Lorwyn Eclipsed
What's Returning
🎭ChangelingRETURNINGThis object is every creature type at once, in every zone.▶
- Changeling is a characteristic-defining ability, so it applies in every zone — hand, library, graveyard, exile, the stack, and even outside the game for deck-building checks.
- It grants all creature types simultaneously, so a Changeling counts as a Goblin, an Elf, a Merfolk, and everything else at the same time.
- It only adds creature types — it never grants noncreature subtypes like artifact, land, or enchantment subtypes.
- A Kindred card with Changeling carries every creature type in all zones too, making it searchable by creature-type tutors even though it isn't a creature.
- If an effect makes a Changeling become a specific new creature type, it becomes only that type unless the effect says "in addition."
- If a Changeling creature loses all abilities, it still remains every creature type — losing the changeling ability itself doesn't strip the types away.
| Can opponents respond to changeling? | No — it's a static characteristic-defining ability. It just applies continuously and doesn't use the stack. |
| Does a Changeling count as its types before the game starts? | Yes. The ability works everywhere, even outside the game, so it satisfies deck-building creature-type restrictions. |
| Does casting a Changeling spell count as casting every creature type? | Yes — the ability functions on the stack, so the spell is every creature type while it's being cast and resolving. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (This card is every creature type.)
Rule 702.73a
Changeling is a characteristic-defining ability. “Changeling” means “This object is every creature type.” This ability works everywhere, even outside the game. See rule 604.3.
Likely interactions
⚡ Types removed
An effect that removes all creature types from a permanent can override changeling through normal layer evaluation, leaving it with no creature types until that effect ends.
702.73
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🪞 Copy
A copy effect that copies a changeling creature copies exactly what's printed, and printed changeling comes along as a copiable value. Whether a granted changeling carries over is the subtle part.
702.73
⚖️ Ask the Judge →⚡ Behold
Because a changeling creature natively has every creature type, it can satisfy a Behold cost asking for a specific creature type by being chosen or revealed.
702.73 · 701.4
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
👁️BeholdRETURNINGReveal a matching card from hand, or point at a matching permanent you already control.▶
- To behold, you either reveal a matching card from your hand or choose a matching permanent you control — your choice which.
- Behold is a keyword action, not a triggered ability — it's taken either as an additional cost while casting, or during a spell or ability's resolution.
- Beholding doesn't target, so a permanent with hexproof, shroud, or ward can be chosen freely without tripping any defensive abilities.
- "If a [quality] was beheld" locks in at the moment you took the action — it doesn't matter if the card or permanent stops having that quality before resolution.
- Some Lorwyn Eclipsed cards use "behold a [type] and exile it," exiling the chosen permanent or revealed card until the beholding permanent leaves the battlefield.
- When Behold asks for two, you can split across zones — reveal one card from hand and choose one permanent, or any mix.
| Can an opponent respond to which permanent I behold? | No. As an additional cost it's paid during casting before priority passes; on resolution nobody gets priority mid-resolution. |
| Is Behold a targeted effect? | No — it relies on choosing a permanent, so shroud, hexproof, and ward don't stop it. |
| Can a card revealed for one behold be used again? | Yes — a card already revealed from your hand can be revealed again for another behold cost. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Reveal a [quality] card from your hand or choose a [quality] permanent you control on the battlefield.)
Rule 701.4a
“Behold a [quality]” means “Reveal a [quality] card from your hand or choose a [quality] permanent you control on the battlefield.”
Rule 701.4b
The phrase “if a [quality] was beheld” refers to whether or not the object had that quality at the time the player took that action, regardless of whether or not the revealed card or chosen permanent still has that quality as the spell or ability including that phrase resolves.
Likely interactions
☠️ Countered
If a spell with a "behold and exile" additional cost is countered, the exiled card stays in exile permanently — the beholding permanent never enters the battlefield to set up the return trigger.
701.4
☠️ Destroyed
If you behold a permanent to pay a cost and an opponent then destroys it while your spell is on the stack, the spell still counts that quality as beheld — the action was already locked in.
701.4
⚡ Kindred
A Behold instruction that specifically says "creatures" doesn't accept kindred cards or kindred permanents, even though they carry creature types — the wording matters.
