Preview season is upon us again, and I'm very excited to be able to share with you CoolStuffInc.com's Bloomburrow preview card. I think it's going to be a staple in certain archetypes across multiple formats for years to come.

Lunar Convocation is a two-mana Orzhov enchantment with two end step triggers and a heck of an activated ability. At the beginning of my end step, if I gained life this turn, each opponent loses 1 life. Also at the beginning of my end step, if I both gained and lost life this turn, I'll create a 1/1 Black Bat creature token with flying. The activated ability is where this card really shines. For two mana, one of which must be Black, and with the payment of 2 life, I can draw a card.

Pushing my opponents' life totals down and making creature tokens are nice, but the three most powerful words in Magic: the Gathering are often said to be "draw a card." While this may not be the next Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, or even Phyrexian Arena, it compares well to Black Market Connections, which among other things lets you draw a card at the start of your precombat main phase at the modest cost of two life.

The ability to create 1/1 Black Bat creature tokens, albeit at a limited rate, is dependent upon being able to both gain and lose life on your turn. Thankfully this enchantment's activated ability takes care of one of those problems. As long as I've got mana available and my life is high enough, I can draw a card. All I've got to do is build a deck that can reliably gain life and can start making Bat tokens.

I'm almost exclusively a Commander player, but I could easily see this card having a home in other formats. Card draw is important across all of Magic and there may well be decks in Modern, Pioneer, and Standard that could put Lunar Convocation to good use. As a nonlegendary permanent, you could have more than one of these on the field at the same time. Each would trigger separately so you would be pushing life totals down and filling the skies with Bats even faster.

This enchantment will probably see the most play in "aristocrats" decks, which are decks that focus heavily on sacrificing creatures or creature tokens to gain some sort of benefit. Aristocrats, named after cards like Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat, is a deck type that is found across all formats of Magic.

Convocation in Commander

In my columns here on CoolStuffInc.com I usually explore new legendary creatures and share how I would build a deck around them. Those lists vary in power levels and often represent actual paper lists I've played in games. I like to test my first drafts out and I always maintain that they are starting points from which you should build your own decks that fit your preferred playstyle and power level.

Rather than trot out a decklist built around Lunar Convocation, I'm going to share my top 5 commanders that would be especially well-suited to make the most of what this new Orzhov aristocrats staple brings to the game.

You might think that a commander like Zur the Enchanter, who lets you tutor up enchantments, or Ghen, Arcanum Weaver, who lets you easily recur enchantments from the graveyard, would be easy choices for my list. Lunar Convocation could earn a spot in a lot of decks in white and Black, but it fits best in decks that have lifegain available right in the command zone.

Honorable Mention - Commissar Severina Raine

If this 40K card weren't from a Universes Beyond set, it would probably be near the top of my list. Commissar Severina Raine is a Human Soldier with abilities that pair beautifully with Lunar Convocation. For 2 mana you can sacrifice another creature to gain 2 life and draw a card. Lunar Convocation can give you a bat token as sacrifice fodder, and you can make up for the payment of 2 life for Lunar Convocation's card draw with the 2 life you would gain from Severina Raine's Summary Execution ability. The biggest challenge will be to reliably generate enough mana to draw cards and still be able to do other things on your turn.

5 - Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

The "OG" of lifegain commander decks was doing eminence before eminence was a keyword. Whether Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is in play or in your command zone, you'll gain two life at the beginning of your upkeep. If he's on the battlefield you can pay 1 when you gain life to draw a card and have each opponent lose 1 life. Offsetting your life payment to draw cards makes Lunar Convocation an auto-include in any Oloro deck, though he is no longer a common sight at commander tables.

4 - Eriette of the Charmed Apple

Eriette of the Charmed Apple is an Orzhov Human Warlock from Wilds of Eldraine who would have you enchanting your opponents' creatures. Her end step trigger will have you gain life based upon the number of Auras you control. Since you control your triggers you can have Eriette's lifegain trigger happen first. If you haven't yet lost life on the turn, with the Lunar Convocation end step trigger still on the stack you'll want to hold priority to pay mana and life into Lunar Convocation to draw a card. At that point you can proceed to have each opponent lose 1 life and make a Bat token thanks to Lunar Convocation.

