Lorwyn Eclipsed is here, and with it comes a whole new Draft environment. I've honestly really been looking forward to this set. While I did enjoy the flavor and theme of Avatar: the Last Airbender, I was a bit unimpressed with how bomb-centric the format was. Lorwyn looks to be another powerful set, but it's also kind of... weird (in a good way!).

Lorwyn Eclipsed reminds me of sets like Kaldheim or Zendikar Rising where you have to draft around a pretty specific archetype, like Elves or Goblins, and find cards that benefit off your drafting strategy. I think there's also a lot of fixing in this set, and a soft five-color theme, which makes me hopeful this will be a fun and interactive set to draft. While the set has only just been released, I've already found a handful of cards that I have my eye on when drafting or playing Sealed of this format.

Let's take a look at some of the cards that have caught my eye and how they play into the larger themes of the set.

Blight Cards

The first main mechanic of this set is Blight. Blight is a cost you pay where you place a certain amount of -1/-1 counters on creatures you control for some kind of benefit. For example, let's look at Sting-Slinger:

A repeatable 2 damage to your opponent stapled onto a three-mana 3/3 is a really, really good deal. However, if Sting-Slinger is theoretically your only creature, you can only do this three times, if you put all the -1/-1 counters onto them. This incentivizes you to find cards that carry -1/-1 counters well, or ways to remove them.

Two potential cards you could pair with Sting-Slinger are Creakwood Safewright and Rimekin Recluse - Safewright letting you Blight onto it to remove the counters repeatedly and Recluse to bounce back your Blighted creature once it has too many counters on it as a way to reset.

That's why I think cards like Summit Sentinel will play big roles in this format. This is a pretty unassuming 2-mana 1/3, but when your deck has cards like Dream Seizer it can generate you some pretty good value by potentially blocking early aggression while also netting you a card down the line.

The standout Blight cards for me, however, are Blighted Blackthorn, Dream Seizer, and Gnarlback Elm. I've only played against Blighted Blackthorn once, but I think my opponent was able to draw something like four cards off it over a series of turns. With ways to remove counters from creatures, like Gnarlback Elm, you can repeatedly attack with this creature to gain advantage, and it doesn't make for a bad blocker either. Dream Seizer is just another good value creature, even if you Blight on itself.

Mana Fixing

The most important aspect about the mana-fixing in Lorwyn Eclipsed is that there aren't any dual lands at common in this set. While this makes me cautious of how far you can stretch your mana base, there's a handful of fixing cards that lead me to believe you can still get away with 3-5 color decks in this format.

In Green we have Great Forest Druid, Tend the Sprigs, Shimmerwilds Growth, and Midnight Tilling as ways to fix your mana. In the land slot we have of course the five rare shocklands, but also Evolving Wilds and Eclipsed Realms. Lastly, there are four colorless cards that help with mana fixing in some way - Changeling Wayfinder, Firdoch Core, Springleaf Drum, and Foraging Wickermaw.

With all of this information, I think this set will play similarly to others without dual lands at the common slot, where most of the time you'll be a two-color deck splashing for a third. If you're base-Green in this format, however, you probably have more room to experiment. Tend the Sprigs is a card I really like for these types of multicolored Green decks, as it not only ramps you to your bombs or other colors, but it scales with the game. This is a very different Rampant Growth effect than what we've seen previously, as this card generates you an actual threat or defensive creature. The reach on the Treefolk token can help put a stop to early Faeries, like Unwelcome Sprite.

Flash Threats

Another interesting aspect of Lorwyn Eclipsed is the amount of cards that you can play at instant-speed. The Faeries archetype also rewards you for playing cards on your opponent's turn, so to succeed in this format is to know what your opponent could be holding up at any given moment. One card that caught my eye in particular is Glamer Gifter.

Back in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty I used to get blown out all the time by Suit Up, and I think a similar effect on a permanent creature is much better than a card in the long run, especially because you can Blight onto it later.

With cards like Flock Imposter, Gilt-Leaf's Embrace, Dawn's Light Archer, and Glammermite in the format, it's imperative to know what your opponent could be representing with three or more open mana.

Building and Engine

Going back to my thoughts on Blight, I think a way to gain a leg up in this format is identifying engines and what cards synergize together. This format doesn't seem particularly fast, but it does seem grindy, so you should be conscious of what cards pair well with others during your draft or deck-building portion of your event.

Take the card Pestered Wellguard for example. On the surface this card seems just okay - it's a 3/2 for 4 mana that can make an additional body when it attacks. However, when you pair this card with Wanderbrine Trapper, if uninterrupted you have a pretty deadly combo of not only tapping down your opponent's best attacker or blocker every turn, but a way to also create game-ending pressure in the form of 1/1 Faerie tokens.

Standout Commons and Uncommons

While I've mentioned a handful of cards that have caught my eye already, here are a couple more cards that I think you should be picking highly in this format.

If you're drafting the Goblins deck cards like Sourbread Auntie, Boggart Mischief, and Sting-Slinger is a great way to ping your opponents to death.

With so many merfolk benefiting off tap abilities, any and all Convoke cards seem powerful, especially Merrow Skyswimmer and Unexpected Assistance.

Reaping Willow is a great chunky creature that lets you attack more freely with cards like Moonglove Extractor - it having lifelink also can offset cards that have you pay life for bonus effects.

Overall, Lorwyn Eclipsed seems like a really deep and interesting Limited set to conquer. While there are certainly powerful rares in this set, I feel like more games are going to come down to you correctly analyzing your Sealed pool or Draft seat and pinpointing the best combos you can find for your cards. With games not ending quickly due to harsh Aggro decks, you're going to have to work to beat your opponent in a game of attrition and figure out the best ways to out-value and go over the top of them.

Until next time, happy eclipsing!

-Roman Fusco