Magic: The Gathering’s return visit to Ixalan embraces the spelunky side of the plane. No, notthat Spelunky. Rather, theDinosaurs,Merfolk, Pirates andVampiresthat defined the original Ixalan block are more textural in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Instead, the set focuses on the ‘underground civilization’ genre, with all of Ixalan’s favorite factions present and accounted for.
Blue has plenty of diversity here, exploring a handful of new mechanics from crafting to Map tokens. There’s plenty to make the Pirate and Merfolk lovers happy, with a surprising amount of depth to the rest of blue’s roster. Perhaps unsurprising, actually; you’d expect depth from a set that literally has ‘Cavern’ in its name.
10Confounding Riddle
A Riddle Bit Of An Upgrade
Confounding Riddle obsoletes Supreme Will, a modalcounterspellthat came six years prior. And Riddle’s better on both ends. The actual counterspell mode charges your opponent four mana instead of three, and the card selection mode dumps the remaining cards in the graveyard, which is almost always an advantage.
It’s also a showcase of clever design, given the existence of the discover mechanic in the same set. Offering an alternative mode on a counterspell means you can still get your free value when discovering it, whereas a rigid counterspell would usually be considered a miss.
9Deeproot Pilgrimage
Some Love For The Fish-People
Deeproot Pilgrimage is one of the few main-set nods to Merfolk decks. There are Merfolk abound in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, but this enchantment acts as an actual Merfolk payoff rather than some non-synergistic creature that just happens to be a Merfolk.
Many Merfolk creatures already play around with tap and untap abilities, so this fits right in with existing Merfolk strategies. Think Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, themost popular Merfolk commanderout there. At the very least it’ll trigger on nearly every combat step, which is already a solid baseline for the card.
8Hurl Into History
Sorry, Math And Science Folks
If Hurl into History looks familiar, it’s because a near-identical design has been used multiple times before. Spell Swindle is the version that makes Treasure tokens, Access Denied creates Thopters, Mystic Genesis leaves a large creature token behind, and Confirm Suspicions does something similar with Clue tokens.
These effectshave traditionally been rare, so Hurl into History at uncommon might be an indication that Wizards R&D doesn’t believe Map tokens are as significant as something like Treasure or Clues. Or it could just be power creep. Yeah, probably power creep.
7Kitesail Larcenist
You Can’t Stay Up There Forever!
Here’s one for the plundering pirates among you. Kitesail Larcenist takes multiple permanents out of commission while it sits onboard.
Nobody’s sacrificing their best permanents, so they’re effectively dead while Larcenist is flying around. Interestingly, you can snag one of your own permanents too, which might seem odd, but definitely feels like the type of thing a pirate might do.
This has all the hallmarks of a Standard-playable creature, withbuilt-in protection, a relevant creature type, and evasion on a good body, and it scales well in multiplayer games too.
6Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
Squarely In The Middle
The original version of this character, Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, is a well-known forcein competitive Commander, so there’s some pressure to ensure that Malcolm 2.0 stands out. It does so well enough without being blatantly overpowered.
Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel shapes up your hand while it puts decent pressure on your opponent, with the dream of reaching four chorus counters and casting big spells for free. It’s a bit unrealistic to think Malcolm’s surviving that long, but thanks toa little ability called proliferate, it’s more achievable than it might first seem.
5Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch // Temple Of Cyclical Time
You Could Say That Again
Most Gods in Magic are indestructible or have some sort of ability that makes them hard to remove, but the LCI Gods have a unique take on this: When they die,they transforminto a land that can then turn back into the God under certain stipulations.
Ojer Pakpatiq rebounds all of your instants, giving you a second shot at casting them, and hits pretty hard in the air while doing so. It’s the simplest God to transform back too, since all it requires is tapping Temple of Cyclical Time for mana a few times.
4Subterranean Schooner
It’ll Be A Problem Schooner Or Later
Someone at Wizards of the Coast must have recognized just how much of a flavor fail Silent Submersible was and decided to right that wrong with Subterranean Schooner. It’s still missing islandwalk or some other form of evasion, but it’s a sufficient upgrade on power alone.
Crew 1 is just a world of difference from Crew 2or anything higher. Virtually any creature can captain the Schooner, and your opponents will be so busy dealing with the boat that they might ignore your crew members getting larger in the meantime, or all the extra lands you’re drawing from explore.
3The Enigma Jewel // Locus Of Enlightenment
Enlightenment Never Looked So… Shiny
The Enigma Jewel is an interesting little gem. Enigmatic, almost. Your deck needs to go all in on activated abilities, but meet that requirement, and you’ll end up with what’s essentially Sol Ring number two. Crafting with it is where things get interesting.
On top of being a blanket doubler for activated abilities, Locus of Enlightenment can pick up a funky combination of effects.
Fun fact:Planeswalker loyalty abilitiescount. How do loyalty abilities work when they’re on an artifact? Ask a judge! Ask them how layers work while you’re there.
2Tishana’s Tidebinder
But What If Your Ability Just Didn’t Happen…?
Tishana’s Tidebinder is the blue card from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan most poised for extensive Constructed play. Here’s an exhaustive list of every Constructed-viable card with an ability worth countering: everything. Okay, not literallyeverything, but also not that much of an exaggeration.
Tidebinder isn’t exactly impressive as a 3/2 for three, but it keeps the source of the ability it counters locked down as long as it sits on board, which can completely shut off a planeswalker, anequipment, or almost any creature worth running in a 60-card format.
Spoilers: It Doesn’t Actually Have Myriad
The Everflowing Well is mediocre, to say the least. Divination with minor upside, as they say. It’s card advantage, and incidental mill gets you closer to Descend 8, but the card wouldn’t make anyone’s list of worthy mentions if that’s all it did.
The Myriad Pools… now that’s an interesting reward. You can let your imagination run wild thinking of ways to turn your lands and other permanents into copies of spells on the stack. At the very worst, it’s still a land that taps for blue mana, though being an artifact leaves it exposed to more removal.
Next:Magic: The Gathering – The Best Commanders In Lost Caverns Of Ixalan
