General [ECL] Lorwyn Eclipsed

[StrionicAdventurer]

Delighted by these cards because I genuinely think they will cost 50 cents apiece by July, and I want them all for my bar cube. Nice simple abilities that aren't too niche (nobody here is proliferating or anything like that) and just look at the wonderful weirdo art! What a great cycle.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I think a tapper for 1 is already a totally fine Cube card. Goldmeadow Harrier and the like are staples in Peasant/Pauper Cubes for a reason, and totally serviceable at higher power levels too. But when you make it a Savannah Lion as a baseline? Wow! It more than makes up for requiring another untapped creature to use, even if that's admittedly a big cost.

I think I like the gameplay value of this higher than any of the Savannah Lions printed in the last five years, to be completely honest, and it'll likely be joining Descendant of Storms for me.

It's hilarious to me how conservative they are with giving Savannah Lions new abilities. We get Snowballing Threats and Looters that become Ancestral Recall Creation Devices at one mana now, but for some reason, they're afraid to give the Savannah Lions variants compelling use cases for when they can't attack. I don't think my aggro deck would be looking to tap two threats in order to tap a single blocker very often.

While I'm not saying this card should have literal Goldmeadow Harrier text at 1, I wish it had been costed more like Gavony Trapper, Checkpoint Officer, or Frostbridge Guard. We've actually never had a decoy effect that costs to activate; this would have been a cool place to introduce that cost for this effect.

 

[Schafkurai]

It's hilarious to me how conservative they are with giving Savannah Lions new abilities. We get Snowballing Threats and Looters that become Ancestral Recall Creation Devices at one mana now, but for some reason, they're afraid to give the Savannah Lions variants compelling use cases for when they can't attack. I don't think my aggro deck would be looking to tap two threats in order to tap a single blocker very often.

While I'm not saying this card should have literal Goldmeadow Harrier text at 1, I wish it had been costed more like Gavony Trapper, Checkpoint Officer, or Frostbridge Guard. We've actually never had a decoy effect that costs to activate; this would have been a cool place to introduce that cost for this effect.

I am not even sure what would be stronger in most cases, and tapping a creature or just . Sure, it's terrible, if you don't have another creature. But if a 2/1 can't attack into an enemy 3/3 or something like that, then your other 1-2 drops won't be able to either, so tapping them is not that bad. What I like is that you can also tap summoning sick creatures. Turn three play a two drop and tap something down eot does not seem too bad. At least in my cube the mana efficiency could be more important than the additional cost? Who knows .

 

[ravnic]

Hot take: Swat Away is as good as old Venser, Shaper Savant, probably better, since it can often answer a creature or instant for .

 

[Seeker]

Some interesting ones all around - I'm surprised I don't hate the WR member of the evoke cycle, and things that come in with counters are doing interesting stuff.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Slumbering Walker is somewhat exciting to me. I like that you get the first power 2 dude on the turn you cast it.



I really like Twilight Diviner.

It's not a card for dedicated reanimator decks (though it is a perfectly acceptable 23rd card there): it's a value midrange card. Works great with Nethergoyf, Gravecrawler, Forsaken Miner, Cult Conscript, etc. and I love getting extra value out of Unearth, Helping Hand, and the like. Very excited about this one.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Hot take: Swat Away is as good as old Venser, Shaper Savant, probably better, since it can often answer a creature or instant for .

Based take??

Honestly, I think Venser is mostly still popular due to nostalgia and LSV glaze at this point. I think most Cubes could do better (unless they're specifically looking for the nostalgia hit, of course!)

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I am not even sure what would be stronger in most cases, and tapping a creature or just . Sure, it's terrible, if you don't have another creature. But if a 2/1 can't attack into an enemy 3/3 or something like that, then your other 1-2 drops won't be able to either, so tapping them is not that bad. What I like is that you can also tap summoning sick creatures. Turn three play a two drop and tap something down eot does not seem too bad. At least in my cube the mana efficiency could be more important than the additional cost? Who knows .

