Matt Cavotta

Matt Cavotta is an illustrator, the Principle Art Director and Creative Director for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast.

Career
As an artist he has illustrated numerous Magic cards, such as Alloy Myr, Etched Oracle, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Questing Phelddagrif and Twiddle. Mark Rosewater hired him in 2004 for Wizards of the Coast, where he worked in the Creative team in charge of names and flavor text. Then he left for a while and he came back and now he's in charge of overseeing the look and feel of Magic. He works at CAPS (Creative and Professional Services).

Cavotta wrote for the "Taste The Magic" column on magicthegathering.com until December, 2007. In his articles card flavor, card art, interviews MTG artists, and talks about all things Vorthos were discussed (in fact, the term Vorthos was coined by Matt in his column).

Additionally he wrote the short story "Expedition" for the Shadowmoor anthology and was part of Future Sight R&D. In that last capacity, he came up with the idea for planeswalker cards.

Matt Cavotta used himself and his wife as the models for.

Cavotta Terms
A recurring topic in Cavotta's "Taste the Magic" column was "Okra, Twinkie, Tofu". He talked about card names and whether the words used can be found in a dictionary or if they are just made up.


 * Okra are "words that are actually real but may seem fake." These are frequently obscure mythological, literary, or historical references.
 * Twinkies are words that are "completely fake and not of this world" and were made up by Magic R&D.
 * Tofu are words that are "made up of real stuff but seems bizarre and alien", usually by combining word roots.