A lush, verdant plane filled with wonder and terror alike. A place where
Dinosaurs roam tearing through the colourfully appealing yet dangerous
jungle environment, Pirates command the winds sailing on top of the
sea's crashing, distorting waves unknowing of the Merfolk who dive to
unfathomable depths beneath. Vampires silently drift through the land of
Ixalan, seductively recruiting as they venture creating an ever growing
army of the undead.
Ixalan is almost upon us and today I'm going to take a look at some of the themes and mechanics that will be appearing so you might be able to better understand how they work and how to use them to maximum effect at your upcoming prerelease and release events.
As you may have gathered from the first paragraph, the four major creature types that inhabit the plane of Ixalan are Dinosaurs (appearing in the colours red, green and white), Pirates (blue, black and red), Merfolk (blue and green) and Vampires (white and black). There are other creature types that will show up like Humans and Spirits but for this set the main focus will be on the big four above, because of this focus that does mean there is a Tribal aspect. Vampires and Merfolk have both appeared as tribes in previous sets which is why they are only represented by two colours each where Dinosaurs and Pirates are lesser trodden ground and therefor get the third colour each for their tribe, this opens the door for more cards to appear in both of those tribes better establishing them.
Mechanically speaking, Ixalan has five represented, three returning and two brand new:
Raid, returning from Khans Of Tarkir, Crew, making its first showing since Kaladesh all those months ago and Transforming/ Double Faced Cards from Innistrad.
There are two brand new mechanics unique to Ixalan: Explore, a mechanic that results in different outcomes dependent on what card type is on top of you library. Enrage, a mechanic that triggers whenever a creature with this ability word is dealt damage.
First I'll start with the returning mechanics:
Raid- This ability word checks whenever a creature has attacked this turn. Sometimes it will trigger as a result of attacking, at the end of your turn if you have attacked or Raid could even appear on a spell giving that spell a bonus in addition to it's usual effect. A couple of things to note with Raid, if you attack your opponent that will trigger Raid like normal, it doesn't matter how many creatures you attacked with be it one or many, you will still get the Raid effect. It doesn't just have to be players being attacked that can trigger it, attacking planeswalkers works as well. Raid will also trigger even if the creature or creatures that attacked this turn don't remain in play after they attacked, it doesn't need those creatures or even the planeswalker to remain in play only for the attack to have happened.
Crew- A lot of players will have seen this before as it's a fairly recent ability word. Crew is a simple to get to grips with as it only appears on one type of card, artifacts and with a number next to it, for example "Crew 3". What Crewing something means is that you can tap any number of creatures you control with their total power equaling the number next to the Crew ability, the artifact in question will then turn into an artifact creature with the creature type Vehicle. Note that as soon as you have crewed a artifact that artifact is a creature until the end of your turn, crewed Vehicles suffer from summoning sickness like other creatures so they cannot attack the first turn they enter play even if you could Crew them unless they have Haste. Creatures don't need haste to Crew a vehicle, you can use a creature you had played this turn to Crew but it wouldn't be able to attack. If a creature that Crewed a vehicle dies after it has been used to Crew, the Vehicle remains a creature until the end of turn, the Crew ability doesn't ask for those creatures to remain in play only for it or them to be able to be tapped in the first place. If for some reason a creature cannot Crew a vehicle due to a card or ability then that creature cannot be tapped and used for any Crew abilities.
