Wizards of the Coast has a year full of work ahead. With seven Magic: The Gathering collections in the pipeline, plus whatever they do with Secret Lair, we are going to have a lot to play and collect. This also does not mean that they will dedicate less care or attention to the collections, if the first collection of the year is any indication of what is to come. Because Lorwyn: Eclipsed is among us and we must say that it is an absolute success.

Lorwyn is one of the most beloved planes in the history of Magic: The Gathering. Originally released as the forty-seventh set of the game on October 12, 2007, it quickly became one of the players’ favorite planes. The reason? Besides being the debut of planeswalkers, it would be a particularly unique fantasy plane.

Fantasy as only Magic can do it

Lorwyn is actually not one plane, but two. When it is daytime, it is Lorwyn, and it is an idyllic world where the sun never sets, the temperature is always mild, and the creatures are friendly and never have malice. Inspired by Celtic folklore and mythology, here we find unique creatures such as kithkin, elementals, shapeshifters, or treefolk, but what is absent are humans of any kind. They do not exist in this peaceful plane.

Now, every once in a while, night falls in Lorwyn. Then, the plane becomes Shadowmoor, its complete opposite in every way. Its creatures turn evil and malicious, the night is eternal, the weather is harsh, and everything is deceptive and potentially deadly. In Shadowmoor, there are also elementals, but the fairies, goblins, giants, and elves, here cannibals, make their way and make life difficult for all those who find themselves in the plane when night falls.

This gives Lorwyn a very particular personality that captivated Magic players of its time. Even if, after its initial success, we haven’t returned to the plane in almost twenty years. Until now.

In Shadowmoor, we have returned to this mythical plane with a particularity: Lorwyn and Shadowmoor have merged, and night and day are confused, causing the kind and gentle creatures from one side to encounter the malicious and deceptive creatures from the other side. Something that has led to the recovery of many interesting mechanics that are making their way into the game due to their strength. Even if they have had to reduce the intensity they had in their original form.

The most striking is the return of Evoke, an ability that allows us to play a creature card for a lower cost than normal, but at the cost of sacrificing it as it enters the battlefield. Why would we do that? Because upon entering the battlefield, it will trigger some kind of ability. But the evoke cards from Shadowmoor are unique because they have something that the previous Lorwyn collections did not have: hybrid mana. All these cards can be paid with one of two colors, and depending on the pair of colors with which we pay for them, they will trigger one ability or another associated with those colors. This makes them extremely versatile cards to use.

In addition to that, one of the skills that has almost become a classic in all collections returns: Convoke. Being able to pay the colorless cost of the card with Convoke by tapping untapped creatures, these cards are particularly powerful when we have many creatures on the battlefield, allowing us to make tremendously explosive plays.

In other respects, Shadowmoor offers us everything that Magic: The Gathering always provides. Collector packs, collector boosters, a beautiful bundle that will delight fans of fairy tale stories, and of course, two Commander decks focused on two of the main themes of the set: one of elementals and another of -1/-1 counters. Both are very interesting for those who enjoy the fascinating world of multiplayer gaming.

Lorwyn Eclipsed is now available for all Magic: The Gathering fans, and you would do well to dive in as soon as possible. Not only because everything related to Magic has been selling out quickly lately, but also because the next collection is already peeking over the horizon saying cowabunga…