General [ECL/ECC] Lorwyn Eclipsed Testing/Includes

[ravnic]

This is a testing/includes thread. Post pictures using /ci or a text list using /c with what cards you plan to include and what cards you plan to test.


Maybe I shouldn't be called ravnic, but instead ... Shadowmorty. If there is one world that I love as much, if not more than the city of guilds, it is Shadowmoor. If there is one set that has a similarly special place in my heart as original ravnica it is SHM/EVE. I'm playing MtG since 2005 and SHM is the only set where I ever bought a booster box of. Currently I am cubing 43 (!) cards from that mini block without ever really trying to achieve that number (plus Mistmeadow Vanisher). It helps that I love hybrids, especially for draft environments, but I also adore the bizarre, creepy fairy tale aesthetic. Shadowmoor is dream-like, but it's a bad dream; it's like walking through a creepy forest that has no end.

I say all that to explain that I was really hyped for this set, at least being half Shadowmoor. I was hoping for some cool hybrids for my cube and, due to Lorwyns typal focus, maybe a cool new goblin card. Did my wished come true? Kinda. But I am also disappointed. Most blight cards feel too narrow in a vacuum and I don't like that they turned my favorite mono-color encouraging set into one that cares about having as many colors as possible.

Here are my inclusions for my CCC.

The Core

Slamdunks:


To quote myself on why I am over the moon on Lluwen: "I like having one heavy hybrid per guild and I like that heavy hybrid be flexible enough to work in either mono color deck while also being a bit of a signpost for the archetype most prominent in the color combination. Lluwen here is an ideal frontrunner for dredge while also working with lands (mono ) and providing bodies to sacrifice (mono ). He also should be just at the right power level. I love Worm Harvest and still cube it as an occasional, but it is pretty repetitive - Lluwen should not have this problem, as a 1/3 can be much more easily be interacted with than a retrace sorcery." I don't think this guy will leave my cube ever, unless I really re-conceptualize it.

With Rain-Slicked Copse I feel now close enough to having all bicycle lands to run more than five. I hope they will finish the cycle with Strixhaven/Reality Fracture. DON'T YOU DARE WIZARDS TO GIVE ME THE LAST TWO IN F*CKING TNMT OR MARVEL. I've been waiting ten years. Don't screw this up or I'll light up your office building laughing maniacally.

Maybes:
nothing I guess?

For the core cube I was really hoping to get some cool mono red or hybrid goblins, but there is really nothing that cracks my tight core list. And there is not even a red one drop goblin in the set.

Occasionals

Slamdunks:


While there is a decent amount of stuff that brings back the Shadowmoor feeling to me, this card somehow does it the best. It's something about the artwork and the frame, all these hybrid symbols. I have to run it. It probably is better off as an occasional, but I could see moving this to the core. It does interact with several themes in white and/or black like blink, lifegain and sacrifice/recur stuff. I don't love a super defensive body with lifelink though.

Maybes:


So, Wort, Boggart Auntie does spark joy, but I don't like having one card with the super outdated fear keyword without reminder text. I might pull the trigger here and replace her with the neat showcase version of Cursecrafter.

I have one or two boros hybrid slots that are really ripe for something cooler. And while Kirol has a cool ability, I don't like the cheesy vibes here.

Art upgrade:



So, that was my most anticipated set of 2026. I'm not unhappy, but it could've been so much better. I knew they wouldn't do triple digit hybrids again, but please give me more than 33 cards, wotc, for real. And then maybe bring back evoke as a larger set mechanic instead of doing another five color matters mechanic. Well, it's fine I guess. But who knows, maybe Reality Fracture or the Hobbit set will be a greater hit for me in the end.

