By: Erik Dudgeon Jr
Lorwyn is a plane that consists of light and dark. Within this darkness we see fae, treefolk and goblins. Within the light we see elementals, elves and kithkin. Lorwyn focuses on its creature types within it. Typically kindred style effects in cEDH don’t do very much aside from Magda decks. Despite this, the convergence of Shadowmoor and Lorwyn in one set has brought a new kindred style deck and some welcome new editions to cEDH.
Formidable Speaker was one of the first cards spoiled from the set. On sight it was easy to tell that this card was designed to be strong in a high power environment. While being similar to cards like Imperial Recruiter, Speaker has no limit on what creature it can search for. Discarding a card feels negligible as a drawback. Sometimes that discard effect is actually useful for reanimate-style effects. If that somehow wasn’t enough, Speaker also can untap your Gaea’s Cradle. This will become a staple for Cradle decks like Rograkh/Thrasios.
On a similar note, having a Gaea’s Cradle effect in the command zone sounds crazy. Brigid, Clachan’s Heart makes a token then transforms into a mana producing creature. Making green or white mana for every other creature you have easily can snowball out of control. Things like Legolas’s Quick Reflexes or other untap effects can make Brigid more explosive when needed. Bursting out that much mana is sure to give you an edge, assuming you don’t invite the ire of the table. Even if we don’t end up seeing this as a commander, this is a very powerful creature and I don’t think this will be the last time we see it.
Voracious Tome-Skimmer at first glance looks like a control player’s dream. Not losing nearly as much for interaction is exactly what control looks for. While most card-draw engines require your opponent to take action to give you cards, you can use this to be a little more proactive. If you need to use Noxious Revival to get a piece of counter magic back, you can draw that card with any spell cast. Now, the cost might prove to be somewhat difficult for some decks to cast reliably. It is important to consider the entire card before making that swap into your list.
The biggest boon of this card is searching for Gaea’s Cradle. Instead of an easily counterable Sylvan Scrying or Expedition Map, I can evoke this creature. Conveniently, Vibrance also has removal in a pinch. Having a card that can remove that pesky Orcish Bowmaster while also fetching your Gaea’s Cradle or Deserted Temple is very efficient. The format of cEDH is oftentimes boiled down to card quality or efficiency. I feel confident in saying that we will be seeing this in testing, and I would be surprised if it didn’t make the cut for some lists.
This is our new Kindred commander. Same as Najeela, the Blade Blossom- this is a five color commander who costs only a red mana and two generic. Ashling, the Limitless allows you to cast any elemental creature for an evoke cost of four. Immediately we start thinking of the biggest elemental bomb we can cast. Nyxbloom Ancient does a great job of being utilized before the evoke sacrifice trigger. However, Ashling’s second paragraph makes a token out of our nontoken elementals when they’re sacrificed. So even once the evoke trigger goes off, we still get to keep them around for the turn. It doesn’t appear to be very applicable, but if you pay all five colors you can keep the token after the end of turn. This card already appears to be a powerhouse commander, we’re just waiting for the innovation to come out.
Moonshadow and Bristlebane Battler aren’t really cEDH cards in general. However, Tayam, Luminous Enigma can’t get enough of cards like these. Being able to use Moonshadow for multiple activations while holding up a 7/7 creature feels wild. I just wanted to use this segment to point out that Tayam is getting a lot of fun cards in this set. I recommend giving the deck a look.
Alright, here’s Hexing Squelcher. Unless you haven’t talked about cEDH recently or seen any media on it, you have heard of this card. Spider Punk just came out and it has already been improved upon. This can’t be countered. Only your spells can’t be countered. This improvement removes the danger of Spider Punk making your opponents spells uncounterable. Squelcher has only upsides. You can just cast it and have it on the battlefield. The ward feels silly or negligible but giving it to all creatures you control will make it relevant sometimes. This is a card you will need in your collection for cEDH, it’s simply that powerful.
Honorable Mentions
These cards don’t have a particular home within the current meta. This does not mean they can’t be cEDH. This just means that they don’t have a meta deck they immediately go into. Regardless, check out these interesting head-scratchers.
A potential commander that gives all your creatures convoke. Making all of your creatures have a reduced cost or no mana cost is a powerful effect. On the other side of the card, Eirdu gives all your creatures persist. This is an already abusable mechanic with infinites, so there is a game plan there. I don’t know how we could pull it all together, but these are two strong abilities on a commander.
In the same vein of convoke being powerful, clone creatures have always had a home in cEDH. Being able to copy other powerful value engines in play will always be relevant. Having this one be every creature type appears to be less important. Who knows, maybe a niche deck can utilize this specific clone in fun and creative ways.
Auntie Ool has gotten a lot of attention and ideas. Truth is, we don’t know if it’ll be good enough to keep relevant in a tournament setting. Jund has little-to-no cEDH representation at the moment. I personally hope we can get more Jund into the format. Card-draw in the command zone is always powerful, so that’s a good start. The ward is impactful and meaningful. There is definitely a world in which this card can play a decent midrange or control. I simply don’t know if it can handle decks that utilize Thassa’s Oracle or Underworld Breach. Only time will tell if Auntie Ool will be powerful enough to fight with the best.
Overview
Lorwyn Eclipsed is an extremely powerful set for cEDH. On top of giving us powerful inclusions for already existing decks, new decks will come from this set. Lorwyn will breathe new life into Tayam. Not only that, but we have an amazing batch of reprints for players looking to fill out their cEDH staples list.
Shock lands make a return in this set. They’re double sided so you can pick your favorite art.
Special Guests is where we get most of our powerful reprints. We’re even seeing a reprint of Painter’s Servant! I recommend checking out the entire Special Guests list.
Oh, also full art Bloom Tender.
This set is chock-full of value in both reprints and new cards. I want to get as much as I can of this set. The atmosphere of this set is impeccable, art is unmatched, and I love the lore. This plane is teeming with personality and I’m going to be excited to include anything from this set into already existing lists. That’s all I’ve got for you today. See you at pre-release night!
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