My Top 14 Cards to Brew with from Lost Caverns of Ixalan

An amazing looking set for Pioneer

Magic design has been hitting it out of the park set after set recently and Lost Caverns of Ixalan is looking like an all timer for Pioneer. The cards are powerful, but a bit narrow, which is a brewer’s dream.

Wilds of Eldraine was similarly great to the point that it actually messed up my brewing process. There were too many cards I wanted to brew with, which led to me coming up with too many deck ideas for me to test, which ultimately it hurt my ability to come up with the highly refined brews that are my goal.

To that end, I am going to focus more in the LCI brewing season. So I am not going to list all the cards that I can see myself playing like I have done in the past and ended up with an absurd 32 cards in my list for WOE. I had 34 cards on my initial list for LCI, but I went through a second time and only went for the ones that really sparked joy for me.

This list is also based on my brewing interests, which are interactive decks with creatures (so mostly midrange with the occasional interactive combo deck).

On Map Tokens

I am known as a game objects/rectangles brewer, figuring out how do I get more pieces of cardboard on my board than my opponents and then figuring out how to capitalize on that.

I have had my most success with Blood and Treasure, so any of these artifact with a small but meaningful when sacrificed effect are going to be something I take note of.

My initial reaction is that Map tokens look weak to me. Key issues they have are:

• Sorcery Speed- Existing tokens like Blood and Food you are frequently sacrificing at the end of your opponents turn. In particular, you can not sac a map at instant speed to trigger revolt for Fatal Push, which is a common role of these tokens in Pioneer.

• Needs a creature to target- This will obviously limit the impact of Maps in a deck with low creature count. It is also common to start activating tokens when you are in top deck mode, which can often be empty board mode. So there are just more fail states here for using these tokens than we are used to.

• Can be fizzled- The effect here targets a creature. Tokens tend to be strong in midrange mirrors where you can get that bit of extra value from them that helps put you ahead in the value game. With Map tokens it is harder to get that value in the face of your opponents removal.

• Is Explore good? I am a bit worried Explore is generally overrated because it was good in its Standard, but that was a particularly weak Standard so we might have an overly rosy view of it. Whenever I have brewed Explore decks, I encounter a common pattern of being excited for them and then having them perform well below expectations. I think the issue is Explore provides the illusion of velocity without providing the kind of velocity that wins games.

However, the critical lesson with these game objects is it is very hard to envision how they will play and they need to be assessed through a good chunk of testing.

14. Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch

I have heard Ojer Pakpatiq compared to God-Eternal Kefnet, but I do not think they are particularly similar. To me, the right comparison is Kroxa. I think Kroxa is one of the most underrated cards in Pioneer. People frequently talk about the strength of Rakdos decks in Pioneer, but I rarely hear Kroxa as part of the reason for that strength.

Kroxa provides low opportunity cost inevitability to these decks, allowing them to win grindy games, which is key to giving Rakdos decks that bit of extra texture that sets them apart.

So I am always on the lookout for cards that provide that “low opportunity cost inevitability” effect. When I see Ojer Pakpatiq, I see a card that has a chance to provide that effect for blue decks.

13. Fanatical Offering

I am the foremost Deadly Dispute brewer in Pioneer, so of course the Map version of Deadly Dispute will grab my attention. I need to emphasize, this card is far worse than Deadly Dispute. Part of why I am so focused on brewing with Deadly Dispute is how perfectly it pairs with Fatal Push, allowing you to reliably cast Push with Revolt. As mentioned above, Maps being sorcery speed, make them far less synergistic with Push.

The other part is that mana advantage tends to be more important than selection or card advantage, so Treasures stack up favorably compared to Maps.

However, Fanatical Offering, does synergize well with Dispute. The Maps allowing you to chain sacrifices. This can enable running 8 copies of the effect and a higher velocity deck, which opens a lot of interesting deck building possibilities.

