The 31 Best Lorwyn Eclipsed Cards for Standard

Vibrance | Illustration by Jakub Kasper

Lorwyn Eclipsed releases shortly, and today we discuss the impact of these cards in Standard, one of MTG’s most played formats (at least on MTG Arena, that is). The set was designed with Standard balance in mind, and some new archetypes can emerge to the top tier thanks to these cards.

Before we start, just remember I don’t have a crystal ball or a way to see into the future, so let’s take all these considerations with a grain of salt, shall we?

What Are Standard Cards in Lorwyn Eclipsed?

Wistfulness | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

Here, we’re talking about the best Lorwyn Eclipsed cards that are legal in Standard and that will impact the Standard metagame somehow. Some of these will help to create new decks, while others will see play in already good decks. Cards from Lorwyn Eclipsed packs that are Special Guests or Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander cards aren’t legal in Standard, so of course I won’t talk about them (poor Mistbind Clique). Just as a reminder: These are the better Standard decks pre-Lorwyn Eclipsed (ECL):

• Izzet Lessons: lots of lesson cards (ECL has none)
• Green Badgermole Cub / Ouroboroid (I don’t see ECL changing the deck that much)
• Dimir Kaito Tempo: Here, ECL can add new tools, like flash creatures and tricks.
• Control: Mostly better mana bases, and probably one answer or two.
• Reanimator: It’s a deck that thrives on big creatures and casting Superior Spider-Man, depending on where you play MTG. You’ll usually get Bringer of the Last Gift to combo.Formidable Speaker could be huge for this deck.
• Other decks don’t get that much from ECL, like Jeskai () Artifacts.

#31. Ashling’s Command

Ashling's Commander can help decks like big Izzet or Jeskai with its different modes. Ramping into Jeskai Revelation is a thing, as is sweeping the board of small creatures while drawing two cards at instant speed.

#30. Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom / Sygg, Wanderbrine Shield

Base Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom is already nice as a 2/2 unblockable merfolk that can give the “draw a card” saboteur ability to another creature you control. Plus, if you transform Sygg, you can also add protection. The result is a 2-drop that can push a lot of damage while it draws you some cards.

#29. Flitterwing Nuisance

I think Flitterwing Nuisance replaces or adds to Spyglass Siren’s redundancy. Both are 1/1 fliers with some upside. The Map token is usually better, but I can see the activated ability on this card being important in many scenarios.

#28. Silvergill Mentor

I want to like Silvergill Mentor, and two typal bodies for the low price of 2 is very strong. If convoke and tapping merfolk becomes a thing, this card will see a lot of play. It’s a good enabler for the merfolk convoke beatdown shenanigans.

#27. Deepchannel Duelist

Historically, 2-mana lords are playable in Standard. Casting Deepchannel Duelist right after Silvergill Mentor is strong, allowing you to attack for 5, and if you can convoke something on the same turn, or the turn after, so much the better.

#26. Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn / Isilu, Carrier of Twilight

Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn has the Baneslayer Angel pedigree, while having additional upside. A big, lifelink flier is usually good enough for the Standard format. Here, we have two nice upsides that to choose from. The white side accelerates your game plan, giving your creatures convoke. Once you have a good board, the black side protects your creatures with persist. And you can change back and forth between sides.

#25. Brigid’s Command

All the options on Brigid's Command are nice, and the cost isn’t bad either. A kithkin token, a +3/+3 creature buff, or a fight removal spell are all good when you can combine them two-on-two, so a creature-filled deck can be much less predictable.

#24. Sapling Nursery

This one might have a home in green landfall decks playing cards like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. Costing 4 mana for this effect is legit, and you’ll churn out 3/4 tokens in no time. Not to mention the other green Badgermole Cub and Ouroboroid deck, which can play this as a good sideboard option.

#23. Taster of Wares

Taster of Wares is a very interesting payoff for playing goblins or changelings. Getting to add a 3/2 to the board and snipe a card is already good, and sometimes you’ll be able to cast said card. And the second Taster “tastes” even worse for your opponent.

#22. Brigid, Clachan's Heart / Brigid, Doun's Mind

Brigid, Clachan's Heart has a base rate 3/2 plus a 1/1 for 3 mana, which is already good to see some Constructed play, and much better if kithkin end up being a strong typal deck. Transforming it to Brigid, Doun's Mind pays you off for having many creatures, often casting some more spells. And when you transform it back, you get another 1/1 kithkin.

#21. Bristlebane Battler

Don’t get fooled by Bristlebane Battler: It’s fairly easy to make this a 4/4 or 5/5 in a turn or two, especially considering the ways kithkin decks have to put many tokens on the battlefield. Not to mention offspring exists. Sometimes, just Beza, the Bounding Spring will put three creatures in play.

#20. Glen Elendra’s Answer

Yeah, they couldn’t reprint Cryptic Command, right? But this card is also sweet. Aside from countering spells and making faerie tokens, the best part of Glen Elendra's Answer is to stop multiple prowess triggers on the stack, or something similar. You stop your opponent’s prowess shenanigans while you make a little army of 1/1s.

#19. Celestial Reunion

Celestial Reunion is like a typal Green Sun's Zenith. You can use it as a simple tutor, or straight-up cheat the creature onto the battlefield. You can't quite use your elves to sneak a Craterhoof Behemoth into play, but you can try to pair finishers with enablers of the same type.

#18. Requiting Hex

One-mana removal tends to see play somewhere. Requiting Hex is good against all sorts of decks, and when you can get their aggressive 2-drop and gain life in the process for only 2 mana, that’s when you know you’re staying in the game.

#17. Spell Snare

Spell Snare returns to Standard after its first printing in the original Ravnica block, 20 years ago. This card is excellent if you’re a blue deck on the draw, with the ability to counter their 2-drop. And with powerful 2-mana cards in Standard right now, I can see this being a one-of main deck card with more in the sideboard.

#16. Sear

This card hits Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Ouroboroid, Appa, Steadfast Guardian, and other relevant threats for 2 mana at instant speed. Obliterating Bolt already sees some sideboard play. Sear is a nice addition to red removal in Standard.

#15. Winnowing

The fact that this destroys all creatures “that don’t share a creature type” means typal decks actually want to run some wraths, and they can fuel them with convoke. Winnowing can be a very interesting sweeper for typal decks, even if it’s in your sideboard. The only problem is changelings that won’t be wiped.

#14. Ajani, Outland Chaperone

Look, I know Ajani, Outland Chaperone seems weak or not flashy at all, but historically a planeswalker that comes down and kills something (Liliana of the Veil) on 3 mana is playable. And this can immediately start to pump out tokens either to defend itself or to start pressuring. We have Enduring Innocence, Caretaker's Talent, and other cards that support a token-generating effect.

#13. Oko, Lorwyn Liege / Oko, Shadowmoor Scion

Oko, Lorwyn Liege is an exquisite planeswalker card. The idea here is that the blue face helps you to defend yourself and rack up the counters, while Oko, Shadowmoor Scion spends them, either by milling and trying to get something or outright adding two 3/3 elks to the board. So, you’ll cast it, uptick it, and on the following turn start spending its counters. Plus, with Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber, you have another good reason to turn creatures into changelings (demons).

#12. Vibrance

There’s nothing splashy about Vibrance, but it’s such a functional card. Some decks will play it only for the red evoke removal. It’s a 4/4 that can fetch you a land and remove something, while gaining some life. Sometimes, being basic is just fine, like Flametongue Kavu, and it’d be odd to think this won’t see play.

#11. Catharsis

If kithkin is a strong typal deck, expect to see Catharsis. I’d play it just for the tokens, and alongside Bristlebane Battler, it already produces good results. It’s a 4/5 haste creature that buffs your tokens, so a goblin deck can benefit from the red side. We don’t have a legit RW beatdown tokens deck in Standard yet, but this card is very well positioned to make that a reality. For , you’ll attack with a 4/5 and two 2/2’s, plus whatever you already had.

#10. Spinerock Tyrant

Besides the huge 6/6 flying body for 5 mana, the best part of Spinerock Tyrant is its ability to double spells with one target. Doubling your removal spells is very nice. And something like “target opponent discards 2 cards” can wipe their hand (Ozai's Cruelty deals 4 damage on top). If there’s a Rakdos () or Grixis () midrange deck in Standard, I can see this in it.

#9. Wistfulness

Wistfulness is one of the cards I most want to cast for its full mana cost. Even when your opponent doesn’t have a good target, a 6/5 that draws two and discards one is something. And these days, most Standard decks have a good enchantment target; I’m mainly looking at you, Izzet Lessons deck.

