Ixalan was a neat set when it came out, lots of cool cards between all the flip lands and various tribal cards. Unfortunately not much long term staying power as FIRE came into being not long afterwards and also we just got improved versions of multiple effects over time. I think the only card that still has a home in my cube nowadays is Chart a Course which is just a very clean and effective design. Two mana to draw two cards is always a great rate, love the utility in self-mill/reanimator decks. I remember running and liking Search for Azcanta for a long time before swapping over to other cards and eventually settling on Narset, Parter of Veils. Maybe I'll revisit it again someday because the play patterns were pretty cool and the late game inevitability was great for the grindier decks that my drafters would put together.
Funnily enough, my favorite memory from this set is with Limited when Fatal Push was the FNM promo card.
At the time myself and my playgroup were super into Modern and really looked forward to the chance of winning one of these which were in high demand. I think the store fired off 4 full pods of 8 for this set just because people wanted the promo. Anyway, I think I drafted some weird Naya Dinos deck that was okay but nothing to write home about while my buddy in the same pod ended up being the only drafted in U/G Merfolk so he had like every single card wheel to him. Everyone else is fighting over Vampires and Dinosaurs and Pirates while he's sitting pretty with this insane deck. He proceeds to crush the entire draft going 3-0, 6-0 which included myself getting absolutely curbstomped. I'm talking every relevant uncommon, all the Merfolk tricks, and I think two lords? It was disgusting and I had no chance at all.
I did eventually win my own copy a week or two later, but then decided nah this Limited environment is actually not worth running it back any further. Especially once they were out of FNM promos.
Funnily enough, my favorite memory from this set is with Limited when Fatal Push was the FNM promo card.
At the time myself and my playgroup were super into Modern and really looked forward to the chance of winning one of these which were in high demand. I think the store fired off 4 full pods of 8 for this set just because people wanted the promo. Anyway, I think I drafted some weird Naya Dinos deck that was okay but nothing to write home about while my buddy in the same pod ended up being the only drafted in U/G Merfolk so he had like every single card wheel to him. Everyone else is fighting over Vampires and Dinosaurs and Pirates while he's sitting pretty with this insane deck. He proceeds to crush the entire draft going 3-0, 6-0 which included myself getting absolutely curbstomped. I'm talking every relevant uncommon, all the Merfolk tricks, and I think two lords? It was disgusting and I had no chance at all.
I did eventually win my own copy a week or two later, but then decided nah this Limited environment is actually not worth running it back any further. Especially once they were out of FNM promos.