Lorwyn Eclipsed (ECL) Limited Review — Black

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Lorwyn Eclipsed (ECL) has its prerelease events on January 16, 2026, and officially releases a week later on January 23, 2026. Want to know more about how each card rates in Limited, with recommendations? Then check out this series of ECL Limited reviews!

• For the mechanics, see this article: Lorwyn Eclipsed Mechanics Explained

Rating Scale

Note: This ECL Limited format places a very high demand on creature-type synergy within each color pair. If a creature card has the theme creature type of a color pair (for example: Merfolk, Goblin, Kithkin, Elemental, Elf, etc.), its rating already reflects its strength in that color pair.

5.0: Always take it; gives you a near-winning advantage
4.5: Always take it if you’re in the right colors; gives you a huge advantage
4.0: First-pick quality; excellent synergy with the archetype’s theme, and can be the deciding card for splashing, switching colors, or entering a color pair
3.5: Top uncommons and commons of the set, plus other strong cards; good synergy with the archetype’s theme, and a key card for entering a color pair
3.0: Important cards for an archetype’s theme, plus other above-average cards; you’ll want them in your final deck
2.5: Average, usually a decent curve filler
2.0 to 1.0: Below average; you generally prefer not to play them, and can use them as filler if necessary, but not too many
0.5 to 0.0: Unplayable; basically never play it, it will only help you lose

Card Ratings

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Works as a small piece of removal early, and late in the game it can also take down a bomb. It can be the 23rd nonland card in your deck.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A very cool card. In Limited you can block with a small creature, then flash this in on it for a permanent reduction, which gives Limited more tricks.

Rating: 2.0
Comment: Giving the opponent a -1/-1 when it dies is actually not bad, but its body is a 1-mana 1/1, so you can’t ask more of it.

Rating: 4.0
Comment: You’ll know how strong a flyer is once you use it. If it comes down on turn 2 and the opponent doesn’t remove it, letting it live two or three more turns, you’re the god of a new world (just kidding); but if your life total gets too low it may hurt you to death, so keep an eye on that when you use it.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: -4/-4 for three mana is basically a clean kill in this environment. Plus black is good at placing -1/-1 counters, and sometimes not letting a creature die may have its own effect.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Pretty good for a common 5-drop, and there’s a good chance you’ll draw a second copy. A 1/5 body is also a big blocker, and if you don’t put -1/-1 counters on yourself, a 3/7 body is a real nuisance.

Rating: 4.0
Comment: Strong reanimation. With a decent density of creature types in this set, paired with mill or blight, it has no small impact in long games.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A key card for red-black; whether you have this card or not makes quite a difference to the deck’s floor and ceiling. In other color pairs it’s a matter of opinion, but its effect seems tied to this color pair.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Lets other 1/1 little Goblins become threats. Pretty good in red-black Goblins.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A clean kill for five mana, or for two mana with blight 1. It’s never weak in Limited. If you’re in black and see it, take at least one.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: The author feels that having to pay life plus blight 2 just to give the opponent blight 2 is a bit lame, but considering the archetype theme plus the body, it’s still a rare, strong card.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A standard-sized 2-mana 2/2, and with self-mill it has a chance to free itself, and since some cards in this set also remove counters to free its true form, black-green may want to run a few more.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Shrinking yourself is a bit unsatisfying, but it’s only an uncommon, so against a small-creature, flyer deck it might be a decent sideboard card. The author probably wouldn’t run it in the main deck; there are too few times it applies.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: It depends on how many -1/-1 effects your deck plays. The key consideration is that creature toughness matters more in Limited. This one feels like it will tempt you to play the fun stuff. Successfully putting a card in the graveyard and then dropping it in is quite strong, but deck synergy needs special tuning. Finally, don’t forget you can still exile creatures from the opponent’s graveyard, but since you don’t own them, you can’t cast them.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: A curve filler for black-green. A 4-mana 3/3 is below standard in size, but it still has menace, fills the graveyard, and has a chance to drain. Play it if you lack curve or graveyard fuel.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Instant-speed reanimation is strong. The blight 2 drawback exists but doesn’t matter much, since you can put it on other creatures too. A must-pick for reanimator decks.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A 4-mana 3/2 flyer is pretty good. If there’s nothing stronger at four mana you’ll probably use it, and the discard part is just a bonus.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: At minimum it’s a 5-mana 4/4, and with luck the -0/-X can kill an opposing creature. In an Elf deck it’s no question; it only gets stronger.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Although it’s a 3-mana 1/2, it can easily free itself and has a chance to kill creatures. A good card.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A good resilient creature, and in a set that cares about creature types, changeling is a very good ability.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: A must-pick for red-black, though its effect isn’t strong enough to make you switch colors for it. Whether you have the archetype’s key cards to go with it will greatly affect the game. Normally it should flip back and forth between its two sides, triggering graveyard recovery. Like the enchantment above, having this card is a watershed for the red-black color pair.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Playable in a pure enough red-black, but not very suitable in other combinations. A 4-mana 6/6 is fierce, but the side effects are rather high; it’s recommended to pick this card only if you’ve taken cards that go with it.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: If you can reliably remove counters, it’s a good card just like Gutsplitter Gang, and with the lure of looking at an extra card, it should be a decent choice.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A 2-mana 3/1 is a great blocker’s body, and with graveyard recovery you can toss away expensive creatures. Though indestructible is a bit awkward in an environment where -1/-1 is rampant, that doesn’t stop it from being a good card.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: A 3-mana 2/1 body easily goes out and never comes back, but its ability might let you draw a key card. Overall a decent curve filler.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: It has to free itself; unless it comes down on turn 1 and your deck suits it, it’s a bit too slow.

