Summary
Of the many worlds inMagic: The Gathering, one of the more creative and fantastical planes is Ixalan. With Magic returning to the plane in Lost Caverns of Ixalan, you return to a place filled with Pirates, Merfolk, Vampires, and most importantly, massive, hulking Dinosaurs.
Dominating the many of the green cards from Lost Caverns of Ixalan are Dinosaurs and cards that support them, but that’s not all there are. There’s your classic mana ramp cards, enchantments to speed up your lands, and powerful artifacts and enchantments to help take over a game. Here are some of the best green cards from the set.
10Poison Dart Frog
Power Packed In A Small Package
Look at this little cutie, an innocent little 1/1 for two mana thattaps to add mana. What’s the worst this little guy can do? Poison Dart Frogs in Magic are just as dangerous, if not more so than they are in real life.
This Frog comes with reach and the ability to gain deathtouch for just two mana, making it a major deterrent against practically any attacker your opponents might throw your way. The little guy pulls double duty, helping you ramp up in mana in the early game, and a threat once you’ve played a few creatures.
9Spelunking
A cantrip, ramp, and a land manipulator all in one, Spelunking has the potential to see some Eternal and possibly some Standard play depending on how land-based decks shape up. When Spelunking comes into play you get to draw a card and then you can put a land from your hand into play.
Then, all your lands enter the battlefield untapped with Spelunking in play, making this card a potentially powerful addition to any deck that cares about putting lands into play all at once.
8Thrashing Brontodon
Beat Face And Blow Things Up
An instant staple when it was originally printed in the first Ixalan set, Thrashing Brontodon is back in Lost Caverns of Ixalan to mess up your opponent’s artifacts and enchantments. Both a solid creature and an effective piece of removal, Thrashing Brontodon does it all.
While the double green in the casting cost makes it a little harder to splash in some decks, it is still worth playing in most decks since it is an efficient creature that can handle multiple situations.
7Hulking Raptor
You Won’t Like Them When They’re Angry
One of the more curious cards from Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Hulking Raptor is a strange creature that helps you ramp up in mana while causing significant damage to your opponents. This four mana 5/3 not only hits hard but is difficult to remove thanks to its ward 2 ability.
Even if that was all Hulking Raptor did, it would be a strong creature, but there’s more to it. At the start of your precombat main phase, you get to add two green mana to your mana pool. This ability jumps you up to from four mana up to six on your next turn, potentially seven if you hit your fifth land drop, giving you a huge advantage over your opponents.
6The Skullspore Nexus
Death Is Never The End
There is so much text on this card that it can be a little intimidating at first, especially with its daunting eight mana cost, but The Skullspore Nexus will rarely actually cost that much. The Nexus costs less generic mana equal to the highest power among your creatures.
Then, if one or more nontoken creatures you control would die, you get to make a Fungus Dinosaur creature token with a power and toughness equal to the combined power of those creatures. As if that wasn’t enough, you can pay two and tap it to double a creature’s power for the turn.
5Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant
Bring All Your Friends Into Play
The definition of a ‘win-more’ card, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant floods the board with creatures and gives you control of the battlefield. When Ghalta enters the battlefield, you get to put any number of creatures from your hand directly onto the battlefield.
The downside of this creature is that since it costs eight mana, you’re not likely to have many creatures left in your hand after the trigger. The way you get around this is by cheating it into play, either by reanimating it early on or putting it from your hand into play through other means.
4Intrepid Paleontologist
The Past Won’t Remain There
Another two mana, mana ramper, Intrepid Paleontologist does so much more than just adding mana. You can use it to disrupt your opponent’s plans by paying two mana to exile a card from any graveyard.
But the Intrepid Paleontologist does come with an added bonus; if you exile a Dinosaur creature from a graveyard with it, you may cast that card from exile. The new creature comes in with a finality counter, so next time it dies it’s gone for good, but it still gives all your Dinosaurs a second go at life.
3Growing Rites Of Itlimoc / Itlimoc, Cradle Of The Sun
A Powerful Reprint
A card that wasin desperate need of a reprint, Growing Rites of Itlimoc gives you card advantage before eventually giving you a huge amount of mana, making it essential in practically any green Commander deck.
When it comes into play, you get to dig through the top four cards of your library, picking a creature card and putting it in your hand. Once you have four or more creatures in play, you get to flip Growing Rites, turning it into a land that taps to add green mana for each creature you control. Your very own Gaea’s Cradle that you have to work a little for, but at a fraction of the price.
2Huatli, Poet Of Unity / Roar Of The Fifth People
Dinosaur Have A New Best Friend
This three-mana legendary creature does so much work its clear that Magic wanted to push the power of Huatli to the forefront of the set. When Huatli comes into play, you get to search for a basic land and put it into your hand, ensuring you hit your next land drop.
Then you can pay five mana to turn her into a Saga, Roar of the Fifth People. This saga has four chapters to it, creating two 3/3 Dinosaur tokens, then helping you ramp up in mana, tutoringa Dinosaur to your hand, and finally gives all your Dinosaurs double strike and trample. Huatli doesn’t flip back into a creature when the last chapter resolves, but you do put your opponents on a four turn clock unless they can stop you.
1Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth / Temple Of Cultivation
You Can’t Stop Nature
Gods make a return to Magic in Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth, is an incredibly dangerous one for your opponents to leave in play. Anytime this 6/5 creature hits an opponent, you get to look at the top cards of your deck equal to the amount of damage you dealt, take a creature or a land from those cards, and put it directly into play.
If an opponent happens to destroy, Ojer Kaslem, it transforms into the land Temple of Cultivation. It’s not gone forever, you can pay three mana and transform it back into Ojer Kaslem but only if you have at least ten permanents in play.
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