INTERVIEW: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan with Art Director Ovidio Cartagena

But Why Tho?

Wizards of the Coast and Magic: the Gathering have been embracing diversity in fantasy storytelling. With a beautifully adapted Lord of the Rings set that was released earlier in 2023 and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set, it's a beautiful time to see yourself represented in fantasy in ways that haven't been present before. This month, Magic the Gathering released a stellar Mesoamerican-inspired The Lost Caverns of Ixalan that brought to life gods, places, and the dinosaurs of the Yucatan and reimagined conquistadores as vampires. The set was immediately recognizable as one of the sharpest and most informed explorations of Mesoamerican myth and beauty in fantasy. To talk about this, we spoke with Art Director Ovidio Cartagena about The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the cards' art inspiration, working with historians, and what it means to represent Latin America in one of the most notable Fantasy franchises in pop culture.