The Five Gods of Ixalan in Commander

Hello and welcome back. Lost Cavern of Ixalan spoilers are upon us and this set looks like it brings cards for just about every format. Of course here I talk about Commander and I wanted to cover the mono-colored cycle of new Gods from the set. I’m going to go over them mechanically and not about what parts of cultures they represent or are inspired by. I am extremely unqualified for the latter.

Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation

Each cycle of gods has a kind of gimmick going for them in Magic, and this cycle from Ixalan is no different. They do use the back side of the card like the gods from Kaldheim, but instead of a tool or weapon to represent them, we get lands.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. The front side of each card represents the god themselves. The White one stands tall and glorious surrounded by worshipers and a temple. This art lends well into its ability to triple the amount of creature tokens you would create. That is an amazing ability being pushed here, even if the limitation to only creatures is there.

Its next ability is something each of the Deepest have, which relates to the god dying. A flavorful way to make these gods different from their other Magic contemporaries and a cultural reference.

When the creature dies, the card returns transformed to the battlefield as a land. In this case, it is the Temple of Civilization. It taps for white mana of course, but can also transform back into the creature side of the card by meeting the condition of attacking with three or more creatures and paying 2 and White mana. It is a sorcery speed activation, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue since you can’t attack on other turns anyway.

This Ojer in particular is going to see play in Commander. A 6/6 for 6 is a bit of a crowded slot, or can be, so there might be some competition for said slot. However it will probably come down after some set up and can be brought back by its own back side. Any token player in White is probably going to want to slip this in somewhere to easily overwhelm their opponents.

Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch

The art here is probably going to be the most well known via popular media to any who aren’t entrenched in the cultures they inspire. A majestic winged serpent atop a temple who lets you reuse your instants with the mechanic Rebound.

The ability is good in a specific kind of deck, but I don’t know if this particular card will see much play across the format. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good in those decks, but unlike the White Ojer, the Blue one has a much more narrow application.

As for the back side, it could be argued that it is easier to transform back into Ojer Pakpatiq, but you do have a mandatory wait of three mana activations to do so without outside help. All said, the art is amazing while the card is less so as a commander. It will probably seem more at home in the 99.

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal

An interesting tidbit here; this god doesn’t have the Ojer epithet. Maybe that has something to do with the epithet it does have with Betrayal. Again though I can only speculate as I’ve not nearly enough knowledge about the inspirations here.

This bat god has a stronger primary ability than the prior god, with the ability to gain you some life, dismantle your opponents hands, draw cards, and give you some flyers. Discard has become an effective strategy in Commander, if a narrow one. With the front side of this card, I’d run it over Raven Man for a non-Tiny Bones build for sure, since the card draw from this card also helps finish the game, which I’m sure your opponents will appreciate (in a way).

The back side however might be problematic for flip. It needs a player to have one or fewer cards in hand. I’ll amend what I said a sentence ago and say this: if you aren’t going all in and making enemies with discard, it will be hard to flip the land side. If you are playing this as your Commander, or Raven Man or Tiny Bones, odds are you are going to. In that case, flipping it is a lot easier.

Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might

The Red god brings along the ability to burn your opponents down, but in a narrow fashion. It only applies to Red, noncombat damage sources you control and only damages opponents. What it does do is increase that damage to a base of 4 for every instance of damage at a minimum, making it quite the buff for cards like Kessig Firebreather or Unruly Catapult. It does mess with Torbran, Thane of Red Fell a little but it’s still all upside with a quick switch of damage math.

What’s even better is that since the buff is related to its power, you can buff Axonil with some equipment or spells and immediately become immensely deadlier to the table. I look forward to using Balduvian Rage in my Feather deck to do just that and burn a table out.

The backside needs us to deal four or more noncombat damage to flip it back over plus the activation cost. That can actually be a tall order since you are restricted just like on the front and if you aren’t doing the kind of damage without Axonil. Still, it could be doable, so it’s not the worst transforming land.

Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth

When the art for this card was revealed, it was to much adoration. The art of the set as a whole aside, many were waiting to see this card revealed, and it does not disappoint. When it hits someone with its builtin trample, you get to potentially put a card from your deck into play off the top X cards of your deck, where X is that excess damage. Sneaking stuff into play is always nice since you don’t pay the mana to cast it. Speaking of, this doesn’t cast the card you find (which works since lands can’t be cast) so you don’t have to worry about counter magic or effects that limit your ability to get creatures to the field. It’s a very strong effect.

The backside as with the rest of the gods gives a mana of the associated color and has an activation to get it to transform again. This one seems easily doable in Green, at least in Commander. Controlling ten permanents is really not a cost at all in our format, but the card isn’t designed for Commander and that flip condition will be much harder in other formats.

Deep to Deepst

This cycle is another fine addition to the pantheon of gods in Magic, and I think they will be loved if only for the amazing art. However, I don’t think they will be played at the same rates, as some of their effects are generically good, but just a bit too narrow to make it into a lot of strategies.

Taq and Kaslem are probably going into the most decks. Their effects synergize well with established strategies and players always like to add new cards to those decks to make them more powerful and efficient. Taq’s casting cost might be a slight hiccup to its usefulness sometimes, but it should be negligible.

Axonil and Alcazotz are a little more narrow and wont go everywhere, but do support some established strategies and can lead decks if they are built around their specific abilities. I give Alcazotz more flexibility here but I think Axonil will find more homes if only because discard decks don’t make friends at the table.

Lastly we have poor Pakpatiq. Outside of some very specific decks, I don’t think this will find much play for its specific ability, though having a hard to get rid of permanent with flying is nothing to forget about. I just don’t see it gaining any real traction in Commander because of its awkward timing restrictions caused by Rebound and it needing to wait to transform once it’s a land. I will give Pakpatiq this though; it has the only backside with a self guaranteed flip. No outside influences required.

Spelunk

Spelunking - Ernanda Souza

That’s it for this bit of exploration. There is still a ton to look at for Ixalan and most of what I am seeing great stuff. I have to mention the art again as it really has been a home run. I hope we get some good playmats out of it all.

Until next time, don’t get lost while spelunking.