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[WanderingWind]

Nah, the JTMS art is iconic because it's just cool. The glowing eyes, the weird magic squigglys...it's a cool card. Brooding Mr. Angsty Hoodie guy is distant second.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Mono red could make a comeback. Drown of Sorrow is annoying, but luckily Siege refills your gas and, unlike Boros, you can take advantage of Hall of Triumph.

Siege seems really expensive for a Mono-Red deck though.

Or fuck it, Mono-Red Nykthos that ramps to BIG F'N DRAGONS.

Eidolon of the Great Revel + Thunderbreak Regent and watch your opponent take 5 when he tries a Downfall.

Nah, the JTMS art is iconic because it's just cool. The glowing eyes, the weird magic squigglys...it's a cool card. Brooding Mr. Angsty Hoodie guy is distant second.

Hood up Jace looks like a Sith Lord.

Hood down Jace = crawwwwwwwwwwwling in my skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

 

[Firemind]

Nah, the JTMS art is iconic because it's just cool. The glowing eyes, the weird magic squigglys...it's a cool card. Brooding Mr. Angsty Hoodie guy is distant second.

hi5. It's JTMS who's printed on tees, not Jace Beleren.

Siege seems really expensive for a Mono-Red deck though.

Or fuck it, Mono-Red Nykthos that ramps to BIG F'N DRAGONS.

Eidolon of the Great Revel + Thunderbreak Regent and watch your opponent take 5 when he tries a Downfall.

This is a great idea, actually. One of the boogeyman of Red Devotion in the previous Standard was Master of Waves, which isn't really played anymore.

 

[WanderingWind]

But what about animu Jace?

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I still wish Nelson DeCastro made card art. Love his work.

 

[WanderingWind]

If it helps any Firemind, I am a man.

 

[Kacar]

RB Dragons you know you want to.

I know but I haven't liked either of the r/b ones they have spoiled. the 4 drop is cool though.

 

[Firemind]

But what about animu Jace?

Still better than this

Actually this is pretty awful too

 

[Joe Molotov]

But what about animu Jace?

"P-pls notice me, senpai!"

 

[Angry Grimace]

"Oh Jace, all the people who made fun of you in high school were just jealous! Of your powerful mind!"

"Oh liliana, I am going to write some poetry about you."

 

[Toxi]

But what about animu Jace?

 

[G.ZZZ]

I really, really want to like Zurgo, but after Delver was printed, there's no meaning in any other 1-drop. Sigh. Still, it's an incredibly good card. The dash is relevant for lategame. Plus good tribal types.

 

[Firemind]

I really, really want to like Zurgo, but after Delver was printed, there's no meaning in any other 1-drop. Sigh. Still, it's an incredibly good card. The dash is relevant for lategame. Plus good tribal types.

Taylor Swiftspear often hits harder than Delver in legacy.

 

[SigmasonicX]

So the Magic Origins art of Gideon seems to depict the young version as being from Theros. It turns out that there have been a lot of hints about this.

Blogatog post:

nuggetjunior asked: Why didn't Heliod get a different name, considering that Chandra (the face of M14) had a few run ins with an Order of Heliud on Regatha?

You assume there isn’t a connection between the two. : )

Fan tumblr post:

drasthenes:

GIDEON JURA…
KYTHEON IORA…

Coincidence?
==
…oh, fuck, I forgot about that. That…would definitely be a more Theran name. He could have maybe picked up the more Anglicized name on whatever plane he ended up ‘walking to?

Oh my god, as a classicist I must say that this is spot on though. Latin had a bit of a problem dealing with the Greek letter Gamma and some words that should have the ‘k’ phoneme end up with the hard ‘g’ phoneme and the opposite was also true. Also, the Anglicized J is derived from the letter I. This is just… wow.

Basically, it seems like Gideon was originally named Kytheon Iora and was a great warrior, planeswalked to other worlds, and was proselytizing for a while.

EDIT: Also, the art for Atarka's Command depicts efreet. It looks like they're affiliated with not!Temur now.

 

["God's Beard!"]

My Top 3 Magic artists:

• Karla Ortiz

This prolific concept artist is known for her classically-influenced composition sense and gift for narrative in illustration. A student of Wesley Burt, her literally hand-breaking work ethic pushed her atelier-driven skillset far beyond expectations for her young age. Is currently working on Doctor Strange for Marvel Film Studios.

• Veronique Meignaud

This French-Canadian was hand-picked for the game industry before she got a chance to finish school. Frustrated by the constraints of the pipeline, she threw away all her habits and recreated her skillset from the ground up, leading to the wonderful color sense that permeates her painting. Currently freelance.

• Steven Belledin

His paintings live and breathe James Gurney's influence, but that's only worked in his favor. Using Gurney's techniques for turning the prehistoric into the present, he paints fantasy with an air of credibility. Despite the weight and darkness behind his subjects, he shows a rare appreciation for natural light. Currently works back and forth between a variety of fantasy game companies.

It's because we're all sort of awesome. Except GB. He's stellar.