Transform/Double Faced Cards- Back in Innistrad there was a big innovation introducing Double Faced Cards. These cards mostly related to Werewolves and had two different sides, one to represent their human form and one to represent them changing into there lupine form. Back then transforming a card was mandatory to show the uncontrollable urge and effects of the full moon, however in Ixalan the Double Faced Cards have made a return and in this case there isn't an uncontrollable urge to fight or full moon to affect the person in question and therefor are a may trigger. There are a hand full of cards in Ixalan that are DFC (Double Faced Cards), all of them require you to meet a certain criteria like controlling four or more creatures for example. At which point you have the option of transforming that card which will provide you with a different card on the other side. These cards can trigger at different times; some might be at the end of your turn or when they attack but one thing to note is that if you didn't transform the first time you could, provided you can still meet the criteria the card asks for at the time it would trigger, you can always choose to transform it later. Something to keep in mind is that some of the DFC's in Ixalan are legendary on both sides but have different names depending on the side that's showing, if you have one side of a card in play and the flipped side in play of the same card they have two different names and therefor won't be legend ruled away, also because it's a may trigger to flip them you don't have to and can then keep one of each side in play.
Moving on to the new mechanics making an appearance in Ixalan, First up is;
Explore - When a creature card says to Explore what that means is you reveal the top card of your library, if it's a land card you put that card into your hand, if it's a nonland card you put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and then have the choice whether to put the revealed card back on top of your library or in the graveyard. There is a lot of potential value in Explore, obviously it can make your creatures bigger but that's not what I mean; most creatures with Explore are smaller than they would have been initially anyway, a three mana 2/3 without Explore turns into a three mana 1/2 with Explore if you see what i mean. The potential value I'm talking about is the ability to dig through your library cherry picking what you want your next draw to be. It does give your opponent information but being able to smooth your draws out is always welcome. Remember that Explore triggers upon the creature entering the battlefield so even if the creature dies before the trigger resolves you still have to reveal the top card of your library.
Lastly is Enrage. Players familiar with Hearthstone will have had some experience with the Enrage mechanic, when a creature with Enrage is dealt damage the creature's ability triggers. In Hearthstone damage is permanent so over time a creature that is dealt damage is going to inevitably die, in Magic however damage is removed at the end of each turn. It doesn't matter which player dealt the Enrage creature damaged, the mechanic only cares that it was dealt damage for it to trigger, it also doesn't matter if the creature would die due to the damage dealt the Enrage will still trigger. Enrage effects won't be the same on all cards, they can range from dealing damage and gaining life to returning or tapping a creature.
Another theme that will be appearing in Ixalan are Treasures.
These are artifacts that will be made as a result of certain creatures entering the battlefield or effects of spells, they can be sacrificed to add one of any colour of mana to your mana pool. Treasures will be represented by tokens that you can open in boosters like Clues from Innistrad.
Keep in mind you don't have to use them the turn they were created and can keep them for later use. Some cards may trigger off of you sacrificing a Treasure or even care about how many you have in play, if you use a Treasure to cast a card like that it won't count the sacrificed Treasure just the ones left in play.
One last thing I would like to touch on. With the introduction of Ixalan there will be a slight change in the way planeswalkers work, in the past they have used a sudo-legend rule ensuring that only one copy of any planeswalker with the same sub-type (their name) can be in play at once. For example, you couldn't have Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Elspeth Tirel in play at the same time because both cards had the sub-type Elsepth. When Ixalan becomes legal all planeswalkers will be errata'd to become legendary planeswalkers meaning that they no longer care about the sub-type and just about whether two of the same legendary card are in play at the same time. Planeswalkers printed in Ixalan will already be legendary planeswalkers whereas previous planeswalkers won't say it but still adhere to the legend rule, so under this new rule you can have any number of Elspeth in play at the same time as long as there aren't two copies of the same version in play.
Hopefully this look through the themes and mechanics in Ixalan has given you a little insight into how you might play with the cards at your local prerelease this weekend. If there are any of you planning on attending there are a few things you should have with you;
Sleeves - you don't want your cards getting marked or ruined for future play.
Food/Drink - it could be a long day and you don't want to become dehydrated or anything, make sure to keep on top of you food and drink intake.
Pen and paper - you will be provided with a D20 from your prerelease pack but there can be issues with dice; they can be knocked and move to another number confusing both players. Each person at your prerelease will have the same die and if left on the table another player may think it's there's and pick it up by mistake. Pen and paper is the easiest way I have found to keep track of both life totals and if you ever look at your opponents hand due to the effect of a card you can easily write down their cards for further reference, remember to do that.
