In a series known for magic and dragons, it’s always nice to see the inclusion of dinosaurs. Magic: The Gathering particular does this well with its Ixalan plane- a world full of dinosaurs and Mesoamerican-inspired fantasy to create a world you wouldn’t get in normal high fantasy.

We caught up with Ovidio Cartagena, Senior Art Director on MTG The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the latest set in the Dinosaur-walking card game to talk about the return to the plane.

When people think of Ixalan, chances are they’re thinking of the dinosaurs. Sure, there’s pirates, Gods and more- but given the last Ixalan gave us cool things like a multi-headed T.Rex and a Spinosaurus dubbed The Primal Storm, it’s no surprise they ran off with the spotlight.

So what’s the difference between designing a dinosaur versus a dragon? According to Ovidio, it was about dialing back the fantasy a little.

“There are key differences in the anatomy of dinosaurs that help us stay away from a dragon”, he says. “A dinosaur is generally more plausible”.

While dragons in fantasy will often have anthropomorphized elements added to them like more human expressions, he stressed that the inherent dinosaur-ness was in avoiding these tropes.

“There is a difference too between something like Glaurung (a Tolkien dragon with no wings) who drags his body like a lizard but has a wise and intelligent face, and a dinosaur which can be avian or non-avian but behaves and looks like an animal and is not anthropomorphized in any way”, Ovidio explains. “The biggest challenge was Bonehoard Dracosaur… how to make something that is both?! In that case, we went for a swing with old style reptilian dinosaurs and placing the creature in front of a “castle” that is actually a pyramid, guarding the entrance”.

Of course, part of that means keeping up to date with the science. What an extinct dinosaur is has changed drastically in the past few decades, but the media to get caught up with them has also grown massively. Ovidio says this was definitely part of the prep for Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

“[We watched documentaries] both on dinosaurs and on Mesoamerica. At the time, I had to read several books and take a look at the art and mythology of different cultures spanning from what is now Mexico down to Peru and Chile” he explains. “We were also lucky that at the time there was a new dino documentary that was trending”

As for his favorite dinosaur in the set, he said it was actually an element of a card, rather than any specific card itself:

“My favorite dinosaur in the set didn’t get its own card, it was Wayta’s pet dinosaur depicted in a couple of arts by the great Magali Villeneuve and Fesbra. The dinosaur was designed by Ryan Pancoast”, he says.

Like we said earlier, there’s more to Ixalan than just dinosaurs. Lost Caverns also has plenty of creepy, dank denizens of the namesake caverns. Ovidio says making these things horrific is a recurring past time of his, even highlighting his work in other sets.

“The interesting thing with mycoids is that there is a horrific feel to their concept: this ever-expanding conscious mind that can take any form and indeed does”, he says. “The abstract representations of that mirror the fear that such an entity would inspire in the other characters of Ixalan. You can see that there is a horror element in all of my sets, from Phyrexia: All Will be One to the Walker in the Water from Lord of the Rings, to this and it’ll be an all-out monster fest in next year’s Duskmourn: House of Horror”

Speaking of things that lurk in the dark, Lost Caverns of Ixalan also finally introduces one of the gods of the plane, the bat-god Aclazotz. Having only appeared in images before this, Ovidio is pleased to see him join the ranks of horrifying things in Ixalan.

“We get to meet Aclazotz! He’s no longer a hallucination or a temple decoration only”, Ovidio says. “The Cult of Aclazotz was something that we had a lot of fun fleshing out, as was the god himself”.

“Steve Prescott did a great job from concept art to final illustration, and how Aclazotz’s influence demonizes the vampires was also a great feature inspired by the concept art of Victor Adame Minguez. Miguel Lopez had a lot of fun on the story side with this”, he continues.

That’s not the only god on display, though- the Ojer gods are multi-faced creatures that turn into their temples- each one sporting looks worthy of their color identity.

“This process was very hands-on for me. I worked closely with concept artists and for more than one god there were several versions before we got to the final god design I approved. And that’s even before we got to the card illustrations!”, he shares. 

“At the illustration stage, the artists had a solid baseline on the concept art. However, the god temple designs were more open to interpretation. Special shoutout to Evyn Fong who designed Ojer Taq, and took all the references I had in the moodboard, added to them, and made them into an incredible character”.

Of course, a good Art Director also gives credit to his team- when asked about standout work in this set, he shared the following:

“Constantin Marin gave us a great view of an Oltec city in Clifftop Retreat. It was a highlight of the set for sure”, Ovidio ruminates.

“Steve Prescott created so many great illustrations both for concepts and for the cards, his talent was incredibly inspirational”, he says. “Victor Adame Minguez did such an awesome job with so many concepts here”.

“Esther Wu, a great concept artist who designed Ojer Pakpatiq, working on their first concept push for Magic: The Gathering, created great work for Ixalan and has joined us in other future projects as well”, he says.

“There are so many illustrators that did great work in this set! It’s hard to pick favorites, but I was pleasantly surprised so much by the talent and quality displayed in the card set: Marta Nael, Tiffany Turrill, Abz J. Harding, Alix Branwyn, Nestor Ossandón Leal, Samuel Araya, the great Racrufi (in his first Magic set!) and Maxime Minard among so many others”, he says.

Lost Caverns of Ixalan is available now at your friendly local game stores, sporting everything from pirates to fungal horror to bat gods and, of course, dinosaurs.

Our thanks to Ovidio Cartagena for taking the time to chat with us about such a visually cool set, as well as Wizards of the Coast for the opportunity to get into the nitty gritty of it all.