MTG The Lost Caverns of Ixalan card confirmed to use stolen art 

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan feature pirates and plunder galore, but fans are much less happy about the real-life theft taking place in the MTG set. 

It seems that Wizards of the Coast can’t help but be embroiled in art-based controversy recently. The furor around AI-generated art in D&D 5e caused the company to come out strongly against AI art being used in future products, only for a recent Tomb Raider secret lair advert to be found to have used an AI image after being posted and swiftly taken down. 

Now, another controversy has cropped up around Wizards’ art, as a card recently released in MTG’s The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has been confirmed to use stolen art as the basis for its image background. 

Lost Caverns of Ixalan card is based on art from another MTG contributor

David Sondered/Lorenzo Lanfranconi

The card in question is the Special Guest reprint of Wayfarer’s Bauble, a mana-fixing staple that fans are always happy to see make a return. While the foreground of the card appears to be wholly unique, the steps in the card’s background have been taken from Lorenzo Lanfranconi’s piece, Morning walk to the city. This was revealed when Lanfranconi posted their piece directly next to the Wayfarer’s Bauble, tagging Wizards of the Coast.

Certain fans – including Reddit commenter SSteska found the situation particularly ironic based on the Ixalan Wayfarer’s Bauble flavor text. The text in part reads ‘It is said Chimil never sees the same land twice.’ Thanks to the art theft being discovered, fans are comparing the two pieces and quite literally seeing the same land twice. 

Preventing MTG art theft in the future

Lanfranconi has stated that the Sondered has reached out to them privately following the matter coming to light. Taking a forgiving stance, Lanfranconi will not be taking any further action.

Hopefully the speed with which the theft was discovered, as well as the hit to the Sondered’s reputation and credibility, will prevent further art theft within MTG and Wizards of the Coasts’ other products in future.