(Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might |Art by Victor Adame Minguez)

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Descend into the Roaring Depths

It's time to descend into The Lost Caverns of Ixalan and uncover forgotten mysteries! Today, we're reviewing each red card from the new set and seeing if there are any treasures worthy of including in your decks, but tread carefully, as these caverns are full of Pirates, Dinosaurs, and ancient Gods!

Mythics

Bonehoard Dracosaur

Our first card is a terrifying combination of a Dinosaur and Dragon that unfortunately doesn't trigger until our next upkeep. We have to wait until our next turn to see any value off of it, and the value isn't that impressive. You exile two cards from your library which can only be played that turn and make a Treasure token if one's a land and a 3/1 Dinosaur if there's a nonland. You could get both a 3/1 and a Treasure, but you don't get two Treasures or two Dinosaurs if both cards are the same type.

Despite that, I think this card has its upside. A 5/5 with flying and first strike shouldn't be overlooked. It's an excellent blocker in the early to mid-game. And I say early because, if you're playing a Dinosaur deck, you're probably running multiple ways to ramp out big Dinosaurs. Bonehoard Dracosaur will likely come down on turn four and start to give you value on the following turn. Since the value isn't a lot, it won't draw the ire of the table and be removed on the spot. I think it'll find its way into Gishath, Sun's Avatar and Pantlaza, Sun-Favored decks. Pantlaza could be an interesting place for it as you could Discover for one when the 3/1 enters and find your Sol Ring.

Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might

Seriously, what a metal card! A T-Rex head for an arm and a flaming sword held in the other guarantees that this card will be the scariest thing on the board. Mono-Red Burn isn't the strongest archetype in Commander, but Ojer Axonil turns all your burn effects up to eleven. Impact Tremors, Goblin Bombardment, even lesser-played cards like Valakut Exploration become potent wincons in this deck. Turning each instance of one damage into four is great on its own, but we can pump up our commander to do even more damage.

Cards like Tavern Brawler and Claws of Valakut will give Ojer Axonil a huge boost in power. Equipment that can pump him and protect him, like Commander's Plate and Champion's Helm, are key to this deck's success because players will be looking to remove him as soon as possible.

Rares

Brass's Tunnel-Grinder

One of red's newer forms of card advantage has been allowing you to self-wheel a few cards of your choice and draw that many cards plus one. Valakut Awakening and Into the Fire have you bottom the cards but not discard. Closer comparisons to Brass's Tunnel-Grinder are Heartwarming Redemption and Into the Night, but those cost four mana, so Tunnel-Grinder is currently the best version of this effect at a lower cost and there's still a whole other half to explore.

Once we have three bore counters on it, it'll flip into a land that lets us discover any time we cast a permanent with the mana from Tecutlan. A cool upside to needing to wait three turns to see this happen, but the key is needing to put a permanent into the graveyard every turn.

The first commander that comes to mind is Jaxis, the Troublemaker, a personal favorite of mine that has you discard a card to pay for her activated ability, but Descend doesn't have to trigger through discarding. Dihada, Binder of Wills' -3 ability will give us the chance to put a permanent into the graveyard from the top, and the Tunnel-Grinder is legendary as well. Osgir, the Reconstructor will also be pleased as this is another way to put useful artifacts into the graveyard for him to recur. It being an artifact itself means you can recur it with Osgir, triggering the ETB twice.

Breeches, Eager Pillager

We got a non-partner version of Breeches that doesn't give us as much value as his previous form. I like all the choices here. I even think having the option to make one creature unable to block is good since Breeches has first strike. Make anything bigger than a 3/3 unable to block and he should survive combat. However, him as a standalone commander is minimal. Being mono-red limits the number of Pirates we can run as they're traditionally either in Izzet or Grixis colors. There are 39 red Pirates, but you'd be forced to run less exciting ones, like Brazen Buccaneers. Looking through, many of the Pirates from the original Ixalan only had ETB abilities, so unless you had a copy subtheme going, these Pirates don't do much after they enter.

He'll find a better home in the 99 of other Pirate decks, with commanders like Admiral Beckett Brass and her new card, Admiral Brass, Unsinkable, that want you to attack with your Pirates. I also want to point out that there are six cards with encore that are also Pirates, like Impulsive Pilferer, Amphin Mutineer, and Coastline Marauders, that can trigger all three abilities of Breeches, Eager Pillager from one activation.

Broadside Bombardiers

We have the return of boast, which wasn't all that exciting from Kaldheim, but it mechanically works with the flavor of this card. It depicts three Goblin Pirates attacking an enemy ship and firing off random objects (and maybe each other since we can sacrifice a creature.)

