#mtgixl

Map of Ixalan, from Wizards of the Coast

Double Faced Card Locations

Ixalan has a theme of DFCs were one side points you to a land that’s on the other side, this map shows the lands seen on cards as actual locations. Since we know Ixalan has ten DFC, it’s possible to determine the names of the cards yet revealed.

Cards we know if seen on the map:

Conqueror's Foothold

Treasure Cove

(Spires of) Orazca

Primal Wellspring

Going by naming conventions the likely next 6 are:

High and Dry

Spitfire Basin

Lost Vale

Azcanta

Temple of Aclazaotz

Deeproot Tree

Spitfire Basin, Temple of Aclazotz and Deeproot Tree stand out because community number crunchers have found that we are likely to get black, green and red aligned dfcs. The Temple, Deeproot Tree and Spitfire Basin seem to have names matching those colors, possibly getting us new mythic lands printed for the first time since Gatecrash.

Faction Capitals

High and Dry

High and Dry is a floating city made up of many Pirate Ships and boats that serves as a base of operations for the Brazen Coalition, a union of pirate crews. It’s in the Stormwreck Sea, which makes sense, as the pirates are descdened from refugees of the East, who crossed that sea to escape conquest by the Legion of Dusk on the eastern continent of Torrezon.

Deeprot Tree

The name “Deeproot” has been seen on many Merfolk cards, leaving the Trees prominent placement to suggest it as their “capital.”

Queen’s Bay

Queen’s Bay is the location colony of the Legion of Dusk on Ixalan, named Miraldanor after their Queen Miralda (very similar to colonial nations on  earth such as Virginia and Victoria) it contains the Conqueror’s Foothold, their primary base on the island as well as the island fort of Adanto, named for the first Vampire to set foot on Ixalan.

Pachatupa

References as the capital of the Sun Empire on cards such as Tocatli Honor Guard, Pachatupa’s name is a twist on the legendary Inca name “Tupac,” as detailed by John Dale Beety, Tupac Amaru’s status as the last native ruler of the Inca lead to the name being taken by several other famous people, including the Pervuian native rebel Tupac Amaru II and recording artist Tupac Shakur. While primarily Aztec in design, the Sun Empire does take cues from the Inca, such as their terraced farms in the mountains around the nation.

The Inner Sea

A central aspect of the Merfolk River Heralds,  the Inner sea connects to seven rivers that in turn form the Great river of Ixalan. Reddittor  Johanson69’s discussion of plate tectonics lead me to notice that the inner sea, and its large central island in the middle, looks very much like an impact crater.

Tycho Lunar Crater as seen from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

With the Star of Extinction showing a meteor like the one that killed the dinosaurs on Earth hitting Ixalan in the Past and/or future, it’s possible this giant Adventure Time style hole in the island was caused by the last time a Star came down. Which would also explain why the city of Azcanta, very near to the suspected impact point, is now under water.

For flavor bonus, remember the real life meteor that killed the dinosaurs actually landed in Mexico, the inspiration for much of the setting of Ixalan.

Temple of Aclazotz

Johanson69 has pointed out the similarity of Aclazotz  with Camazotz, the Maya deity whose name literally means ‘Death Bat”. Associated with night , death and sacrifice,and based on the native-to-Mexico Vampire Bats, a temple with such a similar name being so close to the Vampire faction cant be a coincidence. 

Couple with the art and flavor of Deathless Ancients showing the Vampires awakening an old member of their race from an ancient tomb, perhaps the Vampires had interaction on Ixalan longer than many thought.

Quetzatl

Quetzal’s name is an obvious contraction of Quetzalcoatl, the Nauhua name for the mesoamerican feathered serpent seen through many of their culture’s faiths. We have scene this feathered serpent design, on the Sun Empire’s dinosaurs, on their banners (that look a lot like Ugin) and even with actually flying snakes as seen on the card Favorable Winds.

We have yet to see a Coatl card  so it's unknown if they are flying snakes, such as on the shard of Naya, or perhaps Drakes. Their possible connection to the Dinosaurs and the Immortal Sun itself may also be key, given Ugin’s Quetzalcoatl-like nature.

Vampiric Script

The middle of the Map is crossed with a banner in the same Vampiric language seen on the sash of Sanguine Sacrament  and on the discarded vampire banner in Vanquisher’s Banner. The sharp strokes really drive home that these guys are so Vampiric, even their letters have fangs.

Orazca

Finally the big macguffin itself, the legendary city of Orazca.

The lost Latin American City of Gold is a trope used so much it was overdone 400 years ago. El Dorado, Cibola, The City of the Caesars, La Canela, Paititi, even California was named after a legendary island of gold and Amazons from the novel series Las Sergas de Esplandián by  Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. (Yeah people though California was an island for quite some time.)

Many have questioned why it was able to stay hidden on the map but if you study the geography it makes a lot of sense.

It’s surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides but one, and it's one small waterway is bordered by thick jungle. Vraska being the one to be sailing towards it  with the Thaumatic Compass makes more sense when you see the Pirate faction as the only one of the four tribes with a direct naval route to the city from their capital.

If you study the effect of Spires of Orazca, you’ll notice they seem to actively repel creatures from the city, another reason it has been able to remain lost so long, and we of course don't know of the dangers within the city itself.

Wrap Up

Ixalan is full of mysteries and lore and I am really stoked Wizards has opened up a setting that we can really explore both in and outside the cards. Personally, i really enjoyed breaking down this map. Annotating a map was my first breakthrough article, so it was a trip down memory lane to do it again with a new property.

Please discuss the lore  details and sources of inspiration for Ixalan, and feel free to ask me any questions to keep the conversation rolling.

Enjoy!