There are a lot of reasons for players to be excited about Lorwyn Eclipsed, but for many, the biggest selling point is the nostalgia. The original Lorwyn block was packed with Changelings, typal synergies, and unique mechanics that the new set does a great job paying homage to. Some old mechanics, including Champion, may not be returning in their traditional old form, but are instead getting reworked with new designs.
With this in mind, we wanted to highlight one particular enchantment from Prophecy that opens the door for infinite combos with multiple Champion Changelings from original Lorwyn. This forgotten tool is easily abused in Commander and deserves more recognition than it receives.
Dual Nature MTG
As a six-mana enchantment with a symmetrical effect, Dual Nature may not seem like it’s worth the cost. Things get even tougher with Duel Nature’s additional downside, blowing up copies it makes when the original leaves play.
That being said, there are a bunch of ways to ensure that you get the better end of the deal. The simplest is to play a bunch of cards with potent enters triggers, like Etali, Primal Conqueror. That way if your tokens end up leaving play later in the game, you still got your money’s worth.
Taking things a step further, any token-doubling effects, like Adrix and Nev, Twincasters and other token payoffs synergize well with Dual Nature. Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds, in particular, can create tokens that won’t be affected by this enchantment’s downside. You can also use cards like Crafty Cutpurse to steal any tokens your opponents make.
Dual Nature Combos
As powerful as Dual Nature can be as a generic build-around, it’s at its absolute best when being used as a combo piece. There are a multitude of two-card combos you can achieve once you get Dual Nature online, and one of the easiest to assemble involves pairing the enchantment with a Champion creature. Any of these can work, but there are additional benefits to using a Changeling Champion card like Changeling Titan.
The goal here is to cast Changeling Titan with Dual Nature in play, triggering both the creature and the enchantment. By resolving the Dual Nature trigger first, you can make a token copy of Changeling Titan and use its Champion trigger to exile the original nontoken copy. This causes Dual Nature’s second ability to trigger, resulting in the Changeling Titan token leaving play and the original copy returning to start the chain all over again.
While this loop doesn’t accomplish a ton on its own, it triggers infinite enters effects from cards like Soul Warden. You can also use the original Changeling Titan’s Champion trigger to keep blinking out another creature with a powerful enters effect, such as Karmic Guide. Alternatively, blinking out any token maker will allow you to generate infinite tokens in a jiffy.
There are other two-card Dual Nature combos for players to utilize, including one with Felidar Guardian. Because Felidar Guardian can blink out lands with its enters effect, you’re free to execute a similar combo but use the nontoken Felidar Guardian’s trigger to keep flickering lands and generate infinite mana.
Once you open the door for three-card combos, winning the game gets even easier. The combination of Dual Nature, Sylvan Hierophaunt, and Phyrexian Altar, for example, enables you to return every creature card in your graveyard to your hand.
Notably, despite Champion getting reworked in Lorwyn Eclipsed, these combos will not work with the new Behold cards.
An Underrated Option
Despite being an exciting engine for a variety of different EDH archetypes, Dual Nature remains incredibly underplayed. It appears in less than 2,000 decks according to EDHREC, which is a bit surprising for a combo piece of this magnitude even if the enchantment is mana intensive.
The one silver lining is that the card’s lack of demand has helped it maintain a very affordable price tag. Near mint versions are available on TCGplayer for roughly $2, which is a bargain considering that the rare has only ever been printed back in Prophecy. Perhaps its appeal in conjunction with the Lorwyn Changelings will help it earn more respect moving forward.
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