I have noticed that when I write about MTG the readership skyrockets to staggering levels. 5 to 9 readers. And it makes sense considering how active the community is online. People are hungry for content on the cardboard crack.
So here is a brief set aside of some of my favorite art in MTG.
And, first, no I am not one of those people that says "Art was better back in the day. Damn it" I am one of those people that says art had much more variety back in the day likely due not to a company decision but just sheer bandwidth. Remember your first apartment? It likely had a lot of cast down and mismatched furniture from garage sales and left over from the last tenant. But then you start polishing that up and you get some Jorgens and Bilkins from IKEA. Then maybe you go to a real furniture store with "and Sons" in the name. It all just starts coalescing around an aesthetic. That is what happened as the game grew. It got better but organized. We take that for granted or inherently mundane when it is truly the mark of something sustainable.
That all said here we go...
Blistering Barrier by David Ho from Mirage
Older MTG sets featured much more abstract pieces. Some of these were very interpretive and other way too abstract. Talking about Stasis and then Night Soil.
And I am not to afraid to admit I was 35 years old when I realized the answer to the riddle is the card itself. That all said look at this thing. It is a mixture of hilarious and brutal. A HR Giger carnival. Younger me thought this card was AMAZING. A 5/2 wall!? Let's fucking go! It is part of that initiation all players need to have that losing life is not necessarily a bad thing and a 5/2 that can't attack, however novel the fact a wall is stronger on offense than defense, is pretty damn crummy.
Goblin War Buggy by DeTerlizzi from Urza's Saga
Ask a younger me who my favorite MTG artist was and I would have said DeTerlizzi. And, in all honesty, I said that just to have someone. No one artists speaks to me albeit the 25 years of the game means there are many voices and images. But I like his work and the strong thematic through them. The curving angles in muted tones. Everything seems supremely huggable yet also somewhat loaded with potential and power. There is a very fairy tale feel to his work and I choose Goblin War Buggy because it is hilarious. The portly fellow jammed into the barrel scooter with his broken lance resonates with the lore of goblins in the game and also DeTerlizzi's work.
Elspeth, Knight Errant (Guild of Ravnica Masterpiece) by Zach Stella
Elspeth is my favorite MTG character. If you have submitted yourself to this blog you have A) Seen this picture before and B) Seen me hype her up. This is a special edition version of her original card. And yes...I'm human so the fact this is her most sexed up card needs to be said but aside from the hair draped over her face it is very tame. Have you seen other fantasy art!? You don't need to fix her armor. Well except where she was stabbed when Wizards totally did her dirty in the original Theros block but she beat death and killed gods so she got the last laugh. My favorite non-special art version of her (Note this card is about $60 which like most women is out of my league) is Sun's Champion It's the hood
Lightning Angel by rk post from Apocalypse
The Apocalypse set was a big deal. The return of multicolored spells in enemy combinations. The culmination of a nearly 10 year saga that only in recent years had coalesced into a unified story. It was the Avengers End Game of tabletop gaming of the early 2000s. And Lightning Angel was supremely bad ass in all kinds of way. Three colors. It flew. It did not need to tap. It could attack right at the bat. And that art? Cryptic and dark but still representing the overwhelming power of good. She has two damn weapons! rk post has tons of MTG art and a lot of bib old spells and creatures from back in the day. All have that dark positively possessed vibe.
Scion of Glaciers by Titus Lunter from Khans of Tarkir
KTK was the current set when I returned to the game. And this was not a powerful card in the format but I loved how the ice moved into its arms and legs. I imagine some lifeless antler headdress that animates upon the shaman's order and whips into a flurry of wintry life.
Dark Ritual by Sandra Everingham in Alpha
Note this is also my favorite card in the whole game. Back as a youth my "good" deck was what you would describe as a Extended Mono Black Aggro deck. It abused Dark Ritual to get a Hypnotic Specter on turn one. Or a Black Knight with an Unholy Strength. And for a while MTG printed this card in every set because it was very emblematic of what the color Black did.Until they realized it is way too powerful and it is now relegated to casual, Commander, and the rarefied tiers of Legacy and Vintage.
As for the art, and there are some great Dark Ritual arts, this does not just get the win because it is the first. It makes you fell something. Who is this person? What did they summon? What is swirling up from the incantation. It fits the name and effect to a quintessential level.
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