Rating: 0.0
Comment: Basically useless in Limited, and it lets the opponent search first. But if you don’t care about winning or losing and just want to play fun, casual Magic, it might suit you well.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Good fodder. If it can come down first on turn 1 it can also steal some life, and later it can be eaten to get back the card you used for behold.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Good removal. Black’s removal this time is surprisingly all decent, fitting the set while working with your own color pair, and in the graveyard this card can also serve as creature-type filler.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: A 4-mana 2/3 flyer isn’t especially outstanding, but with lifelink added it’s acceptable. Consider the later effect a gift; in Limited, the things you can do on the opponent’s turn can be counted on one hand.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Black has plenty of blight, and being able to exile two cards from hand, it trades one for two, making it a card that doesn’t lose value.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Short-range removal, but for one mana at instant speed with a chance to drain a bit, it’s already not bad. One copy should be just right, two is fine, and beyond that you need to think it over.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Good fodder for blight, and in a pinch it can also be a 4-power blocker.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: A grizzly bear that drains and mills. How can you not love it?

Rating: 3.0
Comment: It can trade a small creature for a big one, or take a big drain, and however it dies it can still bring out a 2/2, which is quite profitable. BTW, it has a strong combo with this set’s SPG Goblin Sharpshooter, letting you kill things from one end of the city to the other.

But from the author’s own experience helping a store sort its stock: you only crack about 10 SPG from roughly 600 set boosters, and it has to be the right one too, so you can treat it as a dream.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: There are still some doubts about whether multicolor is viable in this environment. If it can reliably drain three, it would rate higher. A 5-mana 3/5 with menace is just about the right ability and body.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: There’s a chance to take an instant or sorcery the opponent has been hiding and use it yourself, which is funny just to think about. At worst it’s still a card lost, and anyone who can take this is surely going red-black Goblins, so you’ll probably only look at two or three cards.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Black-green Elves should feel very comfortable with this guy; one becoming two is obviously strong even if you think with your knees. But watch your deck composition: if you can’t pull things from the graveyard, it’s just a 3-mana 3/3 passable creature that helps fill your graveyard, though usually the ideal is lovely and reality is harsh.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: In this set you’ll basically always choose the second mode. Gaining a card feels great.

Conclusion

I can’t tell if it’s an illusion, but the cards in this set seem generally strong in Limited, and removal already has a higher priority in Limited, let alone this set’s removal, which comes with a permanent -1/-1 debuff (at least against opponents who can’t remove counters).
Overall, the author has very high expectations for black this time. Both red-black Goblins and black-green Elves look like very good creature-type decks, each with good quality creatures and fun cards you can do flashy things with; there are also some blue-black Faerie ingredients, but the quantity doesn’t look as plentiful as Goblins and Elves. If black is your main color, you’d still rather end up in red-black or black-green.