Other than that I hope all of you have a good time and have fun playing with all the new Dinosaurs and Pirates.
Keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.
Ixalan is almost upon us and today I'm going to take a look at some of the themes and mechanics that will be appearing so you might be able to better understand how they work and how to use them to maximum effect at your upcoming prerelease and release events.
As you may have gathered from the first paragraph, the four major creature types that inhabit the plane of Ixalan are Dinosaurs (appearing in the colours red, green and white), Pirates (blue, black and red), Merfolk (blue and green) and Vampires (white and black). There are other creature types that will show up like Humans and Spirits but for this set the main focus will be on the big four above, because of this focus that does mean there is a Tribal aspect. Vampires and Merfolk have both appeared as tribes in previous sets which is why they are only represented by two colours each where Dinosaurs and Pirates are lesser trodden ground and therefor get the third colour each for their tribe, this opens the door for more cards to appear in both of those tribes better establishing them.
Mechanically speaking, Ixalan has five represented, three returning and two brand new:
Raid, returning from Khans Of Tarkir, Crew, making its first showing since Kaladesh all those months ago and Transforming/ Double Faced Cards from Innistrad.
There are two brand new mechanics unique to Ixalan: Explore, a mechanic that results in different outcomes dependent on what card type is on top of you library. Enrage, a mechanic that triggers whenever a creature with this ability word is dealt damage.
First I'll start with the returning mechanics:
Raid- This ability word checks whenever a creature has attacked this turn. Sometimes it will trigger as a result of attacking, at the end of your turn if you have attacked or Raid could even appear on a spell giving that spell a bonus in addition to it's usual effect. A couple of things to note with Raid, if you attack your opponent that will trigger Raid like normal, it doesn't matter how many creatures you attacked with be it one or many, you will still get the Raid effect. It doesn't just have to be players being attacked that can trigger it, attacking planeswalkers works as well. Raid will also trigger even if the creature or creatures that attacked this turn don't remain in play after they attacked, it doesn't need those creatures or even the planeswalker to remain in play only for the attack to have happened.
Crew- A lot of players will have seen this before as it's a fairly recent ability word. Crew is a simple to get to grips with as it only appears on one type of card, artifacts and with a number next to it, for example "Crew 3". What Crewing something means is that you can tap any number of creatures you control with their total power equaling the number next to the Crew ability, the artifact in question will then turn into an artifact creature with the creature type Vehicle. Note that as soon as you have crewed a artifact that artifact is a creature until the end of your turn, crewed Vehicles suffer from summoning sickness like other creatures so they cannot attack the first turn they enter play even if you could Crew them unless they have Haste. Creatures don't need haste to Crew a vehicle, you can use a creature you had played this turn to Crew but it wouldn't be able to attack. If a creature that Crewed a vehicle dies after it has been used to Crew, the Vehicle remains a creature until the end of turn, the Crew ability doesn't ask for those creatures to remain in play only for it or them to be able to be tapped in the first place. If for some reason a creature cannot Crew a vehicle due to a card or ability then that creature cannot be tapped and used for any Crew abilities.
Transform/Double Faced Cards- Back in Innistrad there was a big innovation introducing Double Faced Cards. These cards mostly related to Werewolves and had two different sides, one to represent their human form and one to represent them changing into there lupine form. Back then transforming a card was mandatory to show the uncontrollable urge and effects of the full moon, however in Ixalan the Double Faced Cards have made a return and in this case there isn't an uncontrollable urge to fight or full moon to affect the person in question and therefor are a may trigger. There are a hand full of cards in Ixalan that are DFC (Double Faced Cards), all of them require you to meet a certain criteria like controlling four or more creatures for example. At which point you have the option of transforming that card which will provide you with a different card on the other side. These cards can trigger at different times; some might be at the end of your turn or when they attack but one thing to note is that if you didn't transform the first time you could, provided you can still meet the criteria the card asks for at the time it would trigger, you can always choose to transform it later. Something to keep in mind is that some of the DFC's in Ixalan are legendary on both sides but have different names depending on the side that's showing, if you have one side of a card in play and the flipped side in play of the same card they have two different names and therefor won't be legend ruled away, also because it's a may trigger to flip them you don't have to and can then keep one of each side in play.
