Magic: The Gathering Has a Banger to Start 2026 With, But…

Magic: The Gathering is basking in the success of its recent releases, with the Final Fantasy set reaching impressive milestones for sales that Wizards of the Coast didn't even anticipate, and sets like Edge of Eternities and Tarkir: Dragonstorm being very well received by fans. MTG's Spider-Man set is experiencing some backlash due to card designs, the size of the set, its feel being off, and the fact that it's getting a non-UB version on MTG Arena, so it may not be the smashing success that other releases this year were. Yet, 2026 is scheduled to start with a banger of a set, but Wizards of the Coast is already spoiling it.

The release schedule for 2026 only has some bits of official information, such as the fact that Magic: The Gathering will return to Lorwyn with a set called Lorwyn Eclipsed in January, then back to Strixhaven further down the line. Lorwyn Eclipsed may be one of the most anticipated sets in the game's recent history, as it was originally planned for this year, but due to the schedule changing with Universes Beyond, it was pushed to January 2026. Notably, some information about Lorwyn Eclipsed is already available regarding prices, and unfortunately for players, it's not good news.

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By Andrea Trama

Magic: The Gathering is Raising Prices on Lorwyn Eclipsed Products

While this is yet to be officially confirmed by Wizards of the Coast, major websites have listed the prices and products for MTG's Lorwyn Eclipsed set, which is most likely to be an accurate representation of prices at launch and for pre-orders. The set will have the following products:

Play Boosters, with no price change
Play Booster displays, with no price change
Collector Boosters, with a $2 price increase each, going from $25 to $27
Collector Booster displays, which will probably increase in value accordingly
Lorwyn Eclipsed Bundle, with a $4 price increase, going from $54 to $58
Commander decks, including two unannounced variants, with a $5 price increase, going from $45 to $50
Preconstructed Decks made of 60 cards, $24 (new product)
Draft Night, made of 12 Play Boosters, 1 Collector Booster, and 90 lands, $90 (new product)

Between the price increase for Collector Boosters and the fact that they are typically hard to get at their actual price because of scalpers, anything Collector is already marred by controversies. Potentially worse is the case of Bundles, which are supposedly not getting any change to their content or even their content's price, but they are becoming $4 more expensive regardless. MTG's Commander decks are a different beast because they often include some valuable reprints, so one could argue that it's fine depending on the final list for each deck moving forward, but it's still a $5 increase across the board.

Why MTG's Price Increase on Lorwyn Eclipsed is a Problem

Trees with spiral patterns in the bark stand next to a sunlit trail through a forest. Sunbeams poke down to the ground

Still, Magic: The Gathering is by no means a cheap hobby to get into or keep playing consistently, so seeing several price increases associated with the release of a set that a lot of players are anticipating after 19 years since the original can be quite disheartening. Lorwyn Eclipsed could be a massive hit for WotC, and raising prices for several products could hamper sales overall in the short term, or maybe later on.

On top of that, Lorwyn is known for the many tribes it's host to, and including just two variants of Commander decks could be a let-down for those who would love nothing more than seeing some love for their favorite creature type. The new "Preconstructed Decks" could partly fill that void if they are themed around the plane's tribes, but not all Commander players are into Standard and vice versa. This can be rough, especially after Magic: The Gathering's four Final Fantasy Commander decks, and even then, Tarkir: Dragonstorm featured five - one for each color combination.

As such, the product lineup and price increases for Lorwyn Eclipsed may do the set no favors when it could be such a strong start to 2026. Since the information relies on the prices set by retailers, fans will have to wait and see, but MTG's 2026 schedule may start on the wrong foot, considering the massive price increase the game has already seen for Standard sets due to three Universes Beyond sets per year.

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