ton to look at. After all, two thirds of this mega hyped set were revealed in the last three days!

I'm going to take a look at some of the cooler things previewed throughout the week. As you can imagine, there is a ton to check out so let's not waste any time and get right to it!

What's New and Pricey

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, one of the most expensive cards of the set out of the gate is... a rare? That's right! Not even a mythic, Hexing Squelcher is a lot like Spider-Punk that was released earlier this year, but arguably even better! No, you can't give it haste, but only stopping your own spells from being countered is huge, and that ward cost is real. Best of all, the ward cost stacks in multiples!

Oh, yeah, and it's a goblin too. That just happens to be pretty important for fans of typal synergy decks.

Just about all of the evoke elemental mythic rares are expensive cards, and it's not difficult to see why. Many of them have extremely powerful effects that allow them to be quite versatile. Either you can cast them early for their evoke cost to get a powerful effect or get a big creature out of the equation in the late game. Some players have even tried coming up with ways to scam them back into play in Standard with cards like Not Dead After All. Expect these to see tons of play going forward!

A little lighter on the costliness, I did want to give a little bit of shine to Bloodline Bidding. I'm quite an old school player myself and I remember when Patriach's Bidding was a red hot card. Given how beloved of a card it is among typal players, it's not terribly shocking to see a fresh new version of this effect in this set. Additionally, it helms a great cycle of rare convoke spells that are all quite interesting and are well worth keeping your eyes on.

The Cards People Are Talking About

If you were around for the original Lorwyn block, you probably remember how big of a deal Doran, the Siege Tower was. It was an awesome and wholly unique design that did some work in Constructed, proved essential to early Commander, and would go on to inspire countless designs.

Now we have a new version, with Doran looking a bit worse for wear, but still as potent as ever. This version eschews the classic "buttstrike" text in favor of just going for a big boost in power and toughness. Given Doran's storied history, this card quickly set Commander fans everywhere abuzz, eagerly anticipating the chance to play with this new version of a stone cold classic.

This set has also brought with it a host of sweet reprints from the original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks. Springleaf Drum originally premiered in Lorwyn and became a hit card for years in the right style of deck, becoming a mainstay of Affinity decks in Modern. After a reprint in Born of the Gods over a decade ago, it's back at last, and it's a great time too! Players have noted that it can work great for the Kona, Rescue Beastie deck to cheat copies of Omniscience into play and more. This has given an otherwise innocuous reprint a ton of attention and chatter.

While people were thrilled to see Oko back at the start of the week with the debut, the other planeswalker - Ajani, Outland Chaperone - got a similar amount of hype later on. Ajani's original card debuted in Lorwyn, so it's great to see one of the original five back again. Best of all, this one doesn't look too shabby either! The +1 to make a creature and some solid removal aren't too bad on a three-mana walker, and of course he's got a pretty wild ultimate as well. Will it be a serious player in Standard or just a neat Limited card?

A Look at Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander

The last major thing to mention for this set are the two Commander decks for the set. Wow, do we have some fantastic stuff this time around! The two lists are helmed by some outstanding legends. At the start of the week, we got our look at the face commanders with Ashling, the Limitless and Auntie Ool, Cursewretch. Now we get the two additional legends in Mass of Mysteries and The Reaper, King No More. The latter is an all-new version of fan favorite Reaper King, and that alone has players eager to get their hands on the decks.

That's to say nothing of the awesome new designs, however. The decks are packed with a whole host of outstanding cards - including some that many players have been talking about at length. Many call back to classic Lorwyn and Shadowmoor block cards in fresh new ways, providing players with tons of awesome new things to do.

The decks also include the next pair of enemy colored Tango/Battle lands and Bicycle lands in Rain-Slicked Copse and Sodden Verdure. These give us the Simic lands, with only the Izzet and Orzhov pairs left. It's speculated that those will appear with Secrets of Strixhaven due to the world's focus on enemy color pairs, but nothing is confirmed one way or another yet.

Last but not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the plethora of outstanding reprints in both of these decks. It's not hard to go through both lists and find cards that instantly jump out as top-notch inclusions. For example, several cards from the original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks that care about -1/-1 counters spiked before previews started. Most of them appear in the Blight Curse deck! Additionally, the Dance of the Elements decks features powerful reprints like Endurance, Fury, and Selvala Heart of the Wilds.

Without a doubt, both of these look to be outstanding decks for newbies and veteran players alike. They're great executions of preconstructed decks that leave plenty of room to be expanded upon.

That just about wraps up this preview season round-up! It's been a short and sweet season of previews, but it won't be long before we're back at it again with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For the time being, enjoy this fantastic revisit to a classic plane while it's available!

If you want some more information on the set, be sure to check out these additional resources as well:

• Lorwyn Eclipsed Debut Video
• Lorwyn Eclipsed Card Image Gallery
• Collecting Lorwyn Eclipsed Article
• Lorwyn Eclipsed Mechanics Article
• Magic Story page (featuring Lorwyn Eclipsed)

Prerelease kicks off next weekend so be sure to check with your local game store for details of what events they'll be running. If you need anything from this amazing new set, be sure to check out the Lorwyn Eclipsed page right here on CoolStuffInc! Everything is in stock from sealed product to singles, so get in now and get your hands on one of the biggest sets of 2026!

Paige Smith

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