Rounding up the hottest buys from Lorwyn Eclipsed leading up to next week’s release.
Lorwyn Eclipsed is almost here, and with it sees a return to an in-Magic universe for what feels like an eternity. The excitement around Lorwyn Eclipsed continues to manifest strongly within the community, as players have been eager to return to one of Magic: The Gathering’s most-loved planes for quite some time. There’s a lot to love about Lorwyn Eclipsed; there’s a strong typal theme (often called “creature type matters”) that remains popular with casual Commander players, along with individually strong cards that are bound to see competitive play on release day and beyond.
Presales for Lorwyn Eclipsed have remained strong since late last year, as players who perhaps didn’t engage with Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man or Avatar: The Last Airbender are making up for lost time with the upcoming whimsical release.
The Best-Selling Presales from Lorwyn Eclipsed
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As for trending cards, Personify and Sunderflock are becoming decent purchases as we enter Lorwyn Eclipsed’s release next week. Personify is an interesting one, and joins the much-loved class of cards that care about exiling a creature to return them to the battlefield. While we often use the terms “Blink” and “Flicker” interchangeably in Magic these days, Personify is a decent version of this effect — gifting you a Shapeshifter token for your troubles if you’re after some typal synergy. Sunderflock is one of the many Elements residing in Lorwyn Eclipsed and is marked as one of the notable upgrades for the Dance of the Elements Precon Deck, which has led to a bunch of healthy sales.
Speaking of Commander Precons, Sol Ring (#0058) and (#0057) from these products are also on the move, as these are some of the most stunning reprints of the card we’ve seen in a while. Despite not coming in foil, these Sol Rings showcase the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor aesthetic that players have come to really appreciate with Lorwyn Eclipsed. That said, Sol Ring (#0058) is currently the most affordable printing of the card at the time of publication. With that to one side, let’s work our way through the cards that have sold best from Lorwyn Eclipsed going into release week.
#10 Mirrormind Crown
Mirrormind Crown
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
Let’s start with Mirrormind Crown, which is close to an artifact version of the excellent Moonlit Meditation from Edge of Eternities. For four mana and an equip cost of two, the Crown allows you to create token copies of the equipped creature instead of a token when this triggers for the first time. So that Treasure token you’ve just created? Congrats! It’s now a copy of the equipped creature instead.
Unfortunately, the Crown doesn’t cheat around legendary naming conventions, so copying those may be tricky; it can turn your most threatening creature into multiples, though — say something like Avenger of Zendikar or Ocelot Pride, which may require you breaking out the calculator at some point. While the Crown isn’t anywhere in the realm of Helm of the Host, the card plays a decent role of copying creatures if you’re looking for another card with a similar effect for Commander play. In particular, the Crown is a must-have for any strategy that utilizes a warren of Hare Apparents in Commander, or a similar playstyle.
#9 Bloodline Bidding
Bloodline Bidding
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
Lorwyn Eclipsed sees the return of cards that focus on a specific creature type, and Bloodline Bidding is one of many. For eight mana, Bloodline Bidding can return creature cards of the chosen type from your graveyard to the battlefield, which you’re rarely going to be paying full retail due to convoke. Typal archetypes have been long-popular in Magic (especially in Commander), so it isn’t a surprise to see a mass recursion spell that focuses on this become a top purchase from Lorwyn Eclipsed thus far.
#8 Sapling Nursery
Sapling Nursery
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
Treefolk didn’t see as much love as initially anticipated by players in Lorwyn Eclipsed, but Sapling Nursery is a really nice addition to those existing Doran, the Siege Tower or upcoming Doran, Besieged by Time Commander decks. For eight mana, the Nursery creates a Treefolk token whenever a land enters play under your control, along with the activated ability to grant your Treefolk and Forest cards with indestructible for a turn. While it’s easy to slam this in those flavorful Treefolk strategies, Hearthhull, the Worldseed has become quite the popular commander from Edge of Eternities since release, and looks to be a must-have here given the land shenanigans the card often provides.
#7 Formidable Speaker
Formidable Speaker
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
Perhaps my favorite card from Lorwyn Eclipsed is Formidable Speaker, which depicts Magic World Champion XXIX Jean-Emmanuel Depraz. Anytime a player wins a World Magic Championship, they have a card designed with their likeness that appears in a future Standard release. As for the card itself, Formidable Speaker is remarkably strong, with the card’s power becoming more notable in Constructed formats such as Standard, Pioneer, and possibly Modern.
In Standard, Formidable Speaker pairs excellently with Superior Spider-Man, and even curves into Ouroboroid since you can discard a card to find the Edge of Eternities haymaker as a follow-up. The applications with the Speaker are almost endless, where it can also leverage Gaea’s Cradle or Time Vault to achieve some serious nonsense in Vintage Cube or Canadian Highlander. It’s also an Elf, meaning there are further uses in Commander as it can find a Craterhoof Behemoth or Ezuri, Renegade Leader to end games. It isn’t a surprise to see Formidable Speaker become such a desirable purchase, as it’s perhaps the strongest card printed in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
#6 Oft-Nabbed Goat
Oft-Nabbed Goat
Commander: Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
It’s rare to see a card from the Commander subset becoming a trending purchase when it comes to presales, but that’s not the case with Oft-Nabbed Goat, which appears in the Blight Curse Precon Deck. While it’s an incredible callback to Goatnapper from the original Lorwyn block, Oft-Nabbed Goat creates an interesting set of mini-games if you’re looking for more politicking at your weekly Commander nights.