 

[shamizy]

It's a small list for inclusion, but I could see all of these sticking around for a long time to come:



We already had the discussion about Moonshadow and the various ways you could consistently turn this into a threat, but this is probably my favorite card spoiled from the entire set. I loved playing Grixis Death's Shadow back in Modern but it required way too many pieces to ever make into an effective card in a typical cube environment. This on the other hand? Synergizes with so many different effects ranging from fetches to self-mill to sacrifice to simply trading creatures in combat. Slots into a ton of different decks with a variety of interactions. Seems like it'll be a cool puzzle to figure out, exactly the kind of pick that causes you to re-evaluate other cards as they come your way.



Made space for this card as soon as it was spoiled months ago. A one-shot ETB instance of Survival of the Fittest on a body that isn't anemic like Fauna Shaman is exactly the kind of card that will be right at home in my cube. Made me go back and re-evaluate a few options for my Duplicate Vouchers and decided to double up on Vengevine as a pick. Now if they would only make me a 3 drop that does Trash for Treasure on ETB in red...



These are absolute hits. Extremely flexible across archetypes, many relevant modes, and they provide additional support for Up The Beanstalk. Everything is kick or reverse kicker for good reason; it's just a clean way to design mechanics. I'm mostly interested in the green featuring options due to fixing and how much more playable they will be in non-evoke mode where you can realistically hit the color requirements for both effects.

This gets me to enough incidental Elemental support for Nissa, Resurgent Animist to be worth inclusion with relevant hits. Also another card that will make generating the correct colors easier!



Glad to see this cycle one step closer to completion. I'd like to have all the enemy options available before making the full swaps (and preferably with a foil option at some point), but will hold off for now. I love these in cubes that want to push for 2.5 colors as the average for most decks and to reward good sequencing. Once I have this cycle available the combination of double fetches and Shocks/Tangos/Surveils will complete my ideal fixing.

 

[Chris Taylor]

There's a lot of interesting stuff in this set even if I've got a short list of things I'm specifically interested in


Interesting thoughts, not specifically for me:

This thing is interesting by all my blue decks are specifically low creature count affairs.


Its kinda weird this thing is as large as it is, but the decision to make this a groundpounder is a good one. This thing covering for the rest of your team means it is way more interesting if it engages in combat, and flying, or a lower power stat would make that happen a lot less. 3 is enough that you really do want to swing with it, and maybe your opponent double blocks it because blocking much else won't help a lot.


I looked and my white section specifically has the lowest actual cardtype creatures of all 5 at the moment. Neat design, but double check how many like, token making instants or living weapon equipments etc you have lying around.


A savannah lions is a savannah lions, but thing thing locking something down with help when its not free to attack could be worse.


This is a 5 drop that needs a board to be any good and is...fine on a completely empty board?
I mostly just don't want another white 5


This thing seems alright but I've got an allergic reaction to removal that can't reach out and torch something proactive.


Be careful of the words "permanent card", I missed it on first read. That being said, a discard spell that affects the board is worth looking at, and its probably actually nice it isn't live on every single boardstate.
Dai Li Indoctrination does a similar thing but like, you just get a bear. Its better than nothing but like, its a bear dude.

 

[Erik Twice]

It may cost three mana, but Formidable Speaker has turned into an absolute staple, providing both the tutoring and Survival of the Fittest redudancy I needed.



For me it has a lot of advantages over Fauna Shaman.

First, it's not the same card. Triggering on ETB and not being repeatable pushes you towards a different direction, like Ephemerate or Birthing Pod over Gravecrawler. You can run it as a one-off rather than a build-around in the average deck.

Second, it doesn't get killed on the spot. Fauna Shaman should and will get killed the moment it hits the table, which is not a great quality in a buildaround.

Third, a 2/4 body is useful, good for the slower decks that like tutoring and provides variety.

The secondary ability is minor, though it can produce an extra boost of mana with



I may also run this little dude. Here's the thing, I want a creature-based Naturalize but no choice is perfect. I like the upside of Manglehorn but it doesn't hit enchantments. Reclamation Sage has no synergy. 2-mana options don't have an ETB. Haywire Mite exiles, which hurts build-arounds.

