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Warning!
The decks you are about to see are mostly untested first drafts! They were played Thursday on the early access Streamer Event on MTG Arena and are my first stabs at the new Lost Caverns of Ixalan Standard format. Most are brews jam packed with Lost Caverns of Ixalan cards, while there are also a few updates to previously established archetypes, but it's important to note that these are the first steps and not finished products! Use them as stepping stones for your own deck brewing process, but play them card for card at your own risk!
As yes, what we've all been waiting for... a return to Ixalan? Uh wait... have we been waiting for it?
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is almost here and bears a strong resemblance to Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Both are new reimaginings of previously unpopular sets, that look to expand on the themes of those sets in new and unique ways. Neon Dynasty was a smashing success, and despite the fact that we're looking at a five-year time jump rather than a twenty-year time jump, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has a very similar, refreshing feeling.
There's a lot of crazy stuff happening in this set, which means it's going to take a while to unpack, but the best way to get started is to simply get the cards in our hands and start brewing!
Today we are going to go over all ten decks I played as part of my Ten New Brews on YouTube and stream, briefly going over each list and my thoughts on how it was, giving it a letter grade, and talking about what kind of potential it has going forward. I played five games of best of one with each deck so the deck's record will also be included, but do note that these matches were played during the Early Access event not on the open ladder. My opponents were all other content creators also trying out all sorts of fun The Lost Caverns of Ixalan stuff.
Let's go!
To Boldly Go | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
Export Arena
Deck's Record: 4-1
Deck's Grade: B+
Deck Potential: Medium to High
Standout Card: Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Voldaren Thrillseeker
Explore returns!
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Perhaps one of the most popular and played mechanics in original Ixalan, explore returns in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan to once again provide some land draws and draw smoothing. However, one important thing to note is that explore is not just a pure rate mechanic; explore also plays very well as a source of +1/+1 counters, as well as a way to fill up your graveyard.
What plays well with +1/+1 counters and the graveyard?
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Agatha's Soul Cauldron! Loosely based of Sam Pardee's Naya Cauldron deck that we were testing for Worlds, the core of this deck is the engine of Ozolith, the Shattered Spire, Soul Cauldron and Thrillseeker. The Ozolith pumps all your counter stuff up through the roof, while a Thrillseeker under an Agatha's Cauldron is an incredibly potent tool, especially with the creatures that can swap their counters around allowing for huge kills out of nowhere.
Sentinel of the Nameless City was a great addition as well, which allowed for enough artifacts for Teething Wurmlet, letting the deck get down to just Gruul and it's got supremely explosive potential. If someone finds the right Soul Cauldron plus Thrillseeker shell they're going to do some serious damage.
Elephant Day Care | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
Deck's Record: 5-0
Deck's Grade: A
Deck Potential: High
Standout Card: Quintorius Kand
It's kinda hard to take Quintorius Kand seriously.
I mean, he's a Harry Potter-inspired elephant wizard who loves archeology. That's a pretty far cry from cunning necromancer, angry pyromage, or mind-bending mind mage. However, after a few games it was very clear that Quintorius is the real deal.
In a lot of ways, his passive ability reminds me of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. The ability feels like it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but all of the sudden you're at 7 life and your opponent is at 18, and you're left wondering how you're ever supposed to win.
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Grafting Quintorius onto the Boros Pia shell was an obvious home, as the synergy she has with Pia Nalaar as well as Chandra, Dressed to Kill is obvious. Because the curve is a bit higher the Reckless Impulse effects aren't as necessary, but Geological Appraiser steps in to make a deck that can be super aggressive but also go long as well.
This one was really impressive.
Angel in the Machine | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (14)
- 3 Thousand Moons Smithy
- 1 Malcator, Purity Overseer
- 4 Guardian of Ghirapur
- 2 Akal Pakal, First Among Equals
- 4 Staunch Crewmate
Deck's Record: 3-2
Deck's Grade: B-
Deck Potential: Medium
Standout Card: Thousand Moons Smithy
Our first completely new archetype, there's a lot of great artifact stuff in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Usually, the issue with modern-day Standard sets is that, because there are no blocks, there's not enough thematic cohesion between sets to support synergy decks, but there was a ton of artifact stuff in both Neon Dynasty as well as Brothers' War, so there's a lot of good stuff happening here.
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The first major revelation here was that Guardian of Ghirapur is able to blink not only creatures but artifacts too, and that there are a lot of great artifacts with enters the battlefield effects in the format, most impressively the new Thousand Moons Smithy. It's is incredible in this deck, providing at least one huge threat, but threating more both on a blink as well as a flip, which is remarkably easy to accomplish. Add in other great setup cards like Staunch Crewmate and things come together quickly.
