Lorwyn Eclipsed is finally here, and it’s exceptionally clear that this set is going to have a heavy impact. We’re only a week into the set, and multiple cards are seeing play across all kinds of MTG formats.
As players begin to settle in and discover the power behind Lorwyn Eclipsed, it’s clear that some cards are a bit ahead of the rest. If you’re planning on cracking some Lorwyn Eclipsed Play Booster packs, here are the cards you’ll want to find inside.
5 | Formidable Speaker: $18.50
We’re only a week into Lorwyn Eclipsed, but it’s clear that Formidable Speaker is having a massive impact across all kinds of different formats. This is largely due to its versatility as a discard outlet, tutor, and untapper, which together make it an elite support piece with a wide range of applications.
In a Standard setting, Formidable Speaker is appearing in Reanimator, helping get Bringer of the Last Gift into the graveyard while setting up a turn four Superior Spider-Man nicely. The card has also become a homestay in Simic Ouroboroid and Bant Airbending, thanks to taking advantage of the explosive Badgermole Cub starts.
Outside of Standard, Formidable Speaker is a massive hit in Commander, appearing in any and every green Duel Commander and cEDH deck. An early showing this strong is extremely unusual, indicating that this could become an EDH super staple in the future.
4 | Moonshadow: $17.50
We’ve seen plenty of overstatted creatures with downsides throughout Magic’s History. Among them, Moonshadow has significant potential. Despite being a 7/7 on the surface, Moonshadow enters as a 1/1 with the capability to grow over time.
What makes Moonshadow so intriguing, though, is that it’s very easy to grow in older formats. Between Fetchlands, Wasteland, and Mishra’s Bauble, it doesn’t take much before this Elemental becomes a ferocious, must-kill threat. Thanks to Menace, chump-blocking this creature isn’t a realistic option.
Beyond its Modern and Legacy appeal, Moonshadow also has plenty of EDH applications. Any decks centered around removing counters for value, like Tayam, Luminous Enigma and Xavier Sal, Infested Captain, can utilize this card. Moonshadow also synergizes nicely with Varolz, the Scar-Striped as a big and cheap threat to Scavenge. Thanks to its exciting potential, Moonshadow is one of the most expensive cards in Lorwyn Eclipsed going into prerelease season.
3 | Hexing Squelcher: $18
During Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease season, Hexing Squelcher was the most expensive card in the set thanks to its massive potential. The card’s rarity means that a healthy supply is now available for players to grab, but the card still remains the most exciting Commander card in the set.
Thanks to Hexing Squelcher making all of your spells uncounterable, the card will be upgrading Commander decks all the way up to cEDH. If no one has a removal spell immediately, Hexing Squelcher makes it trivial to combo off, knowing that no number of free counterspells will save your opponents. Unlike other similar roleplayers like Voice of Victory, Hexing Squelcher also makes your interaction on opponent’s turns uncounterable, allowing you to stop other combos with ease.
While we haven’t seen the card’s impact in Standard yet, Hexing Squelcher could be an interesting roleplayer in Mono-Red decks. Giving players a tool to ignore Spell Snare while forcing a Ward cost for removing creatures, this could be incredibly strong against decks like Izzet Lessons.
2 | Wistfulness: $20
While slept on somewhat in early spoiler season, it’s become clear that Wistfulness is one of the best cards coming out of Lorwyn Eclipsed. Thanks in part to the Badgermole Cub shells all over Standard, Wistfulness is becoming a common foe across the format. Whether you’re playing against Reanimator, Simic Cub, or Airbending, Wistfulness offers a flexible body that replaces itself, which is already good enough. That said, the bonus real estate of blowing up Rest in Peace, Artist’s Talent, or other key artifacts and enchantments puts this card over the top. Wistfulness is even seeing some experimentation in Modern, and is an easy upgrade to the Dance of the Elements Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander precon.
For now, Wistfulness hasn’t broken out of Standard and Commander, but the card is currently extremely popular in both formats. This has allowed Wistfulness to become one of the most expensive cards in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
1 | Bitterbloom Bearer: $21
A throwback to one of the most iconic enchantments in MTG history, Bitterbloom Bearer provides quite a powerful effect. Making Faerie token every turn, this creature’s snowbally effect makes it trivial to close games before the life loss becomes problematic. Thanks to making evasive bodies, Bitterblossom Bearer pairs well with Enduring Curiosity, threatening tons of card draw. This creature even has Flash, further supporting the classic Dimir Midrange tempo gameplan.
Of course, the floor on Bitterbloom Bearer is lower than Bitterblossom simply because it’s vulnerable to traditional removal spells. The double black mana cost is also very awkward and might restrict how much competitive play the creature ends up seeing. While Bitterbloom Bearer doesn’t seem like a metabreaker in week one of Lorwyn Eclipsed, it is currently the most expensive card in the set.
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