The prerelease for the new Magic: the Gathering set Lorwyn Eclipsed was last Friday. Lorwyn is the first release of the year, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles due to follow it in March. At least that was supposed to be the plan, but Magic: the Gathering players have been reporting all across social media that instead of the mystical fey that live on Lorwyn, their prerelease promos have instead been New York dwelling ninja turtles.
From Reddit to Facebook to Instagram, players with unexpected Ninja Turtle cards have been cropping up all across the internet.
Wizards of the Coast have released an official response to the situation.
The company stated: "This is not intentional and, if possible, stores should replace these promos with the appropriate ECL [the expansion code for Lorwyn Eclipsed] promos from other prerelease kits".
Wizards of the Coast further clarified that: "If stores do not have enough available, players can play with the incorrect cards".
This response has drawn criticism. One of the top rated comments responding to the announcement argues that by instructing game shops to open additional prerelease kits to provide the correct promos, "WotC expects stores to pay to correct a mistake WotC has made".
This isn't the only controversy that impacted the Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease. Since 1997, prerelease promo cards have been stamped with an indicator that set them apart from other cards. Starting with Lorwyn Eclipsed, this is no longer the case. Both the Ninja Turtle promos and those from Lorwyn itself are just regular, unstamped foil cards.
Did you go to a Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease, and if so, did you see anyone crack any turtles? Tell us your story in the Wargamer Discord.
If you want to stay in the loop about all of the new TCG expansions coming out this year, check out our 2026 MTG release schedule.