Moving on to the new mechanics making an appearance in Ixalan, First up is;
Explore - When a creature card says to Explore what that means is you reveal the top card of your library, if it's a land card you put that card into your hand, if it's a nonland card you put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and then have the choice whether to put the revealed card back on top of your library or in the graveyard. There is a lot of potential value in Explore, obviously it can make your creatures bigger but that's not what I mean; most creatures with Explore are smaller than they would have been initially anyway, a three mana 2/3 without Explore turns into a three mana 1/2 with Explore if you see what i mean. The potential value I'm talking about is the ability to dig through your library cherry picking what you want your next draw to be. It does give your opponent information but being able to smooth your draws out is always welcome. Remember that Explore triggers upon the creature entering the battlefield so even if the creature dies before the trigger resolves you still have to reveal the top card of your library.
Lastly is Enrage. Players familiar with Hearthstone will have had some experience with the Enrage mechanic, when a creature with Enrage is dealt damage the creature's ability triggers. In Hearthstone damage is permanent so over time a creature that is dealt damage is going to inevitably die, in Magic however damage is removed at the end of each turn. It doesn't matter which player dealt the Enrage creature damaged, the mechanic only cares that it was dealt damage for it to trigger, it also doesn't matter if the creature would die due to the damage dealt the Enrage will still trigger. Enrage effects won't be the same on all cards, they can range from dealing damage and gaining life to returning or tapping a creature.
Another theme that will be appearing in Ixalan are Treasures.
These are artifacts that will be made as a result of certain creatures entering the battlefield or effects of spells, they can be sacrificed to add one of any colour of mana to your mana pool. Treasures will be represented by tokens that you can open in boosters like Clues from Innistrad.
Keep in mind you don't have to use them the turn they were created and can keep them for later use. Some cards may trigger off of you sacrificing a Treasure or even care about how many you have in play, if you use a Treasure to cast a card like that it won't count the sacrificed Treasure just the ones left in play.
One last thing I would like to touch on. With the introduction of Ixalan there will be a slight change in the way planeswalkers work, in the past they have used a sudo-legend rule ensuring that only one copy of any planeswalker with the same sub-type (their name) can be in play at once. For example, you couldn't have Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Elspeth Tirel in play at the same time because both cards had the sub-type Elsepth. When Ixalan becomes legal all planeswalkers will be errata'd to become legendary planeswalkers meaning that they no longer care about the sub-type and just about whether two of the same legendary card are in play at the same time. Planeswalkers printed in Ixalan will already be legendary planeswalkers whereas previous planeswalkers won't say it but still adhere to the legend rule, so under this new rule you can have any number of Elspeth in play at the same time as long as there aren't two copies of the same version in play.
Hopefully this look through the themes and mechanics in Ixalan has given you a little insight into how you might play with the cards at your local prerelease this weekend. If there are any of you planning on attending there are a few things you should have with you;
Sleeves - you don't want your cards getting marked or ruined for future play.
Food/Drink - it could be a long day and you don't want to become dehydrated or anything, make sure to keep on top of you food and drink intake.
Pen and paper - you will be provided with a D20 from your prerelease pack but there can be issues with dice; they can be knocked and move to another number confusing both players. Each person at your prerelease will have the same die and if left on the table another player may think it's there's and pick it up by mistake. Pen and paper is the easiest way I have found to keep track of both life totals and if you ever look at your opponents hand due to the effect of a card you can easily write down their cards for further reference, remember to do that.
Other than that I hope all of you have a good time and have fun playing with all the new Dinosaurs and Pirates.
Keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.
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