[MTG] On Ixalan Leaks and Mechanics Article

[Flame Dragon]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/behind-scenes-alleged-ixalan-card-theft-2017-08-28

 

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/ixalan-mechanics

[Chaosix]

Star of Extinction + Stuffy Doll for Ashling EDH.

Mavren Fain and Bishop of Rebirth for Edgar.

Kopala Is a really good merfolk commander.

Deeproot Champion looks like a standard (And maybe modern) powerhouse.

This set also looks to be another 3 color set.

Story wise, Vraska works for Bolas.

Also Vanquisher's Banner.

[Forest Fire]

[spoiler regarding a card in the first link incase some people dont want to see spoilers]so are we gonna see bolas on ixalan or is it just vraska's helping him?

 

[Flame Dragon]

Star of Extinction + Stuffy Doll for Ashling EDH.

Mavren Fain and Bishop of Rebirth for Edgar.

Kopala Is a really good merfolk commander.

Deeproot Champion looks like a standard (And maybe modern) powerhouse.

This set also looks to be another 3 color set.

Story wise, Vraska works for Bolas.

Also Vanquisher's Banner.

 

The Stuffy Doll combo is nice.

 

I'm not sold on Bishop in Edgar. Yes, it is a vampire, but I'd 100% rather have Sun Titan. Past that you have better options for reanimation in White and Black.

 

Kopala seems solid as a Merfolk tribal commander. Though personally I'm hoping we get a Bant one so we can combine them with the Lorwyn Merfolk.

 

I'm not sold on Deeproot, but similar cards have been good in the past in standard.

 

The set isn't 3 colors. My guess is its split 2/2/3/3 with Merfolk and Pirates in two colors (GU and WB respectively) and Dinosaurs and Pirates in 3 (Naya and Grixis respectively).

 

Banner is solid, but not a windmill slam for all tribal decks. If you have green you can play Zenidkar Resurgent and Blue has the new Kindred Discovery. If the tribe is expensive (say Dragons) you aren't casting enough at once to get a TON of value imo. I am really excited at the idea of it for Edgar though.

 

[spoiler regarding a card in the first link incase some people dont want to see spoilers]so are we gonna see bolas on ixalan or is it just vraska's helping him?

Just that she is working for him. I'm thinking the Ral reveal was them showing that Bolas has his claws on a bunch of major players. Curious what the nature of their alignment is though.

[evilfusion]

Ooh, very interesting stuff.

 

And I'm glad they managed to track down the person who stole the sheets. I was really upset by having stuff leaked in that way.

[Forest Fire]

can we talk about this:

 

sounds like a planeswalker that lost their spark. maybe the treasure has some way of giving people a spark? maybe that's why bolas wants it. really want his backstory, but i doubt we'll get it.

[goodfusion]

can we talk about this:

 

sounds like a planeswalker that lost their spark. maybe the treasure has some way of giving people a spark? maybe that's why bolas wants it. really want his backstory, but i doubt we'll get it.

 

 

Angrath is a Planeswaker. I guess we'll find out why they're trapped on Ixalan in the stories.

 

Anyway I really like Treasure Map/Treasure Cove, the new border is awesome! I'm a little bit sad they didn't bring back the Ship creature type for the ships. It would have been perfect.

[bury the year]

So I can finally talk about these guys! Only the ones I'm interested in, natch.

