Across Skylands, there was a master criminal disguised as a traveling magician. His name, Cardlatan. With his incredible card tricks, he entertains his crowds while his Hob 'N Yaro brother pickpocket them. And, whenever he got caught, his two Rocket Imp sisters would stall while he escaped. Eventually, the Trap Masters were called on Cardlatan, and even then he was hard to capture.
After many long escapes and a long winded battle, the Trap Master Enigma finally caught the Cardlatan. But his siblings weren't too happy about it. The three imps would consistently try to break their older brother out, to the point that the Trap Masters considered capturing them as well.
Cardlatan couldn't bare to see that, so he purposed an idea to his captor, Enigma. If he could complete a non villainous task to redeem himself, he'd walk free and never steal again. Enigma was hesitant, but agreed once Master Eon pitched the task: defeating the Spellslamzer.
Cardlatan was confident he could defeat another magician, so he and his siblings were brought to Battlebrawl Island by Jet Vac. Cardlatan was easily able to defeat Baron von Shellshock's other contenders, but when the Spellslamzer revealed himself, Cardlatan struggled against him greatly. That is, until he heard Enigma granting him some vocal support from the crowd. Surprised, but not about let himself lose, Cardlatan followed his captor's instructions thoroughly.
Bringing the Spellslamzer to his figurative knees, Cardlatan had won his freedom, to the amazement of the crowd and his impish siblings. Cardlatan found something that day: true adoration. Most off all from Enigma.
After such a display of magic, Enigma desired to take Cardlatan under his wing and train him to become a Skylander. And, while it was quite the new deck to be presented, Cardlatan couldn't resist such a gamble. Especially when the reward would be quite enjoyable.