General Rivals of Ixalan (RIX) Spoilers

[Aston]

It's kind of interesting as an alternative to Exploration that's worse early but a better topdeck in the lategame. It's also more easily tutorable.

 

[inscho]

Hmmm....interesting, but not my cup of tea. Exploration and oracle of mul daya are much better for my green archetypes. Those archetypes don’t value a conditional big body more than the cheap cost of exploration and value of oracle.

 

[sigh]

There's also Courser of Kruphix in the 3 mana slot already, and I like courser quite a bit better as well. Neat concept though, like, you can Coco for it!

 

[Mondschwein]

Ascend looks especially cool in Gx ramp decks that put a lot of lands onto the battlefield. Having an effect earlier in the game and then later, after reaching your goal, looks waaaayyyy cooler than just ramping until 7+ is reached so you can slam big beef onto the table.

 

[RavebornMuse]

Wayward Swordtooth is neat if your ramp payoffs are mana-intensive value engines and X spells instead of the traditional huge piles of beef, which is really what my format is all about, but I'm just not sure I'm interested. I think in most cases I'd rather run something that can get me lands instead and leave the beef to something else (durdle ramp decks love making a big Quirion Dryad / Deeproot Champion), and green's 3s are just a nightmare of juicy options at this point that I don't know what format this can crack into. I might end up trying it anyway because dinosaurs are really interesting for Magic cards to me; kinda depends on how pumped my drafters are for it, though, and I don't really fathom it sticking around. Cool concept, though.

 

[Velrun]

By the way the entire set is up now: (I know you all know this. I just wanted to make sure EVERYONE knew)

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/rivals-of-ixalan


----


I'm here to present the award for the best flavor text. The nominees for outstanding flavor text in Rivals of Ixalans are:

Luminous Bond in the role as white neo Pacifism.
Raptor Companion in the role as cute white weenie reborn.
Trapjaw Tyrant as the old narrator who explains the story to the viewer.
Crafty Cutpurse for bringing math back onto the big screen.
Secrets of the Golden City for stating the obvious.
Canal Monitor as the ever-hungry beast in Jaws 16.
Fathom Fleet Boarder for revealing a great irony of our age.
Storm Fleet Swashbuckler for great rhyming skills.
Gleaming Barrier for telling us a hard truth.
Highland Lake for some Pirate insight.

"Aaaaaaaaand the reward for the best flavor text goes to...."

"CANAL MONITOOOOOOR"

"Come up here you big fella."

This is Canal Monitor's first flavor reward and the first Lizard to ever win one.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

That truly is magnificent flavor text :lol:

I do like the flavor text on Secrets of the Golden City as well!

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Kind of surprised no one mentioned this fellow?

 

[Taamas]

Ok, I saw that Highland Lake from Amonkhet and my mind crashed. The fate of Innistrad? With the Amonkhet expansion symbol? Whaaaat? But its collector number is 282/269, so I guess they just reprinted the Shadows Over Innistrad card in a Planeswalker Deck. Pretty weird, nonetheless.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Wow! This is perfect for my cube!

 

[Velrun]

That truly is magnificent flavor text :lol:

I do like the flavor text on Secrets of the Golden City as well!

It was nominated for it's outstanding performance but appearently fell short in the voting by the motion flavor panel.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Oh snap, check out Martyr of Dusk. No human or spirit synergies, but the initial body is better than Doomed Traveler, and in some situations lifelink can be better than flying. I’m going to test it if I ever get to cube again.

 

[Chris Taylor]

The last two sets have been reeeeeeeeal good to Ajani's Pridemate

 

[astraedm]

I'm trying to decide if Oathsworn Vampire is where i wanna be. Life matters and recursion are where I wanna be in black, but the payoff is just a bear..

 

[Velrun]

Can anyone tell me what the flavor-justification for Oathsworn Vampire to ETBF tapped?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Can anyone tell me what the flavor-justification for Oathsworn Vampire to ETBF tapped?

Have you never stepped out of your coffin, still a bit stiff from a good decade of "sleep"?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Have you never stepped out of your coffin, still a bit stiff from a good decade of "sleep"?

You don't know my life

 

[Taamas]

I'm trying to decide if Oathsworn Vampire is where i wanna be. Life matters and recursion are where I wanna be in black, but the payoff is just a bear..

Well, what is the payoff of Bloodsoaked Champion?

 

[astraedm]

Well, what is the payoff of Bloodsoaked Champion?

I would think that the floor as a 1 mana 2/1 is higher than the floor of a 2 mana 2/2, but when you put it like that it sounds a lot more reasonable.

 

[NimbusToad]

I would think that the floor as a 1 mana 2/1 is higher than the floor of a 2 mana 2/2, but when you put it like that it sounds a lot more reasonable.

But, on the other hand, you are a lot more likely to be able to trigger "Raid" every turn then gaining life. That, combined with the more aggressive casting cost, makes the Champion quite a bit more powerful.

That said, if your black themes are recursion and life gain then it sounds like the vampire might be a great fit.

 

[Taamas]

Bloodsoaked is better the first time you cast it, but then it has the same cost as the vampire. Raid may be easier to trigger, but it depends of the environment. I'm not saying they are equally powerful, but Bloodsoaked being better does not prevent the inclusion of the other.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I have been having a blast with one particular enchantment :')



Casting a janky 6+ mana removal spell, only to reveal another one of these is pure gold

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

I had two Sunbird's Invocation at the last GP, that was good fun.

What are people thinking of adding from RIX? The only things I'm pretty sure I'm going to find room for (at the moment) are:

 

[Onderzeeboot]

There's quite a few interesting cards I feel, though as always, it's hard to cut cards, so I'm going to divide these in an 'excited' (I will find a cut for these) and an 'intrigued' (I'll look if I can find a cut) category.

EXCITED


I'm a bit bummed there weren't more cool enrage cards, as I really like the mechanic, and would have loved to expand it to red, as well as have more options in green.

INTRIGUED
Baffling End
Everdawn Champion
Paladin of Atonement
Skymarcher Aspirant
Curious Obsession
Induced Amnesia
Kumena's Awakening
Nezahal, Primal Tide
Release to the Wind
Dead Man's Chest
Dire Fleet Poisoner
Golden Demise
Twilight Prophet
Dire Fleet Daredevil
Etali, Primal Storm
Frilled Deathspitter
Pirate's Pillage
Rekindling Phoenix
Cherished Hatchling
Hardy Veteran
Jadelight Ranger
Path of Discovery
Tendershoot Dryad
Wayward Swordtooth
World Shaper
Atzocan Seer
Deadeye Brawler
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Huatli, Radiant Champion
Protean Raider
Raging Regisaur
Zacama, Primal Calamity
Captain's Hook
Gleaming Barrier

The basic lands are freaking amazing as well! I might actually like them better than the Rebecca Guay lands o_O

Guay's Swamp is unsurpassed, but Dimitar nailed all five arts, and the other four basics might actually be better than Guay's. Dimitar's colors are just so rich and vibrant, gorgeous!

 

[inscho]

Definite:


Likely:


Maybe:


Probably not, but will keep in back of my mind: