$1.39 + free ship! Colossadactyl 0180/291 Foil The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Magic: The Gathering
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“No, Corporal Mateo. See, the route points there.”
It seemed like every conquistador in the formation was crowding their comrade holding the map. The ranking officer was currently berating his point man, who held the map and fought valiantly against the bluster.
“No, General Javier. See there?” The corporal tapped a claw against a series of tightly-packed topographic lines. “Unless we’re all planning on becoming Skymarchers, that route is a no-go. We’re taking the most direct path we can, due west.”
“Well, that’s no good then, Corporal! Tell the men to ready their rappels.”
“…Yes, sir.”
With some of the troops grumbling a little, and some of them grumbling a lot, they approached the steep cliff face and began to climb.
“You aren’t climbing, General?”
“With those shoddy ropes? I should hope not!” With a smug smirk, Javier began to float off the jungle floor. He quickly ascended to the top, now looking down on his men.
“Well, that certainly informs your decision,” the corporal grumbled under his breath. “Though if you don’t trust the ropes, then why-”
“Something on your mind, Corporal?”
“No, sir!”
“Good! Now, let’s continue.”
Once the exhausted vampires had crested the veritable mountain, they continued trudging through the jungle. That was, until they encountered yet another ridge.
“Corporal!”
“…Forget this. I’m out.”
In a blur of blue and red mana, the man’s body blurred and shifted. In an instant, a swashbuckling pirate with a raptor’s head stood in his place. While the soldiers were stunned from the revelation, the shapeshifter fled into the thick jungle with surprising ease.
“That turncoat!” Javier bellowed. “Who’s my next in command?”
“That’d be…me, sir.” The actual Mateo stepped out from the group. “Corporal Mateo, reporting for duty.”
“What! Then…who…?”
“You confused me with Corporal Rojas. He’s unaccounted for.”
“Oh…” Javier looked reflective for but a moment. Then it was gone. “Well, that’s not my fault! I can hardly tell you all apart!”
“…We know, sir.”
[Scene: during a draft, a Jeskai deck plays Protean Raider copying an opponent’s Legion Conquistador, letting them search for their own copies.]
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Hey all! Gallery Nucleus is putting together this exhibit of a collection of new Artist Proofs MTG cards, I’ll have 3 cards for sale at the event!
It starts January 31st (my birthday!) I hope you dig the pieces, make sure to attend if you can!
The proofs will also be available for purchase online starting February 1st~ You can find all the information here: https://gallerynucleus.com/events/1113
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So, let’s say Ixalan wanted to take the same five-typal-archetypes approach from Lorwyn.
We’ve got WB vampires and GU merfolk, of course. Dinosaurs probably want to be RG. At this point, pirates can’t be UR without closing the loop too early, and they’d probably rather be UB than BR. Which leaves RW for a new type, probably tied to the Sun Empire - maybe Knights.
This has the benefit of making all five intersection points well-suited to overlap. It also adds up to a delightfully clean mirror.
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“…which is why this petty squabble between leaders is so pointless!”
The vampires murmured in agreement with their chaplain, voices echoing up and down the tunnel.
“Yes, Arturo!” Clavileño drew near and clamped an iron-tight hand on the speaker’s shoulder pad. “This friction is counterproductive. Surely we can all cooperate towards a common goal.”
The priest nodded. “Yes. The tenets set forth by our righteous leader…”
“Elenda!” “Vona!”
Arturo and Clavileño spoke at once, but their choice of patrons clashed. Almost immediately, the soldiers sidled apart into two groups, each warily eyeing the other.
“What are you talking about?” Clavileño hissed quietly, despite the fact that both groups could still clearly hear him. “We are here on military business, on Vona’s behalf.”
“What? No, this is a pilgrimage! Elenda has sent us here to vanquish foul Aclazotz.”
“How could you have possibly arrived at that conclusion?”
“Well, one of the healers brought me up to speed.”
“Who.”
Arturo turned and pointed to a youthful looking vampire in the Elenda group, one of their squires recently turned. Clavileño started toward her, only for the others in that group to interpose themselves between the two. In addition, Arturo spoke up once more:
“Well, regardless of whether we…er…I agree with her! So you can just stay mad at me.”
“…Gladly.”
Clavileño reached behind himself without looking, seized Arturo, and flung him at the other Elenda loyalists. He knocked down several soldiers, and a brawl broke out between them and Vona’s men. Coincidentally, Arturo landed right at the feet of the startled vampire who had first informed him. He regained his footing and offered her an encouraging smile, despite the circumstances.
“Don’t worry!” shouted Arturo, over the growing din of the fight. “There’s plenty of us here who support Elenda. We’ve got your back. Although, I don’t suppose you’d mind helping us out?”
The healer eagerly nodded, and began weaving a bolstering spell laced with crimson blood magic.
