Ixalan set review - Blue

Today I'm going to be looking though all the blue cards from Ixalan. The Pirates, Merfolk and all the other weird and wonderful happenings, so let's get started.

First up...

Air Elemental

Air Elemental has been around since forever, everyone knows how good it is and that you should probably play it in limited. If you didn't know that, now you do!

Arcane Adaptation

This card looks fun at first glance and I'll admit I tried to find a good way to use it but I think it's a bit too awkward really. Arcane Adaptation turns all your creatures into the creature type of your choice in addition to any others they may already have, effectively making you a mock tribal deck, this means that you would really benefit from spells or abilities that ask for a certain creature type and in Ixalan you have a few. On the whole though it's slow, clunky and is more of a casual card, you might end up running this in limited but I don't think you'll be happy.

Cancel

So years ago the development team at Wizards worked out that Counterspell was too good at two mana so they made Cancel, functionally the same card with an extra mana tacked on. This has now become the norm and you will see Cancel in set after set as the typical "counterspell" of that set. You play it in constructed but probably not in limited as counterspells are a bit weak in limited.

Chart A Course

Another card that promotes good play ability from players, Chart A Course is meant to be played post combat after you've attacked. Why? Because then it turns from a two mana draw a card into a two mana draw two cards. In limited this is going to be fantastic early card advantage and I could even see this sneaking into constructed in a tempo deck that's looking to sculpt its hand.

Daring Saboteur

A tempo creature is one that usually comes down early, applies pressure and nets value. Daring Saboteur hits all of those points and the best part is that it comes with its own evasion, for the low price of three mana it becomes unblockable ensuring you get to loot in addition to getting two points of power through. She'll do work for you in limited especially if you can drop her early and I think constructed could see this card maybe in a blue midrange deck with some removal and other value creatures.

Deadeye Quartermaster

This four mana 2/2 is a good utility creature giving you the opportunity to tutor up an equipment or vehicle both of which will be appearing in Ixalan. If you don't have anything to find it's not going to be great for the cost and you'll probably have better but say you have a bomb vehicle, Deadeye Foreman lets you find it and possibly gives you the power to crew it as well. It's going to be better in limited than in constructed as four mana is a lot in constructed just for a 2/2 that essentially draws you a card.

Deeproot Waters

One of the tribes in Ixalan is Merfolk and there will be a lot of them appearing in blue and green. Deeproot Waters is the card you want to see in your Merfolk tribe draft, sure it doesn't actually do anything for three mana but it is still a threat for your opponent to keep an eye on. Say you play Deeproot Waters on turn three and then a couple of two drop Merfolk on turn four, suddenly you have four creatures in play two of which have Hexproof and continuing in that vain could easily overwhelm your opponent with 1/1s. Maybe in constructed but with access to a wider variety of cards I don't think Merfolk will be a deck.

Depths Of Desire

As I look more into Ixalan I've gotten a bit down on the Treasures, I feel they will be useful but a lot of the time they might be a bit win more and the closest comparison I have are the Clues from Innistrad and they were so much more powerful. I like Depths Of Desire however because it's a great tempo card, it's able to take out a blocker or possible attacked and bet you a mana as well. Playing this at the end of your opponents turn could clear the way for your creatures and ramp you ahead of the curve at the same time, it's not going to hit constructed play but it will perform fantastically in limited.

Dive Down

A cheap, effective combat trick/counterspell. Obviously Dive Down isn't an actual counterspell but giving a creature Hexproof is kind of like countering a spell and for one mana it's definitely worth keeping it in mind when building your limited decks. The toughness bonus is good for a combat trick, being able to keep a creature around to block or attack with next turn but I wouldn't want to see more than two in my limited pool and that's being generous as you could main deck the first one and keep the second in the sideboard just in case your opponent has a lot of removal in their deck.

Dreamcaller Siren

Let's work from the top down with this one; four mana, Flash, Flying, can only block flyers, when it enters the battlefield if you control two other pirates tap two nonland permanents, 3/3. With the downside of only being able to block in the air, Dreamcaller Siren looks great, you could just drop it on your opponents end step as a 3/3 Flyer, get your opponent by flashing in a flyer to block their flyer or wait until later on in the game and tap down two creatures before they can attack. There is a lot going on with this card and I think it has some constructed applications, in limited you're going to love it and it can act as a surprise value creature while also doing a chunk of damage.

