Modern Playables Cards in Lorwyn Eclipsed

Lorwyn Eclipsed’s pre-release is behind us and its release is rounding the corner, so let’s talk about some of the playables worth keeping an eye on for the Modern format. 

While, as a whole, the set is somewhat low-impact for Modern, it does have a few standouts that warrant broader discussion!

Hexing Squelcher

Let’s start with the obvious money-card from this set that will likely see play in all formats in all decks that can justify playing it. The awkwardly named: Hexing Squelcher.

Preordering at around $30 a pop, this little Goblin is generating a lot of discussion. Continuing in the trend of pushing the envelope of card design, this new single renders Spider-Punk utterly outclassed in all formats that Punk was previously seeing play in. 

Squelcher has a lot of text, and each line of text is worth discussing. Firstly, Squelcher itself can’t be countered–worth noting that Squelcher is not hard to cast either for a single red pip and one generic mana. Secondly, it has “ward-pay 2 life” which isn’t the most oppressive ward cost, but isn’t trivial in formats that have 20 starting life (so all non-Commander formats). Thirdly, and most importantly, Squelcher ensures that your spells can’t be countered. The fourth ability of granting your creatures the same ward effect as Squelcher itself is just gravy. 

Maybe less so for Modern outside of Storm shells, in eternal formats where the stack is considerably more relevant, Squelcher dramatically alters not just game dynamics, but format dynamics. In Legacy, cEDH, Vintage, and other eternal formats where free interaction reigns king, Squelcher represents an immovable object that will likely lead to games or game states that are counter to many format philosophies and traditional play patterns. 

Nevertheless, there are certainly some shells, especially Storm shells, that would love to have this card as an answer to post-sideboard interaction but turning off all relevant opponent interaction altogether. We’ll see how big of a splash this card makes, but make no mistake, a splash it will make.

Hexing Squelcher	CardKingdom $29.99	TCGPlayer $29.73
Hexing Squelcher (Showcase)	CardKingdom $49.99	TCGPlayer $37.90

Bitterbloom Bearer

Bitterblossom was once a Modern format staple that has largely fallen out of favor. Unfortunately it’s too low of an impact for the pace of play in today’s meta. Having said that, making Bitterblossom a creature carries with it several upsides, most notably it can be played at flash speed, and can act as an attacker almost immediately upon hitting board, and thereby apply immediate pressure to life totals rather than latent pressure like Bitterblossom. 

In Dimir or Esper shells, Bitterblossom becomes something that’s on the fence of playability, but again, BB is a somewhat steep cost to pay even for flash speed. I’d like to believe that there’s some unrealized potential to be had here, but even then it might still just be too slow, and too low-impact for the format. 

Nevertheless, for formats like Standard or Pioneer, there’s a world where this is playable. Maybe it’s just flavor and nostalgia, but the potential nested in this card is enough to command a pre-release price of about $20, so perhaps there’s something lurking in Bearer that we just have to tap into. 

Bitterbloom Bearer	CardKingdom $29.99	TCGPlayer $37.17
Bitterbloom Bearer (Showcase)	CardKingdom $32.99	TCGPlayer $69.10

Formidable Speaker

One of the earliest cards spoiled, Formidable Speaker is designed in the likeness of the Worlds winner Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, and packs a lot of relevant game text into a formidable (pun entirely intended) 2/4 body. 

Upon entering, Speaker allows you to discard any card and tutor for a creature of your choosing. In a format like Modern that lacks the accessible tutors you’d see in other eternal formats, there’s definitely some consideration for how this card could impact the format as a means to functionally allow you to play more than four copies of your most-impactful creature card. 

A notable feature of Speaker that probably isn’t discussed as much is that he is a discard outlet, too. For reanimator strategies, this card acts as a means to bin the card you want to reanimate and find the creature (like Priest of Fell Rites, for example) that brings that discarded creature back. 

The ability to untap a permanent for one generic mana and tapping Speaker would be more relevant if The One Ring were still legal in the format, but outside of Modern, the untap ability is actually more relevant than the rest of the text of Speaker, so it’s market price of $17 is picking up that utility, too, even if it’s less impactful in the Modern format. 

Overall, Speaker is just a cool card with a sound and fair design that does a lot of utilitarian things at a fairly reasonable mana cost. Is it impactful enough to see widespread Modern play? Probably not right now. For decks that want to tutor their most impactful creature–like Primeval Titan in the case of Amulet Titan–cards like Summoner's Pact will likely be strictly more efficient. 

Formidable Speaker	CardKingdom $19.99	TCGPlayer $19.99
Formidable Speaker (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $24.99	TCGPlayer $20.88

New Elemental Cycle

The two-color evoke Elemental cycle is one of the biggest question marks in terms of meta impact. Without diving into each specific Elemental, the general template that they follow is that in the early game, they offer modality that can tempo an opponent, provide you some value, recursion, mana, or other form resources, while in the late game they act as formidable bodies that can pressure life totals, while achieving either of their enter triggers by simply paying the whole mana cost of the card itself, rather than evoking it. 

Deceit, in particular, offers a lot of potential. Its enter effects are Boomerang if UU was paid or Thoughtseize (minus the life loss) if BB was paid–both of which are useful depending on the context, and offer the highest quality modal evoke effects for high damage output (5/5) if it’s cast in the late game. 

Emptiness and Vibrance also stand out, but realistically, Deceit is the one whose playability in the Modern format I’m keeping the closest eye on–currently pre-ordering at around $10 a piece. 

Deceit	CardKingdom $17.99	TCGPlayer $15.99
Deceit (Borderless)	CardKingdom $24.99	TCGPlayer $29.21

Looking Towards Tomorrow

While this set brings back some beautiful, nostalgic art, and balances out gameplay with flavor, the overall impact Lorwyn Eclipsed will bear out for the Modern format will be minimal, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s safe to say that the cards and cycles discussed above are just generally representative of high-impact cards from the set that can see play in the right Modern shell, but will likely see more play outside the format–save for maybe the evoke Elementals. 

I imagine this set will play out more subtly than its predecessors, like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Edge of Eternities, but oftentimes its sets like this that end up with sleeper hits over the long-run, so consider that as well when speculating! 

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