I love everything about Magic — the competitive formats, the casual formats, and especially the off-beat ones that don’t always get the spotlight. One of my absolute favorites is Horde Mode, a cooperative Commander variant originally created in 2011 by Peter Knudson.
Horde Mode was designed to simulate players banding together to survive against an endless wave of zombies using their Commander decks. It’s chaotic, swingy, and surprisingly strategic. I’ve enjoyed it so much over the years that I started building custom Horde decks themed around specific sets — complete with unique rules and mechanics tailored to each world.
With Lorwyn Eclipsed kicking off a new era of storytelling between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, I knew this set deserved its own Horde experience. And yes — I’m starting this project just ahead of the upcoming TMNT Turtle Team-Up product (which looks like Wizards’ official take on Horde Mode). I’ll absolutely build one for that too, but Lorwyn felt like the perfect place to begin sharing these creations.
What Is Horde Mode in MTG?
Horde Mode is a cooperative format where you and your friends face off against an automated deck representing an overwhelming enemy force. Instead of playing against another player, you fight a deck full of tokens, creatures, and spells.
You can play digitally through sites like Against the Horde, or physically by building your own Horde deck. Most Horde decks are around 100 cards, though you can scale up to 200 or even 300 cards depending on player count and difficulty.
A typical 100-card Horde deck consists of:
60–70 token cards
The rest being non-token creatures, sorceries, or enchantments
The token density ensures that the Horde constantly floods the battlefield — just like a true invasion should.
How Do You Play Horde Mode?
Gameplay feels similar to a standard Commander game:
You play lands.
You cast spells.
You attack and block.
The key difference is that you’re attacking the Horde’s deck instead of a player. The Horde doesn’t have life points, it has a library total. Every point of damage dealt mills that many cards from the Horde deck. Once the Horde runs out of cards, you win the round.
Horde Mode is usually played in three escalating rounds:
Round One
Players get three full setup turns before the Horde activates.
After the third player turn, the Horde reveals cards from the top of its deck until it reveals one non-token spell.
All revealed creatures enter with haste and attack immediately.
Players share a pooled life total of 40.
Round Two
The Horde reveals until it hits two non-token spells.
Round Three
The Horde reveals until it hits three non-token spells.
You can reset life and board state between rounds, but I personally prefer keeping everything intact. It makes survival feel earned and mistakes matter.
The Horde Decklist & Theme
Lorwyn presents an interesting challenge when choosing “the villain.” Is it the Elves? The mischievous Faeries? The Goblins? The creeping Shadowmoor influence? Instead of picking one tribe, I built something more thematic:
Oko’s Shapeshifting Army
This Horde deck features Shapeshifters that assume the forms of Lorwyn’s iconic creature types — Goblins, Elves, Faeries, Kithkin, and Merfolk. It’s an army that constantly shifts identities, reflecting Lorwyn’s transformation into Shadowmoor.
The Decklist
This list highlights Lorwyn’s major creature types while leaning heavily into Shapeshifters.
Creatures & Spells
2 Adept Watershaper
2 Bitterbloom Bearer
2 Bloodline Bidding
4 Boggart Cursecrafter
4 Boggart Mischief
4 Boneclub Berserker
4 Chitinous Graspling
4 Chomping Changeling
4 Clachan Festival
2 Collective Inferno
4 Crib Swap
4 Deepchannel Duelist
4 Feisty Spikeling
4 Gangly Stompling
4 Moon-Vigil Adherents
4 Morcant's Loyalist
4 Nameless Inversion
1 Oko, Lorwyn Liege // Oko, Shadowmoor Scion
Tokens
14 (1/1) Shapeshifter
13 (2/2) Shapeshifter
13 (3/2) Shapeshifter
Special Rules
The biggest twist is the Planeswalker in the Horde deck.
Oko’s Countdown
Players cannot target Oko. Think of him as having permanent Shroud. He cannot be removed by board wipes and functions more like a ticking clock than a traditional permanent.
Each Horde turn:
If Oko is on the blue side and below 7 loyalty → he uses +1, giving the strongest player creature −2/0 until end of turn.
If Oko reaches 7 loyalty and flips to green → he immediately uses −6.
He repeats this cycle endlessly.
Oko makes the game harder the longer it goes. You can’t remove him. You must outpace him.
Card-Specific Adjustments
To make the Horde feel smarter and more thematic:
Bloodline Bidding taps all Horde creatures and returns that many creatures from the graveyard (prioritizing non-tokens, then highest power).
Collective Inferno targets the creature type the Horde controls the most (excluding Shapeshifters).
Clachan Festival creates two tokens on entry, then one every other turn.
Bitterbloom Bearer mills one and creates a Faerie.
Nameless Inversion auto-casts when milled, prioritizing kills.
Crib Swap / Chomping Changeling target whichever card has harmed the Horde most.
Boggart Mischief / Cursecrafter drain one life per player.
Deepchannel Duelist untaps the strongest blocker or creature with Reach.
The goal is to make the Horde feel reactive without requiring a human pilot.
Building a Commander Deck to Fight the Horde
When building your Commander deck to face Oko’s Army:
Don’t go ultra-sweaty.
Interaction like counterspells isn’t as fun here.
Prioritize:
Instant-speed removal
Board wipes
Token hate
High-toughness blockers
Ramp (especially for the setup turns)
For my playgroup, I built four fairly simple Lorwyn-themed tribal decks:
A Merfolk Voltron deck (Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom)
A Kithkin Go-Wide deck (Brigid, Clachan’s Heart)
A Goblin Aristocrats deck (Grub, Storied Matriarch)
An Elf Graveyard deck (Trystan, Callous Cultivator)
You don’t have to stick to Lorwyn commanders but thematically, it’s way more fun if you do. You could even add a twist where all commanders transform between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor each turn just like Oko.
Final Thoughts
This Lorwyn Eclipsed Horde deck captures exactly what I love about Magic: creativity, theme, and shared storytelling. It turns a tribal set into a shifting battlefield where nothing stays the same for long. Oko acts as a looming threat you can’t simply remove, and the Shapeshifter theme makes every game feel unpredictable.
Horde Mode isn’t about perfect optimization — it’s about surviving something overwhelming together. And in a set built around transformation, identity, and shifting worlds, a shapeshifting Horde felt like the perfect enemy.
If you enjoyed this deep dive into Lorwyn Eclipsed and want to explore the set from a more traditional Commander angle, make sure to check out our Top 10 Lorwyn Eclipsed Commanders article. Whether you’re building to fight the Horde or dominate your next pod, we’ve got the legendary creatures you won’t want to miss.