^_^

 

[ThLunarian]

The Dinosaur creature type is actually relevant to me, because Old Fogey is a Dinosaur with "Bands with Other Dinosaurs," and I'm a little unclear on whether Changelings count as Dinosaurs since there aren't any non-silver bordered ones.

 

[Yeef]

The Dinosaur creature type is actually relevant to me, because Old Fogey is a Dinosaur with "Bands with Other Dinosaurs," and I'm a little unclear on whether Changelings count as Dinosaurs since there aren't any non-silver bordered ones.

Dinosaur isn't an actual creature type, just like Chicken and lots of other un-types. Each individual creature type is defined within the rules and dinosaur isn't listed.

 

[red13th]

My all time top5 would probably be Quinton Hoover, Rebecca Guay, Richard Kane Ferguson, Adam Rex and John Avon. Hoover passed away, RKF and Guay aren't good enough for MtG anymore, Adam Rex I suppose has better things to do and Avon one keeps pumping out gorgeous lands thankfully.
Another one I forgot to mention in my active top5 (five is too few!) is Jesper Ejsing, I absolutely love his stuff too.

 

[charlequin]

Better than JTMS? That artwork has basically made him into Mr. Magic.

JTMS' illustration is kind of mediocre, actually.

I think his great art is part of the reason the first Planeswalkers left such an impact on players.

Absolutely. There are other striking PWs since then, but those initial pictures really sold the concept and did a lot of the hard work of getting people on board with this list of five brand-new, context-free characters.

 

[ultron87]

The Dinosaur creature type is actually relevant to me, because Old Fogey is a Dinosaur with "Bands with Other Dinosaurs," and I'm a little unclear on whether Changelings count as Dinosaurs since there aren't any non-silver bordered ones.

I'd think in Un-Rules-Land where you're playing with Old Fogey Changeling should include dinosaurs.

 

[charlequin]

Still better than this

That one's always confused me, since Igor is usually on point (Elesh Norn, Falkenrath Aristocrat, etc.)

So the Magic Origins art of Gideon seems to depict the young version as being from Theros. It turns out that there have been a lot of hints about this.

This also explains why they made a big push to have him depicted with bronze skin despite the first card illo being super white.

 

[The Technomancer]

Still better than this

I swear if you were to move his head up by like two inches he would look soooo much better here

 

[Zocano]

So I've been out of commission from Magic for a while. Which is weird cause I dumped a toooon of cash on KtK and just never did anything with it. At least the Onslaught Fetches look like they're *slightly* cheaper to get now.

I assume we're seeing the Zendikar Fetches in Return to Zendikar?

Also how's the meta been? I saw the OT title saying it's stale as usual and couldn't tell if it was just a joke or not.

Also it looks like Fate Reforged didn't have a whole lot of money in it so it would be probably be easy to jump back into standard now right?


edit: Also anticipate looks great and it's nice seeing that Narset is pretty decent

Spoiler

even if the card is in white and I'll probably never ever ever ever play it outside of Cude Draft or something

 

[Angry Grimace]

Nah man, I only like Phil Foglio pieces

So I've been out of commission from Magic for a while. Which is weird cause I dumped a toooon of cash on KtK and just never did anything with it. At least the Onslaught Fetches look like they're *slightly* cheaper to get now.

I assume we're seeing the Zendikar Fetches in Return to Zendikar?

Also how's the meta been? I saw the OT title saying it's stale as usual and couldn't tell if it was just a joke or not.

Also it looks like Fate Reforged didn't have a whole lot of money in it so it would be probably be easy to jump back into standard now right?

The top deck is still $300 (RW), the second one is $400 (WBG). You don't have to play them, but you have to be ready to beat them if you are trying to win.

The big problem is that you have to find at way to ram your way past a 4 mana 4/5 creature that drains you for 3 when it enters the battlefield. The meta is quite diverse other than decks with said creature (Siege Rhino) in it.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I wonder why the new Gideon is the only one of the Origins planeswalkers to not have Batman eyes.

 

[Zocano]

The top deck is still $300.

So nothing's changed. Alright.

The only money cards I'm really missing are the fetches, like I said. So it wouldn't be hard to jump back in. I held off on them at release cause I wanted them to go down in price a tad more ($10/ea instead of $15).

 

[Angry Grimace]

So nothing's changed. Alright.

The only money cards I'm really missing are the fetches, like I said. So it wouldn't be hard to jump back in. I held off on them at release cause I wanted them to go down in price a tad more ($10/ea instead of $15).

The RW "Aggro" deck has no fetches. The expensive cards are Rabblemaster ($15), Stormbreath ($15), Brimaz (sometimes, $20) and occasionally Soul Fire Grandmaster ($15, FRF)

To your original point, nothing in Fate Reforged really ended up as a 4-of staple in any deck.

 

[Zocano]

I actually got 5 rabblemasters before he spiked but I never got around to dropping him off for other cards.

I was trying to make a ... BUG deck before? Some sort of Sultai Dredge deck but it's been a while and I'd have to remember all the cards.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I actually got 5 rabblemasters before he spiked but I never got around to dropping him off for other cards.