Entrancing Melody

Merry Christmas control decks! This card is bonkers, it steals a creature and it scales so you can wait on it and get a much bigger creature, granted if it's tapped it will stay tapped, but you could just use Entrancing Melody to steal an untapped three drop late in the game just to have a value blocker. Play this all the time in limited, it acts as an additional creature which sometimes me even be one of your opponents bombs. Constructed control decks will play one of these with another in the board perhaps but either way there are a lot of creature you want to steal out their.

Favorable Winds

This innocuous two mana enchantment is going to make combat slightly more awkward for your opponents, if you have a lot of flyers then this is a great little Anthem effect that could speed up a five turn clock to a four turn clock. In limited it could be fantastic if you have enough flyers to make it worth you while, constructed applications are a bit more for this card though. I can see it being paired with Intangible Virtue in a tokens deck giving you another pump effect although it is going to be fighting for the two drop slot with Virtue itself and cards like Bitterblossom.

Fleet Swallower

Big fish do bit things and eating half of a players library is pretty big as things go. Fleet Swallower may look like a bulk rare but I assure you this is going to win you many limited games and could see some constructed fringe play, as far as the attack effect goes it will hit more cards than Ulamog would exile. I do understand that the allure of Ulamog was being able to exile to permanents just for casting it as well as exiling twenty cards every attack, but at half the cost Fleet Swallower will do a nice job at taking their library apart in short measure if left alone for a couple of turns. The 4/6 body is nothing to scoff at either as it's still a five turn clock and can stand up to a lot of creatures in combat and survive. It's not going to warp a format but from time to time you may be staring this huge fish down from across the table and be feeling very uneasy about it.

Headwater Sentries

A simple four mana 2/5 Merfolk, it blocks well, is easily splashable and plays into the Merfolk tribe theme.

Herald Of Secret Streams

Another four mana Merfolk, Herald Of Secret Streams is great in those decks that can really abuse +1/+1 counters making your creatures with them unblockable. In the right deck it can result in an awkward to deal with alpha strike guaranteed to deal damage with improved creatures, and it also plays into the Merfolk tribe theme. Herald is probably better in limited where you can get a higher concentration of Merfolk and +1/+1 counters, in constructed it's probably a bit high costed with a low immediate impact on the game.

Jace, Cunning Castaway

So Jace is a pirate now for some reason and he's also the pioneer for a new change to the rules; planeswalker are classed as legendary now meaning you can have multiple different versions of Jace in play. The old planeswalker rule asked for two of the same type of planeswalker to be in play under a single players control before you had to apply the "legend rule", now however it only needs two of the same planeswalker card to be in play before the actual legend rule being applied. Personally I'm not a fan of the legend change because I feel it undermines the flavour of a planeswalker essentially unable to see other versions of themselves in play because that wouldn't make sense, so you had to make the choice of which one to keep, but it does make it easier for newer players to understand by simplifying the rules and keeping things neater. Enough about the flavour and mechanical issues and onto the actual card. For three mana, 1UU the good old Jace cost, the Cunning Castaway comes into play with three loyalty. His first ability is a plus one and allows you to loot, draw and discard a card, whenever one or more of your creatures deals combat damage to a player. Note that you will only ever get up to one card out of this as it only checks if one of your creatures has dealt combat damage and doesn't care about the rest that may have. His second ability is minus two and gives you a 2/2 blue Illusion creature token that has to be sacrificed if it's the target of a spell. For minus five, quite a low ultimate cost, the new legendary aspect of Jace, Cunning Castaway comes into play as he creates two copies of himself except they aren't legendary. This could be a really powerful ultimate, having three planeswalkers, even if they are the same planeswalker, in play will be amazingly strong and you get to use the other two Jace straight away. If you can ultimate either one of the Jace copies then can turn into five Jace which is insane or you could just make more 2/2 Illusions which is still really good. I'm not sure where this planeswalker will end up but I do know he's very strong, he comes down early and by turn five you could have two hopefully while being able to sculpt your hand through attacking creatures. Obviously stupid good in limited mostly because it's a planeswalker and they are almost always good in limited.