My hope is that by being a human, it will help creature more WG decks. The problem here is that Loran of the Third Path is plainly better. Hell, it would be plainly better in green rather than white! I also hope it can be useful as a zombie (for Gravecrawler) though the Harmonic Prodigy dream remains that, just a dream, no matter how many Ignoble Hierarchs I run.



I wanted to run Bitterblossom, but it was very centralizing. Being hard to remove, it outcompeted other token makers while having a surprisingly mediocre low floor. My hope is that Bitterblossom Bearer provides a lower power level by being a creature, while having a better floor thanks to flash, being a flying creature itself and almost always leaving a token behind.

The BB cost also a very important limitation, even Sinkhole suffers from it. So far my impression is positive.

MAYBE



This is a powerful aggro discard card, with a fetch and a single outlet it attacks as a 3/3 menace. On some level, that makes it far more useful than Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, which takes an extra turn turn to get going. However, Asmorano fetches The Underworld Cookbook, which is a surprisingly useful card on its own and also lets you regain the lost card advantage.

I could make other cut, but I wouldn't know which one to choose. Bloodghast, Bloodsoaked Champion and Nethergoyf can be played from the graveyard, whcih is huge and required for Prized Amalgam so I'm not sure if I should cut one or not.

UNLIKELY



If this said "Creature" rather than "Creature tokens", I would replace Katilda, Dawnhart Prime but it sadly doesn't.



This seems like it work in my cube, but it's Encore is way too expensive so its main function would be to add a second body to Reanimator.

 

[Mown]

Spoiler: Will include

I like all these cards. I generally try to avoid cards that are just generically good, but I'm making some concessions when it comes to multicolored cards, and I like the play decisions these incarnations introduce.
Glen Elendra gets my vote for coolest design of the set, I really like the design space of it of being relatively simple, but having a lot of synergy vectors with other cards. Wish I liked some of the other cards like it in the set as much.

Spoiler: Might include

Noggle the Mind is very likely to make the cut, but I don't think the quality of the card deserves a "Will include". Twilight Diviner is a very exciting card, I'm just a bit concerned it's too exciting. I also don't like clone copies all that much.

Spoiler: Saving for later

These are the kind of cards I like for flicker decks, very contextually powerful cards that aren't always good to blink, and this one has synergy with other etb creatures too. It's fun with creature sagas, but what I'm most excited for is the potential interaction with finality counters, and I think I'll try it out at that point.

 

[KeithCubes]

Finished my edits today, and for a set with a lot of kinda parasitic mechanics, I came away with a lot more additions than I thought I would!

Spoiler: Slam Dunks

Lluwen, Imperfect Naturalist is the one I'm most on the fence about, but I plan to errata him to make 1/1 insects for some added synergy, and to avoid another unique token (apologizes to the Worm Harvest purists)

I'm also upping my cloak / manifest dread package for some cool synergies with the -1/-1 creatures, adding Glitch Interpreter, Unnatural Summons, Experimental Lab and a custom twist on Killer's Mask (which might be a little pushed, we'll see). I'm also debating if They Came from the Pipes is worth including or just way too strong.

Spoiler: Alchemy Card Tangent

With all these counters arouund now, I'm thinking this card might be a really cool addition. It obviously works on it's own with Flitterwing Nuisance, Loch Mare, and Bristlebane Battler with their remove -1/-1 counter abilities, but if I'm not mistaken adding a +1/+1 counter to these creatures (or blighting something with a +1/+1) also counts as removing one. It's really easy to errata this to work in paper if you just go from seek -> draw, or you can keep the seek non-land behavior at the expense of the shield counter reminder text.

Onto the maybes, which I'll need to play with first to get a better gauge of:

Spoiler: We'll See

Rhys, the Evermore and Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn both have really cool combo potential, but I'm not sure how playable they are outside of that? They're certainly not bad cards, I'm just not sure if their complexity is worth it.

Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom - I think I still prefer Norman Osborn and Azure Beastbinder in this slot. I'm not a huge fan of how hard is to understand it's play pattern during a draft for what seems like pretty minimal benefit of actually transforming.

