Lorwyn

Lorwyn is the first set in the Lorwyn block. It is the 43rd Magic expansion and was released on October 12, 2007. The prerelease was September 29–30, 2007.

Set details

Lorwyn contains 301 cards (80 rares, 80 uncommons, 121 commons, and 20 basic lands). It is the first set of a so-called mini-block, the second being Morningtide. This would be followed by a second mini-block (Shadowmoor-Eventide). Together they formed a mega-block to suit Wizards' four-sets-a-year trend. Lorwyn was tribal-themed but approached that theme in a way different from how Onslaught block had. Lorwyn introduced Planeswalkers as an entirely new card type into the main game. Apart from some of the planeswalkers, there are no humans in this tribal block. The world of Lorwyn is steeped in a more traditional fantasy than the previous blocks. The expansion symbol of Lorwyn is alternately interpreted as an elven ear or a leaf.

Flavor and storyline

Lorwyn is an idyllic world where nature thrives in its most pristine state. The sun never drops below the horizon, and midsummer never ends. The creatures of fable who dwell there know nothing of gloom or malice — but they are consumed with rivalry. For inspiration, the creative team turned to Celtic folklore and mythology. There are influences from Irish, English, Welsh, Scottish, and Celtic stories, languages and cultures in both the look and world details of the setting.

Storyline sources

Magic Story

Chandra's Ultimate is a webcomic about Chandra, which was published October 2007. Although this story does not feature Lorwyn-Shadowmoor as a plane, it does feature one of the planeswalkers that were released with the Lorwyn set, nicknamed "The Lorwyn Five".

Savor the Flavor

Marketing

Lorwyn was sold in 75-card tournament decks, 16-card boosters, five preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. All products except the boosters contained a random Pro Tour Player Card. The booster packs featured artwork from Doran, the Siege Tower, Goldmeadow Stalwart, Vigor, Ashling the Pilgrim and Silvergill Adept. The basic lands of Lorwyn had been previewed in the Tenth Edition starter decks. Several pairs form mini-murals. The prerelease events for this set were held on September 29–30, 2007. The promotional prerelease card for Lorwyn was a foil alternate art Wren's Run Packmaster, a card that bears the "champion" mechanic and highlights the significance of tribes and creature types. The release card was Shriekmaw. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name, written by Cory J. Herndon and Scott McGough. As part of the promotion of Lorwyn, one-day in-store events around North America called Tribal Wars were held from December 1 through January 3, 2008.

"Tips & Tricks" cards

Like 10th Edition boosters before them, boosters of Lorwyn come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a "rules card" or a creature token; one face of the Lorwyn bonus card has one of five different rules tips or is one of eleven different creature tokens; the other face has one of six advertisements for organized play programs, magicthegathering.com, and Morningtide.

The rules cards are

1. Rules Tip: Planeswalkers — Part 1: Basics
2. Rules Tip: Planeswalkers — Part 2: Planeswalkers Abilities
3. Rules Tip: Planeswalkers — Part 3: Fighting a Planeswalker
4. Rules Tip: Clash
5. Rules Tip: Tribal

Tokens

1. 3/1 Elemental Shaman creature token produced by Hostility, Rebellion of the Flamekin and Hearthcage Giant
2. 1/1 Elf Warrior creature token produced by Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, Lys Alana Huntmaster, Imperious Perfect, Gilt-Leaf Ambush, Elvish Promenade and Prowess of the Fair
3. 1/1 Goblin Rogue creature token produced by Boggart Mob and Marsh Flitter
4. 1/1 Kithkin Soldier creature token produced by Militia's Pride, Guardian of Cloverdell and Cloudgoat Ranger
5. 1/1 Merfolk Wizard creature token produced by Summon the School, Benthicore
6. 1/1 Shapeshifter creature token with changeling produced by Crib Swap
7. 2/2 Wolf creature token produced by Wren's Run Packmaster
8. 4/4 Elemental creature token produced by Eyes of the Wisent
9. 3/3 Beast creature token produced by Garruk Wildspeaker
10. */* Avatar creature token produced by Ajani Goldmane
11. 4/4 Elemental creature token with flying produced by Hoofprints of the Stag

Planeswalkers

Originally intended for Future Sight, that set already included many new mechanics so planeswalkers were pushed back into Lorwyn. In terms of flavor, with the nature of planeswalking having recently changed and the players themselves representing planeswalkers, the goal was to make it feel like the controller of the planeswalker had another player helping them.

The planeswalkers of Lorwyn are: Ajani Goldmane, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Garruk Wildspeaker. These would come to be known informally as the Lorwyn Five.

Themes and mechanics

Themes

Tribes and creature types, previously explored in the Onslaught block, are a prominent theme of the Lorwyn block. Lorwyn focuses on a different selection of creature types from Onslaught's types, with Elves and Goblins being the only tribes common to both blocks, and all tribes having cards in at least two colors. With Tribal cards, spells may also have creature types, and thus affect cards that take creature types into account. The first tribal card (Bound in Silence, a Rebel tribal aura) had previously been introduced in Future Sight.

The set revolves around eight creature types, with each of these creature types appearing in two (or more) colors. One color is the primary color and the other(s) are secondary colors.

Note that changelings are not a tribe unto themselves, but rather have the ability to blend in with all tribes.

Mechanics

• Champion a/an [type] (When this enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you exile another [type] you control. When this leaves the battlefield, that card returns to the battlefield.)
  • "Champion is a mechanic that allows a powerful creature to "overlay" a creature of the specified subtype", or "allows you to upgrade one permanent into another." Champion is a triggered ability that appears solely on creature cards in Lorwyn, all of which are rare or uncommon. These creature cards are: Boggart Mob, Changeling Berserker, Changeling Hero, Changeling Titan, Mistbind Clique, Nova Chaser, Thoughtweft Trio, Wanderwine Prophets, and Wren's Run Packmaster.
• Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
  • Changeling is the keywording of Mistform Ultimus's ability, "Misform Ultimus is every creature type (even if this card isn't in play)." Its reminder text is "(This card is every creature type at all times.)" and it appears on 19 spells and creatures.
• Clash (Each clashing player reveals the top card of their library, then puts that card on the top or bottom. A player wins if their card had a higher converted mana cost.)
  • Clash is a keyword action that creates a mini-contest. You may get a bonus if you win the clash. Clash appears on numerous cards in Lorwyn, including as a part of an ability or a condition for triggered abilities.

• Deathtouch (Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
  • Deathtouch, introduced in Future Sight with Thornweald Archer, represents an ability that has long been a part of Magic, but only recently keyworded. In Lorwyn, the term "deathtouch" appears on six cards, all of which are in black and green, the color of the Lorwyn elves; and the ability itself appears innately on two creatures (Moonglove Winnower and Wren's Run Vanquisher), both elves in black and green, respectively. "

• Evoke
  • Evoke is a keyword ability that represents a static ability and a triggered ability; it allows a player to play an alternate cost for a creature spell that possesses this ability, but the creature is then sacrificed when it enters the battlefield. In Lorwyn, evoke appears only on Elemental creature cards with "enters-the-battlefield" abilities, letting the caster use the ability without keeping the creature.

• Hideaway
  • Hideaway, which appears on a cycle of rare Lorwyn lands, lets you "hide" (exiling face down) a card "away" for later. It also causes the lands to enter the battlefield tapped. Upon completing a set condition, the card may be cast for no mana.

Cycles

Lorwyn has eight cycles.

Typal cycles

Typal cycles in Lorwyn are cycles that focus on creature subtype rather than color. Although some tribal cycles feature at least one card from or for each main Lorwyn creature subtype, others do not.

Mega-Mega cycles

Reprinted cards

• Fertile Ground, first printed in Urza's Saga, last seen in 8th Edition

Functional reprint

• Hornet Harasser, functional reprint of Disease Carriers (Urza's Destiny)

Notable cards

• Doran, the Siege Tower is a rare legendary 0/5 creature with rule-changing text stating "Each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.", which was later unofficially named Backbone.
• Gaddock Teeg prevents non-creature spells being cast, most often Wrath effects due to their cost floor, which makes it an effective disruptive piece in creature decks.
• Oblivion Ring was the first in a long line of white enchantments that exile a target indefinitely unless it leaves play, creating a new type of imprisoning effect, although the mechanic was experimented with in other colors beforehand. The success of the mechanic later pushed R&D to solve the "Oblivion Ring problem", where the rules text template caused unintuitive behavior if the card was removed before its target was exiled.
• Ponder is a cantrip that was a simplified version of Portent that was close to the best cantrip since Brainstorm. On June 1, 2008, it was restricted in Vintage format for "finding the powerful restricted cards in a deck too easy" according to Mike Turian, before it was unrestricted 16 years later in 2024. It was also banned from Modern in September 2011.
• Thorn of Amethyst is another Stax piece that was restricted from Vintage.
• Thoughtseize became the benchmark for precision discard spells since its printing, with close competition with Inquisition of Kozilek. Both are the backbone of black disruption against a variety of decks.
• Cryptic Command is the most enduring Command, having been played in Modern until the printing of Archmage's Charm in 2019.
  • Primal Command also saw play in Modern in decks like Ponza that can use it to attack the opponent's mana base and decks like Amulet Titan that can generate enough mana to loop it multiple times
• Lairwatch Giant was the first white common with more than 3 power, in fact one of only a few with 5 power (Yoked Plowbeast, Guardian Naga).
• Springleaf Drum has seen substantial play in Modern and Pauper artifact decks, which combine it with cheap or even free creatures to easily produce mana while contributing to artifact synergies.
• Spellstutter Sprite forms the backbone of the at times dominant Pauper Faeries deck, providing both a clock and efficient disruption. With the best spells in wider formats costing one or less, it has seen play in Legacy and Modern as well.
• Merrow Reejerey has been a key part of Modern Merfolk decks since the format began.
• Pestermite was one of the key combo pieces, alongside Deceiver Exarch, in the later Modern combo deck Splinter Twin which resulted in the eponymous card getting banned.

• Ingot Chewer is a common 3/3 Elemental creature for with an evoke cost of and a comes-into-play ability equivalent to Shatter. The evoke cost of reinforces Aaron Forsythe's earlier statement that destroying an artifact can fairly cost just instead of , which would later come to pass with Smelt. It had some play in Vintage as a cheap anti-lock piece that couldn't be hit by Chalice of the Void.
• Mulldrifter is a common 2/2 Elemental creature with flying for with an evoke cost of and a comes-into-play ability of drawing 2 cards. It was the basis of comparison in Constructed with Baneslayer Angel, in that Mulldrifter was marginally superior due to the immediate three-for-one. It was referenced in the Mystery Booster set with the Form of the Mulldrifter test card (blending the original with Form of the Dragon).
• Shriekmaw is an uncommon 3/2 Elemental creature with an entry ability suggestive of "Terror", being the newest generation of Nekrataal that worked on turn 2 and with reanimation spells.
• Cloudthresher is not particularly notable as anything more than a Hurricane variant, but it being played alongside Cruel Ultimatum was a sign of the excessive mana fixing in the 5-Color Control in Alara block.

Reception

Lorwyn was the worst-selling large set of its time in the history of the game.

Preconstructed decks

Unlike previous expansions, which feature four theme decks, Lorwyn has five race/species tribal theme decks.

Gallery

• 
  Wren's Run Packmaster, the Lorwyn prerelease promo.
• 
  Jace Beleren, the blue Lorwyn planeswalker.
• 
  The "Command" cycle.
• 
  Lorwyn fat pack
• 
  Box from Lorwyn fat pack
• 
  "Planeswalkers — Part 1: The Basics"
• 
  "Planeswalkers — Part 2: Planeswalker Abilities"
• 
  "Planeswalkers — Part 3: Fighting a Planeswalker"
• 
  "Rules Tip: Clash"
• 
  "Rules Tip: Tribal"
• 
  3/1 red Elemental Shaman creature token produced by Hostility (among others)
• 
  1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token produced by Nath of the Gilt-Leaf (among others)
• 
  1/1 black Goblin Rogue creature token produced by Boggart Mob (among others)
• 
  1/1 white Kithkin Soldier creature token produced by Militia's Pride (among others)
• 
  1/1 blue Merfolk Wizard creature token produced by Summon the School (among others)
• 
  1/1 white Shapeshifter creature token with changeling produced by Crib Swap
• 
  2/2 green Wolf creature token produced by Wren's Run Packmaster
• 
  4/4 green Elemental creature token produced by Eyes of the Wisent
• 
  Artwork of the token
• 
  3/3 green Beast creature token produced by Garruk Wildspeaker
• 
  Artwork of the token
• 
  */* white Avatar creature token produced by Ajani Goldmane
• 
  Artwork of the token
• 
  4/4 white Elemental creature token with flying produced by Hoofprints of the Stag
• 
  Artwork of the token