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The plan B ain't so bad either! Both Urza, Lord Protector as well as The Mightstone and Weakstone are great cards in the deck, with the former reducing costs drastically as well as providing some defense, and the latter being your big removal spell or card draw engine to blink with Guardian of Ghirapur. Either card would make the deck on its own merit, but having the ability to threaten a meld in longer games is awesome.
Finding the right mix of support artifacts will require some more testing, and there's also always the fear of Brotherhood's End and Farewell, but there's definitely a lot of awesome things happening here.
Finding Gumdrops | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (24)
- 4 Lunarch Veteran
- 2 Skrelv, Defector Mite
- 4 Gumdrop Poisoner
- 4 Voice of the Blessed
- 4 Amalia Benavides Aguirre
- 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
- 2 Graveyard Trespasser
- 2 Extraction Specialist
Deck's Record: 5-0
Deck's Grade: A
Deck Potential: High
Standout Card: Amalia Benavides Aguirre
The recipe for most great decks is synergy meets raw card quality, and our next deck hits the mark.
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Amalia Benavides Aguirre may be one of the oddest Ajani's Pridemate variants we've ever seen, but she is extremely effective. Sure, exploring in a non-blue, non-green deck feels bizarre, but the reality is that it's close to or better than just getting a counter, and filling the graveyard has value too. Add this to the fact that Voice of the Blessed is also still in Standard and we're going places.
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Lifegain without purpose would only be medium, but between both two drops as well as the supremely underated Gumdrop Poisoner there's a very nice payoff here for gaining life. And that's to say nothing of the fact that most of the lifegain cards are just good! Graveyard Trespasser and The Wandering Emperor need no introduction, and neither does Wedding Announcement or Skrelv, Deflector Mite.
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While a card like Extraction Specialist or Helping Hand would play well against removal spells on your key two-drops, the downside is that some decks either ignore your creatures or have exiling removal. However, with Amalia dumping cards in your graveyard from explores, she can help be an enabler there too. Helping Hand is also excellent on a Gumdrop Poisoner that traded in combat.
This one played awesome and I can't wait to give it a spin on the real ladder with a proper sideboard.
Cascade Caves | LCI Standard | Jim Davis ][Creatures
Deck's Record: 2-3
Deck's Grade: C
Deck Potential: Medium
Standout Card: Spelunking
Perhaps one of the most bizarre brews of the lot, this deck is definitely inspired by the old-school cascade decks of Standard's past.
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The 30 lands is an ungodly amount of lands in most cases, but this deck has a lot in common with the old gates decks too. Because of this high land count, as well as the relatively low number of spells, you get to control your discover effects somewhat. Appraiser is guaranteed to hit a ramp spell, and four out of eleven times it will the best possible in Spelunking. Similar is true for Carnosaur, which gives you a three-mana play that won't interfere with your discover 3, while also having a great chance to hit one of your big spells.
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What are those big spells? Blossoming Tortoise is the huge standout here, binning caves while also ramping you up and setting up a late game with your discover caves. Cosmium Confluence has shades of Hour of Promise, allowing you to tutor up the right lands at the right times as well as make threats. And Calamitous Cave-In is the card that makes it all work, giving you a great sweeper.
There are about a hundred different ways to build a caves deck, and while I'm not convinced this is the correct way, it is definitely worth exploring.
Jurassic Park | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
Deck's Record: 3-2
Deck's Grade: C-
Deck Potential: Low to Medium
Standout Card: Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath
Ah yes, Dinosaurs. The big, exciting part of the original Ixalan, but also mostly a failure in Constructed.
I fear history may be repeating itself.
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Dinosaurs is a deck with a lot of problems. It's mostly just populated by big idiots, not really fast enough to be a proper aggro deck, but also not really big or powerful enough to be a top end deck. Furthermore, the removal spells the deck has access to just falter against the truly big and powerful things in the format. Decks full of removal can pick the dinosaurs apart, and then go over the top with something else, while smaller and faster aggro decks can get under the big, unwieldly dinosaurs.
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There's a lot of questions in how to build the "right" dinosaur deck, as the pure stompy approach I used here might just be worse than a more ramp-based strategy, but at that point why not just play Atraxa, Grand Unifier?
Red and Blue Pearl | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
Deck's Record: 4-1
Deck's Grade: C
Deck Potential: Low
Standout Card: Breeches, Eager Pillager
Talk about scrappy.
Yes, we went 4-1 with this Pirates deck, but all of the games were so close and could have easily gone either way.
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Breeches is essentially the entire deck, the only real reason to put a bunch of pirates in to your deck and performed as well as can be expected. Kitesail Larcenist is also a very surprising Brutal Cathar variant in Blue, with a much better body and ward to boot. And sure, Staunch Crewmate compares favorably to something like Silvergil Adept.
But the problem is that the cards just aren't good enough.
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There are cool things happening, but the deck isn't fast enough for an all-out blitz, but also lacks the interaction to push through a midgame against the most powerful things the format has to offer.
