Quintorius Kand – Lost Caverns of Ixalan
Date Reviewed: November 3, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.00
Casual: 4.50
Limited: 5.00
Multiplayer: 3.88
Commander [EDH]: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Our guy has graduated and is diving headfirst into fieldwork – and I can’t think of a better set for him to start doing so than Lost Caverns of Ixalan. His major was archaeology, and he helped fight off a Phyrexian invasion, so a Journey to the Center of the Earth shouldn’t hold any terror for him. It’s an unusual context compared to Magic’s past settings, and Quintorius is an unusual planeswalker, and that kind of serendipity adds to me thinking it might be his time to shine. There are several angles you can take with him: note that his static ability works on effects like rebound and madness, his +1 adds loyalty much like Elspeth does and thus promises you can attack and block forever, his -3 is a very red-feeling semi-random card-drawing ability, and his -6 gives you a little taste of the storm style of gameplay in a less broken manner. Lots of decks are going to want Quintorius, especially in casual – I wish all university graduates had such a clear path to employment. One thing at a time, planeswalkers; one thing at a time.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
While the ranks of planeswalkers got culled somewhat in the wake of recant story events, a couple did see their sparks ignite, and Quintorius from Strixhaven won the spark lottery of sorts. getting the chance to do fieldwork on other planes. His first card has an interesting mix of things going on, so let’s talk about them and, with it, kick off the proper reviews for Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
The first thing to stand out is the set’s new keyword, discover. Discover X is…like cascade, in a way; you exile cards from the top of your library until you hit a spell that costs the discover value or less, and you can either add that card to your hand or cast it from exile (and return the rest to the bottom of your library randomly). So Quintorius Kand can immediately -3 to dig for a four drop or less, which also plays well with his “cast from exile” passive to bleed out an opponent. 2 life isn’t a lot, but it can add up over the course of a game, particularly if he gets it off a couple of times.
His +1 is useful for protecting himself (which is nice, as planeswalkers sometimes struggle with that) or for slowly building towards a big finish…which his -6 will hopefully do, granting a big burst of fuel and the kindling to keep that fire going. I do think Quintorius would ideally prefer to survive his ultimate going off, because his passive rewards you casting those cards, so there’s incentive to build him past 6 before going for the big swing.
Quintorius Kand is a pretty neat, self-contained design that plays well with others and can also help advance a game…and at 5 mana, you’d hope that he would have a good chance to recoup his investment, right? I do think he’ll see play if the format winds up being hospitable to slower decks, but he may be a part of what makes them click.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5 (an army of 3/2 bodies is justification enough in a format where removal can be at a premium)
Multiplayer: 3.25 (his passive does zap everyone, so there is that)
Commander [EDH]: 3.5 (seems like a fun late-game engine in a color pair whose engines are prone to stalling out at times)
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