• Mavren Fein has overperformed in Edgar, I'm happy to say. From a Standard perspective... maybe? He's a lot worse than Brimaz, that's for sure.
• I honestly want to play Settle the Wreckage in a mono-white tokens EDH deck and target myself. It's shitty ramp! (Also Scuttle the Wreckage makes much more sense as a name.)
• We get a cheaper Conspiracy! Don't think Arcane Adaptation will ever see constructed play, but man oh man will this be a fun EDH card.
• Kopala seems playable in place of Kira in Fish decks. Yeah, taxing is usually worse than straight out countering; but since DS is the big deck in the format right now and is all about mana efficiency, it could be basically a counter. Plus, Kira can't block an Abrupt Decay or get cast off of Cavern of Souls.
• Boneyard Parley is neat as hell. Don't have a deck for it right now, but damn do I wish I did. Fact or Victimize is sick.
• Ruin Raider is probably the most playable of the Bob variants printed so far: the fact that you don't have to do anything with him proper is really nice, and that he triggers on your end step is even better. Also probably why he's 3 mana.
• Did someone switch the rarities of Rowdy Crew and Sunbird's Invocation? Seriously, I don't get in what universe would Crew be a mythic. It's a 3/3 for 2RR that cantrips.
• Looking at Old Growth Dryads, I'm reminded that 9-Land Stompy was once a deck in Legacy. I'm further reminded it is no longer. We already have a 3/3 for G, and its name is Wild Nacatl.
• Was WotC really that worried about control in Standard to have to print Carnage Tyrant? It's absurd, and not in a good way. Outside of deathtouch I can't think of many ways that this thing will die in that format.
• Deeproot Champion is decidedly weird. Didn't think green interacted much with noncreatures specifically.
• Beckett is best grandma. Not very playable in constructed, though, and her strength as a general lies entirely in the quality of other pirates that we see.
• Gisharth's art is even better when not viewed through a potato. I wonder if we get some sort of mega-ramp deck in Standard if he'd be playable as a top end.
• For all those who are curious, Hostage Taker was officially errata'd to say "...exile another target artifact or creature..." You don't get an infinite loop from one creature alone.
• Sorcerous Spyglass seems like the preemptive answer to Marvel decks, only Wizards not remembering that a. Aetherworks Marvel was a busted card and the cumulation of a parasitically strong mechanic, and b. Abrade exists and is a 4-of.
• Those new land arts are dope. Hoping we get the enemy color cycle too: they've only been printed once and are sorely needing of a reprint.
• Jace looks like he wanted to take his shirt off but forgot how, lol. Anyways, I think he's lowkey very good: at minimum, he's a 3-drop that can poop out bears, and his ultimate will probably come pretty quickly.

Also, since nobody brought it up yet:

 

 

We're getting 10 DFCs in the set. And that new card frame is pretty as hell. Card's decent too: very slow but worth the payoff.

 

EDIT:

 

I'm not sold on Bishop in Edgar. Yes, it is a vampire, but I'd 100% rather have Sun Titan. Past that you have better options for reanimation in White and Black

Y'see, I'm a strict tribal player, so Sun Titan is a no-go in my list. Plus, being a worse Sun Titan isn't saying much, considering Sun Titan is in the top 5 white EDH cards ever printed.

[Poc]

bishop is still akward. He's probably the best for that slot in mardu vampire tribal but since he only triggers on attack and has no protection it's a pretty steep hill to get any value out of it.

 

 

anyways. Jace looks ok. His plus is kind of bad since you can only get one loot out of it at best and requires a board state to be effective but his minus is solid. I wonder why jace is now able to asexually reproduce?

 

wrath to exile is dope. It's the wrath standard needed two expansions ago. U/W control is looking good after this set.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

 

• Those new land arts are dope. Hoping we get the enemy color cycle too: they've only been printed once and are sorely needing of a reprint.

 

We won't. They are flavorlocked to innistrad.

[Flame Dragon]

• Mavren Fein has overperformed in Edgar, I'm happy to say. From a Standard perspective... maybe? He's a lot worse than Brimaz, that's for sure.
• Did someone switch the rarities of Rowdy Crew and Sunbird's Invocation? Seriously, I don't get in what universe would Crew be a mythic. It's a 3/3 for 2RR that cantrips.
• Was WotC really that worried about control in Standard to have to print Carnage Tyrant? It's absurd, and not in a good way. Outside of deathtouch I can't think of many ways that this thing will die in that format.
• Gisharth's art is even better when not viewed through a potato. I wonder if we get some sort of mega-ramp deck in Standard if he'd be playable as a top end.
• For all those who are curious, Hostage Taker was officially errata'd to say "...exile another target artifact or creature..." You don't get an infinite loop from one creature alone.
• Those new land arts are dope. Hoping we get the enemy color cycle too: they've only been printed once and are sorely needing of a reprint.
• Y'see, I'm a strict tribal player, so Sun Titan is a no-go in my list. Plus, being a worse Sun Titan isn't saying much, considering Sun Titan is in the top 5 white EDH cards ever printed.

   

 

I think he looks insane in Edgar. Token making is a premium in tribal commanders and he can make a lot.

 

Yea, Crew seems bad. Going up on cards when you're randomly discarding isn't exciting. The counters are also super unreliable.