It's an okay removal spell. A 2/2 with menace that needs to attack doesn't give me a lot of hope that this will survive combat. Plus, if we want really do damage, we'll need to sacrifice something of high mana value. It'll work well with commanders who can recur artifacts and creatures, such as Admiral Brass, Unsinkable and Osgir, the Reconstructor.

Dire Flail

Our Bonesplitter variant in this set is Dire Flail. While the front side is nothing new, we do have the option to craft with an artifact for five mana and turn it into Dire Blunderbuss. The equipped creature gets +3/+0 and can deal damage equal to its power to another creature if we sac an artifact. It's pretty mana-intensive to get that effect, however. It takes five mana to activate, needs you to exile an artifact you control or have in the graveyard, and then you'd have to pay one to re-equip it since it enters as a new object.

Tetzin, Gnome Champion will enjoy a one-mana double-faced card that can easily trigger its ability. And the flip side of Tetzin, The Golden-Gear Colossus, can transform Dire Flail without needing to craft or pay the equip cost if it is already attached since it'll simply transform.

Gemcutter Buccaneer

What if every Treasure could be a Bonesplitter? Gemcutter Buccaneer turns all our Treasures into Equipment, similar to Arterial Alchemy for Blood tokens. While two mana to equip with Arterial Alchemy wasn't the most appealing, one mana to equip to a Pirate is better. Pumping a few Pirates or powering up one Pirate for just a few mana seems worth it in those combat-centric decks.

The first part, however, is what I'm more keen on. Obviously, it'll be good in Pirate decks, but any time I see "it or another [creature type] enters", it might be worth considering in a deck like Rionya, Fire Dancer. Say we make three copies of it, each one will enter and make a tapped Treasure token, and then see two other Pirates enter. Including the original, that's twelve tapped Treasure tokens. Outside of corner cases like that, I think it'll be mostly found in Pirate decks.

Hit the Mother Lode

I think there are only two types of decks that want this: decks with big permanents that can be cheated out or decks that want a lot of artifacts to trigger something like Reckless Fireweaver. It sounds exciting, but I can't shake that it's less reliable than Brass's Bounty. And the Treasures come in tapped, so if we don't hit something worthwhile, we possibly tap out for nothing.

Anything with Treasures and exile in the mix is worth considering for Prosper, Tome-Bound, but what gets me excited about these discover cards is Laelia, the Blade Reforged. Laelie will see each card exile, like with cascade, and get a +1/+1 counter for all of them. I think Laelie got a huge boost from this set.

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun

Giving an attacking creature trample can be a potential wincon for this commander, but the second ability is where this commander's strength lies. Something as simple as Thrill of Possibility gives you access to three cards. We can benefit more from this ability by adding cards like Containment Construct and Conspiracy Theorist so we can still play the cards we discard, and if we have ways to repeatedly discard cards, Inti will give us access to so many cards that remain playable until the end of our next turn. At two mana, I can see him finding his way into higher-powered decks for the value alone.

Magmatic Galleon

It might see play in Burn decks, but only making a single Treasure when we deal damage to multiple creatures is not great. Aegar, the Freezing Flame, Toralf, God of Fury, and Rith, Liberated Primeval all care about excess damage, so not only will Magmatic Galleon trigger our commanders when it enters, but it will be a payoff for other burn effects in those decks.

Ore-Rich Stalactite

A mana rock for Spellslinger decks is neat, but you can only craft with red instants or sorcery cards? That's pretty restrictive, as this could've gone in a lot of decks given what its backside does.

On the front side, you have a mana rock that produces red mana that can only be used to cast an instant or sorcery. Once flipped, it becomes Cosmium Catalyst, which lets you play the exiled cards at random for just two mana. Eh. I don't see why it has to be random. I like that it's an early-game mana rock that later lets you recur spells in your graveyard. But we have Past in Flames if we really need the recursion. It'll depend on the type of spells you want to run. Casting Jeska's Will again is nice, but what if I cast Thrill of Possibility when I needed the mana? It seems like a lot of setup for something you don't have control over.

Anhelo, the Painter gives you the ability to copy the spell you're casting and Ovika, Enigma Goliath will love making lots of Goblins off big spells you only paid two mana for. I think the only consideration you need to make is whether your deck is running enough red spells that you can reliably exile four of them to this ability.

Poetic Ingenuity

Creating that many Treasures is insane to me. You're limited to only Dinosaurs triggering this, but still. Making a 3/1 Dinosaur once a turn is more incidental value, so you're probably not putting this in your artifact deck. Of course, any typal card like this will be considered for Changelings, but this one in particular will be a slam-dunk in those decks. Poetic Ingenuity will make it easier to cast Gishath, Sun's Avatar, which is a terrifying thought.

Trumpeting Carnosaur

I do love spells that can be used early and late game. For six, we get a 7/6 with trample and the chance to discover 5 for another nonland card. Maybe we whiff, or we could hit another Dinosaur to add to our board. Or we can pay three and pick off a small creature or planeswalker. Three mana for Bolt isn't ideal, but it's nice to have the option.

