The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI) Limited Set Review: Green

Hey everyone! It’s new set time and I know you are all excited to read about all the crazy shenanigans we’re about to get into in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. I’m ready to start spelunking down into this to figure out what my exploration uncovers.

Per usual, I’ll be grading the entire set for the purpose of limited as well as writing about a million other articles about it. With all that, you’ll be well prepared to crush some serious dreams.

Here’s the usual grading scale:

• 5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
• 4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
• 4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion's Messenger)
• 3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
• 3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
• 2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
• 2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
• 1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
• 1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
• 0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
• 0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)

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Armored Kincaller

Rating: 2.5/5

This grade is assuming you have a decent number of other dinosaurs packed into your deck. If you don’t have any, then this drops down to the dreaded 1.5 curve filler range. The three life might not seem like much, but it can really matter when they are trying to race your ground creatures against some evasion.

One of the cool things about this is that Ixalli's Lorekeeper exists so you could drop this on turn two to start the beats.

Basking Capybara

Rating: 2.0/5

I hope I’m not letting my love for Capybaras influence my grade too much. It’s not that difficult to hit descend 4 pretty early especially with some of the self-mill cards so it should be cracking in for four. You don’t even have to drop this on turn two for it to end up being good, double spelling 4/3s on turn four after you already hit descend 4 is still big game.

As with a lot of the cards in this set, it goes from great to pretty bad depending on what the other cards in your deck are.  

Bedrock Tortoise

Rating: 4.0/5

It’s a 6/6 for four mana that givers all of your creatures hexproof during your turn. No drawbacks, no difficult casting cost, one color. Yeah, sounds pretty good to me.

Cavern Stomper

Rating: 2.5/5

I’ll play this so I can, as Nelly would say, get to stomping. While you can’t fill your deck with these, it’s a good top end monster. A later in the game scry will usually ensure that you find even more gas on top of this big boi. While it doesn’t have trample, the ability to scare off small creatures is equally as valuable.

Cenote Scout

Rating: 3.0/5

This is either a 1/1 that drew a card or a 2/2 with card selection. I’d pay one mana for that all day long.

There is an entire collection of John Cena jokes here, but you can’t see them.

Coati Scavenger

Rating: 2.5/5

They got tired of Gravedigger getting dissed so they made it bigger, cheaper, and able to get any permanent. That did enough to make me want to play this adorable little guy.

Colossadactyl

Rating: 2.5/5

Reach and trample don’t really go together, but they do let you play either offense or defense if need be. What’s funny is that this would be overstatted for an uncommon back in the day, but now it’s just slightly above the curve.

Cosmium Confluence

Rating: 1.5/5

Obviously, you need a whole bunch of caves before even considering putting this in your deck. We’ve all been really down on Explosive Vegetation effects for awhile. It’s questionable if the extra mana and a third option really makes it worth it especially when you consider the limitations.

The haste part is tricky because you already need to have an untapped cave in play after playing this to take advantage of it since the new one comes into play tapped. Maybe you’ll have enough out that you can add 9/9 worth of stats with this. That seems to be the dream scenario.

The enchantment part is more of a bonus than anything else because you’re not going to sit on this waiting for them to play one. You’re really just hoping to high roll popping off a Petrify or an Eaten by Piranhas.

Disturbed Slumber

Rating: 1.0/5

You’re hoping to catch them sleeping with one blocker that you specifically want to kill. If it ends up as a trade, you just two for one’d yourself. It technically costs three mana since you’ll be attacking with that land.

Maybe you can pick off an unsuspecting flyer with it on defense. I’d recommend just passing it along and letting some other person fall for this.

Earthshaker Dreadmaw

Rating: 3.0/5

Power creep has caught up to Colossal Dreadmaw. In a dedicated dinosaur deck, this can certainly be a massive Mulldrifter or even more. Tons of potential in something without much downside other than costing six.

Explorer’s Cache

Rating: 2.0/5

You get to keep stashing all of your +1+1 counters even after your poor creatures die. Well, technically you only get to keep one of their +1+1 counters to remember them by. The rest must have went to other family members.

You can them ration them out at one per turn which seems really slow, but at least it’s free.

Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant

Rating: 2.5/5

This does cost eight mana, but it is in green so you’re more likely to get there than in other colors. You probably won’t have many creatures left in hand by then, but maybe you’ll have a chonker left to deploy. Once down, it is pretty difficult to do anything about a 12/12 trample without clean removal so it can and will end games quickly.

My dream is to mill this, Defossilize it, and drop a grip of monsters. I will jam games of this format until it happens, even if it takes years.

Glimpse the Core

Rating: 1.5/5

Not quite a Rampant Growth because it doesn’t fix. For limited purposes it’s essentially a Nature's Lore (this can only get basic Forest, but did you somehow draft a Taiga in this set). It will have a place if you’re playing a ramp deck. Maybe you’ll even have a cave in your graveyard to get later on.

Glowcap Lantern

Rating: 1.5/5

It’s nice that you know what’s on top of your deck before you decide to attack. Otherwise you’d have to attack in the dark not knowing if you’d get the +1+1 counter. I actually think this has potential in the descend or explore green decks, but it’s a hard pass if you’re playing the dinosaur versions.

