I’m more of a Pirates of the Caribbean kind of guy than anIndiana Jones kind of guy, so I may be a bit biased, but so far, Ixalan kind of feels like Zendikar done right. The flavor
basically seems to be Age of Exploration if Dinosaurs were still alive in
the new world, which I actually think is a pretty sweet twist. I like how
it adds color and excitement to exploring the new world, and it’s a cool
alternate universe to image.
Mechanically, I love everything about the tools of exploration that
transform into lands. They tell me a story about how this set is about
exploring new territory and using it to go way over the top, which is a
perfect mechanical tie-in to the idea of exploring a new continent full of
Dinosaurs; as you explore the new continent, where you’d be finding
Dinosaurs, your tools become lands that allow you to cast these Dinosaurs
in the game of Magic.
Meanwhile, while you’re trying to explore this new world to tame these
awesome Dinosaurs, shortsighted looters are trying to sabotage your efforts
for their own greed (Pirates try to kill you before you can cast these
sweet Dinosaurs).
While I imagine that the race between Pirates and summoning Dinosaurs in
Limited will be close and interesting, I worry that the race in Constructed
between Hazoret the Fervent and summoning sweet Dinosaurs will be a little
more lopsided.
“I cast Extinction.”
Ixalan
dreams big and tells a sweet story, but I worry that it’s a little too off
in its own world, with tribes that aren’t supported by the existing blocks
and gameplans that can’t keep up with the fully formed Energy, Vehicles,
and aggressive red decks that already exist. Essentially, this feels like Lorwyn, where Lorwyn itself wasn’t enough to support the
new tribes for the most part, but once Morningtide hit, Faeries,
Merfolk, Elves, Goblins, and Kithkin were all serious players. (My history
may be a bit off here; it’s possible Kithkin, Elves, and maybe even Goblins
were decent decks before Morningtide, but tribal decks weren’t
what they became before we got cards like Bitterblossom and Mutavault.)
Standard is small, and I’d hope at least one tribe in Ixalan will
be competitive, but I’m sure some, likely most tribes will need another set
to come into their own (if they ever do).
Fortunately, not every card in the set is so linear that we have to put
them all on hold. Personally, I’d love to see a world where Treasure Map,
Primal Amulet, and Thaumatic Compass compete to fuel also grindy
late-games. As strange as it may sound, I think Vraska’s Contempt might be
the key to enabling these kinds of games.
Black decks excel at trading resources, so when they have access to a card
like Phyrexian Arena or Underworld Connections, black control decks become
possible. Cards like this are printed infrequently, but artifacts like
Thaumatic Compass can occasionally provide a functional substitute.
Vraska’s Contempt doesn’t win a game by itself, but it can make it very
hard for the opponent to find a way to kill you, allowing your late-game
engines to take over.
When combined with Fatal Push and Walk the Plank, possibly even with
Bontu’s Last Reckoning if needed, we start to see a good curve of extremely
versatile black removal spells the could line up very well against the
“Level 0” aggressive decks that carry over from the current format.
Consider something like the following:
Creatures (11)
Lands (26)
Spells (23)
- 2 Glimmer of Genius
- 4 Fatal Push
- 4 Supreme Will
- 4 Vraska's Contempt
- 3 Walk the Plank
- 3 Treasure Map
- 1 Primal Amulet
- 2 Thaumatic Compass
Sideboard
I’d originally imagined a mono-black control deck, but the lands in
Standard make splashing an allied color into a control deck very cheap, and
I think the deck is better with a splash.
This take is a fairly pure control deck that uses the transforming
artifacts to get ahead and plans to actually win the game with The Scarab
God.
While this set might allow people to get large amounts of mana quickly with
Treasure, as long as the payoffs are large creatures and planeswalkers and
not Eldrazi with difficult-to-beat cast triggers, Vraska’s Contempt should
do a good job of stopping the opponent from doing something that goes over
the top of your long game.
Gifted Aetherborn offers fantastic early defense, and I think it’s a good
card for a strategy like this, but between that and the other artifacts,
this deck isn’t necessarily optimizing Primal Amulet, a card that I think
is actually very powerful if we build a deck to take full advantage of it.
Abrade continues to be a serious consideration when trying to build a deck
around a four-mana artifact, but Lightning Strike could cut into Abrade’s
stock somewhat.