 

My biggest issue with Tyrant is it doesn't look mythic. Plated Crusher costs +1 and loses can't be countered, but is only uncommon. The can't be countered text is very strong, but I don't think pushes it to mythic. Scaled Behemoth is also in a similar space.

 

 

I REALLY want to know what happened with Hostage Taker.

 

I don't think we're seeing them in this set. 10 rare lands take up a LOT of space.

 

I just could never go full tribal in my decks. I did it for my Sliver deck, but they REALLY want more Slivers. My other 4 tribal commander decks range 75%-55%. I generally aim for 1/3 spells being of the tribe I care about with my lowest being Elves and Goblins at 21. Goblins is the lowest for the creature ratio, but thats a result of me using Grenzo as the commander. Most Goblins suck and Grenzo wants a high creature count to make blind spins hit more. Grenzo gains a LOT from the tribal stuff though. My Kozilek list can be called "Tribal Eldrazi", since I have 18/31, but it doesn't have anything in it that cares about creatures sharing a type. I TRIED putting Path of Ancestry, but I realized that does not work. I am playing Kindred cards in non-tribal decks though. Discovery is in Talrand and Charge is Wort.

 

We won't. They are flavorlocked to innistrad.

I don't think so. The names all look pretty generic. Plus they can squint a little if one has issues like they did for Dragonskull.

[Poc]

Hexproof is pretty big on crusher, Its a big dumb anti control card and its hard to deal with once it hits the table. It might show up in sideboards and its really strong in limited. Its kind of boring for a mythic but the power is pretty apparent.

[Flame Dragon]

Hexproof is pretty big on crusher, Its a big dumb anti control card and its hard to deal with once it hits the table. It might show up in sideboards and its really strong in limited. Its kind of boring for a mythic but the power is pretty apparent.

The power was never in question, my issue is the rarity. As I said we've gotten two big dumb hexproof creatures these past 2 years at uncommon and while this is certainly more powerful it is one of the least exciting mythics in the game imo.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

I get that port town would exist on ixalan, but calling them hinterlands hardly makes any sense, given the fact that the word is super German and that doesn't line up too well with the plane. Especially considering that green isn't one of the pirate colors.

 

Otherwise they do get a pass. It isn't like the painlands that refer to specific places on dominaria.

 

 

As for the dinosaur, I like the idea that such a simple card can be mythic rare, honestly. And with that new boardwipe I'm not too concerned about it being broken.

[Delibirb]

I get that port town would exist on ixalan, but calling them hinterlands hardly makes any sense, given the fact that the word is super German and that doesn't line up too well with the plane. Especially considering that green isn't one of the pirate colors.

 

Otherwise they do get a pass. It isn't like the painlands that refer to specific places on dominaria.

 

 

As for the dinosaur, I like the idea that such a simple card can be mythic rare, honestly. And with that new boardwipe I'm not too concerned about it being broken.

I agree the other part of the cycle doesn't belong here, but that still doesn't make them flavorlocked to Innistrad.

[bury the year]

We won't. They are flavorlocked to innistrad.

bruh wut

 

I get that port town would exist on ixalan, but calling them hinterlands hardly makes any sense, given the fact that the word is super German and that doesn't line up too well with the plane. Especially considering that green isn't one of the pirate colors.

hin·ter·land

noun

1. the often uncharted areas beyond a coastal district or a river's banks.

"early settlers were driven from the coastal areas into the hinterland"

2.

an area lying beyond what is visible or known.

"in the hinterland of his mind these things rose, dark and ominous"

 

It's not an uncommon term. If anything, the Innistrad checks have more generic names than the core set ones. Just look at how much they had to stretch to accommodate Dragonskull Summit.

 

Anyhow, bunch o' random new commons/uncommons. Nothing terribly exciting, save for the potential 2/2 for G.

 

http://imgur.com/a/dfVo5

[Flame Dragon]

 

I guess we no longer need a bigger boat.

 

Anyway, Direfleet Captain looks strong. The Merfolk token maker seems awesome for a Merfolk commander. The return vampire actually seems pretty interesting in Edgar (though likely not good enough). The ping the board thing seems really fun with Enrage. Looter and 1 mana 2/2 are likely the best of the bunch.

[Poc]

Green merfolk gives me hope for a decent U/G CoCo deck for modern. Cold Eye Selkie is a great card but never was given a proper home.