The Lost Caverns of Ixalan isMagic: The Gathering’s 98th expansion, bringing players back to the Aztec-themed plane of Ixalan. Only this time, planeswalkers are being sent far beneath the surface to explore an immense underground cavern system that eventually leads to a long-forgotten civilization.
Underneath Ixalan lies angels, vampires, spirits, and ancient artifacts that can spell doom for your opponents or lead you on your next grand adventure. For white mages, The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan offers all those things and a few Spring-Loaded Sawblades too. Read on to discover the ten best white cards coming in The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan.
10Dauntless Dismantler
Map tokens? What Map tokens?
Although Ixalan generally features themes inspired by Aztec culture, diving through a bunch of lost caverns means there are more than a few Indiana Jones-style discoveries of ancient artifacts. And if the Lost Caverns of Ixalan has a few artifact-heavy decks, thenDauntless Dismantler is here to… well,dismantle them.
For two mana, you get a1/4 bodythat’s perfect for stymieing quick ground strategies. On top of that, anyartifacts your opponents play come into play tapped. And to top it all off, you candestroy all those zero mana artifact tokensfor the low price of just one white mana (or more if you have the mana for it). This card does so much for so little that it should definitely be on your Caverns of Ixalan wishlist.
9Spring-Loaded Sawblades
What’s that sound?
White has a lot of good removal options, but none of them turn into a 5/5 vehicle that can be manned by a pair of map tokens. Yes, there are a few steps between there and a 5/5 killer sawblade chariot, but who cares? This card is easilythe coolest way to kill anything five toughness or less.
Since you’ll need to exile an artifact to craft Spring-Loaded Sawblades, you’ll want toplay this card as part of an artifact-heavy white deck. Lucky for you, there are plenty of ways to make Map tokens in the Lost Caverns of Ixalan, which can easily fulfill Spring-Loaded Sawblades' needs.
8Petrify
A way better Pacify.
Pacify has been the standard for white aura-based removal for some time. Petrify costs the same two mana but isbetter in every way. It hits both artifacts and creatures and it prevents activated abilities, not just attacking or blocking.
Petrify has effectively made Pacify obsolete. This is the new staple common removal for white. Be sure to update your aura decks with this bad boy.
7Kutzil’s Flanker
A killer kitty.
Flexibility is an important feature for Magic cards, and it doesn’t get more flexible than theflash keyword. Kutzil’s Flanker improves on that flexibility with your choice of three abilities.Eitheryougain two life and scry 2, youexile a player’s graveyard, or Kutzil’s Flanker grows for each of your dead creatures.
You’re likely going to want Kutzil’s Flanker to grow in response to a Wrath of God or some similar calamity butdon’t discount the power of being able to exile a graveyard at precisely the right moment.
6Illustrious Wanderglyph
Wandering to victory.
Obtaining the city’s blessing with Illustrious Wanderglyph on the board isn’t too hard. Each upkeep, this wandering golemcreates a 1/1 gnome for you. Better yet, it does thiseach upkeep, not just your upkeep. Play Illustrious Wanderglyph in a multiplayer game and you’ll Ascend in no time.
Even without an artifact-focused deck,Illustrious Wanderglyph can eventually create an unstoppable army all on its own. Paired with an artifact deck, you’ll find Illustrious Wanderglyph to be just one cog in a winning machine.
5Resplendent Angel
Gain life, make Serra angels.
You’ll want to pair Resplendent Angel as part of a deck that focuses ongaining lots and lots of life. That way, you’re able to have Resplendent Angelpump out a Serra Angel at the end of every turn.
It’s notable that Resplendent Angel’sactivated ability can technically be activated multiple times, so if you have a lot of mana sitting around, you’re able to theoretically turn Resplendent Angel into a game-ending threat. Or at least, a threat that someone won’t be able to ignore. That’s pretty good for a three-man angel.
4Kellan, Daring Traveler
It’s adventure time.
Caverns of Ixalan is going to be a fairly artifact-dense format. Kellan loves going on adventures tofind a bunch of artifacts and then create a bunch of Map tokens. But if it’s the early game and your opponents haven’t played a bunch of artifacts yet, feel free to play Kellan to lock down the board orget in a few quick hits to draw a few cards.
Note that Kellan’s text says “you may” put the card into your graveyard,but you don’t have to. If it’s a card that you really want, you can keep it on top of your deck to draw the next turn. This makes Kellan great in the late game where land draws are less useful.
3Get Lost
Going, going, gone.
Petrify and Spring-Loaded Sawblades are both great options for getting rid of a pesky creature, but sometimes you need something more definitive and far-reaching. Get Losthits creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkersall for the lost cost of providing your opponent with two Map tokens.
Obviously, giving your opponent two opportunitiesto exploreisn’t great, but it’s not that much worse than Swords to Plowshares.Get Lost is long-term pain for short-term gain, yes, but sometimes, you just need that dragon out of the way for one turn to win the game.
2Unstable Glyphridge
Clear the board and then lock it down.
White has some pretty creative Wrath of Gods out there these days, but Unstable Glyphbridge might be the most creative yet. First, youblow up every creature except for one with power two or less,then you may later craft Unstable Glyphbridge into Sandswirl Wanderglyph, a card that eitherlets your opponent cast one spell or attack once, but not both.
Oh, and it’s a5/3 flying creaturecapable of beating the snot out of the bears your opponents are allowed to have after Unstable Glyphridge first dropped. This is a great control card that pairs perfectly with an artifact-heavy deck.
1Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation
The new god of tokens.
Token decks relied on cards like Parallel Lives or Doubling Season to make a bunch of tokens at once, but they always merely doubled the number of tokens created.Ojer Taq triples those tokens. Consider that with a card like Armada Wurm or Spectral Procession, and Ojer Taq is looking like our goddess of token decks.
On the flip side is how Ojer’s godliness keeps her coming back.She turns into a land that comes back as soon as you attack with three or more creatures. So long as you keep the critters coming, Ojer Taq will be there at your side.
Next:Every Card Revealed For Magic: The Gathering’s The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan
