When Magic: The Gathering first made its way to the world of Ixalan in 2017, it was an event. A new, exciting, Mesoamerican-inspired world of Merfolk, Vampires, Pirates, and Dinosaurs, its striking aesthetic and mysteries pertaining to the then-unfolding Nicol Bolas arc made it one of the most intriguing new sets released for the game in quite a while.
The only problem was the set itself wasn’t all that good. For all the aesthetic, for all that worldbuilding, and for all the romancing Jace and Vraska got up to while stranded on the plane, the cards themselves were either weak, boring, or both.
At this week’s Wizards Presents conference, Wizards announced that we’ll be heading back to Ixalan for a second whack at the land of the Dinosaurs. Lost Caverns of Ixalan will see the creature types we know and love explore the caves, tombs, and, of course, caverns of the continent to search for hidden treasure. While I’m well up for a return to Ixalan to give it another shot at greatness, I’m slightly worried this new take on the world might not be what it needs.
On the one hand, Ixalan deserves a second chance. We don’t often see a new plane debut with the size, detail, and sheer style of Ixalan – developing something so iconic often takes a couple visits to nail, and Ixalan pulled it off from day one. This wasn’t just a stage for a few cards, it was a whole world full of history lurking just outside the frame. From the piratical Brazen Coalition to the vampiric Legion of Dusk, almost everything Ixalan did lore-wise was an absolute smash hit. It was just, unfortunately, told through some of the blandest, safest-playing mechanical designs in years.
Lost Caverns of Ixalan gives us the chance to revisit this world and give it the risk-taking, experimental play design it deserves. We’ve seen from the likes of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty what a return can do to revitalise a plane that’s previously been considered a hard sell. Wizards doesn’t need to completely retool Ixalan’s visual identity the same way it did Kamigawa to do the world justice, it just needs to make it a good set that’s fun to play.
On the other hand, it does feel like Wizards is setting Lost Caverns of Ixalan up to fail. Not only does it have to compete with the former legacy of Ixalan, but it’s also got to go toe-to-toe with one of Magic’s most-loved settings: Zendikar.
Magic loves to play up to media tropes. We had the gothic horror of Innistrad, the kaiju of Ikoria, and the mafias of New Capenna. Lost Caverns of Ixalan seems to be hitting the adventure movie beats of Tomb Raider, Uncharted, and Indiana Jones. Dusty crypts full of hidden treasure, massive monsters lurking in the shadows, and races between enemy groups to the hidden treasure might sound like a good fit for Ixalan, but it’s already a space that’s firmly been carved out by Zendikar.
Instead of ‘lost caverns’, Zendikar has floating Skyclaves, and instead of Dinosaurs it has Baloths, but otherwise everything Lost Caverns of Ixalan has offered is already being catered for by Zendikar. They even both have two of Ixalan’s four defining creature types in common, with Vampires and Merfolk being abundant on both planes.
It’s unfortunate that Wizards has taken a setting like Ixalan, which has so much to prove to the players, and decided to make it compete with a world that has devout fans and two return visits already under its belt. No matter what, people are going to be constantly comparing how Ixalan does the adventure theme and contrasting it with Zendikar and its iconic aesthetic and stellar mechanical design space. And Ixalan can’t exactly compete with landfall or multikicker, can it?
Of course, Lost Caverns of Ixalan is still over a year away. There is every chance that Wizards will showcase more of that original Ixalan flair between then and now to calm our nerves. But first impressions are important, and the first impression we’ve had of Lost Caverns of Ixalan is that it’s just the “not-Zendikar” set. Instead of chasing dreams of another Zendikar set, Wizards needs to embrace that beautiful, swashbuckling world of Ixalan and let it shine on its own merits.