#ixalan

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Sweep,“ starring Amalia Benavides Aguirre. ¡Oye, you vatos are really starting to miff me off, wey!

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Walk the Plank

When Captain Thorn adds a new ship to his fleet, he gives the crew a simple choice: follow me, or fall in the sea.

[Gishath, Sun's Avatar]

[Ixalan Battlemap]Temple of Aclazotz 32x56

The Temple of Aclazotz stands as a forbidden sanctuary to the Great Betrayer—the bat god of night, death, and eternal hunger. Though once bound deep beneath Ixalan, his presence lingers here, where desperate followers raised shrines to earn his favor. Skull-lined corridors, gilded-winged statues, and blood-stained altars fill the crumbling halls, while faded carvings recount his rise from mortal to god through betrayal and slaughter, and the dark promise of immortality he offers in return for devotion. Even now, whispers echo through the temple, and the boundary between life and death feels dangerously thin, as if something beneath the stone still listens.

More variations of this map:

Forest (Ixalan) - Raoul Vitale

“Captain Fein! Do I stop her, or save the equipment?”

“Both! No, wait, just the-”

Before the vampiric zealot could regret his wording, there came a series of splashes from the sea below the ship. A Brazen Coalition infiltrator had just thrown the last of the vampires’ navigation equipment overboard, partly thanks to the closest vampire’s indecision, and Mavren Fein’s muddled command.

“Do…Do we kill her now, sir?” asked the undead deckhand.

“Well…” Mavren drummed his claws against his scabbard, in pristine condition and clearly a stranger to combat. He then glanced to the boarder, who eagerly hefted a cutlass in one hand and a flintlock in the other. “No. The damage is done. And, one human’s worth of blood is barely a drop in our reserves.”

“But sir-”

“That’s an order.”

Mavren’s underling begrudgingly lowered his own weapon, allowing the pirate to hop overboard. Curious, he looked over the railing, and saw a small dinghy push away from the ship. “So that’s how she got away. Orders, sir?”

“Take stock of whatever charts, tools, or spyglasses she left untouched.”

One quick peek into the cabin revealed a barren room. “I think she took everything, sir.”

Mavren’s claws balled into fists. “As expected…”

“Sir…what do we tell the others? Without those tools, we’re-”

“Silence! I am thinking.” Mavren gripped the railing with enough force to crack the wood. “Gather the men. I have an announcement for them.”

“Sir?” The deckhand blanched.

“In the rapture of my Blood Fast…I decided to destroy the navigator’s tools.”

“Sir!”

“I will steer the ship to shore by faith alone.”

“Sir-”

“You already said that!” snapped the priest.

“Sorry…But, surely the others won’t believe that?”

Mavren gave the younger vampire a knowing look. In return, he earned a resigned expression from his subordinate.

“I’ll spread the word.”

“Thank you,” Mavren sighed in relief.

Thundering Spineback

"It appears that nature has risen against us." —Captain Brinely Rage