Among the many spoilers for Magic: The Gathering‘s Lost Caverns of Ixalan released on Oct. 24, one special card stood out. Matzalantli, the Great Door // The Core is a legendary artifact that can flip into a land with the potential to make mill decks cool again.
Matzalantli, The Great Door
- Mana Cost: 3
- Type: Legendary Artifact
- Rarity: Rare
- Ability: TAP: Draw a card, then discard a card. 4, TAP: Transform Matzalantli, the Great Door. Activate only if there are four or more permanent types among cards in your graveyard.
Matzalantli, the Great Door’s ability to draw a card and discard a card might not be much to look at, but it conveniently helps mill decks, to, well, mill. Milling is a popular MTG strategy that puts cards from the top of a player’s library directly into the graveyard.
Once the graveyard has been fattened up with at least four or more different types of permanents, players can then pay four generic mana to flip Matzalantli, the Great Door. Particularly useful are permanents that have more than one type, such as artifact lands or enchantment creatures. These cards will help open the gate faster. Once Matzalantli is flipped, the real fun can begin…
The Core
- Mana Cost: 0
- Type: Legendary Land
- Rarity: Rare
- Ability: Fathomless descent – TAP: Add X mana of any one color, where X is the number of permanent cards in your graveyard.
The Core allows you to add mana equal to the amount of permanents in your graveyard, full stop. This legendary land can add copious amounts of mana to a player’s mana pool whose graveyard is filled with permanents. Let’s explore which commander strategies this amazing new card fits best.
Self-Mill Decks
Matzalantli, The Great Door // The Core will fit like a glove in self-mill strategies. Decks such as Sidisi, Brood Tyrant seek to fill their own graveyard to gain a significant advantage over their opponents. The goal is to bring back big threats from the graveyard into the game for free or for very little mana cost. Matzalantli, The Great Door // The Core will be a fantastic addition to this strategy as it will help fill up the graveyard and add tons of mana once it’s flipped.
Wheels Effect Decks
Somewhat similar to Mill decks are Wheels Effect strategies that seek to not only to fill your own graveyard but everyone else’s as well. Wheels effect decks get their name from the infamous sorcery Wheel of Fortune that forces all players to discard their hand and draw seven fresh new cards. Predictably, your graveyard will rapidly be filled with cards, allowing The Core to tap for tons of mana.
Overall, Matzalantli is a great addition to any graveyard-based strategy that seeks to spend loads of mana. Lost Caverns of Ixalan spoilers have only just begun and we already have tons of new potential cards for Commander. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Arrives on November 17, 2023.
