Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast unveiled both of the precons for Lorwyn Eclipsed. While we’ve not played with them yet, out of the box, both of these decks look pretty great, honestly. With compelling synergies and strong reprints, either of these decks seems like a solid choice.
That being said, there’s always room for upgrades. While Wizards did reprint a lot of useful cards, including some that had spiked in price, a few were missed. Alongside these, a couple of offbeat additions that might seem unusual, but can provide absolutely insane value.
MTG Dance of the Elements Upgrades
If you really want to get the most out of Dance of the Elements, the first thing to do is put Mass of Mysteries in charge. This tweak alone will upgrade your deck’s potential, allowing you to abuse the powerful enters effect on many Elementals. Usefully, doing this also unlocks the easy synergy with The Master, Multiplied and Sundial of the Infinite.
Using either of these cards, you can prevent the token copies from Myriad and Encore from being sacrificed at the end of the turn. Considering many Elementals come with huge bodies attached, especially the new Invocations, this massively increases the value they provide. As if that wasn’t enough, Master, Multiplied also turns off the Legend Rule, allowing for some serious shenanigans.
At around $3 and $3, respectively, each of these cards makes for a compelling low-cost Dance of the Elements Upgrade. The same is also true for Flamekin Harbinger, however, which is significantly cheaper at around $1. For one mana, this card is essentially an Elemental tutor on a stick, which, while simple, is always incredibly useful.
Speaking of Elementals, Rumbleweed looks like a fantastic budget option for Dance of the Elements, as it costs just $0.50. Much like the new Jubilation, this massive Elemental buffs your entire board on entry, making it insane with Myriad. Leaning into this strategy, you can even add the $1 Yargle and Multani for some seriously high-power swings, provided you’ve done some setup.
If you do want to stick with Ashling, the Limitless as your Commander, there are still a fair few compelling upgrades. While they’re less on the budget end of things, both Maha, Its Feathers Night and Animar, Soul of Elements are fantastic upgrades. At $11 and $12 each, however, these cards aren’t the most budget-friendly options.
MTG Blight Curse Upgrades
For better or worse, the Blight Curse precon reprinted many of the would-be upgrades that players were expecting. Several recently spiked cards like The Scorpion God, Flourishing Defenses, Blowfly Infestation, and Necroskitter all made the cut, for instance. Notably, however, cards like Nest of Scarabs, Crumbling Ashes, and Tangle Wire didn’t get reprinted and are now climbing in price.
Thankfully, while we are seeing a rush of demand for many precon upgrades, there are plenty of budget options. Generous Patron, for instance, is worth $0.25 and lets you draw cards by putting counters on your opponent’s creatures. This works perfectly with Persistent Constrictor, which provides a steady stream of -1/-1 Counters for around $2.20.
To maximize the effectiveness of these counters, Maha, Its Feathers Night is another fantastic upgrade to Blight Curse. Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh can then push this synergy even further, giving you card draw whenever you kill something with counters. Unfortunately, while Cleopatra is easily a budget card at $1, Maha’s already costly $11 price tag appears to be on the up and up.
Mercifully, if you’re after an actual budget option, Morselhoarder is just $0.15 right now. This card might be cheap, but it’s honestly an insane upgrade to the Blight Curse deck. Thanks to turning -1/-1 Counters into mana of any color, Morselhoarder is the perfect target for all of your Blight effects.
Admittedly, Morselhoarder does cost six mana to start, so it’s not the best ramp option, but the value this can slowball into is incredible. It also works wonders alongside the new Champion of the Weird that’s coming in the Lorwyn Eclipsed main set. With both these cards in play, you can trade one life for two mana and force your opponent to Blight 2 as well.
The Spikes are Coming
Sadly for anyone hoping to wait around and weigh up their options, it looks like many potential upgrades are already on the rise. Nest of Scarabs, for instance, has already jumped from $1.81 to $8.48 after the decklists were revealed. Should similar upgrades follow the same trajectory, these budget options might not be very budget-friendly for long.
Thankfully, Nest of Scarabs is a bit of an edge case, since it was already basically bought out in anticipation. That being said, there’s a huge amount of demand for Lorwyn Eclipsed already, so cards may sell out fast. With this in mind, it may be better to buy your upgrades sooner rather than later, if you know what you want.
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