I was trying to make a ... BUG deck before? Some sort of Sultai Dredge deck but it's been a while and I'd have to remember all the cards.

They're still $15, so you could trade one for anything else you need, really. There are no $20 cards in Standard anymore other than Brimaz (which not everyone plays). Elspeth used to be expensive but then they put her in a duel deck.

Oh, and Stoke the Flames is an M15 uncommon that costs 6 dollars.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Unrevealed card art:

Atarka's Babysitter

 

[Zocano]

Well all the expensive cards are in white as usual, so I don't have to bother too much with them.

Also I can pick up Nissa for not $40 so that seems nice.

 

[Toxi]

I love Raymond Swanland's art. He's got a lot of problems like how he overuses dutch angles and blue highlights, but there's a sense of chaotic energy and motion that makes his cards really pop. I don't think a card like Nyxathid could have looked nearly as vicious and wild with another artist.

 

[Matriox]

They're still $15, so you could trade one for anything else you need, really. There are no $20 cards in Standard anymore other than Brimaz (which not everyone plays). Elspeth used to be expensive but then they put her in a duel deck.

Oh, and Stoke the Flames is an M15 uncommon that costs 6 dollars.

Ugin

 

[kirblar]

I will laugh a lot if someone tries to blow them up for including a baby in the art.

 

[The Technomancer]

I will laugh a lot if someone tries to blow them up for including a baby in the art.

Oh haha didn't even notice. That entire piece of art is Monster Hunter levels of ridiculous

 

[Toxi]

I will laugh a lot if someone tries to blow them up for including a baby in the art.

To be fair, carrying a baby with you into battle is pretty fucked up.

Spoiler

And hilarious

 

[Angry Grimace]

Note, don't carry your baby in a purse.

You need one of those backpacks.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Obviously the brain damage from being carried around like that is considered a benefit, because you will more readily charge into battle.

 

[red13th]

love this one too, not sure which one to use.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

I need one of those wilds simply because (outside of the FNM foil) all other versions of the card have terrible art, and my cube wants it.

 

[red13th]

I'd love a new Terramorphic Expanse too, maybe by Meignaud.

 

[Jhriad]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";154762069]
[*]Veronique Meignaud
[/QUOTE]

That's a fantastic use of color. Just lovely. Every time the topic of Magic art comes up I can't help but think of Richard Kane Ferguson's work in early sets that I fell in love with. Sadly, I think that while the quality of the artwork is higher overall now the insistence on every piece within a set portraying the same characters/scenes from the current story arc and staying within a relatively narrow style guide means I find little in the newer sets to be interesting artistically. Maybe that's just my nostalgia goggles blinding me to the qualities of the new sets though.

 

[kirblar]

 

[charlequin]

I assume we're seeing the Zendikar Fetches in Return to Zendikar?

It's a bet I'd take, anyway.

Also how's the meta been? I saw the OT title saying it's stale as usual and couldn't tell if it was just a joke or not.

From a standpoint purely of how much deck variation and shifts between events there's been, Khans block has definitely been quite a bit out ahead of Theros. In terms of how much people like the specific decks being played, well... your mileage may vary.

That's a fantastic use of color. Just lovely. Every time the topic of Magic art comes up I can't help but think of Richard Kane Ferguson's work in early sets that I fell in love with. Sadly, I think that while the quality of the artwork is higher overall now the insistence on every piece within a set portraying the same characters/scenes from the current story arc and staying within a relatively narrow style guide means I find little in the newer sets to be interesting artistically. Maybe that's just my nostalgia goggles blinding me to the qualities of the new sets though.

No, that's pretty much the long and the short of it. The technical skill of illustration on display today is leaps and bounds ahead of early Magic, and while there's something charming about scrappy and imaginative youngsters, I do think that technical improvement is overall very much for the better.

The big problem is that the style range that WotC's art directors consider acceptable now is far, far narrower, so we don't get impressionists like Drew Tucker, ultra-stylized creators like Quinton Hoover or Richard Kane-Ferguson, cartoony humorists like the Foglios, or any of the all-out abstract weirdness of a few early artists. A lot of long-time fans think it's a big loss; they seem to think they can't support the brand correctly with more variance in the art.

 

[Crocodile]

So the implication is that Gideon is from Theros?

"Moms are tough"

Anyway, with Silumgar Assassin and Stratus Walker I was wondering if a cycle was-a-brewin'

 

[charlequin]

So the implication is that Gideon is from Theros?

Actually they released some more screenshots and it's confirmed. Born on Theros as "Kytheon Iora" (who apparently they've been dropping references to for quite a while) and first planeswalked to Bant.

 

[Angry Grimace]

So the implication is that Gideon is from Theros?



"Moms are tough"

Anyway, with Silumgar Assassin and Stratus Walker I was wondering if a cycle was-a-brewin'

You tell me:

 

[OnPoint]

You tell me:

Looks white there too. Jesus get it together wizards

 

[kirblar]

Looks white there too. Jesus get it together wizards

He's still white in all the other Origins artwork, he's just slightly more tan.

I can't believe they let those figures finalize like that.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Wait I thought it was Tezzeret who was a black guy?