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Ixalan
XLN set logo
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description A Compass Rose made to look like a Ship's Wheel
Design Mark Rosewater (co-lead)
Ken Nagle (co-lead)
Ben Hayes
Gavin Verhey
Jackie Lee
James Hata
James Sooy
Mark Gottlieb
Sam Stoddard
Shawn Main
Yoni Skolnik
Development Erik Lauer (co-lead)
Sam Stoddard (co-lead)
Dave Humpherys
Ethan Fleischer
Gavin Verhey
Yoni Skolnik
Art direction Cynthia Sheppard
Release date September 29, 2017
Plane Ixalan
Themes and mechanics Tribal, Double-faced cards, Vehicles, Treasure tokens, +1/+1 counters, life as a resource
Keywords/​ability words Explore, Enrage, Raid, Crew, Transform
Set size 279 + 10
Expansion code XLN[2]
Development codename Ham
Ixalan block
'''Ixalan''' [[Rivals of Ixalan]] N/A
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
[[Commander 2017]] Ixalan [[Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. Goblins]]

Ixalan [ˈɪk.sə.lɑːn][3] (rhymes with "fix a con")[4] is the 76th Magic expansion, and the first in the Ixalan block. It was released on September 29, 2017,[5] and is a large expansion.

Set details

Ixalan contains 279 cards (20 basic land, 101 common, 80 uncommon, 63 rare, and 15 mythic rare) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards.[6] Ten additional cards are found in the set's planeswalker decks (2 mythic planeswalkers, 2 rares, 2 uncommons, 2 commons, and 2 common dual lands). These are numbered #280/279 to #289/279.[7] Ten of the rares are double-faced cards which were printed on a seperate print sheet. These appear in the rare/mythic slot of booster packs, which changes the mythic rare to rare ratio from 15:106 to 15:126.[8][9] A checklist card replaces the basic land in some boosters.[10][11] Five of the basic lands depict a lost Jace Beleren.[7]

A complete Ixalan rare foil print sheet was leaked three months before prerelease, which caused Wizards of the Coast to re-evaluate their preview plan.[12][13]

Misprints

A number of non-foil, double-sided Ixalan cards were mistakenly printed on incorrect card stock.[14]

Rules change

Starting with this set, all planeswalkers past, present, and future have the supertype legendary.[15] They are subject to the "legend rule" instead of the "planeswalker uniqueness rule", which was removed from the game.

Storyline

“  Brave the Unknown  ”

This is a story about desire. It is desire for power, desire for companionship, desire for approval, desire for discovery, and everyone is racing to get what they want first.[16] For centuries, the untamed jungles of Ixalan have hidden a coveted secret: Orazca, the city of gold, which houses a mysterious artifact, the Immortal Sun. But no secret can remain undiscovered, and no treasure can be taken uncontested.[17] The dinosaur riding warriors of the Sun Empire and the merfolk shamans of the rival River Heralds are met by the vampire conquistadores of the Legion of Dusk and the pirates of the Brazen Coalition.[16][18]

Vraska poses as a pirate on the high seas, while Jace Beleren is stranded on the plane with loss of all his memories.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Ixalan are: Ixalan's Binding, Vraska's Contempt, River's Rebuke, Thaumatic Compass // Spires of Orazca, and Perilous Voyage.

Magic Story

Main article: Magic Story
Title Author Release Date Setting (plane) Featuring
Jace, Alone R&D Narrative Team 2017-09-06 Ixalan Jace, Vraska
A Question of Confidence R&D Narrative Team 2017-09-13 Kaladesh, Ixalan Huatli, Angrath
The Talented Captain Vraska R&D Narrative Team 2017-09-20 Ravnica, Meditation Plane, Ixalan Vraska, Jace
The Shapers R&D Narrative Team 2017-09-27 Ixalan Kopala, Tishana, Kumena
Something Else Entirely R&D Narrative Team 2017-10-04 Ixalan Jace, Vraska
The Race, Part 1 R&D Narrative Team 2017-10-11 Ixalan Mavren Fein, Vona, Jace, Vraska, Huatli, Tishana
The Race, Part 2 R&D Narrative Team 2017-10-18 Ixalan Vraska, Jace, Vona, Huatli, Tishana, Angrath

Marketing

Ixalan is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), two planeswalker decks, the Ixalan bundle, Booster Battle Packs and a Deck Builder's Toolkit.[7][19]

There is no Masterpiece Series accompanying Ixalan.[20] The boosters feature artwork from Slash of Talons, Vicious Conquistador, Hijack, Fire Shrine Keeper and Vraska, Relic Seeker.

As part of the preview season, Wizards of the Coast distributed trackable game pieces to stores, fans, volunteers, and some well-known community folk. As game pieces travelled from from geochache to geocache, the distances they travelled influenced the release of preview cards.[18]

Events

Ixalan poster

Promotional poster

  • Prerelease Events took place on September 23, 2017.[21]
  • Magic Online Launch: September 25, 2017
  • Dino-Sized Weekend: The weekend of October 28–29, stores around the world host six-pack Sealed events, three-pack Draft events, and very special dino-sized Draft events using four packs of Ixalan instead of three.[22]
  • Mid-Season League: Running November 6 through December 3, stores can run Ixalan Mid-Season Leagues.[22]

Promotional cards

XLN treasure chest booster

Treasure Chest booster

Tokens

Ixalan features 10 tokens.[27]