Wrathful Raptors

Wrathful Raptors is almost a carbon copy of Wrathful Red Dragon, and that card is scary to see across the table. It doesn't make Dinosaurs unblockable, but it will make your opponents hesitate to throw any blockers in front of one. What makes this especially potent with Dinosaurs is the Enrage mechanic. Having Apex Altisaur come down will hurt a lot. And we just got a new commander, Wayta, Trainer Prodigy, which goes off with Wrathful Raptors as she'll double its trigger.

Uncommons & Commons

Belligerent Yearling

Getting a 2/2 for two-mana wasn't much, but it was honest work.

Yeah, a two-mana 3/2 with trample that gets bigger whenever you play big creatures is pretty good. Dinosaur decks tend to operate at higher mana values, so seeing one that can be cast early is great to get the ball rolling. My only thought is that you'd probably still want to cast your Farseeks on turn two rather than this little guy, but later on, I can see this being a problem.

Diamond Pick-Axe

It's nice that this makes Treasures on attack instead of combat damage like Goldvein Pick or Beamtown Beatstick, but the latter two have more to offer. Goldvein Pick has a cheaper equip cost and can find its way into more decks. Beamtown Beatstick gives the equipped creature menace for the same rate as Diamond Pick-Axe.

Still, if you need cheap incidental ways to make Treasures, an additional pick isn't bad.

Dowsing Device

This card speaks to me. It's so easy to flip this into a land, and it can pump your commander sky high. Maybe it's because I recently built a Burakos, Party Leader and Guild Artisan deck that I'm excited but honestly, this card is strong.

It's almost red's Rampant Growth since it'll flip if you already control three other artifacts. Geode Grotto will end many games of Commander for decks that can make a lot of artifacts: Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator + Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar, Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant, and even Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy will want this.

Dreadmaw's Ire

Giving trample to a big creature is good, but I'm hoping to cast this onto a creature with double strike and deal with two artifacts at once. What's cool about this card is that you can cast this on an opponent's creature. Say that you're not able to get damage in at a player with a problematic artifact; you can politic with the player that has a big creature to swing at them. It's probably a niche situation, but I like that the option is there.

Enterprising Scallywag

Descend is very open-ended. Discard, Aristocrats, Mill, any strategy involving a permanent going to the graveyard will trigger Enterprising Scallywag. While it won't trigger off Treasures going to the graveyard, if you're already looking to sacrifice or discard cards, then this Scallywag will consistently give you mana. It won't see play in any green decks, but a commander like Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter who wants the fodder will be a good fit for it.

Scytheclaw Raptor

This is me screaming at the blue player to take four after they counterspell me.

While it can hurt us, if we're mostly playing creatures or big spells we must tap out for, Scytheclaw Raptor will punish our opponents the most. At three mana, this can come down early and weaken our opponents who like to play on other players' turns.

Sunshot Militia

A new Ghirapur Aether Grid but cheaper and on a creature. Getting to deal damage to each opponent is better than Aether Grid, but you lose out on being able to point that damage at creatures and planeswalkers. And the sorcery speed limits when you can use it. On the upside, you can tap creatures as well, which makes this a more versatile piece.

You would typically play Ghirapur Aether Grid in decks that had artifacts like Equipment that can be tapped without any consequences, but it doesn't see play outside of those types of decks. Sunshot Milita can go in any deck that can go wide. Put this in a deck that has cards like Rabble Rousing and Call the Coppercoats and you can burn your opponents out of nowhere.

Zoyowa's Justice

I think this gets better when you hit permanents with a high mana value because they're less likely to hit that permanent again, albeit increasing the chance to hit another threat. On the scale of red removals, it's not better than Chaos Warp, but it can be stronger than Wild Magic Surge as they're not guaranteed to hit the same permanent type. It is limited to just artifacts and creatures, unlike the other two.

Maybe the Treasure was the Friends We Made Along the Way

Our exploration comes to an end as we reach the bottom of the lost caverns. I'm excited to test out a lot of these new red cards. While many of them will only go into Dinosaur or Pirate decks, we have some really cool ones to look forward to. Dowsing Device is definitely on my radar, but I'm going to try out Zoyowa's Justice and Scytheclaw Raptor and see how those fair.

What are your thoughts on The Lost Caverns of Ixalan? Are you going to build Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might? Are you pumped for more Pirate support? Let me know in the comments below and I'll see you next time!

Joshua Wood

Josh is a creative writer that started playing Magic when Throne of Eldraine was released. He loves entering combat and pressuring life totals, and to him, commander damage is always relevant. Outside of brewing many commander decks, he can be found prepping his D&D campaigns with a cat purring in his lap.