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Essentially, the play pattern here is that players fight to take control of Oft-Nabbed Goat by throwing -1/-1 counters onto it. Once the Goat dies with at least one -1/-1 counter on it, the Goat’s owner draws that many cards, with each other player losing that much life. It’s such an interesting design, and one that’s caused strong movement on the secondary market during presales, especially since the Goat is a nice way to turn any blight abilities into card draw.
#5 Mutable Explorer
Mutable Explorer
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
Everyone’s favorite “just a lil’ guy” is already a popular purchase in Lorwyn Eclipsed, as Mutable Explorer comes with the intriguing ability to create a Mutavault token when it enters play. For those unfamiliar, Mutavault was first printed in Morningtide and became an excellent utility land upon release, and continues to see play in various formats even today. Mutavault also sees play in Commander, as it’s one of the best mana options for any typal archetypes since the can can become all creature types upon activation, which makes Mutable Explorer a must-have in extension of this sentiment.
It’s worth noting that the Mutavault token isn’t legendary, which means you can blink Mutable Explorer (with say, a Personify) to create more land tokens as the game progresses. Given the card’s uniqueness, it’ll be worth keeping those Mutavault tokens to one side if you happen to open any in Play and Collector Boosters, as they may be worth something over time.
#4 Ashling, Rekindled
Ashling, Rekindled
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
Ashling, Rekindled was one of the early reveals from Lorwyn Eclipsed, which has helped the Elemental Sorcerer become a leading purchase going into next week. While this version of Ashling isn’t going to lead Commander tables, it is a flavorful addition to the colorful Dance of the Elements Precon Deck, providing an option to those who want to maximize the Elemental theme in a more casual setting. From rummaging to generating mana for those high-cost spells, Ashling comes with an interesting mixture of abilities that’ll do some serious work in various spell-based archetypes.
#3 The Shock Lands
The rest of the cycle of Shock Lands return in Lorwyn Eclipsed, and they’re already proving to be a hot purchase going into release week. Edge of Eternities saw the other five printed last year in Godless Shrine, Stomping Ground, Sacred Foundry, Breeding Pool, and Watery Grave, with Lorwyn Eclipsed finishing the cycle for Standard Constructed play. In terms of play, these Shock Lands are about as staple as it gets in Magic — they see play just about everywhere.
From Constructed formats to Commander, Shock Lands are some of the most versatile mana options you can play in the game. With the reprints in Lorwyn Eclipsed, this will provide another fantastic opportunity to stock up on copies for future usage, as it’s likely these will come down in price once circulation hits the secondary market. At the time of publication, Steam Vents and Blood Crypt are the two Shock Lands seeing the highest sales from the set.
#2 High Perfect Morcant
High Perfect Morcant
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
One of the earlier previews through the Lorwyn Eclipsed story is High Perfect Morcant, who is proving to be one of the most sought-after cards from the release. Morcant is currently the most-registered commander from Lorwyn Eclipsed on EDHREC, as she looks to be an incredible option to lead an Elves strategy if you want a change of pace from playing Lathril, Blade of the Elves. With infinite combos alongside Flourishing Defenses, Morcant has become the must-build commander from Lorwyn Eclipsed, which has heavily dictated presales going into release week.
What makes High Perfect Morcant so gnarly in Commander is her ability to force each opponent to blight 1 whenever she or another Elf enters play under your control. And if that wasn’t enough, you can proliferate by tapping three untapped Elves you control, growing those nasty blight counters further. The term “Elfball” is synonymous in Magic, as it means you’re able to churn out a ton of Elves in a very short space of time — making Morcant a one-sided board wipe with little effort. Not to mention, Elves remain one of the most popular creature types to play in Magic, meaning Morcant is going to have plenty of fans on release day and beyond.
#1 Hexing Squelcher
Hexing Squelcher
Lorwyn Eclipsed, Rare
A card that has seen widespread attention since previews is Hexing Squelcher, which is a flavorful nod to Shadowmoor’s Vexing Shusher. While a two-mana creature with middling stats may not seem much, it’s the other four abilities that have propelled it to become the best-selling card from Lorwyn Eclipsed going into release week. From itself being uncounterable to providing each of your creatures with resource-costing ward ability, Hexing Squelcher will become an immediate replacement to Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Spider-Punk upon release. Not to mention, Hexing Squelcher ignores opposing instances of ward since your spells cannot be countered (ward will trigger regardless, but you can decline to pay the cost), an aspect that feels like it hasn’t been fully acknowledged in conversation.
Market Price: $37.36
In particular, competitive Commander spaces are kicking up a storm as the format is dictated by free spells, meaning it’ll be more difficult to respond to these with a Hexing Squelcher in play. Hexing Squelcher isn’t legendary either, meaning it could easily see play in multiples in Standard Constructed’s Mono-Red Aggro or even Modern’s Boros Energy as a way to ensure those haymaker spells hit the battlefield. Either way, Hexing Squelcher is looking like it’ll be the card to own from Lorwyn Eclipsed, and players are already getting ahead of the curve and buying in at presale prices.