The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Land Review: Duals, Full-Art Basics, and More

Last updated on December 29, 2023

Sunken Citadel | Illustration by Matteo Bassini

Ixalan means lands. It’s part of the adventure story trope WotC has leaned into with mechanics like explore and the functional equivalent for players in being able to flip something into a land, as if the player themself is exploring. And The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has upped the ante on lands, with more cards that flip into lands, two new kinds of lands, and the finishing of a creature land cycle. There’s a lot to like.

We’re going to go over all the different land cycles (and there’s a lot more than usual!) and where to find them, as well as do a bit of ranking and analysis. In general, these are presented in order of their power. And note that the rares and mythics here can come in borderless versions.

Let’s, ahem, dig in, shall we?

Basic Lands

There’s always basics, but this time they’re a bit harder to get, as the slot for lands in Draft boosters are either caves or full art. You’ll need to find these, if you want them, in bundles or in the Commander decks. And you might want these if you aren’t on the full art land train. Logan Feliciano’s purply pictographed swampy cave is amazing, as is Carlos Plama Chuchanga’s trippy misty cave plains.

Core Full-Art Lands

The full art cycle, which you can find in every level of booster, seems to be in the midcentury travel poster style, with a bit of simplistic whisky of the Enchanting Tales art from Wilds of Eldraine. I’m an especial fan of Olga Tereshenko’s Plains and Electrodenko’s Swamp.

Jurassic World Lands

Part of the huge Jurassic World Universes Beyond release in Set and Collector boosters, there are six lands and a saga that flips into a land. The lands are five full art basics and a Command Tower, all of which are double sided with dino-rific art. All these lands have the vibe of the Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation lands, where the next set showed the same locale as the first set, just destroyed by the Bolas battle. The only downside is they’re all Jurassic World movie moments, in case you were hoping for the Jurassic Park of many of the other cards in this release.

The real treat here is the Welcome to…/Jurassic Park saga, the flavor of which is so amazingly on point I got a little misty when I saw it spoiled. Build walls, grow dinos, destroy the walls and all dinos have escape! Flavor-wise 10/10; no notes. Play-wise, this seems great in a dino typal Commander deck!

Hidden Lands

The first cycle in the new cave land subtype are these taplands that for 5 mana can be sacrificed to discover 4. These are a cool idea to add value, but I think unless there are specific cards from exile synergies in the deck, it’s hard to see many of these in Constructed decks. Harder, given how fast formats are.

I imagine these will still work in Commander, but it reminds me of lands that cycle, which we used to run because we were worried about flood, but that seems just like old fashioned thinking now. If there are synergies, like in my The Twelfth Doctor deck, then I can see running these. Of course, these will rock in Draft.

Other Caves

We had gates, which were a big thing (and still are in certain neighborhoods of Historic), and spheres, which were not. How are caves going to fare? There are ten plus two cards that flip into caves. So that’s enough to ground a deck. There are 16 nonland cards in the set that specifically synergize with caves, including a cave-based sweeper in Calamitous Cave-In. But although we have that new version of Gates Ablaze, we lack the card draw power of something like Guild Summit which is a key accelerator for the Gates deck, not to mention the finisher of Maze's End. The Cave finisher is Cosmium Confluence, and that’s no Maze’s End!

All that to say that I don’t think there’ll be a real cave deck. Those cave synergy cards and the Hidden lands will be key parts of Limited, but that’s about it.

That said, there are some really good caves that will be play across formats, including all of these in EDH.

Sunken Citadel

Anything that adds 2 mana makes you stop and pay attention. Sunken Citadel seems perfect as an enabler for a deck with lots of utility lands and/or creature lands, which sounds like a Commander staple for durdly decks. The creature lands density in Standard right now has got to be an all-time high, so this is probably good for those cards, although there’s the possibility that an entire deck could be taplands, which seems impossible in a format where mono-red was given some key tools in Wilds of Eldraine.

Pit of Offerings

Think how much fun Pit of Offerings is to drop when your opponent has just gotten Atraxa, Grand Unifier into the graveyard! If you’re running a graveyard centric deck, this can be a reliable land for many colors, perhaps even five, but in that deck you likely don’t want to exile those cards. As a Scavenger Grounds alternative, this has something to be desired, but as the graveyard shenanigans increase, having an answer in the mana base seems okay.

Volatile Fault

The Strip Mine into Wasteland into Field of Ruin and its compatriots seemed like the end of the line. Two mana to crack, and both players get a land. Seemed fair. Now Volatile Fault lets you do it for 1 and you replace a land with a Treasure. Higher risk, higher reward. Certainly new. I can see this in a deck that wants artifactfall and/or is a sac deck. This card can trigger Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz twice on one turn on its own, for example.

Echoing Deeps

Echoing Deeps made our list of best cards in the set, because a Vesuva that works on dead lands is pretty awesome, especially with so many self-mill cards like Blossoming Tortoise in vogue right now. Likely only a combo enabler and not a bread-and-butter card, the decks that can abuse this will love it.

Lost Caverns Commander Lands

Once again, the Commander precons are a really mixed bag when it comes to lands quality, but there are a few nice reprints of note, although no new lands, which is a bit of a letdown. The Innistrad check lands are in here, and those are a step up from the thriving lands and temples that we get in these precons. Otherwise, the right now most valuable reprints seem to be Alchemist's Refuge in Explorers of the Deep and Bojuka Bog in Blood Rites.

The Flip Artifacts

Ixalan is famous for cards that flip into lands, and in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, we’re at it again with a variety of flip cards. Many of these are really good!