Growing Rites of Itlimoc

Rating: 1.5/5

Are you going wide and need a source of a whole bunch of mana? If not, this may not be the card for you. Three mana to Impulse a creature is way too expensive, but if you have four creatures this can give you a big bump up your curve.

Huatli’s Final Strike

Rating: 3.0/5

I’ve always loved Clear Shot and while this loses the point of toughness, it is available at common. That missing point means that you won’t get any of the extra blowouts where they try to trade or burn your creature for the exact amount. Still it is an instant speed removal spell so I’ll be taking them.

Huatli, Poet of Unity

Rating: 4.0/5

This is assuming that you have a capability to flip it, but it searches for a land and has two color options so it shouldn’t be too difficult. Getting a couple of dinosaurs, some extra mana, and a dino tutor followed up by double strike and trample is going to be a whole lot for your opponent to try to deal with.

Hulking Raptor

Rating: 3.5/5

If you curve Ixalli's Lorekeeper into this on turn three, you can potentially drop a seven drop on turn four. That won’t cause any tables to flip at all. I’m sure your opponent will react in a very calm and rational manner to that.

I love the ward on this because it stops the three toughness from being too big of a drawback so that you can actually get to your mana ramp the next turn.

In the Presence of Ages

Rating: 1.5/5

Dropping the unpicked cards into your yard means that this will be nice addition to the descend deck. Sometimes you will even decide to not take the land to add another permanent to the bin. I just don’t like this in any deck that I’m not trying to do that in.

Some people were telling me this is green Divination with selection. It’s really not because if you miss, it’s an extremely unfortunate event.

Intrepid Paleontologist

Rating: 4.0/5

Let’s see here. It’s a bear that is also a Birds of Paradise. Sounds pretty awesome to me already. It can also remove cards from graveyards in a set with a graveyard theme. Getting better. It lets you excavate any dinosaurs from your graveyard to zombiesaur them in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, this card rocks.

The only reason it’s not higher is that it dies to a lot of cheap things and is going to have a giant target on it’s back.

Ixalli’s Lorekeeper

Rating: 2.5/5

We have a Llanowar Elves situation here. I think it’s only right that I refer to this as Dinosaur Elves and I am kind of disappointed that they didn’t name it that.

Some people don’t realize how insane jumping from one to three mana is. Sure, this can only cast dinosaurs, but that just means that you’ll actually be able to pick these up when you’re in the right deck.

Seriously you should be terrified when this drops turn one. Bolt the bird is a rule for a reason.

Jade Seedstones

Rating: 2.0/5

The front part that distributes +1+1 counters is underwhelming. We did just see how good it could be with Picnic Ruiner, but the second half of that was significantly better. You could also choose to go with the creature first if you wanted while this forces your hand to do both.

The back half is seven mana for our Ravenous Lindwurm variant of the set with a variable amount of life. That extra mana is a huge difference with this being much worse at stabilizing against aggressive decks, but slightly better in a big creature mirror with the 7/7 stat line.

Jadelight Spelunker

Rating: 4.0/5

This has a ton of versatility to it. You can just keep putting the same nonland back on top if you want to ensure that it gets as big as possible. You can also dig deep to get as many lands out of the way as you can.

Unless I’m short on lands, I probably don’t want to drop this before x= 4. It’s even easily splashable. Pretty easy first pick.

Kaslem’s Stonetree

Rating: 1.0/5

So, for three mana, I can ramp, but it’s not guaranteed. I understand that you should be hitting a land in your top six cards, but the times that you miss are going to hurt so bad. Then it costs six mana to flip it into an actual factual vanilla 5/5.

But wait, there’s more. It needs to craft with a cave so there’s a possibility that you don’t have one yet. Oh yeah, if that cave isn’t in your graveyard yet, you get to Stone Rain yourself for it. I am passing on this soooo hard.

Malamet Battle Glyph

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s essentially Prey Upon that you get to add a +1+1 counter if your creature just showed up for that fight. Considering that your creatures will usually be bigger in green anyway, that’s a solid addition to a deck lacking other removal.

Malamet Brawler

Rating: 1.5/5

Alright meow, this is basically a bear with minimal upside. Maybe you give a giant dinosaur trample, but this is the definition of curve filler.

Malamet Scythe

Rating: 1.5/5

It might surprise you that I didn’t just call this bad equipment and move on. I’ve always had a small thing for combat tricks that stick around afterwards even if they were a bit overpriced. Even if they killed the creature the next turn, you still ended up with a two for two as long as they didn’t kill it in response (and you certainly didn’t get dog walked right into that, right?).

This performs a similar role, but leaves an equipment behind afterwards. It’s very pricy to equip, but you should have already gotten your value so it’s just extra gravy.

Malamet Veteran

Rating: 1.5/5

This kitty is freaking swole! If you’re an aggressive descend deck then this could help get across the finish line. It’s just underwhelming for a five drop.

