From a design perspective, it’s an interesting take on the franchise that has otherwise struggled to translate its rich lore beyond the TCG format; the last time they experimented with the IP was with the Arena of Planeswalkers.
Why are these Planeswalkers (the players) locked in combat?
Where did they encounter each other?
What objective are they trying to achieve (by defeating the others?)
Explorers of Ixalan is an Annex set for the Ixalan block, that attempts to contextualize these games of Magic, by putting the players in the scenario set forth by the block/set’s storyline, which happens to be treasure-hunting on Ixalan; with a hex-grid that looks a little like Catan… there were even custom decks to represent the four factions on Ixlan. Explorers of Ixalan combines cards from the TCG with board-game elements: uncovering tiles for special effects.