  1. {W} 1/1 Vampire creature with lifelink for Legion's Landing, Adanto, the First Fort, Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle, Paladin of the Bloodstained, Queen's Commission and Call to the Feast
  2. {U} 2/2 Illusion creature with "When this creature becomes the target of a spell, sacrifice it." for Jace, Cunning Castaway
  3. {U} 1/1 Merfolk creature with hexproof for Deeproot Waters
  4. {B} 2/2 Pirate creature with menace for Fathom Fleet Captain and Vraska, Relic Seeker
  5. {G} 3/3 Dinosaur creature with trample for Raptor Hatchling, Thundering Spineback, Huatli, Warrior Poet and Regisaur Alpha
  6. {G} 0/2 Plant creature with defender for Dowsing Dagger
  7. {C} Treasure artifact (Sun Empire flavored) with "{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." for Pirate's Prize, Prosperous Pirates, Sailor of Means, Spell Swindle, Contract Killing, Dire Fleet Hoarder, Heartless Pillage, Revel in Riches, Ruthless Knave, Wanted Scoundrels, Captain Lannery Storm, Trove of Tempation, Wily Goblin, Deadeye Plunderers, Vraska, Relic Seeker, Prying Blade and Treasure Map.
  8. {C} Treasure artifact (Legion of Dusk flavored)
  9. {C} Treasure artifact (River Heralds flavored)
  10. {C} Treasure artifact (Brazen Coalition flavored)

Themes and mechanics

Ixalan is a tribal set, with Pirates ({U}{B}{R}), Dinosaurs ({R}{G}{W}), Merfolk ({G}{U}) and Vampires ({W}{B}).[28][29][30][31] This is the first time Magic has an uneven color distribution of factions within a set. Though the tribes are asymmetrical, the colors are not. Each color has two tribes. The fact that Pirates and Dinosaurs both need more cards to become tribes properly (as compared to merfolk and vampires, who are already pretty established) was a factor in them becoming the two 3 color factions.[32][33][34][35][36] The two colour pairs that are not represented in this scheme - {B}{G} and {W}{U} - do not have multicoloured signpost uncommons, but have explore and fliers as a theme respectively.

Raid returns from Khans of Tarkir (now connected to Pirates), Crew from Kaladesh (connected to the ships from Torrezon), and Transform from Innistrad (the double-faced cards now highlighting the tales and tools of discovery).[15][37] The DFCs all have a land on the "back" face cards, which features a map-inspired card frame. The front face is recognized by the icon of a compass rose {dfc-compass} and the the back face is marked by the land icon {dfc-land} last seen in Future Sight.

There are two new named mechanics:

  • Explore — Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back on top or into your graveyard.
  • Enrage — Whenever a creature with this ability word is dealt damage, it has some consequences. This is the signature mechanic of the Dinosaurs.[15]

The Merfolk make use strategy revolves around being very difficult to block and growing via +1/+1 counters, while Vampires use life as a resource.[15]

Card types

Treasure artifact token 1

Treasure

Ixalan introduces the treasure artifact subtype and the return of the dinosaur creature type.[38] The trilobite creature type is new.

Vehicles are back from the Kaladesh block in the form of ships.

Cycles

Ixalan has seven cycles, one of which is reprinted. Notably, three of these cycles are partial, due to the uneven distribution of colors among the set's tribes.

Mirrored pairs

Ixalan has two mirrored pairs.

Reprinted cards

Common to Uncommon

Functional Reprints

Card comparisons

Preconstructed decks

Ixalan features two planeswalker decks:

Planeswalker
deck name
Colors Included Planeswalker
{W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Jace U G Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage
Huatli W R Huatli, Dinosaur Knight

Notable cards

References

  1. Product information
  2. [1]
  3. Ixalan Spotlight: Enrage. Retrieved on 2017-10-1.
  4. Mark Rosewater (April 23, 2017). "Does ixalan rymes with is a land...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  5. Template:NewRef
  6. a b Template:NewRef
  7. a b c d Template:NewRef
  8. Mark Rosewater (September 14, 2017). "Will Ixalan's double-faced cards take their own reserved slot in booster packs?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  9. Mark Rosewater (September 14, 2017). "Is the rare to mythic rare ratio still the same for ixalan?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  10. What slot do checklist cards take? (Reddit)
  11. YouTube — Official MTG IXALAN Booster Box OPENING (timestamp: 3m25s)
  12. Uhh I think wizards has a problem on their hand (Ixalan)
  13. Template:NewRef
  14. Template:NewRef
  15. a b c d Template:NewRef
  16. a b Template:NewRef
  17. Template:NewRef
  18. a b Template:NewRef
  19. Ixalan Product information for retailers
  20. Template:NewRef
  21. Template:NewRef
  22. a b Template:NewRef
  23. Template:NewRef
  24. Template:NewRef
  25. Template:NewRef
  26. Template:NewRef
  27. Template:NewRef
  28. Template:NewRef
  29. Mark Rosewater (September 05, 2017). "To what extent is Ixalan tribal?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  30. Template:NewRef
  31. Template:NewRef
  32. Mark Rosewater (August 29, 2017). "This seems like the first time Magic has had an uneven distribution of factions?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  33. Mark Rosewater (August 31, 2017). "Was the fact that Pirates and Dinosaurs both need more cards a factor?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  34. Mark Rosewater (August 31, 2017). "Not a fan of the assymetric distribution of tribe colors.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  35. Mark Rosewater (September 02, 2017). ""We must do 4 factions block to prove that we can". Isn't that bad design?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  36. Template:NewRef
  37. Template:NewRef
  38. Template:NewRef
  39. Mark Rosewater (September 16, 2017). "Can you explain why W/U and B/G didn't get uncommon draft build arounds?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  40. Mark Rosewater (September 16, 2017). "I'm not sure whether or not I'm supposed to be able to draft WU and BG in Ixalan.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  41. Template:NewRef
  42. Mark Rosewater (September 11, 2017). "Am i wrong or Hostage Taker can go infinite just by itself?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  43. Template:NewRef
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