Lorwyn World Championship Elf is an Incredible Creature Tutor

Last updated on September 29, 2025

Formidable Speaker | Illustration by Aurore Folny

Say, that new Formidable Speaker card from Lorwyn Eclipsed looks an awful lot like Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what you get when you take down a Magic: The Gathering World Championship: You end up with your face on a card! These yearly designs can be hit or miss, but “JiRock” should be proud of this one, because it’s an absolute banger!

Taking an Elfie

That’s what elves call selfies, in case you’re wondering. Formidable Speaker is a new rare coming out in Lorwyn Eclipsed, with art by Aurore Folny depicting the likeness of the winner of World Championship XXIX. Worlds is the current highest level of competition for Magic players, and this particular Worlds took place in September 2023, back when Wilds of Eldraine was the current Limited set.

This is a special treatment for World Championship winners, immortalizing them on a Magic card. It’s been rumored that the champions have some say in what the eventual card looks like, but Magic R&D has the final say in what gets printed. You’ll notice these cards usually release about two years after their respective tournament.

Some cards are slam dunks, like Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa’s 2020 World Championship card Elite Spellbinder, which came out in Strixhaven and saw plenty of Standard and Cube play, and the same can be said of Yuuta Takahashi’s Faerie Mastermind from World Championship XXVII.

Some cards fall squarely in the middle, like last year’s Duelist of the Mind, an Outlaws of Thunder Junction card depicting Nathan Steuer, or Javier Dominguez’s Fervent Champion, a key aggro creature during its Standard format that’s mostly faded into obscurity.

If you dig farther back to when these were still called Magic Invitational cards, you’ll get a mixed bag of absolute all-timers (Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Solemn Simulacrum), as well as some cards, which for many of you, this will be the first time ever hearing about them (Rakdos Augermage, Rootwater Thief).

Formidable, Indeed!

Circle of Dreams Druid | Illustration by Sam Guay

Enough about the World Champion, what about the card!?

Formidable Speaker looks truly excellent, for all manner of formats. It’s a creature tutor on ETB, which is pretty wild for a 3-drop. Yes, it requires a discard, but it turns the worst card in your hand into the best creature in your deck. That’s something fans of Fauna Shaman will be familiar with, without the worry of summoning sickness.

You could stop there and this would already be a powerful card, but there are two more things working in its favor. One is the activated ability, which doesn’t ramp you, but lets you untap any permanent at will. Maybe that’s just untapping something to block with, interacting with some other mana dork like Priest of Titania to actually ramp you, or going infinite with something like Argothian Elder/Ley Weaver in Commander.

And then there’s the typeline. Elves are one of the most supported creature types in Magic, and many of them boast powerful activated abilities that make tons of mana at the expense of tapping them. Combine Formidable Speaker with anything like Elvish Archdruid or Circle of Dreams Druid and you’re really going off. Oh, and if you’ve already got that engine going, the Speaker can just fetch up your Craterhoof Behemoth or other finisher of choice. “Druid” is also nothing to sneeze at, though druid payoffs are much harder to come by.

Expect this creature to show up in a lot of places. It might not revitalize Elves in Legacy or anything like that (unless it does), but it’s got the right package of stats and abilities to see Standard, Commander, Pioneer, and maybe even Modern play. Tutors at this cost are unheard of, especially in Standard, making this new elf comparable to past powerhouses like Imperial Recruiter or Recruiter of the Guard, which both had healthy stints across multiple formats.

And great work to Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, you earned this one!