Dinosaurs, pirates and a cave system
Lost Caverns of Ixalan takes Ixalan's four factions underground, and it is the more mechanically dense of the two 2023 sets still in Standard. Three new mechanics, a new token and a returning one.
Discover is the one that spread furthest. It is cascade with a ceiling rather than a floor: exile from the top of your library until you hit a card with mana value at or below the number, then either cast it free or put it in hand. Naming a maximum instead of a minimum makes it far easier to build around and far harder to break.
Themes
Discover
Discover N exiles cards off the top until one has mana value N or less, then you cast it without paying its cost or put it in your hand. Unlike cascade you choose whether to cast it, and the cap rather than the floor is what keeps it in check.
Descend
Counts permanent cards in your graveyard. Descend 4 and descend 8 are thresholds; fathomless descent uses the count itself as a number. It rewards a graveyard full of lands and artifacts rather than spells.
Craft
An activated ability on double-faced permanents. Exile the permanent along with specified materials, other permanents you control or cards in your graveyard, pay mana, and it returns transformed into something better.
Map tokens
An artifact token you sacrifice, paying one mana, to have a creature explore. It turns explore into something you hold until the moment it helps rather than a trigger you take when it happens.
Explore
Reveal the top card of your library. Land goes to hand; anything else puts a +1/+1 counter on the creature and you choose whether to keep the card on top. Back from the original Ixalan block.
Where You Can Play It
A release usually ships more than one set code, and they don't all share the same legality: the main set is Standard-legal while Commander cards are eternal-only. Here's each code in Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
A bonus-sheet printing doesn't change a card's legality, so each card is legal wherever that card already was. The sheet itself is a Commander, Legacy and Vintage product.
A bonus-sheet printing doesn't change a card's legality, so each card is legal wherever that card already was. The sheet itself is a Commander, Legacy and Vintage product.
Standard legality is current as of August 2026. There is no rotation in 2026, and Lost Caverns of Ixalan is one of the two 2023 sets still in the format. It leaves at the February 2027 rotation, when 2025–2027 becomes the pool, and stays legal in Pioneer, Modern and the eternal formats after that. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
A full ten-pair format built on the plane's four factions, with the cave subtheme cutting across them.
All ten two-colour pairs
Full ten-pair format
Dinosaurs anchor the red-green end, pirates and treasure sit in blue-red, vampires and descend pull black toward the graveyard, and merfolk with explore hold blue-green. Craft turns up wherever the pair can afford to spend permanents.
Commander
One per faction of Ixalan.
Ahoy Mateys
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable
Pirates, treasure and the graveyard.
Blood Rites
Clavileno, First of the Blessed
Vampires and sacrifice.
Explorers of the Deep
Hakbal of the Surging Soul
Merfolk and explore.
Veloci-Ramp-Tor
Pantlaza, Sun-Favored
Dinosaurs, ramp and discover.
Building one of these into something of your own? The precon buying guide covers how to judge a deck, and the Commander deck template is the shape to build toward.
FAQ
Yes. Along with Wilds of Eldraine it is one of the two 2023 sets still in the format. Both leave at the February 2027 rotation, when 2025 to 2027 becomes the Standard pool.
Cascade names a floor and casts whatever it hits. Discover names a ceiling: exile from the top until you find a card with mana value at or below the number, then choose whether to cast it free or put it in hand. Naming a maximum is what keeps it from being broken the way cascade can be.
It counts permanent cards in your graveyard. Descend 4 and descend 8 are thresholds you cross, while fathomless descent uses the count itself as a number. Lands and artifacts in the graveyard count, so it rewards a different graveyard from a spells-based one.
It is an activated ability on double-faced permanents. Exile the permanent along with the specified materials, which are other permanents you control or cards in your graveyard, pay the mana, and it comes back transformed into something better.
An artifact token you sacrifice, paying one mana, to have a creature explore. It turns explore into something you hold until it helps rather than a trigger you take whenever it happens.
Four, one per faction: Ahoy Mateys, Blood Rites, Explorers of the Deep and Veloci-Ramp-Tor.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan released on Nov 17, 2023; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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