Lorwyn Eclipsed spoiler season is officially over, and Prerelease weekend is right around the corner. With the fateful event just days away, players worldwide will be exploring Lorwyn Eclipsed for the first time.
Despite everything being new, not every MTG card is made equal. With a little luck, you could open one of the many expensive MTG chase cards in the set, making your money back before playing a single game. Here are the most expensive MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed cards to watch out for in your prerelease kits.
Presale Price Warning
Before we jump into the list, it’s important to note that we’re still in the presale phase. The official set release for Lorwyn Eclipsed isn’t until January 23rd, and until then, it’s natural for prices to be a bit inflated before cards start flooding the secondary market.
As a result, we’ll be centering our rankings around the cheapest listing for each card at the time of writing.
5 | Moonshadow: $18
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, 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.
4 | Spinerock Tyrant: $18
Of all the mythics in Lorwyn Eclipsed, Spinerock Tyrant is definitely one of the flashiest. After all, it’s not every day you see a big Dragon with Wither, and getting to copy burn spells you point at opposing creatures is a nice touch.
Unfortunately, Spinerock Tyrant is unlikely to see Constructed play due to its high mana cost. The Dragon does have some neat EDH applications, helping you get additional value in Feather, the Redeemed or Fire Lord Azula shells. Still, even in that environment, Spinerock Tyrant will hardly be your strongest option.
Yet, in spite of these negatives, Spinerock Tyrant sits at $18 in large part due to its uniqueness. As cool as the card is, don’t be surprised if its value dwindles in the coming weeks.
3 | Formidable Speaker: $18.50
One of the first Lorwyn Eclipsed spoilers revealed, Formidable Speaker has a ton of potential across an array of 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 could further bolster Reanimator, helping get Bringer of the Last Gift into the graveyard while setting up a turn four Superior Spider-Man nicely. Alternatively, this Elf can give Ouroboroid shells consistent access to their game-breaking four-drop.
Digging deeper, the untap ability synergizes perfectly with both Gaea’s Cradle and Wight of the Reliquary in Legacy. Once you factor in the card’s ability to enable creature combos in EDH, it’s easy to see why the rare is receiving so much hype.
2 | Bitterbloom Bearer: $19
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. Nonetheless, there’s no denying Bitterbloom Bearer’s power level, which should make it an automatic inclusion in Faerie typal EDH decks at the very least.
1 | Hexing Squelcher: $35
It’s unusual that an ordinary rare would hold the top spot on a set’s most expensive cards list this far in advance, but Hexing Squelcher is far from your typical design. Unconditionally making all of your spells uncounterable is no joke, and your opponents can’t even counter this Goblin to negate its devastating effect.
Besides the impact these abilities have on traditional control decks, the value that an uncounterable two-drop has with Spell Snare entering the Standard format is huge. Hexing Squelcher’s presence should make it much easier for assertive red decks to push damage through, especially since your opponent will be forced to pay life to get your creatures off the board.
On top of its Standard utility, we’d be remiss not to mention how absurd this card is for cEDH. If no one has a removal spell immediately, Hexing Squelcher makes it trivial to combo off knowing no number of free counterspells will save your opponents.
Given that Spider-Punk already sees some play in combo archetypes in cEDH and Legacy, it’s safe to assume that this major upgrade would make its presence felt. Hexing Squelcher is one of the most hyped rares we’ve seen in recent memory, and it earns the title of most expensive MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed card by a landslide.
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