Kopala, Warden Of Waves

If a Merfolk tribal deck was to exist, Kopala would probably take up four slots in that deck. Not just because it comes down early and provides a decent body but because it makes all your opponents removal spells and abilities that target Merfolk much more awkward to use; Never now casts 3BB, Cast Out now costs 5W, even Fatal Push would cost 2B. Your opponent has to deal with Kopala or before too long they will get overwhelmed by Merfolk because they won't be able to cast multiple removal spells in the same turn. As a value three mana creature I think Kopala will be great and in limited it's definitely a bomb rare.

Lookout's Dispersal

Who wants a strictly better Mana Leak? I may have oversold that a tad but Lookout's Dispersal could be strictly better than Mana Leak if you control a pirate and in this limited format that's going to be easy. Even if it's just a Convolute (three mana - counter target spell unless it's controller pays 4) it's still not bad just worse than if you controlled a pirate. I can see Lookout's Dispersal making it's way into constructed if a couple of Pirates get played as utility creatures or something but on the whole, there are better three mana counter spells.

Navigator's Ruin

This is a bit of a niche card but I kinda like it. If it was any number less than four cards being milled then i don't think it would be worth talking about but those four cards represent a ten turn clock just for attacking, and you don't even need to deal combat damage. Ten turns is a lot of turn though but imagine drafting Ixalan and picking up two or maybe even three Navigator's Ruin and then suddenly that ten turn clock starts rapidly decreasing, with two in play you clock realistically is a four turn clock and that's a threat. I don't think Navigator's Ruin will become an archetype but it could be a fun deck to try in constructed, limited is its home though and I think it could be a viable deck to draft.

One With The Wind

Auras are fine in limited because removal is more scarce and therefore they are worse in constructed because removal runs rampant. As I've said before auras can be bad because you're just setting up a two for one for you opponent to gleefully snap up, however two mana for +2/+2 and flying is pretty good as far as auras go though and because of that you should play it in limited when you can, it can provide a threat or a better blocker.

Overflowing Insight

As card to mana ratios go, seven for seven isn't bad at all, equating to one mana for one card. As good as this may seem though you are spending seven mana all in one go to draw seven cards and more than likely pass the turn but not before having to discard a couple

Opt

Opt was originally from Invasion some seventeen years ago when Scry was but a small paragraph of words instead of one neat little word. In a world that has a lot of swingy bombs and splashy plays I could see Opt being a card that could define the metagame to come by giving you an early edge in a control mirror and being the accelerant you want to rummage through your deck in other cases. Obviously playable in limited and I think a staple in the months to come.

Perilous Voyage

Every likes bounce spells, they enable tempo decks to really up their speed in some match ups and stay alive during others. I particularly like Perilous Voyage because not only does it give you a cheap instant bounce spell but gives you something extra for hitting something with mana cost two or less, promoting early play of this card to get a very useful Scry 2 out of the deal which could be the make or break point of you hitting your next couple of land drops.

Pirate's Prize

I'm not a fan of this card, four mana for two cards is sub par and when you have both Glimmer Of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illuminations that do similar things but are better options in standard, the Treasure that Pirate's Prize produces becomes negligible. Couple all of that with the fact that it's sorcery and this almost becomes unplayable in constructed, it's playable in limited but I still don't think I'll be happy playing it because it feels a bit slow. Card draw is necessary but hopefully better cards will come along.

Prosperous Pirates

Five mana 3/4s for five mana are fine, Ines that ramp you from six to eight are very interesting. To start with its easy to splash because of its single blue in its mana cost and when it comes into play it gives you two "Treasures". These are artifact tokens  that you can sacrifice to add one mana of any colour to your mana pool and which a lot of cards in Ixalan relate to in terms of triggers or abilities. The body on Prosperous Pirates is fine but the fact that it fixes your mana and ramps you just for playing it is the kicker and I think makes it very playable in limited. Nothing special for constructed because it costs a lot and as far as fixing goes, the land we have are good enough and the ramp isn't particularly important.

