Following one heck of a powered up Standard period coming off the back of the energy-fueled Kaladesh block, Ixalan was made as a way to level out the power a bit. Much like Mercadian Masques and the original Kamigawa block, the cards were weaker which made for a much less enjoyable release. In spite of this, Ixalan brought with it a Mesoamerican-themed world full of dinosaurs and pirates, making for an instant fan-favorite world. As such, the set was full of interesting mythics - many of which were destined to be beloved casual hits. We're going to rank them all today!

15. Rowdy Crew

When it came out, people didn't know what to make of Rowdy Crew. You could make it so you're getting a massive beater and seeing some more cards in your deck even if you have to discard. Cool, right? Well it was just far too much drawback to be worthwhile anywhere. It's got the markings of a card designed for Constructed play that couldn't hack it there, is bad for casual play, and draws easy comparisons to the famously overhyped card Balduvian Horde.

14. Axis of Mortality

It's been a long time since Mirror Universe was any good, and the big reason it was good in the first place was due to the weird rules of the time. This made Axis of Mortality a fairly dull card, even if it was cool to see such a unique effect again. It's just far too difficult to make it worth your while in most situations, even in more casual settings.

13. Boneyard Parley

Magic players the world over love a good Fact or Fiction, so when people saw a Fact or Fiction reanimation spell it got many intrigued. Then came the debates over whether it was actually any good or not. After all, you need to have five creatures between the graveyards which is difficult to do. In the end, it ended up as a bulk mythic that often wasn't even good enough for Commander outside of the preconstructed decks it might get reprinted in.

12. Overflowing Insight

Drawing seven cards? Awesome. At this rate, though? Not quite as awesome. There's something fun to seeing how you can just draw a full new grip like this, but in practice it's far less exciting than it sounds. You'd often much rather cheaper draw spells in competitive play and in Commander play, having options that scale like Stroke of Genius or Blue Sun's Zenith is far more desirable in terms of large draw options. Those let you get 7 cards also, but have the flexibility to give more or less than that, which quickly relegated the card to bulk mythic status.

11. Dire Fleet Ravager

Dishing out massive swings of damage like this rules. Just look at the hype and love the recent Duskmourn: House of Horror creature Unstoppable Slasher is getting. The difference, though, is that this costs five mana, only deals a third of a life total as opposed to half, and doesn't come back when it dies. So while these kinds of cards can go the distance and become powerhouses, Dire Fleet Ravager was nowhere near that good.

10. Huatli, Warrior Poet

Huatli does some solid things, but unfortunately the Standard environment of her time made her unexciting and not particularly playable. She's also not had much staying power anywhere else, owing largely to being somewhat costly on the front end at five mana and not doing a whole lot to impact the game. Sure you might get a 3/3 and some life, but you could probably get better than that for the mana you're putting in using something else.

9. Tishana, Voice of Thunder

You know what players love? Drawing lots of cards! Tishana provides you with obscene amounts of card advantage while enabling you to keep your hand as full as possible by removing the maximum hand size. While not the greatest card to helm a Merfolk Commander deck, she remains ever popular in the 99 of many Simic-based decks thanks to just how many cards she provides.

8. Wakening Sun's Avatar

With Ixalan, dinosaur decks became all the rage in casual spaces. If you needed a good board wipe, having an actual dinosaur that could act as a wrath was particularly excellent. Wakening Sun's Avatar's uses may be pretty narrow and strictly limited to Commander, but in the decks that want it, it can provide one hell of a beating.

7. Jace, Cunning Castaway

After several years of powerful Jace cards, it was nice to get something a little simpler for a change. Make no mistake, Jace, Cunning Castaway is a pretty decent little planeswalker that showed up here and there. He wasn't the greatest thing you could be doing and only showed up a little bit competitively, but the reasonable cost with respectable abilities made for a likable but far more modest card for once.

6. Vona, Butcher of Magan

Vona takes a lot of work to make work for just a Vindicate, but that just made her an instant hit in Commander. After all, in that format you start with 40 life, meaning you have plenty to throw at her ability. Additionally, if you build in plenty of life gain as well, having the life needed to activate the ability becomes trivial. This has made her quite popular both in the 99 and as the commander and a staple of Orzhov decks since her release.

5. Admiral Beckett Brass

One of two creature types in the set that were pretty much entirely new to mainstream Magic, pirates had a ton of hype behind them going into the set. Naturally, we got a legendary creature perfect for helming any pirate Commander deck. Admiral Beckett Brass quickly became a fan favorite because of this, continuing to show up in various releases to this day. It was also a fitting tribute to artist Jason Rainville's mother, which has continued on to this day using her likeness in later art depicting her.

4. Star of Extinction

In your typical Magic environment, Star of Extinction doesn't look like all that much. It's the kind of card that you look at and acknowledge for being a cool flavor win and nothing more. Wraths are a dime a dozen and, oh, you got to blow up a land? That's neat, but unexciting. As it reached towards the end of its tenure in Standard, though, it started to show up quite a bit in various lists, particularly ramp decks. It's also become quite a Commander favorite over time as it not only can hit a problematic land, but also deals with planeswalkers in addition to creatures.

3. Gishath, Sun's Avatar

Few times do we see a card so egregiously geared towards becoming a Commander fan favorite as Gishath. With dinosaurs becoming a very real thing all of a sudden thanks to Ixalan, players quickly gravitated towards this beast of a commander to helm the dinosaur decks of their wildest dreams. The card has only become more beloved with time, to such a degree in fact that it got an extremely welcome reprint in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

2. Vraska, Relic Seeker

Golgari and Sultai decks were all the rage in this era and Vraska's second outing made for one hell of a powerful card in Standard. Combined with the one-two punch of her namesake Vraska's Contempt, Vraska dominated the format for some time. If you weren't ready, she was going to rip apart your game plan with ease. Even now, she still remains a great choice in both Commander and Cube for the powerful impact she leaves on games she shows up in.

1. Carnage Tyrant

It's not often that we see a big ol' French vanilla creature making number one, but here we are. Carny T may look a bit innocuous and boring to the untrained eye, but the ability to cast it through countermagic while also being difficult for opponents to interact with was huge. Given the number of control decks and interaction-heavy midrange lists of the era, Carnage Tyrant became an absolute menace in its era and absolutely deserves the top spot for the impact it left in its glory days.

Paige Smith

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