Vibrance and Wistfulness - My favorites of the elementals. Vibrance would be a slam dunk if it had better art, and then Wistfulness is very tempting as someone who doesn't run the notoriously broken top simic cards. I need to see how much play there actually is to these first to see if they're worth adding just a few.

Shadow Urchin and Requiting Hex - Both really cool designs, but not sure it's worth introducing 'Blight' just for them.

Oh and shout-out to Nameless Inversion getting a sick reprint, and Sear for being a great bread and butter effect if you want to keep things simple.

Also almost forgot I mocked up a custom version of Taster of Wares but for Vampires which I'm looking forward to, but if you have a goblin theme instead it looks like a fun one.

 

[Nanonox]

For my main cube, there is only one card that is a slam dunk



As many have mentioned, this is a great tutor. If you have another discard outlet, you can get your Hogaak, Vengevine, Gravecrawler and friends. If not, there are still some high impact targets that can control the board (Fury, Phlage, Subtlety) or build arouds like Titania, Icetill Explorer, Urza.

I am also really excited by the untap ability. I have big mana generating permanents like Academy, Cradle, Lotus Field and Grim Monolith that are great to reuse. Then there are activated abilities that are worth double dipping on. Emry, Welder, KotR for example.

I'm also a Jeskai Ascendancy, Paradox Engine and Agatha's Soul Cauldron believer and it goes off hard with them.

Maybe



This one will play well, but Gravecrawler's need for zombies means that I have a tough time cutting Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia



This seems like it would be a fun challenge to grow, but I have two reservations. First, I don't like super pushed one drops because it puts a lot of pressure on the format, limiting how much time engine decks have to set up. Second, this has -1/-1 counters and I am pushing +1/+1 counters. These two points has me believing I would be better off with Stalactite Stalker instead. The rate is definitely there though!

Not

Incarnations like Catharsis. While Wistfulness's rate is quite strong for example, these don't fit with my cube goals. They aren't really synergistic since you have to pay mana for the Evoke and are just big bodies with big effects later in the game. I avoid those since they negate the need for synergy.

---

For other cube projects, there are a bunch of cool looking cards. I have some cube projects that work with counters and the card I am most excited for those is



This gives Black and Red a rare counter payoff. One of those projects even has a cast from exile theme, making it a perfect fit!

 

[Nanonox]

Forgot about a maybe in



Which is a cool gy payoff! From small recursive threats to reanimator, there are some high highs with the card and a very respectable floor.

 

[MilesOfficial]

For context, my Cube, the California Premiership Cube, is a mostly-fair 720-card that's a full step down from powered/Vintage Cubes with a lot of exclusions based on power level, but is still reasonably strong. My preliminary change log can be found here. Note: I was going to put in Formidable Speaker in the slot I put in Elemental Spectacle so I need to figure that out still; I'd ideally like to run both!

First draft gives us 15 cards from this set, five of which I'm super stoked about. I've been averaging 20 to start for most sets lately, and I'm feeling what many others are that this expansion is super sweet and flavorful but it's also a little lower power than anything we had in 2025. I'll take a dozen sets like this compared to anything else, to be honest, but I also have a particular emotional soft spot for the original Lorwyn, as that's the era where I got really into Magic and probably played more than any other time in my life, even though I never threw down a single game in a card shop.

Keepers
The cards that I think are excellent and likely to stick around for a while to come, in order of excitement.



These cards have mostly gotten their due, but just a few small notes. Moonshadow is feeling more and more like the black equivalent of my favorite card of 2025, Marauding Mako -- and they play in the same deck/strategy. I'm beyond excited to play this card. Twilight Diviner may have the unfortunate "use copy tokens to poorly approximate your board state" problem that so many sweet cards since 2023 have had (one of WotC design's biggest crutches IMO), but I love the play patterns it encourages, as well as different ways of thinking about reanimation.