701.4
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🤝ConvokeRETURNINGTap your creatures to help pay a spell's cost — colored ones cover their own color.▶
- Convoke isn't a cost reduction or an alternative cost — it's a different way to pay the already-determined total cost.
- Each tapped creature pays {1} generic or one mana of a color that creature is; a colorless creature can only pay for {1}.
- You can tap creatures that have summoning sickness — convoke doesn't use the {T} symbol, so newly arrived creatures work fine.
- Convoke happens at the end of the casting process, so activate any mana abilities first, then tap creatures for the remainder.
- You can't overpay — you may tap at most as many creatures as there are mana in the total cost.
- Multiple instances of convoke on one spell are redundant and give no extra benefit.
| Can opponents respond to me tapping creatures for convoke? | No — it's part of paying the cost. By the time anyone gets priority, the spell is cast and the creatures are already tapped. |
| Does convoke change the spell's mana value? | No. Mana value comes only from the printed mana cost, no matter how many creatures you tap. |
| If my convoke spell is countered, do my creatures untap? | No. The cost was paid; the spell goes to the graveyard but the creatures stay tapped. |
| Can I tap an attacking creature to convoke? | Yes — tapping an attacking or blocking creature to convoke doesn't remove it from combat. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
Rule 702.51a
Convoke is a static ability that functions while the spell with convoke is on the stack. “Convoke” means “For each colored mana in this spell’s total cost, you may tap an untapped creature of that color you control rather than pay that mana. For each generic mana in this spell’s total cost, you may tap an untapped creature you control rather than pay that mana.”
Rule 702.51b
The convoke ability isn’t an additional or alternative cost and applies only after the total cost of the spell with convoke is determined.
Rule 702.51d
Multiple instances of convoke on the same spell are redundant.
Likely interactions
☠️ Countered
Convoke pays the cost as you cast, so a counterspell doesn't refund anything — your tapped creatures stay tapped even as the spell hits the graveyard.
702.51
🪙 Without cost
If a spell is cast without paying its mana cost, convoke can't help pay that base cost — but it can still pay mandatory additional costs like taxes.
702.51
⚡ Delve
Convoke and other cost-paying mechanics on the same spell each pay part of the total cost, but whether one creature or resource can serve two mechanics at once gets fiddly.
702.51
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
💨EvokeRETURNINGCast it cheap for its evoke cost — but it sacrifices itself when it enters.▶
- Evoke is an alternative cost — you pay the evoke cost instead of the mana cost, so you can't stack it with other alternative costs.
- When the creature enters after being evoked, a triggered ability forces you to sacrifice it — that trigger uses the stack.
- Mana value comes only from the original mana cost, no matter what evoke cost you actually paid.
- If you evoke, the creature's own enters-the-battlefield trigger can be ordered to resolve before the sacrifice trigger, letting you cash in the ETB.
- You can still cast spells and act after the enters ability resolves but before the mandatory sacrifice resolves.
- You may pay optional additional costs like kicker on top of the evoke cost, and mandatory additional costs must still be paid.
| Can I respond to the evoke sacrifice trigger? | Yes — it's a normal triggered ability on the stack. You can cast instants or activate abilities before it resolves. |
| Does evoke change when I can cast the creature? | No — a creature spell is still sorcery-speed unless it has flash or another effect lets you cast it otherwise. |
| Does the evoke cost change the mana value? | No. Mana value is set by the original mana cost regardless of the evoke cost paid. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters.)
Rule 702.74a
Evoke represents two abilities: a static ability that functions in any zone from which the card with evoke can be cast and a triggered ability that functions on the battlefield. “Evoke [cost]” means “You may cast this card by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “When this permanent enters, if its evoke cost was paid, its controller sacrifices it.”
Likely interactions
🔄 Flicker
If you flicker or otherwise blink an evoked creature before the sacrifice trigger resolves, it returns as a brand-new object with no memory of being evoked — the sacrifice trigger can't find it and does nothing.
702.74
🪞 Copy
A token copy of a spell that has evoke printed on it knows it was evoked and will sacrifice itself, but a copy of a spell that only had evoke granted to it can behave differently since granted abilities aren't copiable.
702.74
⚖️ Ask the Judge →⚡ Hybrid
For the set's Incarnations, paying a hybrid evoke cost with mana of both colors satisfies the "if this color was spent" checks — spending both colors can turn on both entering effects.
