Hello deck-builders! I hope your day is going well. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is packed with fun ideas for decks that are perfect for kitchen table formats like Commander, Five-Color, and Multiplayer Free-For-All, and the set has some great cards for Casual Standard stuff as well. Are you ready to see what The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has in store? Let's do it to it!

Boros +1/+1 Counters Matter

This set debuts the beloved +1/+1 counters matter theme into Red with Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon! This 3-drop 1/2 has an attack trigger to swing with non-Gnomes to toss a +1/+1 counter on herself and then make 1/1 attacking Gnomes for each counter on her. You can win with combat damage to your foes by going wide with tokens or tall with this, and it scales up over time. In Commander, the +1/+1 counter archetype is the 4th most played archetype and we've added it to Red! I built an EDH deck around Anim here (Counters Matter with Anim Pakal in Commander | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)).

Rakdos and Golgari Descend

There are a few descend matters leaders in Black that scale up as you descend. The Rakdos 2-drop 2/2 has deathtouch, and then you can force your foes to sacrifice, discard, and if not, lose three life. It's a nasty little win-con that I built a budget deck around here (Budget Commander #75 - Zoyowa's Cheap Group Slug | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)) with a Group Slug feel. Then Golgari has the Elder Fungus that turns descending into free 1/1 Fungi tokens that cannot block. Unlike Zoyowa this scales up as you descend and has power and toughness equal to your Fungi/Saproling count! Stephen built around this here (The Mycotyrant in Commander | Article by Stephen Johnson (coolstuffinc.com)). Broodrage Mycoid will also make those tokens too.

Now let's turn to great descended cards in these colors. Brass's Tunnel Grinder // Tecutlan, The Searing Rift ETBs and you discard any number of cards from your hand and draw that many plus one. That's some great card flow early or late, and then when you descend, you put a counter on it. Once it has three counter, you flip it into its discovering for free, X-tapping Cave face. See how strong that combo is at the kitchen table? Enterprising Scallywag has a descend trigger to make a Treasure EOT for free! Stalactite Stalker costs just one and can be dropped on the first turn with a 1/1 menace body that puts +1/+1 counters here to grow with descend and then you can sac it for removal. Nasty set of descend support!

Selesnya Power Greater than Base

This set introduced a new ability in these two dorks that triggers when you have creatures with power greater than the power printed on the card. Both are legendary! Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar can shut off all tricks on your turn from foes by preventing them from casting spells. Then when a dork you control smashes face, if its power was greater than its base power, draw a card, but just once per combat damage step. I have built around this in Commander. Sovereign Okinec Ahau has Ward 2 to protect itself , and then when it swings, for each attacker swinging that has bigger base power, you put +1/+1 counters on it to pump its power massively. I call this the Overrun Commander since it loves those effects and everything from Rancor/Bonesplitter to Glorious Anthem to +1/+1 counters will empower Okinec Ahau's gameplan! Stephen built around the latter one here (Sovereign Okinec Ahau Goes Wide AND Tall in Commander | Article by Stephen Johnson (coolstuffinc.com)).

Naya Dinosaurs Matter

Dinosaurs matter was built out in the first trip to Ixalan, and we are hitting it up again this time as well! We have two legendary Naya colored Dino matters Commanders to build around - a reprint in Gishath, Sun's Avatar, and Huatli, Poet of Unity // Roar of the Fifth People in very different ways. The first is eight mana for trio of keywords and when it deals damage you dig that many cards and flop all Dinosaurs from your library to the battlefield! Nasty! Huatli will ETB and get you a basic to your hand, then flips to a Saga to make Dinos, tutor for a Dino and then your dinos get double strike and trample on its final chapter.

Izzet Pirates Matter

The first Ixalan set also introduced a love for Pirates and this set has two Pirate matters legendary creatures in Izzet colors. Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider has an ability that says when an artifact ETBs, you put a +1/+1 counter on a Pirate you control. Paige has built around her with a Pauper Commander brew (Pauper Pirates Commander with Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider | Article by Paige Smith (coolstuffinc.com)). Breeches, Eager Pillager has first strike and then an attack trigger when your Pirates attack and they can get up to three options - make a Treasure, prevent a dork from blocking, or impulse card flow one this turn. Card advantage, ramp and smashing face are all great things for this tribe to do!

Discover Matters

This set introduced a new ability called discover that is like cascade but you don't have to cast it if you don't want, drawing the card instead. It's in the only planeswalker in the set, Quintorious Kand's, -3 and he costs five for four loyalty and you'll drain 2 life from each foe whenever you cast from exile. Then you can +1 him to make a 3/2 dork to block. The discover ability is usually an ETB ability not a cast ability, like the Trumpeting Carnosaur above. This costs six, discovers 5 on ETB, and then features a nasty 7/6 body with trample and can also be discarded to Lightning Bolt and trigger descend. Then since it's ETB, you can blink it or recur it over and over again. Geological Appraiser costs four for a 3/2 with discover 3 that was just banned in Pioneer and Explorer! This has the cast restriction on it, but it's still pretty nasty. Play this ability in all of your Kitchen Table Formats!

And there we go! I hope that you enjoyed this quick look at a fun few deck ideas from LCI!