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Four tribes and the first Treasure
What this set is
Ixalan is a plane of jungles and seas where four tribes race for the golden city of Orazca: Vampires (white-black), Merfolk (green-blue), Dinosaurs (red-green-white) and Pirates (blue-black-red). It is the last block of two sets, completed by Rivals of Ixalan.
Treasure tokens debuted here: an artifact you sacrifice for one mana of any color. They have since become one of the most common tokens in the game. Explore and enrage are the other new mechanics, and raid returns for the Pirates.
Transforming legendary enchantments, such as Growing Rites of Itlimoc, flip into legendary lands. Commander players use Ixalan for its tribal legends and Revel in Riches.
Themes
Every mechanic in Ixalan
Treasure
A colorless artifact token with "{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color." Introduced here and printed in a large share of sets since.
Explore
Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land, put it into your hand; otherwise put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you may put the card into your graveyard.
Enrage
An ability word on Dinosaurs: it triggers whenever the creature is dealt damage.
Raid
A bonus if you attacked this turn. Back from Khans of Tarkir, now on Pirates.
Transforming legends
Legendary enchantments and artifacts that transform into legendary lands once a condition is met.
Where You Can Play It
Format legality
Ixalan shipped under a single code and is legal in Pioneer, Modern and the eternal formats.
Not Standard-legal. Standard only ever holds the last few years of sets, so everything this old has long since left it. These cards are still playable in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
The draft format
A typal format where the four tribes set the color pairs.
Vampires
Lifelink aggro
Lifelink and go-wide Vampires.
Merfolk
Explore
Explore and evasive Merfolk.
Dinosaurs
Big creatures
Enrage Dinosaurs and ramp.
Pirates
Raid
Raid and Treasure.
Commanders
The most played commanders from Ixalan
The legends this set is best known for. Tap one for its printings and what it costs.
Boosters, precons and singles from Ixalan are on TCGplayer.
FAQ
Common questions
What set introduced Treasure tokens?
Ixalan, in September 2017. A Treasure is an artifact you sacrifice for one mana of any color.
What are the four tribes of Ixalan?
Vampires (white-black), Merfolk (green-blue), Dinosaurs (red-green-white) and Pirates (blue-black-red).
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Ixalan released on Sep 29, 2017; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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