We could imagine a deck that goes further to support Primal Amulet, which
mostly means playing more card draw spells:
Lands (27)
Spells (35)
Unfortunately, because Approach of the Second Sun only wins the game if it
was cast from your hand, you don’t win the game immediately if you cast it
with Primal Wellspring. On the other hand, you do gain fourteen life and
your card draw spells are great at getting you to cast it again, so I think
this is still the best way to win the game if you’re trying to maximize
Primal Wellspring.
Another Vraska’s Contempt control deck could use a reanimator strategy:
Creatures (14)
- 2 Demon of Dark Schemes
- 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
- 1 Torrential Gearhulk
- 4 Noxious Gearhulk
- 2 The Scarab God
- 4 Champion of Wits
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
This deck uses Strategic Planning, Tragic Lesson, and Champion of Wits to
try to get a Gearhulk, Demon, or God into the graveyard to return with
Liliana, Death’s Majesty, or Refurbish for a Gearhulk. One common issue
I’ve noticed in looking at Esper control decks is that there aren’t very
many strong planeswalkers in Standard now, so taking full advantage of
Liliana, Death’s Majesty seems particularly powerful.
Going the other direction, R/B Artifacts looks like a very powerful
aggressive deck:
Creatures (22)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (23)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
Wily Goblin may not offer the best rate for a creature, but it does turn on
Inventor’s Apprentice, raid for Ruin Raider, go to the graveyard as a
creature for Scrapheap Scrounger, and allow you to cast Chandra, Torch of
Defiance on turn 3, which this deck is designed to take maximum advantage
of.
Ruin Raider is a fantastic follow-up to Heart of Kiran that plays well with
the large number of creatures that aren’t often afraid to attack into
anything on turn 3, and the removal in this deck is fantastic at supporting
continued attacks. The fact that all of the removal functions as additional
reach when needed is a tremendous asset to a deck like this.
Building an aggressive red deck that can end up with extra mana from
Treasures or Chandra, Torch of Defiance that doesn’t use Khenra Eternal
feels like a mistake, but Unlicensed Disintegration is a powerful pull down
the artifact path, and Inventor’s Apprentice really requires maximizing
them, and Heart of Kiran makes it difficult to make room for creatures with
two power, so it just doesn’t look to have a place.
I noted
last week
that Hostage Taker would be fantastic at the top end of a U/B creature
deck, and it’s starting to look like the Pirate tribe was actually built
specifically to maximize Hostage Taker, as the early plays of Siren
Stormtamer and Kitesail Freebooter both serve to protect your more
expensive Pirates, and Ruin Raider and Fathom Fleet Captain both demand
answers before Hostage Taker comes down.
Creatures (24)
- 4 Hostage Taker
- 4 Fathom Fleet Captain
- 4 Deadeye Tracker
- 4 Ruin Raider
- 4 Siren Stormtamer
- 4 Kitesail Freebooter
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
This is an interesting tribe. It’s not the fastest, but it has an
interesting mix of card advantage and disruption. All of the card advantage
requires creatures surviving, but the disruption helps them survive. Jace,
Cunning Castaway and Scrapheap Scrounger offer an interesting backup plan
against opponents who are set on trying to kill all of your creatures, and
the efficient removal allows you to avoid losing races against opposing
creature decks with more power.
Whirler Virtuoso is a card I’d be very afraid of with this kind of deck, as
the Thopters line up very well against your relatively small creatures and
you don’t have a great way to deal with it. Your best plan is likely to try
to resolve the Scarab God against Temur decks, and it’s possible this deck
wants to have access to more of those.
Between Unclaimed Territory and Treasures, I can imagine attempting to
build a three-color Pirate deck, and I think it would be awesome if such a
deck had a low curve that made Treasures and topped out with Nicol Bolas,
God-Pharaoh as a finisher, but I don’t think we quite have the cards to
support such a strategy at the moment, I’m just optimistic that there might
another good uncommon Pirate that makes Treasure or something.
Looking over these options, I certainly think Ixalan’s spells will
play a substantial role in Standard, but I think we’ll mostly see it in
strategies like the control decks and artifact decks that combine aspects
of Ixalan’s mechanics with previous synergies more than tribal
decks that rely almost entirely on cards from Ixalan.