Hey Everyone! I wanted to talk about some in-universe Magic: The Gathering (MTG) sets. As the next set, Lorwyn Eclipse is bringing us back to a classic plane, so classic it was around before I started playing MTG. You may ask yourself what is a plane in MTG? A plane is a separate universe with its own people, cultures, creatures, magic and lands. On top of this, planes also have their own laws and rules on how things work and interact, things like physics and earthly logic might not apply in the way we are used to. Planes also have different world building, some might feel like a Gothic fantasy, and some more like a futuristic city. All are separate from each other, most planes don’t know that the others exist, and even if they did, travelling between them is next to impossible. That is, unless you are a select few called Planeswalkers. Lorwyn as a plane has a lot of history behind it and it has shaped what MTG is today.
The original Lorwyn set released in 2007 introduced a super special card type that had never been seen before in MTG: Planeswalkers. Planeswalkers have always been a part of MTG’s story, but in the earlier days, their backstory and god-like powers were kept vague. They’re among the only beings who are aware of other planes, and they’re uniquely able to travel freely between them. After the release of this card type, Planeswalkers became much weaker and instead became powerful mages that could travel between different planes and were much easier to relate to.
Today, it’s hard to imagine MTG without Planeswalkers cards; their introduction in Lorwyn allowed players to associate themselves with a character in each of the different colours. My favourite being Garruk Wildspeaker, as it embodies what green is in Magic. Generally, green is able to generate the most lands and summon the best creatures when it comes to power and toughness. Combined with how common the keyword trample is found on green creatures, green units literally trample over their opponents with sheer power and brute force. Having the Planeswalker be a big muscled barbarian vibes with “might makes right” and suits the colour perfectly.
Following their release, Planeswalkers became the go-to for storytelling in Magic, often having the story be told through their point of view. And speaking of plains walkers, Ajani, my boy is back, yay! He was one of the first Planeswalkers I bought when I was a kid, as he dealt with having lots of creatures, life gain, and creatures would get stronger the more life you had. This was one of my favourite strategies when I first started playing. We also know Oko is making a return, hopefully he doesn't get banned again!
Let’s look back at the original Lorwyn sets and the plane’s unique story and art. Here, daylight stretches on without end; the sun hangs high, and the land stays locked in endless midsummer. There are no humans in this plane, only fantasy creatures such as elves, elementals, faeries, giants, kithkin, merfolk, shapeshifters, and tree folk. The creatures that live on this plane are very gleeful and know nothing of melancholy or malevolence, but that doesn’t mean it is peaceful. Tribal rivalries run deep on this plane, and the card art often highlights that constant tension. This plane is not a paradise and can be just as dangerous as others. You can tell from the art that it’s an open love letter to European folk tales, focusing on Celtic folklore, British, Welsh, Irish and Scottish folklore using many cultural signposts in the names, clothing and architecture.
One of the many odd things about this plane is that every 300 years, it turns darker, and everything begins to change dramatically. This is often caused by a great aurora created by Oona, the Queen of the Faes, to lengthen the days and nights of the plane. The woods get more twisted, snarled and start to rot. The constant daytime becomes constant night, where the only light is that of the moon’s. The creatures of the plane lose all their memories and become vicious, warped versions of themselves. The plane eventually turns into Shadowmoor, where it becomes a dreadful, constant struggle for survival, where death is at every corner.
Mechanically, the Lorwyn block shows a plane before it is twisted. As typical in MTG, you tap cards - meaning you turn your card sideways - as a cost for an action. For example, Immaculate Magistrate must be tapped in order to use its effect; this is very common in MTG. However, in the set ‘Shadowmoor’ there are many cards where a creature must be untapped to use its effect, this is the only time this mechanic has ever been used in MTG. One card with this mechanic is Merrow Grimeblotter, It has to already be tapped in some way, usually by attacking or having another effect that taps it as a cost. Now, since you untap your creature as a cost, you can tap it normally again as a cost for whatever ability needs it. It shows the inversion of Shadowmoor and how everything on the plane becomes twisted when it turns to night.
Now let’s explore Lorwyn's transformation in the current setting. In the original story of Lorwyn, a coalition of Maralen (elf), Rhys (elf), Brigid (kithkin), Sygg (merfolk), Ashling (elemental), and sapling of Colfenor (treefolk) went to defeat Queen Oona and end her control of the plane’s day and night cycle. They succeeded and destroyed her physical form. The cycle was broken now, causing the day and night cycles to merge into each other, creating a plane of pure duality. With the new plane a new God emerged on the plane Called Eirdu, Carrier of the Dawn and Isilu, and Carrier of twilight who are different and the same at once showing the planes two sides now.
Now the inhabitants of the plane can walk from a bright part of the plane to the dark plane of Shadowmoor, and these areas are called the twilight zones of the plane, represented with the return of shock lands. The full art Lands are double-sided, beautifully showing the light and dark side of Lorwyn.
Then we have Bitterbloom Bearer. Does this card look familiar? Well, it’s a creature version of the original powerful card Bitterblossom, which allows you to create a bunch of 1/1 in a short time at the cost of some life. It even has flash, which will enable you to play it at instant speed, which is bonkers.
Bitterblossom was so good it was banned in a few formats, such as Modern and Commander. It has since been unbanned and are now staples in those formats. Oftentimes, Bitterblossom can win you the game on its own. With the introduction of Bitterbloom Bearer, these decks can now have redundancy - multiple cards with essentially the same effect. Even though it is easier to remove creature cards than enchantments, Bitterbloom Bearer has flash, so it allows you to hold onto mana for counter spells or removal on your opponent's turn. I can’t wait to see this card in action and how it will affect the formats in Magic. Will Bitterbloom Bearer and Bitterblossom be run together? Will Bitterbloom Bearer replace Bitterblossom? Or will it not affect these formats at all?
I am very excited for this set as we are going back to a plane which has a lot of history in magic. The introduction of Planeswalkers and even bringing a remake of a classic, competitive card: Bitterbloom bearer. They even brought back all the original characters from the original plane that were integral to the story of the original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor sets. Of course, to wrap it all up with fantastic art from all the amazing artists. Overall, the new In-universe MTG set did an amazing job of introducing players back to the Lorwyn Plane.
Thank you for reading. Hope to see you again!
And as always, Top Shelf Co. will be carrying these products when they release, and if you want to secure your product, you can Pre-order Here! I hope you are all as excited as we are to see where this set takes MTG. See you next time!