3 - Sorin of House Markov

This Human Noble from Modern Horizons 3 is a transforming double-faced card with a planeswalker on the back side. Sorin of House Markov is on this list in no small part because he has extort. For each instance of extort you have on a permanent you control, you can pay a Black or White mana whenever you cast a spell. If you do, each opponent will lose 1 life and you'll gain as much life as they lost. This easily offsets your Lunar Convocation life payment for drawing a card, and the Bat tokens you'll make will serve nicely as blockers for his planeswalker side, Sorin, Ravenous Neonate.

2 - Kambal, Profiteering Mayor

Lunar Convocation should have you making Bat tokens, so Kambal, Profiteering Mayor works nicely to turn that into additional life loss for your opponents and life gain for yourself. The timing of your end step triggers from Kambal doesn't work perfectly with Lunar Convocation, but this deck should be making tokens as part of its main game plan so I think it should work nicely. Kambal can also make you tokens if your opponents make tokens, but that is unlikely to happen on your turn outside of the occasional Forbidden Orchard activation.

1 - Queza, Augur of Agonies

This Cephalid Advisor has life loss and life gain tied to card draw, which fits in nicely with Lunar Convocation. When you draw your card for turn with Queza, Augur of Agonies on the battlefield under your control, you'll satisfy the life gain requirement to make that 1/1 Bat token. All you need to do is pay two mana and two life into Lunar Convocation to draw a second card to satisfy the life loss requirement. That second card draw will also trigger Queza so your life loss will be completely offset.

Complementary Pieces

Whether you are building an aggro deck, an aristocrats deck or something else entirely, there are cards that will absolutely want to pair with Lunar Convocation.

Any card with extort will shine in a multiplayer format, but Crypt Ghast goes above and beyond the call of duty, letting you tap your Swamps for an extra mana. Even with a commander that synergizes with Lunar Convocation, paying two mana and two life for extra card draw is going to be a challenge. Crypt Ghast helps on both of these fronts, letting you gain extra life and make more mana.

It's no great leap to suggest an enchantment that plays well in aristocrats decks is going to want to have Ashnod's Altar around. This powerful sacrifice outlet can take a 1/1 Bat token, or any other creature, and turn it into the two mana you need to draw a card with Lunar Convocation. You'll have to find a Black mana, as Ashnod's Altar only makes colorless mana, but it's still nice to offset the quantity of mana you are paying. It's not perfect symmetry, but it's still pretty good.

I'm moving into casual territory, but it's still worth mentioning Alhammarret's Archive. This five-mana legendary artifact will double your lifegain and will also double your card draw after your initial draw step. Two mana and two life in a lifegain deck for two cards is a fantastic deal if you can get away with paying 5 mana for an artifact that may do nothing on the turn it was played. The format has sped up in recent years, but this is worth considering if you are playing in a slow enough meta and you want to gain life and draw additional cards.

Final Thoughts

While I write about Commander every week here on CoolStuffInc.com, that doesn't mean I didn't miss some fantastic legendary creature that Lunar Convocation would pair perfectly with. I don't play a ton of aristocrats decks myself, and maybe there are more deck archetypes that would use this shiny new enchantment than I've mentioned here.

I do think this card is unlikely to see play in cEDH. Having a two-mana casting cost makes it playable, but it doesn't do anything when it hits the table and it really seems to be a support card for a longer, more drawn out game plan than you usually see at that level of EDH play.

As for lower levels, you should be able to run this in any deck that wants to be gaining life and drawing cards. Lunar Convocation's Bat tokens also help out decks that want extra sacrifice fodder or extra creatures in the air. Superfriends (planeswalker decks) might be happy to have an extra flying blocker to help keep attackers at bay. It also just looks like it would fit into certain decks for its flavor, if you're more focused on that part of deckbuilding than on synergy and gameplay. Werewolf decks aren't often in White and Black, but I'm sure there are decks out there that would love to run Lunar Convocation for its art and feel along with what it brings to the game.

I'll leave discussions about Lunar Convocation in Standard, Pioneer and Modern to the experts. I'm pretty sure it will see play in other formats, as it has a low casting cost, draws cards, and works well with an aristocrats strategy. Beyond that, I wouldn't be the one to tell you which decks it should be played in and how much it will improve them, if at all.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed my exploration of this cool new card, come on back here next Monday for my regularly scheduled Commanderruminations column, where I brew decks around new legendary creatures every week.