My Top 5 Pieces of Art in Magic: The Gathering

I am a pretty big fan of Magic: The Gathering, I love the gameplay, I love the social aspect and I love the lore. Another thing I love about it but don’t talk too often about is the artwork, which is a bit silly of me as half of the card is artwork. So here are my 5 favourite pieces of art in Magic: The Gathering.

 5: Endless Ranks of the Dead

 

I have this card in my zombie deck (naturally) and I love it because you get two pieces of art for the price of one, you have the card and the gorgeous stained-glass window, and the use of silhouettes here makes this a simple card with a really effective outcome.

 4: Gilder Bairn

 

 

This card is just so freaking adorable. I was introduced to it at my MTG meetings in Bristol buy a guy who, for him, this was his favourite piece of art. I can see why, there are just so many cute things going on here, the glowing jelly beans, the fact that it’s a small child and the little onesie are just too precious to not have this included in the list.

 3: Plague Spitter

 

 

Weird weird weird. That’s the first thing I think when looking at this card. It’s one of those pieces of art that can even be regarded as difficult to look at. It jarrs you. However the Tim Burton-esque feel of this card works really well to convey a sense of surrealism, and for this mixture of jarring and cartoony style, this card gets the number 3 spot.

 2: Showstopper

I don’t really know why I like this card so much. I think it may be how well it works with the flavour text: “The audience quickly realised a few things; it wasn’t a magic trick, there wasn’t candy in there, and they’d need new clothes.”

Also the style of the art feels almost like Manga, and if that was intentional then this card definitely deserves number 2.

1: Etched Champion

Right, the number one spot is always a touchy subject as everyone has a different favourite, here is why etched champion is mine. He looks like a real fighter, like he was created to be a champion rather than just accidentally falling into the role. I also find how the position of the lights in the background correspond to the lights on his armour really interesting and if that wasn’t enough, the artist; Matt Cavotta, has gone to the effort of making sure that over every single inch of the champion are those beautiful engravings that tell of “a future fraught with war.”

 So there you have my five personal favourite pieces of art in MTG. Again I’d normally try and gleam a universal truth from this article but every once in a while I enjoy just leaving it open to any interpretation desired, sit back and go “Oh wow, so pretty.” If this is the standard of art at the moment I cannot wait to see what’s going to appear in Modern Masters and M14.

 I’ll see you in a brand new frame.