Dowsing Device / Geode Grotto

If you never flip Dowsing Device it gives something haste every turn you drop an artifact, which you know is happening as I struggle to make my Meria, Scholar of Antiquity eggs deck work in Standard! If you flip it you have Geode Grotto, a cave with a relatively ponderous activated ability. I kind of never want it to flip….

Treasure Map / Treasure Cove

This classic reprint from our first time on Ixalan is still good, especially in a scry matters EDH deck, but Treasure Map / Treasure Cove has been a bit power crept, I think.

The Everflowing Well / The Myriad Pools

This seems best for Commander, where blinking The Everflowing Well is solid value. I’m sure The Myriad Pools has a lot of combos I’m not seeing just yet in EDH, as well. But this seems like good value in an artifact deck if one in blue makes it past Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in Standard.

Thousand Moons Smithy / Barracks of the Thousand

Thousand Moons Smithy flips, easily in an affinity deck, into an artifact land, Barracks of the Thousand. In that deck it also drops a large Karn-struct. Think of all the untapping in EDH….

Tarrian’s Journal / The Tomb of Aclazotz

Flipping into The Tomb of Aclazotz is big money. So much value from the graveyard! The first ability on Tarrian's Journal is fine, but that second ability mills when you want and then also hits for big value the way you escape Ox of Agonas with an empty hand.

Brass’ Tunnel Grinder / Tecutlan, the Searing Rift

I’ve compared this card to Fable of the Mirror-Breaker without irony. It’s not as good as that, but Brass's Tunnel Grinder is a decent card, and Tecutlan, the Searing Rift gives you way more value than you think.

Matzalantli, the Great Door / The Core

Absolutely one of the best cards in the set. Matzalantli, the Great Door is one of the only colorless free tap to loot cards in Magic history, and the flipped The Core rivals Gaea's Cradle.

The Flip Enchantments

These are some fascinating cards.

Grasping Shadows / Shadows’ Lair

If the samurai from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty were not quite good enough, I don’t see how this card is going to make attacking alone work. Still, there may be enough value in Grasping Shadows to serve as the top end combo in an Orzhov enchantments control deck with Norika Yamazaki, the Poet and some saga recursion? I’m grasping here. Ooh, wait. What about some Mirrex tokens and proliferate shenanigans? Flip it super fast for ramp and card draw?

Someone’s gonna try this in Modern with and/or [card]Bilbo's Ring to their peril. I’m not even sure if this works in Commander, mostly because the Shadows' Lair backside feels like a less good Treasure Cove.

Twists and Turns / Mycoid Maze

A cheap enchantment for those Selesnya decks in Standard and enchantress in Commander, Twists and Turns is kind of low impact. It drops for a scry and explore. Okay. But what turn is this dropping? Mycoid Maze is pretty cool, but if I’m stalling out with seven lands in green, I don’t think I built my deck right.

Growing Rites of Itlimoc / Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun

A slightly underappreciated banger of a reprint, Growing Rites of Itlimoc is better in a Standard filled with enchantment synergies, and very little is better than the Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun backside for go wide decks.

The Flip Gods

I find that the fronts of these gods are all overcosted by a bit, but that the back as ramp is pretty swell. You don’t have to work to flip these, as no opponent really wants to see them across the battlefield. They’re slowish synergy pieces that will become ramp, most likely. You’re a card up in that scenario, even if you spent a lot more mana than you should to get there. Buildarounds and win-mores, mostly, the Sultai colored gods, at least, will likely find homes across formats. A general ranking:

• Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might / Temple of Power
• Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation /Temple of Civilization
• Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal / Temple of the Dead
• Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch / Temple of Cyclical Time
• Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth / Temple of Cultivation

All these gods appear in the Ixalan Showcase frames, which you can find, potentially, in any booster.

The Restless Lands

Finishing this cycle of creature lands started in Wilds of Eldraine so soon is awesome. They see play now in the strong color combinations in Standard, but that will increase with this set as the Azorius and Dimir lands arrive for control decks and the Rakdos and Gruul lands will arrive for older Constructed formats. All ten of these lands feel like auto-includes for many Commander decks. The Dimir land, Restless Reef is especially compelling because the mill makes it a wincon in a deck full of removal and board wipes.

Cavern of Souls

This card needs its own section. Cavern of Souls is the best land ever printed for creature typal decks. Being able not to have your 2- or 3-drop creature stopped by a Make Disappear elevates every creature deck in the daunting matchup against Esper, the two World Championships in a row best deck in Standard.

It’s a reprint, so you probably already have it in your EDH deck if you need it. If not, maybe now the price drops. Or you can always go spelunking for a Cosmium Neon Ink variant in Collector boosters, although the yellow one in the gallery above is only a WPN Premium store promo.

Wrap Up

Restless Anchorage | Illustration by Leon Tukker

Especially when it comes to the cards that flip into lands and the best caves, we’re talking a decent number of rares and mythics here. If you’re after these cards, upping your chances for rares with Set boosters, at least, seems reasonable if you aren’t just grabbing singles. Collector boosters up the chances of those sweet Cosmium ink variants, as well.

If you haven’t played with Ixalan flip lands before and you’re looking to integrate these into Commander decks, the way the expensive front sides work is that you should play these on your curve as the front and treat the land as a bonus. There is no real formula for cutting other lands for these that works, I don’t think.

Which of these lands are on your wishlist? Let us know in the comments below or over on Discord.

Be sure you have those nice opaque card sleeves ready, and go explore!