Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
Legendary Creature — Salamander Serpent
Whenever Xolatoyac enters or attacks, put a flood counter on target land. That land is an Island in addition to its other types for as long as it has a flood counter on it.
At the beginning of your end step, untap each permanent you control with a counter on it.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GU
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander
- Price
- $0.70
- EDHREC rank
- #4714
Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control whenever a land enters under your opponent's control — a free, recurring buff that scales with table size and does real work before anyone attacks. The cost is a six-mana 4/4 with no evasion, so it needs a deck that either floods the board fast or pairs it with a commander that already cares about the counter payoff, like Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep wants creatures large enough to trigger her free-cast ability off the top, and Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood grows the whole board passively every time any player hits a land drop — which at a four-player table is every single turn.
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa cheats Krakens, Leviathans, and Serpents into play, and Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood turns those already-massive bodies into moving targets that get bigger every turn without any additional mana investment.
Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle runs a lot of land-heavy, big-creature Simic strategies, and Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood synergizes naturally in a shell that already wants lands entering play and creatures worth buffing.
Omo, Queen of Vesuva
Omo, Queen of Vesuva puts land counters on permanents and cares about creature types overlapping with lands, making Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood a consistent source of counters in a deck already engineering land-related triggers.
Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist
Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist forces opponents to make Salamander tokens every turn, and every land those opponents subsequently play pumps your whole board through Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood — turning their tokens into a liability relative to your growing threats.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood belongs — four players means three opponents hitting land drops every turn, which translates to three free triggers per round without any setup. The effect compounds quickly in a go-wide or counters-matter shell, and six mana is acceptable in a format where games routinely go to turns 8 and beyond. Legacy and Vintage are technically legal homes, but a six-mana 4/4 with no immediate board impact is nowhere near playable in either format's threat density. Oathbreaker is the one competitive-adjacent format where it could slot in as a spell, but the passive trigger is slow for that format's pace.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.70 bulk tier
At $0.70, Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood sits firmly in bulk territory, which is appropriate — it's a role-player with real upside in the right shell but not a format staple. Pick it up now if you're building toward it; there's no reason to expect significant price movement on a card this format-specific.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.