There are Magic: The Gathering (MTG) sets that feel like mechanical experiments, and then there are sets that feel like home. Lorwyn Eclipsed very firmly sits in the second camp.
Wizards of the Coast is taking players back to one of Magic: The Gathering’s most visually distinct and emotionally resonant planes, blending the eternal daylight of Lorwyn with the creeping twilight of Shadowmoor in a way that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly new.
Judging by early reactions, this return to an original, story-rich plane is exactly what a lot of long-time players have been waiting for. Launching with Prerelease, and already available on MTG Arena, Lorwyn Eclipsed is coming to tabletop worldwide on January 23. Lorwyn Eclipsed isn’t just a revisit, it’s a dreamy reimagining.
A world where day and night collide
Once upon a time, Lorwyn and Shadowmoor were two sides of the same coin, endlessly shifting between sunlit whimsy and moonlit menace. That balance is gone.
In Magic: The Gathering Lorwyn Eclipsed, those aspects bleed into one another. Bright pastels sit beside unsettling shadows. Gentle folk-tale aesthetics clash with harsher, more twisted forms of magic. It’s colourful, surreal, and just such a beautiful set.
There are some beautiful, colourful, and very contrasting cards in this set. (Photo: TechAU)
Narratively, the set follows four first-year Strixhaven students who stumble through an Omenpath into this fractured world, with Ajani and Liliana close behind. It’s a clever way to bridge Magic’s wider multiverse with one of its most beloved standalone planes, while letting new and returning players experience Lorwyn-Shadowmoor through fresh eyes.
Mechanics that reflect the plane’s duality
Mechanically, Lorwyn Eclipsed leans hard into the idea that nothing exists without its opposite. There are a bunch of mechanics that are central to this set:
Vivid – rewards players for embracing colour diversity, with abilities scaling based on how many colours you control. It’s flexible, expressive, and very on-theme for a plane that refuses to be just one thing.
Blight – one of the more interesting new keyword actions in recent sets. It uses -1/-1 counters not just as punishment, but as a resource. Weakening your own creatures can feel wrong. Then you realise how many cards are designed to remove those counters for additional upside. It’s a mechanic that asks players to think a step ahead, and it fits Shadowmoor’s philosophy perfectly.
Changeling & Kindred – two fan-favourite mechanics return in a way that feels purposeful rather than nostalgic. Changeling once again allows creatures to be everything at once, while Kindred expands creature typing to noncreature cards, opening up some genuinely fun deck-building options for tribal players.
Double-Faced Cards – nonmodal double-faced cards capture the transformation between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor beautifully. These aren’t “choose your mode” cards. Instead, they evolve, reflecting how characters and places shift as the plane itself changes.
Commander choices: Light or shadow
Unsurprisingly, MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed comes with two Commander decks that mirror the plane’s split nature:
Ashling’s Dance of the Elements leans into harmony, colour, and elemental synergy.
Auntie Ool’s Blight Curse embraces decay, counters, and calculated self-sacrifice.
Choose your Commander Deck. (Image: Wizards of the Coast)
Two commanders, two philosophies, and a very clear invitation to pick a side. Or you can get both and let them clash at your next Commander night. I know which one I want!
Artwork that feels like a storybook (and a gallery)
Visually, Lorwyn Eclipsed is stunning.
The pastel-inspired palette, whimsical character designs, and storybook framing immediately set it apart from darker, more metallic recent sets. It’s expressive without being noisy, and nostalgic without feeling dated.
Even the dice is stunning. (Photo: TechAU)
Highlights include:
Rebecca Guay’s return, lending her iconic style to a serialised Bitterbloom Bearer, available only in Collector Boosters.
Fable frame cards, which genuinely look like they’ve been pulled from a fairy-tale anthology.
Japan Showcase cards, reimagined by the Japanese Booster Fun team with bold framing and fracture foil treatments.
Special Guests cards, featuring woodcut-style artwork that feels handcrafted by the plane’s inhabitants.
Borderless shock lands, reversible to show both Lorwyn and Shadowmoor on a single card.
Full-art basic lands themed around day and night, perfect for players who care just as much about deck aesthetics as deck power.
For collectors, artists, and players who value visual identity, this set is doing a lot of things right.
The full-art cards are gorgeous. (Photo: TechAU)
A love letter to original Magic worlds
Perhaps the most important thing Magic: The Gathering Lorwyn Eclipsed does is remind players why original Magic planes matter.
This isn’t a crossover. It isn’t a gimmick. It’s a richly imagined world with its own rules, its own aesthetics, and mechanics that exist because of the place they come from, not in spite of it.
For OG players, it feels like coming back to something familiar but evolved. For newer players, it’s an invitation into one of Magic’s most distinctive settings. And for everyone else, it’s proof that Magic’s original worlds still have plenty of magic left in them.
Lorwyn is back, brighter, darker, and more eclipsed than ever. You can grab your play boosters, collector boosters, Commander decks, or bundles by checking the Magic: The Gathering website and finding a store near you, or check Amazon.
Grab your MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed cards. (Photo: TechAU)