Mineshaft Spider

Rating: 2.0/5

Giant Spider has become a victim of power creep! To be fair we are long past the days where that was anything more than a sideboard card. This little creeper does enough that he will be making the main deck if I’m trying to decend.

Nurturing Bristleback

Rating: 2.5/5

One thing I have failed to mention in my reviews is that the land cyclers are a great way to trigger descend. They even let you hit descend 4 or 8 at instant speed as a trick. Just something to keep in mind.

As I’ve discussed before, the landcyclers tend to get a bit of leeway with the casting cost due to the option. This would be a good card at six mana without the cycling option so that makes it a solid card at seven.

Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth

Rating: 4.5/5

A slightly overstatted trampler that they are basically forced to block or you get to add a creature and/or land directly to the battlefield regardless of its mana cost. Even if they have a way to deal with it, getting to ten permanents isn’t that hard to get this to come right back for more.

Over the Edge

Rating: 2.0/5

They missed out on a great opportunity to have one of the Malamet kitties pushing this cup off the edge of a table.

There are enough artifacts running around that I will almost certainly mainboard the first copy of this. The fall back of double exploring is very similar in value to being able to cycle which is just great on a Disenchant.

Pathfinding Axejaw

Rating: 2.5/5

I am way too entertained with this dinosaur running around with a light attached to his head.

This is either a 5/4 with card selection or a 4/3 that drew a card. Not too shabby for a four-mana common.

Poison Dart Frog

Rating: 2.5/5

A cheap ramper that can trade for almost everything (including flyers) later on is a great little addition to any deck trying to play large monsters. It’s also an adorable frog of death.

Pugnacious Hammerskull

Rating: 4.0/5

I’m sure I’m going to hear plenty of bad beat stories about Ixalli's Lorekeeper into this into another dinosaur. This just has so many stats for only three mana. It doesn’t even have a drawback unless you attack without another dinosaur in play. Even if you end up in that situation, it’s similar to a 3/3 attacking twice over those same turns.

River Herald Guide

Rating: 2.0/5

While a 4/2 vigilance for three isn’t much to write home about, it does give a bit of card selection. I’ll usually be happier if I get to draw the land early on. Still explore is a powerful ability so it’s hard to make a bad card that ETBs with it.

Seeker of Sunlight

Rating: 1.5/5

As I just said about explore, it’s an amazing ETB ability. Paying three mana to do it at sorcery speed is significantly less exciting. Maybe this is what you want to do if you managed to flip a Growing Rites of Itlimoc, but mana sinks are a lot more situational than they used to be.

Sentinel of the Nameless City

Rating: 4.0/5

Comes down at an above rate stat line with a map token to potentially grow even bigger. Then it makes another map token every time it attacks. Now that’s a gravy train with biscuit wheels. I’m going to Choo choo choose it!

Spelunking

Rating: 1.0/5

Three mana for an Explore (the card, not the ability) is a big miss for me even if the four life wasn’t contingent on you having a cave to play. How many tapped lands are you running that would make this worth playing? Leave this to commander and constructed people wanting another Amulet of Vigor.

Staggering Size

Rating: 1.5/5

Is Staggering Size the new way to order a McDonalds meal? I’ll take that in Staggering Size please.

An upgraded Run Amok that doesn’t require you to be attacking. This will win a lot of combats and maybe help you trample over for the win.

Tendril of the Mycotyrant

Rating: 2.5/5

Let’s see where this falls on the bear with upside scale. In the late game it starts turning your lands into 7/7s to dominate even the dinosaurs running around. That seems like a really nice way to takeover in the late game with the floor of a bear. Looks pretty solid to me.

The Skullspore Nexus

Rating: 4.0/5

You should be able to get this down at a reasonable rate since you are playing the color of giant monsters. Speaking of those monsters, being able to double their power is going to seriously turn up the pressure. If they decide to trade, then they are going to be dealing with a The Last of Us situation where fungus dinosaurs start to rise up to consume the world.

Thrashing Brontodon

Rating: 3.0/5

I’ve loved this guy in every set that he’s been printed in. It’s always been a nice body with the ability to pick off an artifact or enchantment if need be. This seems like the set where it really gets to shine because there are artifacts everywhere.

Twists and Turns

Rating: 2.5/5

As long as you have a creature out, this is one mana for a scry and an explore. Then it adds a scry to every explore you get after that. While that feels like it’s not quite worth an entire card, it gets pretty close depending on how many times you scry.

What really matters is the back which just requires you to play your seventh land. Then you get to flip this into a land that Impulses for a creature every time you activate it. That’s going to keep the gas flowing for the rest of the game.

Pretty good deal for only one mana.

Walk with the Ancestors

Rating: 1.0/5

A five-mana Regrowth with Discover 4 isn’t exactly what I want to be doing. I understand being careful not to break discover, but this went a little too far.

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Wrap Up

Green has a lot of what you would expect them to be doing with an abundance of large creatures and some ways to make them fight/bite opposing critters. It has a ton of upside in its better cards, but there are multiple “how did this bad card get printed” ones as well.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow with my prerelease guide and the next day with my limited review of the Artifacts and Lands cards of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Until then, stay classy people!

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.

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