12. Clay-Fired Bricks

The comparisons here are to Birth of Meletis and Ambitious Farmhand, likely for some kind of Yorion midrange game objects deck. Clay-Fired Bricks is in many ways the best option just on its front. The problem with the two others is they do not play well with wraths. With Clay-Fired Bricks you can wrath and then sacrifice it a couple turns later to the Beseech the Mirror you topdecked. It also plays better with Yorion, having an ETB that reliably sticks on the board and gains you life to help stabilize.

And that is just the front. These kind of decks tend to be slow and can struggle to close out games, so Crafting here and turning it into something that looks like Wedding Announcement is real deal.

I have also been brewing Selesnya Metalwork Colossus decks recently, so I am excited to try it there.

11. Market Gnome

When building sacrifice creature for value decks it is striking how much better Unlucky Witness is than any other options. Market Gnome seems right at the Unlucky Witness power level. Obviously it is in a different color, so this is not a Rule of 8 situation, but it does point to that it should open up a number of new possibilities.

On top of this, it is an artifact, so should also unlock a number of artifact synergies. The most obvious one is with Beseech the Mirror, but I am sure there are others out there.

10. Cenote Scout

I was critical of explore at the start, but it is a different story on a one drop. Selection effects like Scry, Surveil, Explore are much stronger on one mana cards because they meaningfully expand the range of keepable hands. Explore is a very midrange mechanic and I am not sure what midrange decks want this card, but it is definitely one to keep in mind.

9. Spyglass Siren

Part of me being a Deadly Dispute brewer is I am also a Voldaren Epicure brewer. So a Voldaren Epicure in my favorite color is very exciting. When comparing with Epicure a Map is worse than a Blood, but a Flier is a meaningful upgrade and flying does pair particularly well with the Map, so this does seem potentially a bit stronger than Epicure.

Similar to Cenote Scout, I am not sure where this belongs yet, but the rate is there and it will be an exciting card to build around.

There are a wide range of potential artifact synergies in Blue. Moonsnare Prototype, Ensoul Artifact, and I am high on Disruption Protocol as a counter spell, which this curves well with.

8. Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel

I am trying to figure out why I am so high on Malcom, while I think Faerie Mastermind is weak. I think the big thing is you can kind of ignore Faerie Mastermind, since it is not a fast clock and its ability’s activation cost is high and then kill it when it becomes inconvenient.

Malcolm in contrast is inconvenient right away, providing you with strong velocity in a body that has to be killed before too many turns pass.

Malcom seems strong enough to me, that it is worth building around in a Delver style fashion in an instant speed deck full of interaction that sticks Malcom and tries to run away. I am not sure what the other threats to pair with Malcom in such a deck would be, but it is an interesting area to explore.

7. Pugnacious Hammerskull

Now these are stats! I am not particularly thinking about Hammerskull paired with dinos and more thinking about it in decks that care about your power on the board. I am looking to pair Hammerskull with cards like The Great Henge, Fight Rigging, Volcanic Salvo, etc.

To this end, the dinosaur I am most thinking of pairing Hammerskull with is Topiary Stomper.

6. Tithing Blade

I have played a fair amount of Trial of Ambition, basically all of it in Yorion decks. Tithing Blade is a big addition for a number of reasons (none of them related to its Craft side which is shockingly bad).

First, we get Rule of 8 for this effect for Yorion decks, which is particularly relevant given the 80 cards in Yorion decks mean there are often extra slots to fill.

Second, it is in artifact so opens this effect up to artifact synergy decks that would not care about Trial of Ambition. There are also more artifact synergies than enchantment synergies, especially in black. Cards like Herald of Anguish, Deadly Dispute, and Metalwork Colossus all play well with this card and open up exciting brewing possibilities.

5. Tarrian’s Journal

The front of this card is so good that I was expecting the back to be terrible, but the back is also awesome.

I have already mentioned Deadly Dispute 7 times in this post. I like to turn artifacts and creatures into card advantage and that’s what this card does every turn.

If all you are looking to do is turn a Voldaren Epicure into two cards with this I do not think you are doing enough. I think the home for the Journal is cards where you really need to sacrifice them to unlock their value. Cards like Experimental Synthesizer, Claim the Firstborn, Unlucky Witness, and Market Gnome above.

