MTG The Lost Caverns of Ixalan: New & returning mechanics 

With Wilds of Ixalan gearing up for its November release, we’re here to give you the rundown on all the new and recurring mechanics appearing in the MTG set. 

Spoiler season is well underway once again in MTG. One of the most anticipated parts of any spoiler season is learning what new mechanics will be appearing in a set, as well as which old favorites will be seeing a return. 

From new ways to transform your cards to never-before-seen token types, we’ll walk you through the mechanics of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. 

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan new mechanics 

Craft 

Transforming double-faced cards are a fan-favorite mechanic, with cards ranging from Innistrad to the original Ixalan set. Players will no doubt be overjoyed to see Craft work as a bold new take on the mechanic. 

Craft allows players to trade quantity for quality, utilizing their existing cards as components for the finished, crafted product. In order to Craft, player exile permanents either in their control or from their graveyard, pay the requisite mana, and exile the card with Craft. Once these costs have been paid, the Craft card returns to the battlefield transformed, often with incredibly powerful new abilities. 

Descended 

This mechanic factors in players’ graveyards, but for once it isn’t attempting to resurrect something that’s already dead. Descended triggers if one of your permanents has been put into your graveyard this turn from anywhere else.

Some of the cards in MTG The Lost Caverns of Ixalan will only be able to activate their abilities if you have Descended. Crucially for graveyard strategies though, the permanent doesn’t have to stay in the grave, as Descended only cards about if it was put there in the first place. 

Descend 4, Descend 8, Fathomless Descent 

While Descended activates when permanents are put into the graveyard, Descend cards about them staying there. 

Descend 4 and Descend 8 trigger when you have four or more or eight or more permanents in your graveyard. The payoffs differ between cards but Descend ensures that you have more options in your arsenal as the game goes on. 

Fathomless Descent is a subset of this ability that gets progressively more powerful the more cards are in your graveyard, without any upper cap. 

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan includes fresh new takes on graveyard themes, and Descend makes self-mill options surprisingly appealing. 

Discover 

Discover is a fantastic ability for digging through your deck and fetching up your best cards. When Discover activates, exile cards from the top of your library until you find a card of the associated mana value (Discover 3 for three mana, Discover 6 for six, and so on.) Then, you may either cast that card for free or place it into your hand. The remaining exiled cards are placed on the bottom of your library in a random order. 

Discover will no doubt lead to some explosive turns and really pays off knowing your deck and each card’s individual values. 

Finality Counters

Finality counters are a fresh way of expressing an old mechanic. When a permanent returns from the graveyard under the condition that it will be exiled when it next leaves the field, that effect is now represented by a finality counter.

The addition of these counters will make it easier to track when a permanent will be exiled on death, preventing confusion and an unintended return to the graveyard.

Returning Mechanics 

Explore 

An ability with multiple uses, Explore synergizes well with the new Descend and Descended mechanics. When a creature you control explores, you reveal the top card of your library, adding it to your hand if it is a land. If the revealed card is not a land, you may choose to either return it to the top of the library or put it into the graveyard, potentially triggering your Descend or Descended abilities. 

In addition to the return of Explore, MTG The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is debuting a new token type. Map tokens can be sacrificed to give a creature of your choosing Explore for the turn. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is really doubling down on this mechanic, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see it return again in future adventurous sets.