More than half of the Lorwyn Eclipsed preview season is behind us now, and things really have been moving at a blistering pace. Yesterday, in particular, saw a ton of card reveals, including both of the set’s new Commander precons. On top of that, we also got to see a ton of new typal spoilers that will be coming in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Collective Inferno
If there’s one thing typal decks are known for, it’s going wide with creatures. Whether it’s Humans, Elementals, or even Minotaurs, this is true in the vast majority of cases. Collective Inferno taps into this aspect beautifully, doubling the damage output of your chosen type to potentially devastating effect.
Thanks to Convoke, this should make an easy addition to pretty much any Goblins deck, Krenko, Mob Boss in particular. When all of your 1/1s suddenly hit for two damage, your opponents suddenly have a lot less time to deal with your hordes. There are other potential homes for it, too, including Lizard and Dragon decks. Both have ways to deal noncombat damage by dropping creatures, like Gev, Scaled Scorch and Terror of the Peaks, which will also get doubled by Inferno’s effect.
While Collective Inferno does feel Commander-focused, some players are already weighing up the card for Standard, too, as a potential finisher for Mono-Red Aggro decks. These tend to run both Sunspine Lynx and Scalding Viper as noncombat damage dealers, so naming Elemental is a solid pick. You can also pick Dragon to sneak through an extra four damage with Nova Hellkite, so there’s real potential here.
While it can certainly shine in the right deck, Collective Inferno is far from a guaranteed staple. Without Convoke it’s decidedly underwhelming, losing out to the likes of Gratuitous Violence and Fiery Emancipation on rate. Even with Convoke factored in, City on Fire is more widely applicable and potentially much more devastating. This means you’ll really only want Collective Inferno in specifically all-in red typal decks, which is a fairly narrow niche. That said, when you cast it for free by tapping five Goblins, it’s going to feel very good indeed.
Bloodline Bidding
At first glance, Bloodline Bidding appears to be a card at odds with itself. You want a lot of creatures on board to cast it cheaply, but you also want a lot of creatures in your graveyard to get the maximum benefit. This pushes it into a niche of decks that create a lot of tokens while also milling their actual creatures, which is largely just Zombies or Elves.
That said, there are some sneaky tricks you can pull off that make the card much more attractive. As pointed out by players on Reddit, you can sacrifice the creatures you used to Convoke Bloodline Bidding while the spell is on the stack, then get them all back once it resolves. Any instant speed sacrifice outlet will do here, but Altar of Dementia is the standout option, since it can mill more creatures into your ‘yard to add to the reanimation pool. The potential for value here is huge, especially if you’re running creatures with enters and dies triggers.
Unfortunately, outside of this scenario, I don’t see Bloodline Bidding doing a ton of work. Typal decks are already very weak against board wipes, and this card isn’t a cheap solution to that problem. If you’re including cards that help rebuild, you’d be better with cheaper options like Living Death, even in most typal decks. Unless you’re running a Typal/Aristocrats hybrid strategy, you’re unlikely to find a home for this one.
Gathering Stone
It may look like just a worse Herald’s Horn, but there’s actually quite a lot to Gathering Stone. For starters, this artifact can “draw” you a card on entry, which makes up for being a turn slower than Horn. This won’t always hit, of course, but in a dedicated typal deck, your chances are decent.
It’s also notable that, unlike Horn, Gathering Stone essentially lets you Surveil each turn, letting you dig through pesky land pockets even if you do whiff. You can even put creatures into your graveyard rather than drawing them if you so wish, which is great for graveyard-centric types like Zombies. This makes the floor on the card a lot higher, warranting the one mana increase.
That said, Herald’s Horn is hardly an aspirational card in terms of power level. While the discount here is nice for beefier types like Dragon, it’s also rough to invest four mana into something like this rather than a cheaper, more traditional ramp or draw piece. I expect Gathering Stone will make a great addition to budget typal lists at lower brackets, but I doubt it’ll go much further than that.
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