702.74
🔗 copy link to this mechanic
♻️PersistRETURNINGWhen it dies with no -1/-1 counter, it comes back with one.▶
- When a permanent with persist dies, the game checks its last known information to see if it had a -1/-1 counter — if not, persist triggers.
- It returns as a completely new object with exactly one -1/-1 counter on it and no memory of its previous life.
- That -1/-1 counter is what shuts off a second persist — unless the counter later gets removed.
- Persist is written for permanents generally, so a noncreature permanent that somehow gains persist and dies without a -1/-1 counter also returns.
- If a creature has both a +1/+1 and a -1/-1 counter, state-based actions remove them in pairs until only one kind remains — which can re-enable persist.
- If multiple persist creatures die at once, their controller orders all the triggers on the stack.
| Can I respond before a persist creature comes back? | Yes — persist is a normal triggered ability. In response you could exile the card from the graveyard to stop it returning. |
| Does a +1/+1 counter reset persist? | Yes — the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters annihilate as a state-based action, so with no -1/-1 counter left persist can trigger again. |
| Does lethal combat damage let persist work? | Yes, as long as the creature had no -1/-1 counter on it before it took the lethal damage. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
Rule 702.79a
Persist is a triggered ability. “Persist” means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.”
Likely interactions
⚡ Annihilation
Because +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters cancel in pairs as a state-based action, adding a +1/+1 counter to a persist creature that came back can clear its -1/-1 counter and re-arm persist for its next death.
702.79 · 704.5q
⚡ Undying
A creature with both persist and undying that dies with no counters triggers both — the controller orders them, and the pair can bounce the creature back and forth indefinitely as the counters alternate.
702.79
⚖️ Ask the Judge →☠️ No counters
An effect that prevents counters from being placed on creatures means the persist creature returns but never gains its -1/-1 counter, which changes how repeatable the loop becomes.
702.79
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🌗Double-Faced CardsRETURNINGFront and back on one card — transform to flip between Lorwyn's day and Shadowmoor's night.▶
- In every zone except the battlefield, a transforming double-faced card has only its front face's characteristics — name, types, and abilities.
- These cards are cast face-up and enter the battlefield front-face up unless an effect explicitly says they enter transformed.
- The back face has no mana cost; its mana value is calculated from the front face's cost no matter which face is up.
- The back face's color comes from a color indicator — the small colored dot on its type line — since it lacks colored mana symbols.
- Transforming keeps it the same object — Auras, Equipment, and counters stay put, and it doesn't gain summoning sickness if it was already there.
- In Lorwyn Eclipsed, the transform triggers typically fire at the beginning of your first main phase and often want a mana payment to flip.
| Do enters-the-battlefield abilities trigger when a card transforms? | No. Transforming just turns the card over — the permanent is already on the battlefield and doesn't re-enter. |
| Can I respond to a transform? | The physical flip doesn't use the stack, but the ability instructing the transform does — so you can respond to that ability. |
| What if a single-faced card is told to enter transformed? | Nothing happens — only double-faced cards and double-faced tokens can transform, so it stays where it is. |
📖 Official rule text
Rule 712.2
Nonmodal double-faced cards have a Magic card face on each side and include abilities on one or both of their faces that allow the card to either “transform” or “convert” (turn over to its other face) and/or allow the card to be cast or enter the battlefield “transformed” or “converted” (with its back face up).
Rule 701.27a
To transform a permanent, turn it over so that its other face is up. Only permanents represented by double-faced tokens and double-faced cards can transform.
Rule 701.27b
Although transforming a permanent uses the same physical action as turning a permanent face up or face down, they are different game actions. Abilities that trigger when a permanent is turned face down won’t trigger when that permanent transforms, and so on.
Likely interactions
⚡ Transformed
When a double-faced permanent transforms it stays the exact same object — attached Auras and Equipment and any counters remain, and no enters-the-battlefield triggers fire.
701.27
🪞 Cloned
A standard single-faced clone that copies a double-faced permanent can't transform — unless the clone is itself a double-faced object or a transforming token. If told to transform, nothing happens.
701.27 · 712.2
⚡ Back face
A real double-faced card uses its front face's cost for mana value even when the back is up, but a copy that copies only the back face can end up with a very different mana value.
712.2
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
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