#8. Deceit

Deceit combines some of my favorite cards into a single design. Dinrova Horror is nice, and this card can be something like that, but you can also use the 2-mana discard mode or the 2-mana bounce mode. I predict many of my Dimir () and Esper () Standard decks will run this card, and it won’t be the only of the evoke elementals to show up, either.

#7. Emptiness

Emptiness is my favorite of the new incarnations. A mix of an Unearth and a removal spell is very strong, and this is exactly what most midrange decks want. And if you cast this for the whole cost, you should get a huge board advantage.

#6. Mutable Explorer

Wait, this card makes a Mutavault token, guys. Mutavault… a multiformat staple, and a card that’s strong enough for Standard. Jokes aside, I know it’s weaker than the actual land, but Mutable Explorer as a whole is a strong typal card, potentially offering you two bodies of any creature type. While being clunky, it’s that perfect creature to Unearth or airbend/blink.

#5. Formidable Speaker

Formidable Speaker’s built-in card advantage/tutoring can’t be ignored, and this card usually works best in a toolbox deck of sorts. But it’s flexible enough to add it to almost every green deck. Or you can play it when your opponent has removal and you want to punish them by getting more value.

#4. Bitterbloom Bearer

Once upon a time, there was a card called Bitterblossom… nah, you probably know the story. But hey, here’s a creature version of it with flash.

The play pattern with Bitterbloom Bearer is to flash it in on your opponent’s end step, then on your turn you pay 1 life to make a token, and now you’re in business. It’s nice against a control deck that just sideboarded out sweepers and removal. While Standard doesn’t have that many faerie synergies, it’s a strong card for midrange decks that want to wear down their opponent’s removal, or decks that want to blight and sometimes kill a faerie token or two.

#3. Moonshadow

One-mana creatures that get bigger as the game goes on are the backbone of aggressive decks, and this one even has menace. Moonshadow has the pedigree of cards like Champion of the Parish, and many decks can mill cards constantly. This also works with fetch lands and Evolving Wilds. With the number of ways you can loot in Standard (Tersa Lightshatter, Fear of Missing Out), I predict this card can grow very quickly. Note the synergies with manifest dread, because you can flip it as a 7/7 for just 1 mana.

#2. Hexing Squelcher

One of the cards in contention for most-played card in Lorwyn Eclipsed across many formats, Hexing Squelcher will see a good dose of action, particularly if blue counterspell decks are on the rise. It’s good to protect your creatures from counterspells or from removal, and this counts all your spells as well. Plus, with the ward ability, your opponent is paying at least 2 life to deal with this guy.

#1. Shock Lands

• Hallowed Fountain
• Temple Garden
• Blood Crypt
• Steam Vents
• Overgrown Tomb

Yeah, some of the best lands ever printed return to Standard. And the mana base of decks like Rakdos aggro, and Azorius /Jeskai Control just got better. As did Izzet , but that deck didn’t have that many mana problems to begin with.

Bonus: GW Kithkin Typal Deck in Standard

Champion of the Clachan | Illustration by Edgar Sánchez Hidalgo

Original decklist source

This is a fairly basic kithkin deck that puts up most good ECL kithkin cards and incentives to run them, with a few interaction spells from other sets. It’s mostly a Block Constructed deck. We have a lot of good kithkin, a planeswalker that makes them, a Champion of the Clachan to pump them, and so on. As long as you’re casting creatures and turning them sideways, you’re in for a good time.

Wrap Up

Formidable Speaker | Illustration by Aurore Folny

And that’s about it for Lorwyn Eclipsed cards’ and its impact on Standard. This set seems tamer in power level than past entries (Bloomburrow, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Edge of Eternities come to mind). There’s no Badgermole Cub or Ouroboroid or Accumulate Wisdom. Even the evoke elementals are often worse than Quantum Riddler in many aspects. I can see a good Selesnya Kithkin deck emerging with all the talent that’s added, as well as Rakdos aggro/sacrifice, or a merfolk deck, which definitely has the tools in ECL and in Standard overall.

What are your takes on the impact that Lorwyn Eclipsed will have on Standard? Is it gonna be the same Standard format, or is it changing radically? Let me know in the comments section below, or let’s take the discussion to our Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe!