Standard: 5 Kindred Decks with Lorwyn Eclipsed

Lorwyn Eclipsed, Magic: The Gathering's first expansion of 2026, has arrived. The set marks the return to Lorwyn, first and last visited in 2007, whose original block was deeply themed around creature type interactions and gave rise to iconic decks as well as timeless staples like Thoughtseize and Ponder.

The new set isn't as singularly focused on creature types as the original, sharing its themes with other mechanics like -1/-1 counters and mana colors, but it still brings a decent level of kindred synergy, creating the possibility to explore typal strategies.

In this article, we present five Standard decklists based on the most famous creature types from Lorwyn: Elves, Goblins, Merfolk, Faeries, and Kithkin. It's worth noting that these lists are aimed at casual play and local store events, often being less optimized than the format's current top-tier competitive archetypes.

Elves

Elves received substantial support in Foundations, and Lorwyn Eclipsed provided more reasons for the archetype to focus on a splash. The deck is based on using the combination of Llanowar Elves, Bloom Tender, and Elvish Archdruid to accelerate mana and cast multiple creatures in a turn, but it now also benefits from Formidable Speaker, which allows for even more mana ramp alongside Archdruid while providing a small creature toolbox.

We have Reclamation Sage to deal with artifacts and enchantments, Sentinel of Lost Lore to exile graveyards, and Imperious Perfect to boost our creatures' power and create a new Elf every turn — an ability that synergizes with the new High Perfect Morcant.

To close out the game, Tyvar, the Pummeler boosts the entire board's power, but we can also cast Trystan's Command, which, besides recurring our creatures, can untap our Elves, copy an Archdruid or another lord, granting +4/+4 to the entire team, and can be found by Eclipsed Elf.

Goblins

Goblins in Lorwyn Eclipsed are about sacrificing creatures and benefiting from death triggers, so we aim to mix what they do best — attacking without overthinking — with death trigger effects from Boggart Mischief and Boggart Cursecrafter. As a bonus, whenever a Goblin dies, we also have Stalactite Stalker, which grows whenever a permanent is put into its controller's graveyard.

We have creatures that sacrifice themselves, like Stadium Headliner and Fanatical Firebrand, to pressure the opponent or control the board, along with Hexing Squelcher to punish removal aimed at our creatures with extra damage and a potential "combo" between Boggart Mischief and Champion of the Weird. Here, we can use the Blight ability to destroy our own creatures, damage the opponent, clear the way, and let a 6/6 for four mana finish the game.

Merfolks

Although there are good Merfolk in Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the best ones are in green, and Lorwyn's core for this tribe is in the combination, where we build a solid aggressive Tempo deck.

We mix the tribal synergy between Deepchannel Duelist and Deepway Navigator with efficient ETB effects from Merfolk in other sets, like Tishana's Tidebinder to counter abilities and Floodpits Drowner to tap the opponent's threats and clear a path for our creatures — both can be copied with Sygg's Command, making their effects even more impactful.

If the game goes too long, Mindspring Merfolk can provide extra resources with its activated ability, but our plan involves closing the game quickly, using cheap removal and counterspells to disrupt the opponent's game while advancing our beatdown plan.

Faeries

One of the most anticipated creature types in Lorwyn Eclipsed, curiously, doesn't have extensive kindred synergy. The expansion chose to focus on the "play on your opponent's turn" mechanic for this type, and its creatures work better individually as a Tempo strategy than through synergy with each other.

Wilds of Eldraine brought relevant support for Faeries, and we aim to mix the payoffs Eldraine provided with Ego Drain and Spell Stutter alongside the individual quality of key Eclipsed cards, with Bitterbloom Bearer and Glen Elendra Guardian being two powerful tools for maintaining board pressure and protecting our threats.

This is a deck I, personally, consider exploring more deeply after the set's release, possibly swapping some more synergy-focused cards for generic answers like Shoot the Sheriff or Bitter Triumph and including a package that benefits more from Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.

Kithkin

Kithkin, being a more linear type, ended up with the less impressive part of Lorwyn Eclipsed, but it was a very popular strategy in 2007, and it might be interesting to see how far we can take them.

The theme of this list is clear: go wide. You want to flood the board with creatures, boost their power, and pressure the opponent, a task made easier if we give up on using exclusively one creature type and include the Ouroboroid package, but that would stray from the article's central theme.

Most Kithkin have a very low mana value, allowing for easy sequencing and maximizing the ability of Brigid, Clachan's Heart, whose extra mana can be used to accelerate Virtue of Loyalty or to transform Figure of Fable into a huge bomb.

That's all for today!

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Thanks for reading!