Elite Ixalan Utility Land Showcases Multi-Format Versatility!

At this point, it should come as little surprise that The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has had an immense impact on various Constructed formats. Even simple uncommons like Deep-Cavern Bat Deep-Cavern Bat Flying, lifelink
When this creature enters, look at target opponent's hand. You may exile a nonland card from it until this creature leaves the battlefield. and Dauntless Dismantler have made their presences felt, from Standard all the way down to Vintage. Some cards, like Geological Appraise and Amalia Benavides Aguirre, completely revolutionized the Pioneer metagame, showcasing just how strong this set was overall.

One of the powerful aspects of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan that doesn’t seem to get quite as much recognition, though, is the set’s Lands. Routinely seeing competitive play, these cards aren’t to be dismissed, however, they’ve commanded little attention. This might have something to do with Cavern of Souls Cavern of Souls As this land enters, choose a creature type.
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a creature spell of the chosen type, and that spell can't be countered. stealing the limelight since the moment it was spoiled.

Upon release, Lands like Restless Anchorage Restless Anchorage This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {W} or {U}.
{1}{W}{U}: Until end of turn, this land becomes a 2/3 white and blue Bird creature with flying. It's still a land.
Whenever this land attacks, create a Map token. and Hidden Volcano Hidden Volcano This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {R}.
{4}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Discover 4. Activate only as a sorcery. (Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with mana value 4 or less. Cast it without paying its mana cost or put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.) largely flew under the radar. Now, however, Restless Anchorage is an awesome inclusion in Azorius control in Pioneer, and Hidden Volcano sees play in dedicated Calibrated Blast combo decks in Modern.

Today, we are going to focus on another Land that hasn’t gotten the praise it deserves. This card is none other than Sunken Citadel, which sees a massive amount of play in Pioneer and Modern. Despite entering the battlefield tapped, its ability to tap for multiple mana, albeit restrictive, certainly makes up for it in a variety of different strategies.

Turn Two Land Destruction

Likely the most powerful usage of Sunken Citadel is in conjunction with Field of Ruin Field of Ruin {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each player searches their library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles. and Demolition Field Demolition Field {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. That land's controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. You may search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. . In general, Field of Ruin and Demolition Field are used to help interact with opposing utility Lands, like Hall of Storm Giants Hall of Storm Giants If you control two or more other lands, this land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {U}.
{5}{U}: Until end of turn, this land becomes a 7/7 blue Giant creature with ward {3}. It's still a land. (Whenever it becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays {3}.) in Pioneer or Urza’s Saga Urza’s Saga (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. in Modern. In a format like Modern where players are utilizing a Fetchland and Shockland-focused manabase, you may even be able to run your opponent out of basic Lands.

Having the opportunity to use Field of Ruin or Demolition Field as early as turn two is a game-changer in multiple matchups. For instance, you can blow up opposing Tron Lands on the draw before your opponent can assemble Tron and land a massive haymaker. For decks like mono-black Scam (shown above) or mono-black Cabal Coffers Cabal Coffers {2}, {T}: Add {B} for each Swamp you control. , the combination of Sunken Citadel and either Field of Ruin or Demolition Field provides an efficient way to revolt Fatal Push Fatal Push Destroy target creature if it has mana value 2 or less.
Revolt — Destroy that creature if it has mana value 4 or less instead if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn. on the fly.

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Gaining a Mana Advantage

Even though Sunken Citadel enters the battlefield tapped, it more than makes up for this early mana disadvantage when built around. In both Pioneer and Modern, there are multiple ways to get a mana boost on subsequent turns after playing Sunken Citadel. In Modern, Sunken Citadel will sometimes show up in mono-black Cabal Coffers decklists where, when used alongside Cabal Coffers Cabal Coffers {2}, {T}: Add {B} for each Swamp you control. and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types. , it can net you an additional mana as early as turn three.

For example, if you have all three of these Lands out on turn three, you can use two mana from Sunken Citadel to activate Cabal Coffers to generate three black mana. With access to four mana instead of three, the door is now open to play cards like The One Ring The One Ring Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring. or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life. ahead of schedule.

In a similar vein, in Pioneer, Sunken Citadel pairs quite nicely with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}: Choose a color. Add an amount of mana of that color equal to your devotion to that color. (Your devotion to a color is the number of mana symbols of that color in the mana costs of permanents you control.) and Castle Garenbrig out of mono-green Devotion. Since the banning of Karn, the Great Creator Karn, the Great Creator Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand. , mono-green players have been forced to adapt. Without a combo aspect available for the deck, mono-green players must consistently win via combat.

