MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft Archetypes: Mechanics, best cards, more

Draft is one of the funnest ways to play Magic: The Gathering’s Lorwyn Eclipsed set, but before you start, you’ll want to know which deck archetypes are viable. We’ve got you covered.

Magic: The Gathering has returned to the fan-favorite planes of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor after a series of successful Universes Beyond crossovers. While dabbling in the worlds of franchises like Final Fantasy and Avatar: The Last Airbender has been enjoyable, it’s hard to beat the inventive fantasy of Wizards of the Coast’s original IP.

Mischievous Merfolk, gregarious Goblins, and all manner of fae creatures inhabit the booster packs of Lorwyn Eclipsed. If you’re looking to bolster your collection of the new set and get some time on the tabletop with this latest batch of creatures, you can’t go wrong with the Draft format.

To help prepare you for that endeavour, we’ve prepared a rundown of Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Draft archetypes. This will include a brief on their favoured mechanics, as well as some cards you’ll want to prioritize for each color combo.

What is an MTG Draft archetype?

If you’re new to MTG – which statistics indicate many are – then some of the terminology in this guide might seem unfamiliar. So, before we get into the proper breakdown, some housekeeping is in order.

For a comprehensive guide on the rules of a Draft, take a quick look at our breakdown of the MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft Night Box. For a more brief explanation, an MTG Draft involves a set of players divying up booster packs and taking turns at selecting individual cards from each pack to build a deck. Players then compete in a quick tournament for prizes and bragging rights.

Owing to the limited pool of cards to choose from and the number of available choices dwindling as the selection goes on, the best strategy for building your draft deck usually involves focusing on two specific colors. The Lorwy Eclipsed set has been carefully designed around five of these two-color combinations known as Draft archetypes.

The Draft archetypes for this set in particular are geared primarily around synergy between Creature types such as Kithkin, Elves, and more. Cards will often have abilities that favor having multiple of the same Creature type on the field or elsewhere.

As well as this, each of these color combos has certain mechanics they favor. With the housekeeping out of the way, below we have a summary of each Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft archetype, including some cards to keep an eye out for when making your picks.

Selesnya Kithkin (Green/White)

Wizards of the Coast

Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Selesnya archetype employs a relatively simple strategy that involves building a wide board and spreading out buffs among your Kithkin creatures. Most of these buffs rely on either playing creature cards or having existing Kithkin in play.

More generally, you’ll also gain access to Green’s ramping tools and some reliable removal and Lifegain from White. Once you’ve built a wide enough suite of attackers, you can supplement bug swings with Trample in order to ensure that as much damage as possible goes through to the opposing planeswalker.

Seeing a rare such as Brigid, Clachan’s Heart or Brigid’s Command in your first pack should all but lock you into the archetype. Brigid, Clachan’s Heart is a reliable generator of Kithkin Creature Tokens that plays into the ‘go wide’ strategy, while her transformation, Brigid, Doun’s Mind allows you significant ramp based on your board state.

Brigid’s Command is a modal Sorcery that lets you choose from multiple options to further your win condition, such as copying a Kithkin with a strong ETB or buffing a Trampler with +3/+3. The Keep Out Instant spell is a solid choice for removal, and Mistmeadow Council will allow some card draw.

A basic game plan will be to use Brigid, Clachan’s Heart ti widen your board so that Brigid, Doun’s Mind can ramp you into a closer with a large stat block. Give your big guy trample and overwhelm your opponent.

Azorius Merfolk (White/Blue)

Wizards of the Coast

The scheming Merfolk of Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Azorius archetype want to slowly whittle away an opponent’s life with chip damage from Flyers. All while using frustrating control tactics to disrupt their game plan.

Cards like Champions of the Shoal and Pestered Wellguard have useful abilities that activate when they are tapped. While these function as ‘on attack’ abilities, you can also activate them while using your creatures to pay for Convoke spells like Harmonized Crescendo.

Not only do you cheapen the cost of a powerful Instant, but you also safely trigger a number of abilities. Combo-ing into a card like Deepway Navigator, which untaps your Merfolk creatures, means you can even trigger those abilities twice in a turn while getting an attack off.

Piloting Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Azorius Merfolk Draft archetype relies on generating maximum value through a careful dance of tapping and untapping your own creatures. If you’re skilled enough to pull it off, victories can be decisive.

Izzet Elementals (Blue/Red)

Wizards of the Coast

Lorwyn and Shadowmoor’s Elementals are focused on the usual spellslinging antics of the Izzet archetype. Expect to be copying Instants, Sorceries, and triggered abilities that deal direct damage to creatures and opposing Planeswalkers.

As an added mechanical identity, Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Blue/Red draft strategy centres on casting spells with a Mana cost of four or higher. Ashling, Rekindled is a great way to cycle through cards to find those four-cost spells, and transforming her into Ashling, Rimebound will help you cast them more easily.

Use Ashling to cast creatures like Champion of the Path earlier than expected. Its formidable stat block is scary enough, but Champion of the Path also causes all Elementals to deal direct damage on play.

In keeping with the theme, casting spells of four or higher Mana cost will also trigger abilities for cards like Flaring Cinder and Enraged Flamecaster. Played right, the Izzet Elementals prosecute a relentless onslaught that can quickly overwhelm opponents.

Rakdos Goblins (Red/Black)

Wizards of the Coast

The barbaric Boggarts of the Rakdos archetype are called Goblins on cardboard, so we’ll be referring to them as such. They delight in spreading -1/-1 counters around the board. Sometimes, to their own detriment, thanks to the new Blight mechanic, which requires those counters be placed on your own creatures.

Don’t be worried about Blighting your own creatures, though. Goblin cards like Mudbotton Cursetosser and Bile-Vial Boggart have on-death effects that function as removal and weakening.

This makes them the perfect sacrificial lambs (or Goblins) to pay the pesky Blight cost of powerful creatures like Chaos Spewer without having to hamstring them. Having cards like Boggart Cursecrafter or Boggart Mischief in play also means those dead Goblins chip away at your opponent’s life and restore your own.

Of course, if you can’t stand to part with the little critters, Grub, Storied Matriarch can return them from your Graveyard to harass your opponent all over again. Transforming her into Grub, Notorious Auntie will let you copy any attacking creature in Token form, if you’re willing to Blight them.

Rakdos Goblins play fast and dangerously, but if you’re able to offset their sacrificial nature with careful play, they can be a nightmare to deal with.

Golgari Elves (Black/Green)

Wizards of the Coast

Golgari and Graveyards go hand-in-hand when it comes to Magic: The Gathering, and Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Elves archetype is no exception. Having creatures – more specifically, Elves – in your Graveyard makes Golgari Elves the best-performing Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft archetype by a wide margin.

Cards like Scarblade Scout and Dawnhand Eulogist can help you load your Graveyard through a bit of self-milling. You’ll even gain the occasional benefits of card draw and lifegain as soon as you have an Elf in there.

Pin down your opponent with multiple sources of Deathtouch, Lifelink, and Exile in order to offset the cards you’ll lose along the way. Once your Graveyard is full enough, you can unleash major threats like Moon-Vigil Adherents to finish things out.

Golgari Elves have a relentless style of play that forces your opponent to consider every move carefully. Yes, they can remove your creatures, but oftentimes, that will just make you more of a threat.

While these five Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft archetypes are very focused on creature synergies, don’t be afraid to splash in the various other denizens of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. Giants make for excellent high-end threats, and Changelings stand to benefit from any tribal bonuses.

Now that you’re prepared for a Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft, you can track down local events using the Wizards Store Locator and test your newfound knowledge.