Lorwyn Eclipsed draft guide: Why Mirrorform is the best card in the new MTG set

If you see a Mirrorform in your Lorwyn Eclipsed draft, grab it immediately

I was two matches into the tournament and feeling pretty good. My green-black elf deck was doing exactly what I wanted: make lots of elves quickly and then throw them underfoot for value just as fast. My army was growing steadily, led by a hulking Champions of the Perfect, a 6/6 elf warrior that was also drawing me extra cards each turn. Victory seemed certain. Then, my opponent played Mirrorform and killed me in one fell swoop.

In Lorwyn Eclipsed, the latest expansion from Magic: The Gathering, most strategies revolve around building up an army of small creatures (elves, goblins, fairies, etc.) and overwhelming your opponent. Based on my experience checking out an early access event through Magic's online platform, Arena, most matches become wars of attrition as each side's forces grow in numbers until one player manages to punch through. That makes a card like Mirrorform particularly deadly. It might just be the best card in the entire set.

Mirrorform is an instant spell that costs six mana to play (two blue and four colorless). For that hefty price, you get to transform all of your non-land permanents (creatures, artifacts, enchantments, and tokens) into a copy of any one creature on the battlefield. And that's not just until the end of that turn; this is a lasting effect for the rest of the game.

This has absurd implications. Say you have an army of little goblins on the battlefield. Using Mirrorform, you can transform them all into a copy of the biggest creature in play — even if it's your opponent's — and then you suddenly have a monstrous force. And because this spell is an instant, you can play it during combat when it’s already too late to block.

That’s what happened to me. My opponent attacked with a few harmless little fairies. I didn't think much of it and let them through (they had flying anyway, so my elves couldn't do anything about it). Then suddenly, those fairies all transformed into 6/6 elves, using my own Champions of the Perfect against me. Before I could even understand what was happening, I was dead. Game over.

Beyond working as a devastating combat trick in your Lorwyn Eclipsed draft, Mirrorform has almost infinite possibilities when combined with the right cards from throughout Magic history. Make an army of Scute Swarms and then play a land to create a bajillion token creatures. Turn everything into a Blightsteel Colossus and wipe out your entire Commander pod at once. Or use it on Sol Ring to create a ton of mana and then cast a high-value Exsanguinate to drain all your opponents' life.

I can't wait to see how all the weird and busted ways people use Mirrorform in the future. But for now, if you see this card in a Lorwyn Eclipsed draft or sealed event, grab it immediately. You won't regret it.