Summary
The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan is a return to the Ixalan plane inMagic: The Gathering. It sees a boost of support in various creature-based strategies such as Vampires, Pirates, Merfolk, and Dinosaurs. In addition to plenty of cards in the main set, The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan also has reprints in its box toppers.
Box toppers are included in every kind of booster box available for the set. There are twenty different box toppers that are possible to open, nineteen of them being reprints with new art and one being Chimil, The Inner Sun from the main Lost Caverns Of Ixalan set.
10Colossus Hammer
It’s Hammertime
Colossus Hammeris a fantastic Equipmentthat has become the star of a top Modern deck Hammer Time - built around cheating around the Equip cost to boost a creature’s stats drastically. There is almost never a time you’re paying the Equip cost of Colossus Hammer and almost always directly putting it on with a card effect.
This Equipment, while simple, is very strong. Giving a creature a ten power boost is often enough to win the game on its own - especially in one versus one format where the starting life total is only twenty.
9Strionic Resonator
Double Your Abilities
Generally, triggered abilities are very strong if they are being put into your deck.Strionic Resonatoris a way to copy those abilities to gain more value from them. Both the casting cost and activation requirement only cost two mana, allowing you to take advantage of Strionic Resonator early on in the game.
There are plenty of triggered abilities worth copying and other ways to copy them. When all of these are stacked together, one triggered ability can multiply and could even lead to a potential game win.
8Wedding Ring
Til Draw To Us Part
Wedding Ring is a way to ensure you are drawing cards -something that is very welcomed in many white decks. You get to choose which opponent creates a copy of Wedding Ring, so you can make sure it goes to someone who isn’t a threat to you so you don’t give someone an advantage they don’t need.
If you have a way to copy Wedding Ring, you can give everyone a copy of it. While this gives everyone an extra draw, it can be worth it when you get to draw three extra cards a turn cycle if you do.
7Coercive Portal
Board Wipe Or Draw Advantage
Coercive Portal allows everyone to choose if there will be a mass board wipe of everything but lands or if you get an extra card during your upkeep. It’s a better late-game card to use when you’re behind, as other layers will generally want to keep their permanents, so you’ll almost always get a card draw. There are ways to give yourself more votes, which in turn can ensure the board wipe will successfully resolve.
Notably, its appearance as a box topper is the first reprint for Coercive Portal, not having been printed previously since 2014’s Conspiracy set.
6Archaeomancer’s Map
Ramp With Your Opponents
White decks can struggle with ramp, so they have to play a bit slower than other colors or heavily rely on mana rocks. Archaeomancer’s Map is a way to help you match the ramp of green decks by directly placing lands onto the battlefield.
Even if you’re not getting the free land drops, Archaeomancer’s Map will still add two basic Plains to your hand to verify you don’t miss a land drop since white can struggle with that - generally needing to draw into lands. While you don’t want to play Archaeomancer’s Map going first, it is very strong if you are going last.
5Coat Of Arms
Creatures Together, Strong
Coat Of Arms is a staple of decks built around one specific type. If it hits the battlefield while you have multiple creatures, it makes them massive threats, as they are all giving each other incredible stat boosts that can win almost every combat.
Coat Of Arms hadn’t seen a proper reprint since Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might in 2017, prior to its release as a box topper (excluding a Mystery Booster inclusion). Since Coat Of Arms is colorless, it fits into just about every deck focused on specific creatures.
4Chimil, The Inner Sun
New And Amazing
Chimil, The Inner Sun is a card new to The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan and is incredibly powerful. Veil Of Summer is a commonly played instant since it prevents your spells from being countered for a turn. Chimil has that same effect, only as a static ability so that your spells can never be countered so long as it’s on the battlefield.
As if that wasn’t good enough, you get a free spell every turn with its discover five ability. The static effect ensures the spell you discover into can’t be countered either, so you will be able to cast it without worry.
3Chromatic Orrery
Seven Mana For Five
Despite Chromatic Orrery’s large mana cost, investing into it is more than worth it as you get an amazing one (and there are plenty of ways to cheat it onto the battlefield as well). It lets you use mana as any color, making it so you never have to worry about needing a specific color.
Chromatic Orrery is astaple in multi-colored decks, as it can create five mana that can be used as any color to cast whatever spell you want. As if that wasn’t already strong enough, if you have permanents of multiple colors, it can draw you a bunch of cards as well.
2Amulet Of Vigor
Untap For Free
Amulet Of Vigor is a phenomenal card and a staple in Modern Amulet Titan decks. Amulet Of Vigor makes all your permanents enter untapped - which becomes very strong with taplands. Notably,bounce lands that tap for two manacome in tapped, and Amulet Of Vigor allows you to make up for the mana lost by having to return a land by making it come in untapped to use them the turn you play them.
It affects creatures as well, so ones that enter tapped and take a while to untap are immediately untapped. Amulet Of Vigor is only one mana as well, so you can start taking advantage of it as early as turn one.
1Chalice Of The Void
Counter For Free
A cross-format staple, Chalice Of The Void is widely played in every format it is legal in - and is so strong in Vintage that it had to be restricted to one copy per deck. It is a fantastic card in the sideboard. You know what the primary cards your opponent is playing are, so you know how many charge counters to put on it.
Chalice Of The Void isn’t legendary either, so you can play multiple copies of it. This lets you have multiple Chalices Of The Void to shut down multiple mana values - especially ones that can be used as removal against it.
Next:Every Card Revealed For Magic: The Gathering’s The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan
