Ixalan's Hidden Gems

bk1234

I'm having a blast today with Imperial Lancer -- in a Huatli dino deck. He gets big pretty fast and the double strike makes him very useful. 

As a 6 mana common, I definitely thing he's a hidden gem. 

Also really liking Demystify -- white support removal for 3 mana. 

What cards are surprising you?

Froggy

Heartless Pillage is a common and almost better than the mythic Infinite Obliteration. A common with the same mana cost of 6, discards two cards AND finds a treasure if you raided the turn before.... Hmm...

I also think Field of Ruin would do wonders in popping your opponent’s supports. And for just 6 mana and a common.

Imperial Lancer. Common 2/2 with double strike if you have a Dino in play. With Nahiri, it won’t be long till you have a fat double striker on board...

EDIT:

Vraska’s Contempt. While it is a rare, this is better than the masterpiece - Vindicate. Granted that Vindicate is dual color (also white), this RARE costs one mana less, causes 2 damage and gives you 2 life... Yes, it is a surprise.

FindingHeart8

how's that Ixalan stockholm syndrome working out for you?

Gilesclone

I threw Tilonalli’s Skinshifter in my Nahiri zoo deck and it kicked tinykitties.  I think we’ll see a lot of that card in red decks.

babar3355

Dowsing Dagger probably wasn't "hidden" but it is certainly a gem.

You are certainly right about demystify.  Not only is it cheaper support removal but it has a higher probability of hitting nyx, hixus, etc because it intentionally dodges land supports. Great card.

wereotter

I mentioned it when talking about vampire tribal mechanics, but Legion Conquistador has been surprisingly good. It's cheap enough that a couple of the planeswalkers can cast another copy every turn, and even if he's destroyed/exiled, you'll always have another copy in hand to get more creatures onto the field.

Only played with it a little, but Emperor's Vanguard feels like a better version on Channeler Initiate. Yes, he doesn't convert gems until he attacks, but rather than killing himself over time, he keeps getting bigger, which is exactly what green wants.

Dowsing Dagger is one I thought was good, then I played it and.... eh.... you have to have a lot of removal in order for it to be good, or be running all flying creatures. It's a nice way to gum up your opponent's board if you are using fliers, but beynond that, I found it to be frustrating the first time I tried it out to give my opponent a wall I couldn't get through since I had all land-based creatures. Might be worth testing out on creatures with afflict and trample, though. Maybe in a Samut deck.

bk1234

I am loving Dowsing Dagger -- it will likely go into everything. 

Bullvinne

Legion Conquistador is a white Sylvan Messenger lol

bk1234

Bullvinne said:

Legion Conquistador is a white Sylvan Messenger lol

I love how it specifically says "You may fetch the next card named Legion Conquistador..."

Not the next Vampire or next Vampire Soldier.... Legion Conquistador.

bk1234

Legion's Judgement is a great kill card for Platinum -- especially as a side-board against Koth decks. 

wereotter

Bullvinne said:

Legion Conquistador is a white Sylvan Messenger lol

Kind of.... Sylvan Messenger is the next elf. It's more like a white Self-Assember, except this one has a relevant creature type. and with +1 power and toughness

Mainloop25

Perilous Voyage is bugged, but it's a powerful removal for blue in its current form. It's untargeted bounce, that will destroy the creature if their hand is full. But it will auto-cast so you should turn it off when no creatures are on the board.  

Mainloop25

Verdant Sun's Avatar I argue is the best creature in the set so far, and I would have never guessed it. 

ElfNeedsFood

Kinjalli’s Sunwing is pretty awesome. It’s disabling before ETB for most effects, but a few have creeped through. 

Zzyzzx

I too found Heartless Pillage to be very useful, and very on-the-nose for my Valentine-themed Love/Hate build.

ElfNeedsFood

Depths of Desire let’s you bounce your own creature back to your hand!  Very handy!

ElfNeedsFood

@Froggy Infinate Obliteration takes out the first and last card, but Heartless Pillage takes out the last two. Can make a significant difference. 

morgue427

yep that is the thing greg puts least important cards last so losing those 2 is if enything helping him draw more of what he needs

speakupaskanswer

Captivating is pretty nasty as you can usually activate it every turn. And I second Imperial Lancer, it was under the radar for me until I played it today. Depths of Desire is nice too. And I like Pirate's Prize.

Bullvinne

Imperial Lancer is great with a pump spell or two to make it a substantial threat. I tried it with Aerial Modification and it was awesome https://mtgpq.info/cards/AerialModification

Tilwin90

Demystify is fine though to be honest I still think I'll stick to the cycling one for the chance to replace it. Demystify is no Demolish (oh wait, what's Demolish again?!)
My favorites are the moment (I assume we are discussing only commons and uncommons) are:
- Fiery Cannonade (waiting for more enrage in Rivals, because it's a great mechanic in paper magic and Polyraptor is amazing!)
- Raiders' Wake is like an expensive Liliana's Caress but definitely exciting
- Heartless Pillage is stupidly good. if you were annoyed when you faced one of those discard decks with Infinite Obliteration, wait to see opponents who play both.
- Queen's Commission is great in vampire decks and looks fun with horsie and Anointed Procession
- I am sure Belligerent Brontodon will find room somewhere (why isn't it rare?)
- Siren's Ruse can maybe be abused with some ETB effects though it sucks it removes all reinforcements on the creature
- Legion's Judgment because it's another good removal, though with Vindicate in my collection I probably will use it much less.

I still don't get why people find Perilous Voyage good. It's just a worse Galestrike.