Recently, a preview panel from MagicCon Las Vegas released a ton of information about upcoming MTG sets. One of these sets was none other than the Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Returning to the world of Ixalan, it’s unsurprising that some of the creatures spoiled had the Dinosaur or Pirate Creature type. After all, Dinosaurs, Pirates, Merfolk, and Vampires were all big parts of the original Ixalan block.
Interestingly, it appears as though these Creature types, in part, cover the themes of the Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander decks. Each of the Commander decks are meant to showcase a faction from Ixalan block. These Commander decks come with two foil legendary Creatures, one of which is the primary Commander, as well as a collector booster sample pack containing two cards. While the remaining contents of the Commander decks have not been spoiled yet, today, we’re going to go over the themes of each Commander decks and what cards could be reprinted or rise in price.
Ahoy Mateys
This Commander deck with a Pirate theme uses the Grixis color combination. According to the product box itself, it looks like this Pirate deck in particular will have a graveyard theme. The goal is to bring back Pirates bigger and badder than normal. Perhaps we will also see cards like Reanimate that could bring these Pirates back in a cheap manner.
While Pirate Reanimator may seem a bit strange as a concept, considering how on-theme looting is both for Pirates and for getting reanimation targets into the graveyard, it makes a decent amount of sense. The artwork of on the product box looks very reminiscent of Admiral Beckett Brass, which is also a Grixis legend. Maybe we will see another iteration of the cool Pirate.
While there aren’t many expensive Pirates that could be reprinted, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities for either Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer or Dockside Extortionist to get reprinted, which would likely drive their prices down even further. It’ll be worth monitoring what Pirates do end up getting reprinted and what new Pirate cards await us. This is less likely to happen overall, however.
Read More: MTG The Lost Caverns of Ixalan: Release Date, Spoilers, More
Explorers of the Deep
The Explorers of the Deep Commander deck, as the name suggests, is centered around Merfolk. The theme specifically focuses on +1/+1 counters and the Explore mechanic, which is very on-theme for Ixalan. Exploring is both a decently strong mechanic on its own as well as a way to get counters on your Creatures. It will be interesting to see how much the counters theme is leaned into and to what extent counters-matter cards like Hardened Scales will appear.
There are also a few Merfolk that could potentially spike in price if not reprinted. Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca was only printed in Rivals of Ixalan. It currently sits at roughly $4 according to TCGplayer market price, but as a powerful mythic rare Merfolk payoff with limited printings, it’s possible the card rises in price. Similarly, Wanderwine Prophets is a rare Merfolk that has only seen a printing back in Lorwyn and currently sits at roughly $7 according to TCGplayer market price as a result. This card has the potential to rise or fall in price, depending on if it gets a reprint here or not. Either way, Merfolk are a fan-favorite type, which could mean a lot for this Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander deck.
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Veloci-Ramp-Tor
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise based on the name of the Commander deck, but this deck is all about ramping into powerful Dinosaurs. These themes work quite nicely together, as Dinosaurs are often powerful but can cost a lot of mana. The deck utilizes the Naya color combination and, as such, would be a perfect home for Gishath, Sun’s Avatar to see a reprint.
Gishath is an extremely powerful Dinosaur payoff in Commander, which largely explains its $32 price tag according to TCGplayer market price. With even more Dinosaur support getting printed here, this card has the potential to spike in price even more if not reprinted. This also seems like a good home for Ghalta and Mavren. Despite being printed in March of the Machine, the card combines a Dinosaur and Vampire theme, both of which were heavily represented in Ixalan.
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Blood Rites
This Commander deck, while it is indeed centered around Vampires, has a rather unique Aristocrats theme as well. The goal here, according to the product box, is to go wide with small Vampires in order to benefit your large Flying Demons. Given that the Vampires will be used partially as sacrifice fodder, there are a few strong Demons that come to mind as potentially quite synergistic.
Dreadfeast Demon, for example, can spawn copies of itself on each end of your end steps as long as you can sacrifice a non-Demon Creature. With presumably lots of tokens to sacrifice, this card can get out of control rather quickly, giving you a bunch of enormous Flying Creatures to attack with.As for Vampires, it’s worth seeing if Elenda, the Dusk Rose gets reprinted. It currently is one of the most expensive Vampires in MTG, sitting around $10 according to TCGplayer market price. Another reprint could surely reduce its value, but the card could also rise in price if not reprinted, given the fact that the card would be a natural upgrade for this Precon. It’s cool to see some of these underrepresented Creature types getting even more love.
If any of these preconstructed Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander decks tickle your fancy, it may be worthwhile to start picking up some typal staples ahead of time. Some of them will be reprinted but, if you pick out the ones that aren’t you could be saving a lot of money.
Read More: The Best Dinosaurs in MTG for Commander
