Hot on the heels of Wilds of Eldraine will be Magic: The Gathering’s Winter 2023 expansion set, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Here’s everything that we know about the upcoming set, including all of the information revealed at the MagicCon Barcelona preview panel.
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The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Plot
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan will be our second time visiting the the plane of Ixalan, having first encountered the plane in 2017’s Ixalan and 2018’s Rivals of Ixalan.
In our previous visit to the plane, Jace, Cunning Castaway landed on Ixalan after the Gatewatch’s defeat on Amonkhet. There, he found Vraska, Relic Seeker leading a band of pirates called the Brazen Coalition that were racing the other cultures of Ixalan—the Sun Empire (humans/dinosaurs), the River Heralds (merfolk), and the Legion of Dusk (vampires)—to the lost city of Orazca that hid the powerful Immortal Sun.
As we return to Ixalan in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, we arrive just after the Phyrexian’s multi-planar invasion was defeated. A lot has changed, but not the fact that everyone is undertaking a new race—this time towards the center of the world in search of a new resource: cosmium.
As the Legion of Dusk drive towards the center of the world, they discover a new group that we haven’t met yet that inhabit the caves of Ixalan that turn out to be the ancestors of the Sun Empire.
Once the groups race past the caves, they discover that Ixalan is a hollow world. The Core is in the middle of the world, and functions as a sun for the inner world of Ixalan.
The new group inhabiting the center of Ixalan apparently use the magic of this inner sun to expand their power.
Meanwhile, Huatli is rallying her own forces for a battle at the Core. We don’t know if she retained her spark, though, only that she will appear as a legendary creature in the set.
A brand new aspect to Ixalan is the discovery of gods on the plane. The first god is Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might, whose design draws inspiration from the many Mesoamerican gods have shapeshifting stories. (Yes, that is a dinosaur arm.)
The other god we know of so far is Ojer Kaslem. She appears to be focused on wisdom and embodies of butterflies, snake, and the grandmother.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Mechanics
While we don’t know what mechanics will be used in The Lost Caves of Ixalan, it is a relatively safe bet that one of the mechanics from the original Ixalan or Rivals of Ixalan will make a return.
Ixalan saw the debut of two new mechanics: Explore and Enrage. Explore appears on creatures and allows players to reveal the top card of their library. If the card is a land, they can put it in their hand; otherwise, they can put a +1/+1 counter on the creature. Enrage is also a creature-based mechanic, which triggers whenever a creature with the keyword is dealt damage.
Rivals of Ixalan, on the other hand, only added one new mechanic: Ascend. A player would “ascend” and get the city’s blessing if they controlled 10 or more permanents. Cards with the Ascend keyword would then provide additional benefits if the controlling player had the city’s blessing.
Explore was by far the more popular and effective mechanic of those three, so it is the best bet to be a returning mechanic in The Lost Caves of Ixalan.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Product Lineup
As a modern Magic set, we are basically guaranteed a full suite of product types for The Lost Caves of Ixalan. From Draft to Set and Collector Boosters, as well as Commander decks and JumpStart decks. We’ll know the exact product lineup soon.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Preview and Release Dates
We don’t know the exact date that the preview season for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan will start or when the set will be released. However, it has been indicated that we should expect the set to release some time in November 2023.