Lorwyn Eclipsed draft strategy rewards going all-in on creature types

Magic: The Gathering’s beloved flop Lorwyn put a heavy emphasis on creature types when it debuted in 2008. So it’s no surprise that 2026’s first set, Lorwyn Eclipsed,puts a similar focus on the eight types of creatures (elemental, elf, faerie, giant, goblin, kithkin, merfolk, and treefolk) that exist in the dual plane of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. “Nothing defines Lorwyn more than typal themes,” Magic Head Designer Mark Rosewater wrote in a Jan. 5 blog post about the set. He also wrote a week later in another post that the original Lorwyn “went overboard” with this, leaning into “deeply linear” archetypes where all drafts tended to play out the same.