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you know, ive heard many people praise the dinosaurs of ixalan for having feathers, but i dont really like them. too many fall victim to classic paleoart pitfalls- shrinkwrapping, pronated hands for therapods, elephant feet for ornithischians, among other anatomical issues- with these birdstyle feathers thrown onto them, regardless of what kind of dinosaur it is. the feathers are almost never actually incorporated into the animals anatomy either- they tend to look like theyve been glued on or something. it creates a very unique flavor of woefully inaccurate dinosaur designs that i havent seen anywhere else.
but thats enough negativity- ixalan does have some good-looking dinos!
nest robber is a solid example of good feathering on an animal that should have those kinds of feathers. no shrinkwrapping or wrist pronation either! it does lose points for the whole egg-stealing thing though (bit cliche for oviraptorosaurs). and for that monstrosity in the background (ixalan did pterosaurs SO DIRTY).
rampaging ferocidon is in pretty much the same boat as nest robber (also being done by the same artist). it isnt perfect, to be sure (the hands are unfeathered, for instance) but for the most part its a pretty good depiction of a dromaeosaur circa 2017, certainly one of the best from the original block.
in terms of good-looking dinos from lost cavers, i adore those by john tedrick. you can really tell he knows his dinosaurs.
and we cant forget the not-dinosaurs-that-still-have-the-dinosaur-creature-type (< thing that pisses me off but cant think of a clean solution to). soaring sandwing is probably the best pterosaur in all of magic.
see below the cut for a special bonus dinosaur not from ixalan 👇
[[MORE]]its this fucking thing
look at this gorgeous dromaeosaur. from fiora. a plane not known for having dinosaurs. on a goddamn conspiracy card. a full year before the dinosaur creature type returned in ixalan. its not even the focus of the art. hell it probably wasnt even in the promt. and its the only dinosaur jason rainville has ever drawn for magic: the gathering.
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Valentina traveled along the streets of Alta Torrezon, only occasionally checking her device. She had already stopped into the shop that made the pendants she required, and her next stop was a leatherworker’s.
The door creaked open and the smell of tanned leather seeped out. It wasn’t a bad smell, in fact it reminded her of Adayn.
“Hello little lady, what can I get you?” Said the man, dressed all in red, behind the counter. He seemed kindly, which is what she wanted.
“I need an adjustable leather cuff, three inches wide. With Lily of the Valley floral patterns and dyed in various colors. Specifically the inside edge, palmside, needs to be in forest green, silver and a hint of black, while the outside has black and silver.”
“A request like that won’t be cheap.”
“I know. How long should it take you?”
“Not long. The hardest part would be the carving. Can you wait until tomorrow morning?”
Valentina sighed. “I was hoping I could get it today, but tomorrow is also fine. I have to come out tomorrow for the pendant from the metal worker up the street anyway.”
“Might I ask what this is all for?”
“It’s a surprise for someone near and dear to my heart.”
“Good. Good. It will cost you 34 reales.”
“Can I pay you half now and half when I come to pick my order up? I didn’t bring enough to pay it all up front.”
“That will be fine, little lady.”
She counted out 17 of the silver coins, and placed them on the counter. They were swept into a bag.
“A pleasure. I will see you on the morrow.”
The man titled his hat to her as she left.
There was a scream as she exited the shop. Val looked around wildly for the source. A non Legion vampire was approaching a young lady. The wildness of his eyes and hunched over appearance… A blood Fast.
Valentina launched herself forward, her lower half slipping into mist. She had left her rapier with Adayn, but she still had her trusty dagger by her side, which she drew.
The starving vampire was about to lunge forward, when Val landed in front of him, becoming solid once more. “Back, you!” She said holding her dagger threateningly.
He growled in frustration. “What am I to do then? Starve and starve until I eventually die to the blades of one of your ilk? Ha!” He spit at her, splattering her chestplate.
“You were attacking an innocent. You will not find a feast that way.”
The starving vampire lept forward. Valentina’s dagger flashed and scored a deep cut along his chest, as they both crashed to the ground. The woman in danger yelped in fear.
Valentina rolled so she was on top of the hungry vampire and held her dagger to his neck. His eyes looked around wildly, but she kept him pinned.
A whistle blew nearby and several legion paladins marched up.
“What is going on here!”
Valentina explained to their captain what had transpired, still holding her dagger to his neck so he didn’t try to escape.
The captain nodded and gestured for her to move, clapping the man in irons. He was dragged away by the squad of paladins.
“We’ll need you to write a report, Captain Vazante.”
“Of course.” They saluted eachother and went off to the closest barracks. Valentina was cursing internally that her shopping trip had been cut so short.
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HOLY FUCKING SHIT
I’ve only ever been to like three planes, all of which were computerized built over (ravnica, duskmourn, new capenna). I know the planar atlas shows that Ixalan is a nature-dominated plane, but I genuinely never imagined that this much nature could exist in the whole multiverse, let alone one plane. It’s so fucking beautiful. I’m pretty sure I saw a dinosaur already, beautiful creature rivaling the Gruul ancients. And it only tried to eat me a little bit! And now I’m seeing some ships out on the water, but idk whether to approach them. @kather4444 are you available to give me the lay of the land.
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Not entirely happy with the frog on this one. I tried to replicate the art style of the Ixalan showcase cards, but it came out a bit mediocre.
Art credit is some random frog on google and quite a bit from me for once!
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‘Lost Caverns of Ixalan’ centers Aztec, Olmec, Mayan culture in huge new 'Magic: the Gathering’ set
“Growing up, on my commute, I would see Maya pyramids,” says Cartagena, “I would see a sculpture of Tecún Umán all the time, this great Quiché prince. I wanted to put a piece of that in the card that I illustrated, and many other artists did this with their own interests.”
