Speculation Ixalan

Card Count: 110

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Today, lets talk about speculation.  The speculation of the Ixalan set in general.

 Bam!  Thank you Alpha Investments!

So I picked these up, and might actually pick up a couple more cases for as long as I can.  Why Ixalan?  Well as you read in my preorder blog, and my box opening blog, I see a long runway with this set as a whole.  The value cards are in the rare spot, and there is a lot more value cards in the set than what is being sold.

Commons
- Opt
- Spell Pierce
- Duress
- Rile

These 4 commons just look too juicy to not think this set will have a good following moving forward.  Three are reprints, but one of them is brand new.

Abilities
- Explore
Explore is liked as much as Cycle, and I think just makes the set better in the long run.  It translates into Modern play with the ability use these cards as utilities for those decks.

- Raid
Raid is just sexy.  Again, this is something to add to any stompy deck in Legacy or Modern.

Merfolk
- Because now you can have green creatures within the whole theme.

Cards
So let's go over some of the cards that I just see as some really big power houses in the set, and why I think it is smart to speculate on this set.

I could go through all these, and why I think they are great for speculation, but everyone is on that train.  Honestly, these are the low hanging fruit of speculation of the set, so let's just post these and move on to the good stuff.

Same cost Ley Druid with a better power/toughness, and better yet it is Modern playable.  Win / Win!

Come on!  Trample with draw a card.  Granted, this is only going to be good for larger creature decks, but being able to replace the card for a single 1 Red, in a color known for it's haste creatures?  I think this is a great common!

All I want to say is 5/5 for 5.  That alone is a win, but this card also has Trample and Haste!  With more and more cards getting put out there referring to low casting cost, this one is just pretty.

 So for 1 and a Blue I can attack and then draw two cards?  That is just value!

 So I am putting this in there because there are other Dinosaurs within MTG outside of Ixalan, and this card could technically be a 3/3 mana dork for 1G.  Strong uncommon!

 What the heck is that?!  I can see this being a powerhouse in Modern and Legacy for a single color decks to just destroy non-basic lands.  You get to replace your land with a basic, while the other player is just going to lose out.

 Each non-Pirate.  Each!

2/2 for G.  Great Simic card.  I do have to say, I am a Simic leaning player, so these might have some bias involved when I picked them.

I am just putting this out there because it gives you the ability to cast some cards cheaper, and it is not a Legend card.  This is just like any Lord card that gives a creature type +1/+1. 

Tribal all day long!

 This card has a high cost, but still it has a great ability and it has any source.  That is direct damage or creatures.  Just like it.

 Tribal!

This is just going to be a great sideboard card and will keep bringing the folks to the set to pick this up.  This will be a reprint card, but it does give you 3 years before they reprint it in a Masters set.

 This one might have a high cost, but I am just all about bringing cards back from your graveyard into play for free.  Did someone say Sun Titan?  Yeah, it is just a good White ability.

 Graveyard hate to Explore!  Two target cards, not creature or Land.  Card.  Value!

So I could see this in a merfolk deck with a ton of non-creature spells.  This could just get huge fast, and it does not need to be in a merfolk deck.  You could put this in any stompy deck to just stomp.

 Merfolk, and that is it.

I know a lot of people would hate on this card because giving your opponent a free land drop on your turn is just too much of a bad thing for you, but it is a basic land.  That means in Vintage, Legacy, and Modern you have a very good change to get a 3/3 for a G and have no downside.

 Players can't gain life.  That is basically it.  Well and if someone plays a creature they take damage.

If they block, you draw.  No chump blocking...  And if they do you get advantage!

 So, this might be a stretch, but if there would be a Vampire deck, I can see this one getting a bit wanted.

 Wrath of Exile, Path to God.  Instant board wipe of 2WW.

 Don't care!  Fan Tas Tic!  Spell or Ability...

 Yeah, this is a bit of a stretch, and it is just a sideboard card, but I see this pulling some gains.

 Direct damage for black, and you get to draw 3 cards for 3 mana.

This is just like a Thalia card.  I can just see this in a Legacy / Modern Human Soldier deck.

I know, this is just a chase card, but I do think it has possibilities to make a deck or at least be a good EDH card.  There has been a lot of life total cards that have been coming out, and I think this is just another one for the brewing.

So the main thing to take away from this blog is that the Uncommon and Rares have all the power in this set.  The mythic cards tend to cost way too much, but have really crazy abilities.  That means the value you can get from a single box is spread out so well that someone opening a box will get back enough to make it worth it for them.  That means the worth of the set is spread out, and the entire set will go up because of it.