The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Reveal Debuts Hollow MTG Plane
Putting an end to a very quiet news week, Wizards has just delighted players with the mother of all presentations. Providing a first look at a trio of upcoming sets, MTG players now have no shortage of details to digest. Whether you’re into Doctor Who, Wilds of Eldraine, or The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, there’s something for you to enjoy!
As you might be able to deduce from the title, in this article, we’re covering all things Ixalan! Revealed to kick off the blockbuster preview presentation, unfortunately, this set didn’t receive any spoilers to start preemptively brewing with. Thankfully, however, Wizards of the Coast did reveal a plethora of awesome art to whet players’ appetite!
Angels!
Unnamed Art
If you remember our last trip to Ixalan back in 2019, you might be a little confused by the above art. After all, throughout the entire Ixalan block, there wasn’t a single angel to be found, so what gives? Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast does have an explanation for the sudden appearance of these angels. They were hiding.
Hiding where? Well, in the hollow earth Ixalan of course! That’s right, Wizards has gone full Godzilla and hollowed out the plane, putting a massive subterranean world inside. Forget going spelunking through caves, we’ve got political intrigue as different factions vie for the plane’s McGuffin. In case you’re wondering, the McGuffin this time around is the mysterious glowy substance of “Cosmium.”
The Core
Since the subterranean Ixalan is such a vast expanse there is a lot more than just angel flying about. In fact, as we alluded to, there are multiple factions who are each after the plane’s recourse. Another of these factions can be seen below, being all awesome while riding a giant glowing bat.
Known as the “Olteks” (maybe… we’re definitely not pronouncing that right), this faction is descended from the Sun Empire of Ixalan. Only alluded to previously, this faction is now the star of the show, as they’ve mastered the powers of Cosmium. Subsequently, we should expect these guys to play a big role in the story once that gets released later in the year.
Unstable Glyphbridge
Alongside all the new factions who have been hiding from us, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan also has some returning favorites. Namely, the conquistador-inspired faction of vampires who have presumably been doing all the spelunking. Unfortunately, it feels unlikely we’re going to get more Merfolk or Pirates, but we can hope!
Gods!
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
As if there wasn’t enough going on already, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has even more surprise card types that have been hiding from us! As you can tell from the subheading, Gods can be found on Ixalan for the first time! So far, two of these gods have been shown off, however, according to Ovidio Cartagena, there are “a few” at least.
To take a look at the gods themselves, above, we have Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might. Presumably in Rakdos colors, this new god is affections referred to as “Dinohands.” In case you’re wondering why that might be, they have a huge dinosaur head as one of their hands. Outside of this obvious detail, Ojer Axonil is supposedly a god unlike what we’ve seen before in Magic.
To explain this claim, Cartagena stated that this god, and all the ones in the set, are “super authentic, based on Meso-American mythology.” Thanks to this deep and authentic connection to the Meso-American culture, Wizards has made sure to include all the intricate details you can see above.
“Gods are shapeshifters. Not in the creature-type sense, just in the mythological sense, they can take any form. So, you have a lot of symbols around them that represent what they do in this world. That’s why I wanted a different approach, not just a giant human, but a big collection of symbols.” Ovidio Cartagena
Ojer Kaslem
To see another example of this, later in the livestream, Wizards also revealed Ojer Kaslem. Based upon the migration of the monarch butterfly from Michoacán this god is similarly loaded with symbols and imagery. Bringing together the wisdom of the snake and the grandmother, Ojer Kaslem is presumably a god of exactly that, Wisdom.
For the time being, there’s no telling which colors Ojer Kaslem will represent in MTG. Given the symbols, we’d suspect Azorius, however, we can’t say for certain. What we do know for now, is that Ojer Kaslem is an absolutely gorgeous MTG card. According to Cartagena, the card is even “One of the most beautiful pieces in the set.”
Dinosaurs!
Huatli, Poet of Unity
Last but not least, Ixalan wouldn’t be Ixalan without some dinosaurs kicking about! Thankfully, from what we’ve seen in this first teaser, there shouldn’t be any shortage of them in this subterranean world. This is all thanks to Huatli, Poet of Unity, who has eight dinosaurs on her card alone! As you can see, she also has a bit of funky Cosmium adorning her body.
While it is certainly no surprise to see Hualti on Ixalan, to explain what they’re up to, Cartagena revealed that Hualti is trying to open negotiations with the people at the core of Ixalan When speaking during the preview panel, this all seemed above board and quite peaceful really. On Twitter, however, this “negotiation” was made to look a lot more like a very bitey impending fight.
As an important note, Huatli is one of the many Planeswalkers who have been desparked following the Phyrexian Arc. Subsequently, in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, they will just be a Legendary Creature. According to Mark Rosewater, each new MTG set is likely to only have one Planeswalker.
Hulking Raptor
Thankfully, while there may not be many Planeswalkers, there should still be dinosaurs aplenty. If the above art for Hulking Raptor is anything to go by, many of these dinosaurs are going to look seriously cool! Just look at this funky fella! They’re wearing battle armor! What’s not to love about that?!
The Wait Begins
Unstable Glyphbridge
Unfortunately, after this initial teaser, it appears we may be left waiting a while, as we still don’t have any dates for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Subsequently, we’re just going to have and wait and see for the set’s official First Look presentation. In the meantime, thankfully, there is still plenty more to enjoy, as Wizards did reveal a whole treasure trove of information today.
As if today’s reveals weren’t enough for you, however, Wizards does have even more up their sleeves. On August 5th, Wizards is having a blockbuster 30th Anniversary Presentation during Gen Con. Potentially replacing Wizards Presents for this year, this monolithic event will look three years into MTG’s future. While we may only be given teasing glimpses and set names, this is still an incredibly exciting time.
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Source: MTG Rocks
