Epic Landscapes

[Edit] HA well it turns out they didn't that far ahead? From the PAX East panel they mentioned how they went back to the artists who created those guildgate pieces and asked them to expand upon them. WELL THEN. Still cool nonetheless. :D [Edit]

The art of Magic. Nothing gets me more pumped than when the new art for cards begin to appear on sites. And this is a really exciting time with spoilers popping up all over the place, most recently at PAX East in Boston. You don't need card names or descriptions to appreciate the imagery and they give players a view into the Magic universe, helping set the tone for a color in the set.

Dragon's Maze, the last set in the Return to Ravnica block, has begun revealing its lands and a handful of creatures. While the creatures are getting plenty of attention because of their role in the lore (champions for each guild and all legendary) I'm really enjoying how the guildgates look. For those who have been playing this block, you know what the gates are. But for anyone who isn't quite aware, the guildgates were lands that allow players to tap for 1 of 2 colors. What makes this last set interesting is they are reprinting all 10 of the guildgates from the first 2 sets but instead of using the same images as before, they have zoomed out to reveal the full size of the picture. I don't think anyone was expecting that. Nobody thought the original pictures used were just small snippets of the actual piece. Here's are some examples of what Wizards has done. And in case it needs to be mentioned, I don't own these images. I just REALLY admire them and everyone involved in creating them.

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Pretty cool eh?

In general, the art has always been a huge part of the appeal for me. What can I say? I like stuff that looks cool. I sometimes want to use cards just because they look interesting. In games with character customization, I spend much longer than a human should on creating the looks. ^_^

One of my favorite artists is Raymond Swanland. Along with art for Magic, he's also done work with Games Workshop and Cryptozoic's World of Warcraft TCG. Probably my favorite card by him would be Lightning Helix.

Overall, what has always stood out to me about his art is how much energy is going on in a scene. The figures and scenery are never solid and there is always a sense of action or activity. It's not quite at the level of being called busy because all the flare surrounding the focus of the image has a purpose and fits the theme of the picture. My girllfriend and I shorthand his style as the swirlies. You can see his work for Magic here.

I attended PAX Prime in Seattle last year and from what I learned at their panel, they are really putting more focus on having the images set the tone for the block. With what they've done in RtR, I'm really looking forward to how epic in scale the next block, Theros, will be.