MagicCon Atlanta’s preview panel was perhaps the biggest one of the entire year. Revealing six of the seven sets in 2026, and a secondary Final Fantasy release, there’s a ton to look forward to as an MTG player.
That said, even though a ton of massive bombs were announced, we don’t know too much about a lot of future sets. In fact, the only new set that had any spoilers attached to it at all was Lorwyn Eclipsed. From what we’ve seen, however, Magic’s first in-Universe set for 2026 looks extremely powerful.
Notably, the Lorwyn Eclipsed First Look confirmed that the leaked cards from a few days ago are indeed real. Beyond these already exciting cards, there’s no shortage of powerful bombs to look forward to.
MTG Emptiness
Emptiness offers players a fixed variation of the previous Evoke Elementals that absolutely upended older MTG formats. Emptiness reads in a really exciting way, but plays very differently from the Evoke Elementals we’re aware of.
The versatility of Emptiness is an incredibly interesting gameplay space. Playing with the hybrid mana mechanic from the original Lorwyn Block, Emptiness offers different effects depending on the mana you spend to cast it. Since Emptiness’s Evoke cost is just two mana, you’ll only be able to get one of the abilities when paying this cost however.
Between the two effects, the white one is likely stronger. You can use this reanimation effect to bring back a creature that can blink Emptiness. Charming Prince, for example, which is Standard legal, can blink Emptiness, avoiding the downside of Evoke. This essentially means that you can get 5/7 in stats for just two mana. If you manage to Surveil Charming Prince into the graveyard turn one, you can even pull this off on turn two. The removal effect on Emptiness allows it to be versatile enough to avoid Emptiness from being a dead card in your hand until you have six mana. For its full cost, Emptiness can offer both effects.
The downside of this card, however, actually comes from its design space. Blinking Emptiness won’t grant you any effects. Since you didn’t spend mana on it, Emptiness will basically just re-enter as a vanilla 3/5. This means that Ephemerate combos, commonly seen in Modern, are quite poor with the card. That said, Emptiness still synergizes quite well with cards like Neoform and Birthing Ritual. The card could be especially deadly in a Cascade-style Modern deck utilizing the Ritual.
MTG Morningtide’s Light
This might look like a harmless Commander card at first glance, but Morningtide’s Light reads disturbingly like a nerfed The One Ring. A full Flicker effect certainly offers an opportunity to gain a lot of value, but because these sorts of effects only create value when you have a significant board state, they rarely break into competitive formats.
What separates Morningtide’s Light from past board Flicker cards, however, is the second ability it offers. Similar to the One Ring (but not quite as good), Morningtide’s Light essentially gives you a turn of immunity. This turns the Sorcery into a very enticing stall tool that can accrue value when combined with the right creatures.
Despite the similarities, there is still a big difference between Morningtide’s Light and The One Ring. The One Ring can carry the game on its own, something that Morningtide’s Light cannot do. This only creates value if you have creatures on board to Flicker. While the two cards can work similarly under the right circumstances, Morningtide’s Light is way weaker.
I think this card is very good, and could see play in formats past Standard, but it’s even better in Commander. This only prevents combat damage dealt to you, not to the table. Similar to Teferi’s Protection, this can encourage opponents to target one another, leaving you vulnerable again.
MTG Erdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of Twilight
The new Elemental guardians between the day and night of Lorwyn, Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn and Isilu, Carrier of Twilight will certainly see some attention in Commander at the absolute least. Granting your creatures Convoke is an incredible enabler in any go-wide Commander decks, helping accelerate your late-game threats immensely. While this is appealing to a small number of decks, Isilu is much stronger.
Granting all of your creatures Persist is something that’s basically begging to be broken. Isilu, Carrier of Twilight enables a disgusting amount of infinite combos in Commander. It could translate competitively, but the downside of this card is a bit difficult to overcome in constructed.
Sadly, unlike the recent Spider Man MTG cards, these are not MDFCs, which means you need to play the frontside first. In order to get to Isilu, you need to untap with Eirdu intact, which is a tall order. If you get there, however, winning the game likely becomes trivial. Expect to see this pop up a lot in Commander, either in various 99s or as a Commander itself.
MTG Ashling, Rekindled
Ashling, Rekindled offers a lot of value to the decks that want it. Right off the bat, Ashling fits like a glove into the existing Vivi Cauldron shells in Standard. This card both enables your draw and discard synergies, similar to Fear of Missing Out, and can ramp into bigger creatures if left untouched. This can cheat in a quick Quantum Riddler, which synergizes even further with Ashling’s Rummage (discard and draw) that triggers on her frontside.
Ashling, Rekindled has some Standard potential, but it doesn’t seem like an incredibly powerful card. There are certainly places to play this, but I don’t suspect we’ll see her warping any metas.
MTG Ashling’s Command
Kindred spells are back in Lorwyn Eclipsed! Ashling’s Command is the only one we’ve seen so far, but it’s a doozy.
Ashling’s Command has some specific modes that not every deck will be able to use, but drawing two cards and creating two Treasures for five mana will be very strong regardless of your theme. The card doubling as a small instant speed board wipe is the icing on the cake.
This is the perfect card for Pioneer Indomitable Creativity decks. That archetype doesn’t ever want to tap out until they’re going for the kill, and Ashling’s Command both refills your hand and creates Treasure Tokens for Creativity to target. Ashling’s Command is a bit on the expensive side, but it seems quite powerful as a one or two-of.
Besides potentially seeing play in ramp-based Standard decks after Vivi departs, Ashling’s Command is also an obvious home run for Commander. This will immediately see play in any Elemental Deck, and could even see play past that.
The Rest of the Shock Lands Come to Standard
As many players expected, after half of the Shock Land cycle appeared in Edge of Eternities, the rest were soon to follow. The remaining five Shock Lands are now confirmed to appear in Lorwyn Eclipsed, and they play well with the themes being explored in this set.
Offering reversible artwork, these Shock Land printings demonstrate the duality between Lorwyn’s two sides. Morningtide is represented on top, while Shadowmoor is present on the bottom. This duality appears constantly throughout the set in other cards that Transform. You can see similar themes in some of the other spoilers here, like Ashling, Rekindled and Ashling, Rimebound.
The return of a full set of Shock Lands will help out Standard manabases immensely, and give newer players an opportunity to pick up some of Magic’s most in-demand cards for cheap. Players are always excited to see Shock Land reprints. Frankly, we don’t get them enough.
Return of Serialized Cards
Lorwyn Eclipsed Headliner card has been revealed to be Bitterbloom Bearer. An obvious nod to the infamous Bitterblossom, Bitterblossom Bearer could wreak some Standard havoc in Dimir Midrange decks in the new year. Notably, this is one of the Lorwyn Eclipsed cards that was leaked earlier this week.
This time around, the exclusive Headliner printing for Lorwyn: Eclipsed will be serialized. Featuring a new art from renowned MTG artist Rebecca Guay, this Bitterblossom Bearer could easily go for thousands of dollars. The Aetherspark was the last time an in-Universe MTG set offered a serialized Headliner, and that card still retails for $2000. Bitterblossom Bearer will likely be the same.
That’s all we know regarding the new Lorwyn: Eclipsed spoilers so far, but this set looks very powerful. If this isn’t enough new Magic for you, an absolutely massive amount of announcements were dropped today. New Secret Lair Universes Beyond crossovers, and seven new MTG sets for 2026 have almost all been announced. Make sure to watch this space for all the latest updates.
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