Honestly, this might just be a case of poor card evaluation on my part, I'm not entirely sure!

I just don't understand why they're so careful with fixed-value Savannah Lions variants in a post-Ragavan world (that is also full of snowballing 1-drops with other statliness). It seems like a place with a lot of cool unexplored design space!

 

[LadyMapi]

things that come in with counters are doing interesting stuff.

I appreciate that WotC decided not to specify which counters you can remove.



Mmm, tasty Finality counters...

...



I'm kinda bummed that the reference to Wort, the Raidmother is commander-bait expensive. Conspire's a super fun mechanic and can be pretty strong (it copies a spell, that's pretty much always good), but "tap two creatures that share a color with the spell" is also a big enough cost that I'm not sure a card that just gives stuff Conspire needs to cost .

 

[ravnic]

This might be my favorite big cycling creature in red. He's cool for lower powered reanimator.

 

[LadyMapi]

Honestly, I think Venser is mostly still popular due to nostalgia and LSV glaze at this point.

Venser does get a bunch of points for being super clean. Sure, there are stronger 4-drops in blue these days, and there are better cards at doing what Venser does, but Venser just does the thing. Gotta love cards that just do the thing without faffing around with restrictions or conditions.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I'm kinda bummed that the reference to Wort, the Raidmother is commander-bait expensive. Conspire's a super fun mechanic and can be pretty strong (it copies a spell, that's pretty much always good), but "tap two creatures that share a color with the spell" is also a big enough cost that I'm not sure a card that just gives stuff Conspire needs to cost .

Genuinely surprised this isn't from the commander decks

I've seen a lot of people mentioning this card, and in general I'd recommend against this over flame slash.
I think enough of y'all that you don't want worse AND more complicated.

 

[EzPzJapanezy]

This card seems disgusting. I actually love its attack trigger so much, it is a pretty novel payoff for a go-wide strategy, but man I really don't think it needed to be so juiced by those keywords, makes it a such a nuisance to deal with on defense.

 

[MilesOfficial]

This card seems disgusting. I actually love its attack trigger so much, it is a pretty novel payoff for a go-wide strategy, but man I really don't think it needed to be so juiced by those keywords, makes it a such a nuisance to deal with on defense.

I actually like the stats/ability here, but the win-more nature of its attack trigger are what turn me off. It's certainly powerful enough for me -- maybe even too much so -- and I don't really like the feels bad this card provides to the person getting attacked.

BUT! I really like having a 2-drop in white that feels fine late-game. It really helps to stabilize your board late in a way no other 2-drop can do, and can threaten some fun shenanigans when you're at parity (are you bluffing running this into a 3/3? can your opponent afford to wait to use their bolt?).

Ultimately, I think it lacks enough synergy with my biggest archetypes to be too interested in it, but I'll pick up a copy since I think it's neat otherwise.

--



I thought I talked about Elemental Spectacle when it was spoiled but I guess I neglected to do so!

Herd Migration has been stuck in my on-deck binder for years, but I really really like it. And I like this a whole lot more.

I think it represents the exact kind of issue many have with Triomes -- they let you cheat in ways that don't feel right. So now, you have to really earn each of those tokens, especially since my Cube doesn't have too many hybrids (unfortunately).

Getting 2 5/5s for 6 is pretty easy and pretty good (has it really been so long since Armada Wurm was a respectable pick for Selesnya?) but I think this compares better with Old One Eye and not just for casting cost. I think it'll be reasonably easy and fun to get 3-4 5/5s for 6 off of this, and gaining the life really helps you feel like you've stabilized even if you immediately get wrathed after casting.

Losing out on the emergency valve of Herd Migration sucks, but I don't run Bushwack because I've found that effect too anemic without any additional baubles on top, and it's really only an emergency valve.

I love this card enough that I'm excited to introduce a new token to my Cube for it!

---

Also, I've got my changes ready for the whole set done (love to procrastinate) so happy to update once the Testing thread is up!

