Now that all spoilers for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan have finally been revealed, it’s time to look ahead towards all that the set has to offer. Some players are most looking forward to playing in prereleases coming up very soon, while others may enjoy the release of the MTG Jurassic World crossover cards to add to their Dinosaur-themed Commander decks. This set looks like a blast, and there’s things for everybody to look forward to.
In addition to prereleases, one of the events that goes along with the release of each premier set is the Store Championship. Players get to duke it out for glory as well as various prizes. These prizes include three different promo cards given out to players depending on how well they do. Just recently, the promo cards for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Store Championships were announced. For those looking to add extra pizzazz to their Pioneer decks, these cards are solid choices to feature as promos. Before we get into each card individually and what they potentially will be worth, it’s important to go over a small change to Store Championships starting with The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
A Notable Change
As part of Wizards of the Coast’s plan to help reinvigorate the Standard format, Store Championships for the foreseeable future will only feature the Standard format. Up until this point, each Store Championship showcased either a specific Constructed format that typically matched the Pro Tour or World Championship that aligned with it, or Limited. Importantly, this gave local game stores the choice to host Constructed or Limited events based on what would likely draw the biggest turnout, which obviously varies from store to store.
It’s nice to see Standard, which was once a bustling format in paper, be the focal point of a cool event featured multiple times a year. However, it will be interesting to see how this affects local game stores and the number of people that participate in these events. Local game stores can run their Store Championships for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan between December 2-December 10. With that out of the way, let’s dive into the spicy promos for this group of Store Championships.
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Store Champs Promos
As stated, each Store Championship features three different promos, and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Store Championship is no exception. For anyone who participates in their local Store Championship, they will get a copy of Cauldron Familiar as a nice bonus.
Cauldron Familiar is a solid choice for a participation promo. It’s no surprise that participation promos aren’t generally going to be worth a big chunk of money. However, it’s still nice when the promo of choice is a card that sees consistent play in Constructed.
Cauldron Familiar is a vital piece for Rakdos sacrifice decks in Pioneer. In conjunction with Witch’s Oven, Cauldron Familiar can soak up a bunch of damage each turn as a blocker, and return every turn cycle, slowly draining the opponent’s life total. Compare this promo to Tail Swipe, the participation promo for Wilds of Eldraine Store Championships, and Cauldron Familiar is certainly an upgrade.
Next up, we have the promo given generally to the entire top eight of each Store Championship. Dark Petition is another card that sees Pioneer play. Often utilized in Lotus Field combo decks, Dark Petition is an excellent tutor effect. It’s quite common to search for Dark Petition alongside Omniscience when resolving Emergent Ultimatum to reliably win the game in short order. The card is a bit niche, but still serves an important purpose in one of Pioneer’s most powerful decks.
Finally, the victor of each Store Championship gets to walk away with a textless copy of Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Lier is yet another somewhat exclusive Lotus Field combo staple in Pioneer. Not only does Lier make your future spells unable to be countered, but it gives Flashback to all your Instants and Sorceries. In a deck like Lotus Field combo where lots of your Instants and Sorceries actually net you mana, like Hidden Strings and Pore over the Pages in conjunction with two copies of Lotus Field, Lier is an incredible engine.
Notably, the top eight and winner promos are generally foil. However, if you attend a WPN Premium store, top eight and winner promos will showcase non-foil versions with the name of the store stamped onto the cards themselves, too. This adds some extra flare to what WPN Premium stores have to offer.
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Promo Value
It’s clear players are excited about the fact that all the promo cards for the Lost Caverns of Ixalan Store Championships are decent Constructed playables. That’s not all, though. They also each hold some financial value. Cauldron Familiar, even as the participation promo, is worth over $1 in its cheapest traditional form according to TCGplayer market price. The same cannot be said about some of the participation promos of the past, like Tail Swipe.
Dark Petition is also a big upgrade over the Transcendent Message top eight promo from Wilds of Eldraine, which was both cheap and saw virtually no competitive Constructed play. Dark Petition, in traditional form, is over $3, and the gorgeous foil Store Championship promo is likely to be worth a decent amount more.
Even Lier, which is definitely worth a bit less than Moonshaker Cavalry, the winner promo from Wilds of Eldraine, still sits at over $6. Not to mention, if the Moonshaker Cavalry promo is any indication, these winner promos can go for a lot more money than their traditional counterparts. The Lier promo should be textless and foil once again, and the supply of these promos is going to be quite small.
To put things in perspective, while traditional copies of Moonshaker Cavalry currently sit at roughly $15, winner promos are worth $73. As such, the textless foil Lier promo will definitely be worth a significant amount more than $6. Having all three Store Championship promos be strong Constructed cards is absolutely a step in the right direction, and it’s no wonder players are excited.
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