Explorers of Ixalan NEW BOX SET Deck 1 of 4: Sun Empire (Dinosaurs)
I must have been behind
I thought that I just did a box set this last week, but there is another one! This one is called Explorers of Ixalan. It contains another mini-game inside! Wizards of the Coast are stepping up their game! I can’t wait to play the actual game with this. But for now, let’s look at the decks that come with it!
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs.
I was able to play against this deck a few times with @treigh-c and they pulled off some pretty cruel things. The dinosaurs in this deck play off of each other very well. One mechanic that is prevalent here is Enrage. When the creature is dealt damage, something happens.
One way to get this to trigger more often is use spells against your own creatures to deal small amounts of damage. There are quite a few ways to do this in the Ixalan sets, and there are also ways built into it already.
I am going to go over a couple of main cards that help the deck, and maybe one or two that I like.
Path to Exile
Right away to start off this deck, look at the new artwork for Path to Exile! Pretty cool, kids.
Another reason that I included this card in the breakdown is because it is a one mana exile target creature. It does allow your opponent to grab a mana from their library, but in a late game situation it might not be as big of a deal.
Bellowing Aegisaur
This creature is fun because I like to do things with it that you wouldn’t normally expect. Something like use your own spells to deal small amounts of damage to it, thus resulting in +1/+1’s for everyone else!
Aggravated Assault
Fun card, and even more fun when you have many trample dinosaurs! For five mana you get to untap all of your creatures, and have an additional combat and main phase.
If this card was added into a commander deck, 10 mana is not hard to acquire nor even 15. You could deal some major damage with this card and a couple big creatures (dragons cough cough).
Raging Swordtooth
This is an example of a card that deals damage to things, this deck isn’t short of them. When it enters the battlefield, it deals one damage to each other creature. Now if you already have a couple of creatures with enrage this will help out nicely.
5/5 with trample for five mana. Crazy good creature by itself.
Regisaur Alpha
This is a card that I would consider a support creature. It has some pretty good stats, but I believe the main purpose of this guy was to boost the team. This dino gives other dinos haste and it creates a 3/3 trample dino when it enters the battlefield.
A 4/4 for five mana is not bad considering how he helps support.
There are going to be three more decks coming your way, they have the themes of Vampire, Merfolk, and Pirate. Make sure you follow to see the next couple of decks!
I've put off buying this. What exactly is the mini game with these decks? it is like new cards like planechase/archenemy or boss battle like theros prerelease? Is it solitaire playable or do you have to have multiple people to play?
This mini game is different than the one with the Nicol Bolas box. It has quite a few hexagonal pieces that make up the board, and each piece has a bonus on it. Each turn you can use your mana to get the bonuses. To play the mini game it has to be at least 2 people, most is 4 people.
I am going to post about it soon.
Oh man I haven’t pulled out the old magic cards in years. I’ve played a bit of hearthstone now and again, but I really do miss the thrill of a real card battle.. Thanks for the trip down memory lane man, nice post!
Thank you! You are totally right about an actual card battle. Hearthstone was a good place filler, but nothing like crushing your friends in real life!!!
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