This feels like a deck that would need an entire block to work.
The First Rule | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (15)
- 3 The Ancient One
- 4 Pugnacious Hammerskull
- 2 Shakedown Heavy
- 2 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
- 4 Bramble Familiar
Deck's Record: 5-0
Deck's Grade: B+
Deck Potential: Surprising!
Standout Card: Pugnacious Hammerskull
This deck was built as a meme, but oh boy did it go off.
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Fight Rigging plus 6 power three-drops isn't anything new, but things get massively upgraded when you've got the ability to curve an 8/8 on turn two into turn three Fight Rigging, which has a good shot to hit a Breach the Multiverse, cast two huge spells, and even turn on descend 8 and allow your The Ancient One to attack for nine!
Having this nut draw potential adds a huge level of consistency and threat to your draws.
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Adding to the redundancy is a number of pieces; Pugnacious Hammerskull is a very large 6/6 that blocks well when needed but also triggers Fight Rigging, as well as the much weaker Shakedown Heavy. Bramble Familiar can be a cheap creature, but is also a good hit off of Rigging to cast Fetch Quest. And then Virtue of Persistence is an early removal spell, but also a good hit off of Fetch Quest. All of these layers of redundancy allow you to put it all together on your less than ideal draws.
Add in Invasion of Ixalan as a way to find your combo pieces, as well as good removal, and we've got perhaps the biggest surprise of the whole set. We did draw pretty well across these games, but we might have a Splinter Twin Situation(TM) on our hands here.
Send the Farm | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (16)
- 3 Thousand Moons Smithy
- 3 Pollen-Shield Hare
- 4 Lunarch Veteran
- 2 Sanguine Evangelist
- 4 Regal Bunnicorn
- Spells (21)
- 4 Wedding Announcement
- 4 Virtue of Loyalty
- 2 Three Blind Mice
- 4 Ossification
- 3 Skrelv's Hive
- 2 The Wandering Emperor
- 2 Archangel Elspeth
- Lands (23)
- 4 Restless Prairie
- 4 Overgrown Farmland
- 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
- 2 Mirrex
- 10 Plains
- 2 Brushland
Deck's Record: 3-2
Deck's Grade: B-
Deck Potential: Medium
Standout Card: Thousand Moons Smithy
While none of the new creature lands are as outrageous as Restless Cottage, Restless Prairie really stands out.
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Having some sweeper insurance that can also pump up the whole squad for an alpha strike is an awesome thing to have, so much so that we've essentially just splashed it into a mostly mono-White token deck. The only other maindeck green card is Hare Raising, which is actually an excellent damage burst on an already reasonable card.
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Again, we see Smithy providing a super large threat, although it is a little bit harder to flip here than in the artifact deck. Regal Bunnicorn also goes large, with Archangel Elspeth available to make tokens or send either large threat into the air for a lethal strike if the game gets bogged down.
Is Green better than something like Black for Rite of Oblivion or Blue for counterspells? It's not entirely clear, but there's no doubt these go-wide decks have a home in Standard.
Clifford | LCI Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (14)
- 4 Riveteers Requisitioner
- 4 Trumpeting Carnosaur
- 2 Etali, Primal Conqueror
- 4 Geological Appraiser
- Spells (21)
- 3 Voltage Surge
- 3 Strangle
- 2 Chandra, Dressed to Kill
- 3 Burn Down the House
- 2 The Irencrag
- 4 Treasure Map
- 1 The Celestus
- 3 Nahiri's Warcrafting
- Lands (25)
- 3 Mirrex
- 4 Field of Ruin
- 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
- 15 Mountain
- 2 Demolition Field
Deck's Record: 1-4
Deck's Grade: D+
Deck Potential: Low
Standout Card: Treasure Map
Trying to relive the Big Red glory days didn't work out so well.
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Treasure Map, one of my favorite glue cards from the original Ixalan, returns to Standard, but trying to stay only Red brought on a whole host of problems. There are a ton of really big things in Standard, from Atraxa to Etali, that go far over the top of what a midrange deck can accomplish, and this deck really struggles at killing anything with six or more toughness.
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There are a lot of sweet midrange tools available in red, from the criminally underplayed Riveteers Requisitioner to the awesome new discovery cards, but the lack of closing speed alongside the general weakness of removal means that a second color is all but mandatory.
The Release Looms!
The Streamer Event is always a blast, allowing for a super fun look at all the new cards before they hit the open ladder where Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and friends are waiting. Getting to try out the new cards against other brews, rather than last season's tried and tuned best decks, is a great chance to get a feel for the new cards, and makes for some good TV too!
That being said, Lost Caverns of Ixalan officially releases this coming Tuesday, which means it's time to Bronze to Mythic! Bronze to Mythic is my series where I start a ground zero of the draft format, with episode one being my very first draft of the set.
So come join me as we learn the format together!