Then the ability to transform to the land side gives you ability to flip the card and get value from the graveyard all based on how the game is playing out.

4. Sunken Citadel

Eldrazi Temple is a very strong card. Having a land that can add two mana is such a powerful effect. We see it all the time in Pioneer with Nykthos and Lotus Field, which are both more powerful, but also ask more of you.

The obvious cards for pairing with Sunken Citadel are Field of Ruin + Demolition Field or Nykthos, but there are almost certainly other possibilities out there.

There is also a secret with this kind of “As it enters, choose a color” fixing that I do not think most people realize and makes it more powerful than it seems. It can enable you to play off color hosers in your sideboard. Let’s say you’re running 4 of these in a Boros Field of Ruin deck and you are struggling against sac, throw a forest and a few Yasharn into your board. Suddenly you have plenty of green sources.

3. Bitter Triumph

This is the kind of card I love to see where it is synergy driven Pioneer power level card that is not dead, just weaker when the synergies are disrupted.

Lightning Axe is currently one of the defining cards of the format. The effect here with the discard is weaker, but the alternative cost of paying two mana and 3 life for this is far better. Lightning Axe can only be played in decks that both really want to discard cards and have a huge amount of card advantage, which is really only Phoenix, but Bitter Triumph has the chance to be played in a far wider range of strategies.

Three life is a lot, so it is not good enough if you do not have any discard synergies, but I do not think you will need that many. For example, I really like the combo of Sheoldred and casting Memory from the graveyard, I could see Bitter Triumph kicking that combo up a notch by giving me a more reliable way to get Memory in the yard, while being on plan with the deck.

It could also have a home as a sideboard card against decks with creatures and walkers where life does not matter as much, but this is hard to say without testing. Life usually does not matter against decks like Mono-Green and UW Control, but if you suddenly are paying 12 life across this, Thoughtseize, Shocks, etc they do have access to creatures and creature lands that can just suddenly kill you.

2. Enigma Jewel

I wrote this very long article on brewing around Omen Hawker. The list I ultimately landed on was this one that also featured artifact synergies.

So of course The Enigma Jewel is going to be one of my top cards to brew with (despite still not really understanding what the back of it does). I originally had Enigma Jewel at 13 on this list, but after brewing some decks with it and just coming up with promising idea after idea I moved it all the way up to the second spot.

The Omen Hawker lists felt much more powerful with an Omen Hawker in play than without, so Rule of 8 here will be huge. Training Grounds seems like it should be Rule of 8 with Omen Hawker, but they actually each push your deck in different directions.

Enigma Jewel is a coherent Rule of 8 with Omen Hawker. It is not exactly the same and will not work well with cards like Vizier of Tumbling Sands that work with Omen Hawker, but it works with Nyxthos and that’s where the power is in the Omen Hawker lists.

Legendary is a knock against Enigma Jewel, so in practice it may be something more like Rule of 7 with Omen Hawker.

1. Amalia Benavides Aguirre

This one is likely kind of obvious as the top pick. Amalia seems close to playable on her own, but then you fold in the combo with Wildgrowth Walker and I would be surprised if she does not enable a new top tier deck, similar to what we saw with Rona.

An important aspect to remember is it can take awhile to find good homes and the right meta for these combos. With Rona, the current Rona Lukka to Light list is very different from the original lists and kind of genius. The Archfiend combo is another example, I am now playing the Archfiend combo, but in a deck that looks very different from anything I or others were trying when the combo first came on the scene and a lot of that has to do with the meta changing to one where Archfiend is well positioned.

It can take time, but is worth it because these efficient combos really help you compete at the Pioneer power level.

I will likely not be rushing out of the gate to brew with Amalia, but wait to see some of the early decks in the space and then see if I have any twists on the concept I want to try.

There is also tons of counterplay to this combo as it can even be disrupted by pump spells, so it should be interesting to see how people respond if it makes waves.