As such, cards like Voracious Hydra and Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider Trample, haste
If you would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put twice that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead.
If an opponent would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, they put half that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead, rounded down. have made their way back in many mono-green decklists. Between Sunken Citadel and Castle Garenbrig, playing Vorinclex ahead of schedule is rather trivial, even without sticking a copy of Elvish Mystic Elvish Mystic {T}: Add {G}. or Llanowar Elves Llanowar Elves {T}: Add {G}. .

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Additional Synergy with Utility Lands

One extremely important and underrated synergy with Sunken Citadel in play is the chance to discount the cost of activated abilities of Land sources not in play. Sunken Citadel can produce multiple mana to be used towards Channeling any of the five utility Lands from the latest Kamigawa set. For a deck like Calibrated Blast combo in Modern, this is essential.

The focus of this deck is to use Calibrated Blast to deal a ton of damage to the opponent by revealing cards with extremely high mana value, such as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn Emrakul, the Aeons Torn This spell can't be countered.
When you cast this spell, take an extra turn after this one.
Flying, protection from spells that are one or more colors, annihilator 6
When Emrakul is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles their graveyard into their library. . As a result, this archetype can’t afford to utilize many cards with low mana value, other than Calibrated Blast itself. Therefore, the deck relies a ton on utility Lands for interaction. Getting to use Boseiju, Who Endures Boseiju, Who Endures {T}: Add {G}.
Channel — {1}{G}, Discard this card: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. That player may search their library for a land card with a basic land type, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. or Otawara, Soaring City Otawara, Soaring City {T}: Add {U}.
Channel — {3}{U}, Discard this card: Return target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner's hand. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. a turn early can be the difference between winning and losing.

Furthermore, given that a single copy of Calibrated Blast isn’t always enough to cross the finish line, especially if the opponent avoided taking much damage off their manabase, cards like Ramunap Ruins Ramunap Ruins {T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Pay 1 life: Add {R}.
{2}{R}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice a Desert: This land deals 2 damage to each opponent. play a vital role. Sunken Citadel works well here, too. From Ramunap Ruins in this deck to Castle Locthwain out of mono-black Scam and beyond, Sunken Citadel has a surprising number of decks it can slot into.

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Combo Elements

Sunken Citadel’s printing also opened the door for a neat Gruul Scapeshift Scapeshift Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. combo deck in Pioneer to emerge out of nowhere. This goal is to use Scapeshift to find four copies of Sunken Citadel and The World Tree. Now, with these cards plus two more Lands in play, you can activate The World Tree, tutor for Purphoros, God of the Forge Purphoros, God of the Forge Indestructible
As long as your devotion to red is less than five, Purphoros isn't a creature.
Whenever another creature you control enters, Purphoros deals 2 damage to each opponent.
{2}{R}: Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn. , Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Trample
If a red source you control would deal an amount of noncombat damage less than Ojer Axonil's power to an opponent, that source deals damage equal to Ojer Axonil's power instead.
When Ojer Axonil dies, return it to the battlefield tapped and transformed under its owner's control. and a handful of other God Creatures to put into play and win via Purphoros triggers. Having access to a playset of Sunken Citadel makes this combo significantly easier to pull off.

In Modern, we already mentioned Sunken Citadel’s role in Calibrated Blast combo decks, but thanks to another Land from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Sunken Citadel is even more important than you might think. This new Land is Hidden Volcano Hidden Volcano This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {R}.
{4}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Discover 4. Activate only as a sorcery. (Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with mana value 4 or less. Cast it without paying its mana cost or put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.) , which you can sacrifice to Discover 4. Discover 4 guarantees you to hit Calibrated Blast in some capacity, either by revealing Blast itself or Throes of Chaos Throes of Chaos Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
Retrace (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.) , which will Cascade into Blast.

Hidden Volcano adds some extra redundancy to a combo that is a bit of a glass cannon. The only issue is that it is rather slow, but with access to Sunken Citadel, this becomes much less of a concern. It’s amazing just how many decks can make use of the extra mana that Sunken Citadel can produce, making it a much more versatile card than we initially thought. Sunken Citadel is yet another multi-format all-star from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, a tremendously powerful premier set overall.

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