Is Magic The Gathering's Art Stagnating?
One of Magic the Gathering's most enduring and popular elements is its art. Every card has a lovingly-created illustration, effortlessly expressing its world and story, with some becoming so popular that original copies of Magic art can sell for tens of thousands at auction. Many of Magic's best-known names are its artists, like Seb McKinnon, Kev Walker, and Rebecca Guay.
One of the most significant artistic overhauls to Magic in recent years was the introduction of ‘Booster Fun’ in 2019. Starting with Throne of Eldraine, more booster packs would have some kind of alternate art treatment, like a Showcase Frame or extended art that creeps into the border. It's proven popular since then, with the Showcase style becoming a major selling point of each new set. But at the same time, it does show a marked contrast between how Magic managed its art in the early days of the game and how it does it now. Why does everything weird and different seem to be a selling point these days?
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In the past 10 to 15 years, Magic has seen its artistic direction become more and more specific. Since around 2010's New Phyrexia, Magic's style has shifted from a highly varied array of fantasy-inspired pieces to high-res, highly rendered digital (or digital-looking) art.
Don't get me wrong, the artists' work on these sets is incredible, often bursting with character and colour and storytelling in a way very few other games can pull off. But if you take a recent set like Innistrad: Crimson Vow and compare it to an older set like Alpha, Homelands, or Mercadian Masques, there is a definite solidifying of an aesthetic that feels almost restrictive.
Older Magic was willing to
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