River Sneak

It's small, it's cheap but you're going to play it in limited and it could be the creature that gets those last points of damage in thanks to its unblockability. At two mana a 1/1 unblockable is alright; good evasion and comes down early and it could start getting bigger. In this limited format I see Merfolk tribal being a big strategy and if you can pick up a couple River Sneaks and some other Merfolk spells then they could make short work of your opponents life total. I think it's a bit narrow for constructed though but you never know, standard tribal Merfolk could be a thing.

River's Rebuke

These types of cards always look good at first but I'm here to tell you they aren't as good as you think. Yes it removes all creatures, artifacts, enchantments and even planeswalkers temporarily for just six mana which may seem great, except that your opponent gets to start rebuilding their board position before you can and also it's a sorcery so it hasn't really even stopped an attack or use of the various cards that may have even in play. You play this in limited because it's mass removal and a lot easier to deal with the rebuild, however it won't see constructed play because it costs a bit too much for not that much value, even if one of your opponents creatures has an enter the battlefield trigger then you've just paid six mana to give them extra value which is never good.

Run Aground

I love tempo cards and Run Aground is a good one. It is four mana but it's and instant so it balances out, being able to nullify your opponents next draw step is the real kicker though. If played at the correct time in a game it could be devastating for your opponent putting them back so far in comparison to just a bounce spell, it's not just for creatures either if there is a particularly annoying artifact then it can make quick work of that. It's limited playable and can be great to splash as sudo removal but gets nowhere near constructed because of the cost.

Sailor Of Means

In this sailor you have a decent blocker, he'll soak up some damage in the early turns and provides some ramp for you to jump from three to five. It's nothing special but in limited could be a good early drop to get you to the late game efficiently.

Search For Azcanta

This card is nuts, like proper nuts. A two mana legendary enchantment that lets you sudo Scry in each of your upkeeps, by sudo I mean you get the choice whether to keep it on top or put it in the graveyard. Your graveyard is a valuable resource anyway but Search For Azcanta brings its own reasons for filling your graveyard; if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard then it flips into Azcanta, The Sunken Ruin. This legendary land taps to add blue to your mana pool and also for three mana lets you look at the top for cards of your library and reveal a non creature non land card I put into your hand, the rest go on the bottom of your library. The enchantment side of this card is fantastic, it comes down early and lets you filter your draws, albeit sometimes you're going in blind if you put it into your graveyard. When you flip this it allows you to rapidly filter though your deck cherry picking the best cards from the top four but on the whole lets you draw two cards a turn, including your draw step. I'm not sure how many of these you should be playing in constructed but I think control and midrange tempo decks are going to love this for  the sheer card advantage. Search For Azcanta is incredibly powerful and provides so much potential for a lot of decks.

Shaper Apprentice

A two mana 2/1 is fine, if it has flying it's slightly better but still fragile. The Merfolk theme is strong enough to play Shaper Apprentice but there are probably better two drops in blue.

Shipwreck Looter

It does exactly what it says on the tin, trigger the Raid and it loots. It's not bad at two mana and as fragile as it is with its 2/1 body I would still play this over something like Shaper Apprentice in limited.

Shore Keeper

A one mana creature that will gum up the ground in the early game nicely and can produce some value for you in the late game, the only problem is that it costs eight mana to use its ability. It's one thing to sink all of those Treasures into which implies you'll accumulate a fair few of them but I don't think that will be the case. Stockpiling Treasures could be good if you have an alternative use for them which isn't to say hoarding them is a bad idea, but I feel you should be getting use out of them sooner rather than later. Obviously Shore Keeper is only playable in limited and even then one would probably be the correct number.

Siren Lookout

Wizards really want to push the Explore mechanic in Ixalan, some cards really benefit from it but unfortunately they have to put it on a lot of cards to make it key to the set. Siren Lookout isn't very good, yes it could be a three mana 2/3 with flying but it could just be a three mana 1/2 with flying that draws you a card, either way I don't think this is particularly powerful. If you really need a flyer then I could see playing Siren Lookout in limited but other than that there are definitely better three drops.

Siren Stormtamer

This cards looks nuts, a one mana 1/1 with evasion that also makes it really hard for your opponent to remove your creatures. The first removal spell is usually going to have to go at Siren Stormtamer as it's going to be sacrificed to counter that spell anyway but in multiples it's makes removing creatures almost impossible, the sequencing involved needs to be masterful to get any sort of value out of the spell or ability used. In limited it will do a lot of work for you by getting damage in and being able to protect your other creatures, in constructed I wouldn't be surprised to see this as a four of in some sort of tempo control deck that wants to force the opponent into some tough spots.