 

[Mown]

If this was a new plane I might have liked this set, but knowing that it's a revisit to Lorwyn, I just have to live with it not delivering on what made the original set special to me. The full art basic lands really sell the disconnect in the two sets the best to me. The set looks fun to draft though, the whole counter aspect is pretty neat, and there are some other cool synergies going on like convoke synergizing with kithkin's go wide and merfolk's tapping theme. The actual tribal aspects of the set I don't really care about, but they were kind of priced into that. Anyway, cards, several of which have been mentioned.

Spoiler: Incarnations

I really like this, wish we got a full 10-card cycle. Could do without the heckin doggo and his off-model kithkin ruining the aesthetic of an otherwise great set of artworks. I don't see the Bushwack mode of Catharsis seeing a lot of use, but otherwise I really like their designs, I like them being multicolored cards that can still be good if you're not fully commited, and you can do fun things with cards like manamorphose. Disappointed these are the only evoke cards in the set.

Spoiler: Moonshadow

Reminiscent of Death's Shadow, but more comparable to Stalatctite Stalker, and generally speaking just straight better at it, which is a bit concerning as that card is already good. I'm a bit scared of this card considering I break singleton on fetchlands, mishra's bauble and street wraith, but I do kind of want to include it. Feel like this card might lead to a banning in modern, having no idea what currently goes on in that format.

Spoiler: Blink stuff

Some fun options here. Using Ephemerate to restock your -1/-1 counter cards is cool to me, although there's not that many of them that appeal to me outside of the Glen Elandra Archmage rework. Disruptor might eeke out Riftwind Cloudskate who is probably overstaying its welcome, as much as I like that it has suspend for the less ambitious storm decks. Formidable Speaker makes me wonder if I have too much creature tutoring in green, I wish their card velocity wasn't so creature centric. Rhys is funny with the final fantasy summons, but I think I'd rather it just be less wordy. On the topic of ETBs, I kind of want to play Sygg but just the front-side. Still don't understand why they changed his skin (scale?) color though.

Spoiler: Other neat stuff

Blue and green interaction is a bit awkward, so I think I'll try out Noggle the Mind. I'm not sure Sprite quite makes it, but it's a lot of potential card filtering, and could be a great addition to a sort of tempo-y delve deck.

 

[LadyMapi]

Genuinely surprised this isn't from the commander decks

I've seen a lot of people mentioning this card, and in general I'd recommend against this over flame slash.
I think enough of y'all that you don't want worse AND more complicated.

Do you think WotC regrets printing Galvanic Blast? This is the 7th one-drop creature-specific burn spell that deals 2 damage normally but 4 damage if a condition is met (8th if you count the Alchemy version of Unholy Heat), but Plasma Bolt and Galvanic Blast are the only ones that can point that damage towards the face.

But yeah, if you find yourself wanting a slightly worse Flame Slash just use Strangle instead.

---



This guy honestly feels pretty decent as a Generic Big Idiot? Vigilance + reach is a nice keyword combination, ward slows down villain's removal, and it gains you at least 4 life on ETB.



Oh cool, we now have Thirst for ___ cards for the four "core" permanent types. I think Winternight Stories is a more interesting card thanks to pushing you towards playing big creatures instead of utility dorks, which has a better texture in my opinion... but I'm not going to complain about drawing three and pitching a Wonder or a reanimation target.

EDIT:


I like the tension between choosing a color your deck doesn't normally produce (+1 color for Vivid and opening up some sideboard cards) or a color you can actually use. That tension probably won't exist outside of limited, but I still like the idea.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Do you think WotC regrets printing Galvanic Blast? This is the 7th one-drop creature-specific burn spell that deals 2 damage normally but 4 damage if a condition is met (8th if you count the Alchemy version of Unholy Heat), but Plasma Bolt and Galvanic Blast are the only ones that can point that damage towards the face.

But yeah, if you find yourself wanting a slightly worse Flame Slash just use Strangle instead.

Almost certainly. Cheap player hitting burn feels real bad a ways to lose go, and only gets more and more powerful as power goes up.
Like imagine fireblast today