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Ixalan is one of the most polarising sets in Magic: The Gathering’s history. While the cards themselves are often considered underwhelming, its story is among the all-time greats, taking us to a world inspired by Aztecs, Mayans, Conquistadors, Dinosaurs, and Pirates.
With 2023’s The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, we’re headed below the surface to find something once hidden that was uncovered by the recent Phyrexian invasion. While we don’t know too much about this set yet, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is one of the most intriguing releases of the year; here’s everything we know.
What Is The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan?
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is the final Standard-legal premiere release of 2023, following on from this autumn’s Wilds of Eldraine. It takes us back to the Mesoamerican-inspired plane of Ixalan, although in a very different to way to how we last saw it.
This is a full booster set, complete with Draft, Set, and Collector’s boosters. It’s also incredibly likely it will also have at least two Commander decks to tie into it, although these have yet to be confirmed or revealed.
The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan will be legal in every format Standard-legal cards usually are: Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Vintage, Legacy, Commander, Oathbreaker, Historic, and Alchemy. In Standard, it will be legal for three years, rotating out in Autumn 2026. In Alchemy, it will rotate out a year earlier, in Autumn 2025.
What Is The Story Of The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan?
We know very little of the primary story of The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan, and won’t until around the formal preview season just before launch. However, a few titbits have been unveiled following the Phyrexian invasion of the multiverse that culminated in March of the Machine.
While this set is still based on the Ixalan we saw in the set of the same name and Rivals of Ixalan, we’re going below the surface in a what has been described as an “Underground World” set. Inspired by the likes of Journey to the Center Of The Earth, it takes Ixalan’s usual Dinosaurs, Vampires, Merfolk, and Pirates and buries them deep below the Golden City of Orazca.
Following the March of the Machine, something mysterious has said to have been ‘uncovered’ on Ixalan. With each of the main factions of the plane all racing to the caverns to see who can find it first, we can likely expect lots of the creature-type-heavy design of Ixalan, albeit with new underground-focused twists.
A heavily-rumoured part of this set is the debut of newly-sparked Quintorius Kand as one of its Planeswalker cards. Considering he is an archaeology student who recently disappeared into the multiverse in March of the Machine, Ixalan feels like the perfect place for him to make his first post-sparking appearance.
Alongside him, Ixalan already has a wide spread of potential planeswalkers to play with, including the Dinosaur-rearing Huatli, and the minotaur pirate captain Angrath, who hasn’t been seen in the story since 2019’s War of the Spark.
What Mechanics Are In The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan?
So far, no cards from The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan have been shown off, only art. However, as this is a return to Ixalan, there are a few things we should expect.
One of the defining features of Ixalan is its four warring creatures types: Merfolk, Dinosaurs (and their Human tamers), Vampires, and Pirates. Even though The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan was designed as an underground world before being moved to Ixalan, we should still anticipate a lot of these creature types to make an appearance.
It’s also possible Treasure tokens could be a big part of this format. Treasure debuted in the original Ixalan, and with this set being based below the Golden City of Orazca, as groups hunt for treasure in the Caverns, it would be odd to not have lots of Treasure-generating cards show up.
At this point, anything further than these would be pure speculation. There are theories that we might see the return of Trap instants, which were last seen in Standard in 2010’s Worldwake. Trap cards are instants that have a lower cost if your opponent is performing the specified action, which would be on-theme for an underground world full of pitfalls and dangers to avoid.
We can also look to another Indiana-Jones-esque set in 2020’s Zendikar Rising for potential returning mechanics. There, we saw a lot of Equipment cards to represent the various tools explorers used, and with the artifact-heavy Standard format Ixalan is launching into, it could also be a good fit here.
What Are The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan’s Commander Decks?
Ever since 2020’s Zendikar Rising, each Standard-legal set has launched alongside at least two different tie-in preconstructed Commander decks.
We can expect this to carry on to The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan. However, how many decks there are, what colours they are, and their gameplay themes have yet to be revealed. We can expect to get our first looks at these in the sneak preview a couple of months out from launch.
When Does The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan Launch?
No dates for the preview season or launch have been revealed yet, although we’re anticipating the launch to be in November 2023. This follows a similar release schedule to 2022, where The Brothers’ War launched in the same month.
The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan will likely have the same roll-out as other Standard sets, with a pre-beat sneak preview a few months before to show off product for stores to preorder, followed the story, debut, and full preview season a few weeks before launch.