Siren's Ruse

I like Blink spells, they can be used as combat tricks or just to get extra use out of an enter the battlefield trigger. The problem is they tend to be a bit on the meh side but Siren's Ruse does try to make it worth your while by tempting you with the possibility of drawing a card if you can Blink a pirate. There are better spells, a normal bounce spell would probably perform better but in a pinch it's playable and if you have a lot of enter the battlefield triggers then playing it could be all the sweeter.

Spell Pierce

Returning all the way from Zendikar, Spell Pierce is taking the premium one drop counterspell slot for constructed replacing Dispel. It's going to see a lot of play in constructed sideboards and will do a lot of work. In limited, it's a lot narrower in terms of playability but if there is a certain non creature bomb you need to stop then it could easily come in.

Spell Swindle

Let's carry on this trend of spells that look good but aren't. Spell swindle is a five mana counter spell that has the potential to make you a lot of Treasure tokens that you can sacrifice for mana. Say you get to counter a four drop, then you get four Treasure tokens taking you from six straight to ten next turn which sounds great right? Wrong. This spell is so win more and five mana is a lot for what it's giving you, you can already counter any spell for as low as three mana and like I said with Prosperous Pirates, I don't think the ramp aspect of these Treasure tokens will be as important as people think, plus if you're already at six mana on turn six having all this excess mana isn't necessary. In a control deck I could see one being played but even then I wouldn't like it and in limited it will definitely under perform.

Storm Fleet Aerialist

What a tempo creature for blue to have. The good thing about the Raid mechanic is that it teaches you to play spells post combat and in this case you would get a two mana 2/3 flyer for your troubles which is great. Evasion, good at blocking both on the ground an in the air, what more could you want. In limited Stormfleet Aerialist will do work for you on both sides of combat but I don't think it's a constructed playable, it doesn't have much of an immediate impact even though it can come down early.

Storm Fleet Spy

I love this card. It's just a three mana 2/2 which is limited playable anyway but once again the Raid mechanic is teaching people how to play Magic. You should almost always play this post combat and not only to get the card out of it, which is a good enough reason by itself I might add, but because it will make your opponent think of any combat tricks you could have and it could mean that attack differently. Obviously limited all star and could even make its way into constructed, three mana draw a card with a body attached isn't nothing.

Storm Sculptor

Four mana for a 3/2; not bad, unblockable; slightly better as it becomes a threat that your opponent has to waste a removal spell on, returning a creature to your hand when it comes into play; if you can abuse the returned creature's enter the battlefield trigger for example then this could be a good creature. If you can't it just sets you back on board which is a very bad thing, board presence is a lot in limited and swapping one creature for another when you could just have two isn't the best case scenario. I'm not massively hot on creatures like this but if you need another creature I could get behind playing it in limited if I had to.

Tempest Caller

I think this is going to be a limited uncommon bomb. The 2/3 body for four mana may seem below curve and it is but Tempest Caller makes up for it with its ability. Obviously it would be so much better if it had flash because you could use it defensively but that's the whole reason it doesn't have flash. Tempest Caller is an aggressive, proactive creature and needs to be used in such a way for maximum effect, if you can build a small army into the late game and find the right time to drop this and tap all of your opponents creatures you could alpha strike for the win. No constructed application though, it would need flash for that.

Watertrap Weaver

More tempo creatures! I love tempo decks and Watertrap Weaver lends itself well to one in limited, drop some early creatures then play Watertrap Weaver to get through a blocker your opponent has for the next two turns. It's a simple creature but sometimes that's what you need, helps with Merfolk tribal nicely too.

Wind Strider

Flash creatures are always good I have around, at worst they are an end of your opponents turn play and at best they are the surprise blocker they hadn't accounted for. At five mana this is more of a top end play in limited but it does also have flying so it's able to block anything else in the air or get over for some damage. Wind Strider is a fine card and always nice to see in your sealed pool.

That concludes all of the blue cards from Ixalan hopefully it's given you some insight into the set and the cards, stay tuned for tomorrows look at all of the black cards. 

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