Ixalan Overview

The new set has been revealed! Let's take a gander, shall we?

White
Even though it's been explained to me that 'white's vampires represent a knightly order of conquestadors so it fits', I'm still not a fan. WotC is basically story-handwaving reasons to give white some of the mechanical dabbling of black, using the payment of life for a benefit. Adano Vanguard is right up front and illustrates the point.

But weird Commander card Axis of Mortality is also there. Magus of the Mirror (which itself took the ability from an artifact) is in black and reinforced by Tree of Perdition. Is this a dealbreaker? No, I don't think so. I may not be particularly fond of this mechanic in white from a philosophical standpoint but giving White something to do with the life it gains is certainly better than leaving an underpowered and dull mechanic in the color.

Settle the Wreckage is something that has a lot of potential in my opinion, especially since it is cheap enough to find a home in older formats. If this can be played in Legacy, that would be bonkers-but it's likely not quite there.

Favorite Dinosaur: Steadfast Armasaur for its blend of function and flavor.

Blue
I really like the reprinting of Opt: I think it's a great tool and very fair. I also think that Blue has gotten some solid control countermagic too-albeit some that is contingent on Pirates but this is a tribal block. Deadeye Quartermaster is a sleeper; searching for two of the more powerful card types in recent memory seems pretty good.

The attempt to make mill a thing is interesting, since the milling cards-Fleet Swallower and Navigator's Ruin specifically-say "target player" not target opponent. So does this mean that we'll be looking at another set with graveyard interactions soon?

Favorite Dinosaur: fail! No dinos.

Black
With the creation of Treasures in U/B/R, I think that there's an odd thing happening in those colors: cards that are expensive but 'repay' you in some manner. Contract Killing is a fine example: here's something that technically costs 5 but when you get the Treasure tokens, it really costs only 3. You can tap out to play the card and still potentially have interactions to make during your opponent's turn.

The other thing I'm noticing: lots of two drops, and some solid one drops. Bloodcrazed Paladin, Blight Keeper, Deadeye Tracker, Dire Fleet Hoarder, Fathom Fleet Captain, Kitesail Freebooter... maybe there's an aggro black deck to be put together? With Sword-Point Diplomacy to help eat away at life totals/draw cards, I think there's a skeleton there.

Favorite dinosaur: Fail part 2! Why is there no zombie dino?

Red
This is the color I am least enthusiastic about. Some dino support, Enrage is a good mechanic I think though it's not pushed hard in Red, Charging Monstrosaur-despite having a duuuumb name-is a hell of a 5 drop.

After that though, the color is doing some of the quiet work: Demolish for those pesky crazy lands, Lightning Strike to keep the color viable, and when it goes away from that-Wily Goblin, for example is just bad as a one drop that costs two, or Trove of Temptation which doesn't have nearly the reward for the drawback and cost-it just doesn't have anything to pull me in.

Rowdy Crew is bad. A 3/3 where you have the option to discard two of your best cards? How is that a mythic rare??

Ugh.

Favorite dinosaur: Raptor Hatchling is pretty cute.

Green
Pounce seemed neat until I realized Pit Fight had been printed and didn't really make a splash.Enrage kicks up here and it seems like a neat way to get a death trigger on the smaller creatures like Ranging Raptors or Ravenous Daggertooth, while a way to seal the game with Ripjaw Raptor. Still, this has good interactions with the Fight mechanic. While I just can't get excited about the green merfolk, for similar reasons as the white vampires, it's not a dealbreaker.

The bigger sin, for me, is that it just doesn't do anything interesting with the creature type. With the white vamps, at least that color gets to explore something that it doesn't do often: you could replace merfolk with any creature type and it wouldn't change a thing for green. They could've boosted any number of under utilized Blue creature types: adding this to merfolk just seems like a whole lot of 'so what'.

Favorite dinosaur: Deathgorge Scavenger

Gold
Eh. These cards play into their respective tribal themes well enough-pirates especially seem to get a boost, which I have no problem with-and Hostage Taker is a great execution. Nothing gobsmacking but nothing awful. Even Tishana, Voice of Thunder will find a home in Commander.

Favorite dinosaur: have to go with Gishath, Sun's Avatar. Sometimes, the biggest bad is best.

Artifacts/Lands
I think they did something pretty clever here, having enchantments function as maps, or vehicles that convert into lands. The metaphor works for me, even though I still don't like double faced cards. I will never like double faced cards. I will use them because:

Growing Rites of Itlimoc is clearly bonkers but the Blue and Black maps have an interesting clause where you don't have to flip them, meaning that you could have the land and the enchantment out at the same time.

Lost Compass for the same reason as Growing Rites which makes me wonder how this is going to impact the larger game of Magic. Those kinds of lands are usually signals that something is about to get broken.

In the meantime, eh, the rest is OK.

I'm glad to see the allied lands return; I've always thought those cards were solid.The use of pirate ships as vehicles is a good sign, as they're quite distinct from their Kaladesh counterparts. And Sorcerous Spyglass will be a welcome addition to sideboards everywhere, while Vanquisher's Banner will become a boon to casual and Commander tribal decks all around.

My impressionsI'm digging on this so far. There's a lot to like in Ixalan and I think it will be a fun set, even if it is a little narrow in its tribal theme. The upsides for me outweigh the negatives so far but the proof will be in the pudding...which will show up in about two weeks.