Abundant Countryside is going to be an extremely appealing 5c land for my players, and having the out of making tokens at such a high price is a tertiary consideration but is welcome all the same. Tapping for generic really puts it above previous versions of this effect. I keep finding more and more reasons to love Rhys, the Evermore.

Sweet Inclusions
Cards I'm actively excited about that are either at or slightly above replacement-level, in color order.



Here's to hoping Wanderbrine Trapper is just the right amount of powerful, it feels bad taking out a legendary 1-drop for it. It's my only 1-drop in white that feels truly generic, but it does exactly what I want in Wx aggressive decks for my environment, and I love the art.

I swapped out Craterhoof Behemoth with Jubilation. Crazy, yeah? But that card made the ramp deck feel too much like a combo deck, whereas Jubilation is closer to the ideal promised by Great Oak Guardian of a combat crusher that didn't just automatically win or lose you the game. Your Jubilation gets countered? Well, you're ramping, aren't you? Just get to 9 mana, you're in the deck for it. I love cards that sit happily in graveyards for their turn to play, and in that case, it's one more mana than Craterhoof for a similarly big hasty dude.

Abigale, Eloquent First-Year gives three ability counters (groan) that will almost always be represented by a single die no matter what you do to help your players otherwise. I fear mis-plays and mis-remembering, but I think the combination of the price/ability/art is so compelling that I can't help but overlook it.

Cuspers
Magic cards I'm giving a chance that are either at or slightly below replacement rate, in color order.



Unwelcome Sprite is cool. I think the other 2/1 fliers for 1U are probably better, but I love me some surveil / telling people to cast more spells on their opponents' turns.

I wish Aurora Awakener was non-land permanents, Green deserves a more interesting top end than most Cubes give it. It's close enough that I'm willing to give it a chance.

Is Goliath Daydreamer better than Wildfire Devils? I doubt it, but no one ever drafts the Devils. We shall see!

Bench Warmers
The cards on the outside looking in after someone else does the hard work to assess their value to a format like mine.



These are mostly not in for lack of space. I think Ajani will make it in eventually as one of the best recurring token generators for white, a color that's certainly interested in that effect, but I also think my players would find it more appealing to pay an extra mana for a creature every turn that's double the size like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, who I cut and am not too interested in bringing back.

Kinscaer Sentry is a great card, but I don't really need to push generic aggressive strategies any more than I already have, and it doesn't do anything synergistic with what my Cube's got going on besides contributing to recurring life gain. I think in that deck, it would take over the game without giving the synergies much time to synergize.

I just couldn't find a swap for Personify. Blink is really a tertiary archetype in my Cube.



Flitterwing doesn't spark joy in me as much as other blue one-drops. Taster of Wares is fine without other goblins, but I don't think other people will see it that way while they're drafting. Dawnhand Dissident doesn't have reminder text and is maybe a little too fiddly. Aberrant Return is very appealing but I'm still struggling to find a multi-reanimation spell that works for me besides Victimize.



Not much too say about the red cards. Springleaf Parade was going to be excluded because I wasn't using Changeling tokens, but I am for Abundant Coutnryside, so I need to get that in there! Virulent Emissary is probably the bench warmer I most want to find room for, but I feel my Cube is too fast as it is and I find it so hard to cut from my green 1-drops. Elves make up 1 in 7 of my green creatures, but small changes could double that. If I do end up that direction, Champions of the Perfect and Galadhrim Brigade are both compelling additions as a mini archetype. Midnight Tilling is great, but I like Grapple with the Past more and I'm not quite at the point of replacing a Farseek style ramp spell with this kind of value engine.



Sygg is too complicated/wordy for the value, but I love the gameplay. Doran is more compelling than most give him credit, buffing a huge amount of creatures and changing drafting priority. Figure is another Figure, which I don't love for game state reasons. Tam's effect is excellent, but "Hexproof from colors" is not straightforward. I don't like the art of Vibrance.

Super sweet set overall.