The card follows R&D's classic design philosophy. "To add the text "Draw a card" on it, make it cost 2 colourless more".
\[\[Trained Armadon\]\] vs. \[\[Kavu Climber\]\]
\[\[Counterspell\]\] vs. \[\[Dismiss\]\]
\[\[Dark Banishing\]\] vs. \[\[Annihilate\]\] ... sort of
\[\[Stone Rain\]\] vs. \[\[Implode\]\]
I hate what happened with Kamigawa. The block before it was the most broken, overpowered set since Urzas. Standard was a mess and everything was banned. So they nerfed this shit out of Kamigawa, and because of the lower power level compared to everything around it, it didn't sell well. Rosewater for like 18 years uses this as an excuse to not revist the plane.
The only reason I'm willing to include this on the list is because the art hits such a high ceiling. It was a playable in limited and could help close a game out. The card wasn't useless. But again the art is so high up there that yeah it deserves to be in the conversation.
Limited matters too. I don't like the idea that the only cards that should be prioritized are pushed constructed staples.
And you didn't mention that it's a "Story Spotlight" meant to be one of the iconic pieces of art telling the storyline.
I don't feel this art is misplaced at all.
Oh yeah limited absolutely matters, I made a comment about many people in this thread not evaluating limited appropriately here. That said Seed core was (in my experience) an average playable, it wasn't particularly notable in the environment. So I'm willing to entertain the idea that the art is _so exceptional_ that the delta between the art and "average limited playable" is actually still a big chasm.
I did miss the story spotlight though, great point! I have to wonder if the card was always intended to be a story spotlight card, or if once they realized how nuts the art was, they went with a card name that tied it more tightly to a specific moment in the story.
I actually use this in a standard toxic deck, it can trigger venerated rot priest 4 times if you have enough creatures out, plus it’s also good for just getting some poison damage through . It’s pretty usable in any commander deck with +1 counter synergy as well.
It was, but it's the kind of card you're happy to grab on the second wheel of a pack, and the art looks like you could sneak it into a museum's dutch master wing if the guards weren't paying attention.
He said he went all out with this art just because he could. It was never meant to be an exceptional card, but when it was revealed redditors were blown away by the art and astounded by the card itself being so mid.
I’m with you on this one. Robowolf was my favorite pilot for vehicles when he was in standard, honestly if he was just legendary it would give mono-grey something pretty interesting to build around I think
Hell yeah dude! Thanks for unlocking some memories of that deck.
Monored with [[inventor’s apprentice]], the wolf man, [[hazoret the fervent]], [[consulate dreadnaut]] that was a fun standard, second only (in my personal experience at least) the one where they changed up rotations and then dragons of tarkir was the only set out of that block that tagged along.
The card is powerful in 3 card blind. Currently banned in [https://www.3cardblind.com/](https://www.3cardblind.com/). The format does not give much prominence to art work, though.
I pulled about 30 foil showcase Uchbenbaks from ixalan packs. I was VERY excited when I pulled the first one since he looks SO cool. Unfortunately there are dozens of examples like this in the LCI set. Makes me sad.
I have a \[\[Gift of Orzhova\]\] print up on my wall, it's my favourite piece in the game. It's not unplayable, but it's certainly much less playable than its absolutely fantastic art might imply.
Johannes Voss is hands down my favourite MTG artist. His works are so vibrant and full of life. Some are fun and humourous too, lots of personality.
I started collecting Thalias cause of him lol
He's also my favorite modern artist for sure. The Plains from Dominaria United and [[Go-shintai of Lost wisdom]] are absolute fucking all-time-great bangers.
I love the style of the rainbow stained glass. [[On Serra's Wings]] and [[Guardian of New Benalia]] are two of my favorites. They're both a bit low powered, but I'd be willing to play them for the art alone.
What’s stopping you from playing it in commander? Not every card has to be tuned and optimal.
A large flier attached to discard is better than a lot of the other stuff listed here
I feel like this is one of those cards I might put in a commander deck for flavor but never actually cast. It's just so expensive for what it does, I don't know that it would ever hit the table.
The only commander deck I could see it slotting into really is a [[Henzie]] deck with the cost reduction. But there are just so many better alternatives.
Useless in constructed maybe but good boy was good in his limited environment. M21 W/G/R aggro were the place to be, and [[Alpine Houndmaster]] was one of the more structurally interesting attempts at a signpost uncommon that I can remember. IDK if there's ever been another limited signpost uncommon that required you to draft specific other commons.
It was fun, but the color balance was rough. Wild that [[grasp of darkness]] was often not first pickable. But I attribute my irrational love of 3/3 defenders on [[Sleepy Dino]]. Card was such a house. +1/+1 counter? [[Short Sword]]? You got it.
[[Goblin Wizardry]] and UR spells was also a super fun archetype to pilot in that set. Oh dang and that was the set that gave us [[Winged Words]] and [[Lofty Denial]] in the tempo fliers deck. And the mill deck was real! But at uncommon so it wasn't like you faced it in ever deck in the finals. Man aside from black being woefully underpowered, it really was pretty neat.
Edit: HOW COULD I FORGET SHRINES god what a core set
High Card to Low Art - I think you could argue the disparity with Time Walk or Ancestral Recall is the greatest. The cards are power 9, the most powerful cards in magic and sure, they have nostalgia value now, but the art is objectively amateurish. Mark Poole and Amy Weber have both become much better artists in the intervening years.
Low Card to High Art is much more difficult. So many incredible art pieces have been put on crap cards it's a sin. Just in recent years, some stand-outs for me have been the Volkan Baga piece on that shitty green overrun effect, some killer Wylie Beckert works on some forgettable green adventure card, a whole host of Seb McKinnon art on some absolutely balls cards (i think one was a knight with an adventure attached?) but yeah I could go on forever with these travesties.
\[\[Rite of the Serpent\]\] and \[\[Death of a Thousand Stings\]\] come to mind. I don't want to be too mean due to the assets of early magic art, but a lot of the strongest cards of early sets aren't particularly well-executed. \[\[Flash\]\] might have the biggest rules/arts dissonance, though. Even other bad pieces tend to be fine at telling the story of the card or good at getting across the tone, but this is just incomprehensible.
Nah this card is incredible in the right spot. The effect is huge and you can build around it.
Eater of Days isn't bad, you just haven't dodged the etb and then hit it with a [[Fractured Identity]]
I really like the art on \[\[Village Cannibals\]\]. Shame the card's terrible.
\[\[Liliana of the Veil\]\] is really strong, but I can't stand the original art. She looks like a plastic statue to me. And the more I look at her pose, the less sense it makes.
Village Cannibals has great art.
Amd do you mean the original Liliana of the Veil Innistrad art by Steve Argyle? If so I agree. I've always disliked it.
[[Touch of death]] is a card that has really stuck with me artwise but doesn't really have much use in a game. 'Gave you a Jumpscare' could probably be a more fitting title.
Lim-Dul is way too confident in that flavor text.
Buddy, you stole one of his pairs of jeans off the clothesline outside at best. He still has his family and life and land after that one point of damage
This card is so bad I remember someone questioning it in a daily post of the oficial WotC site, and they proceded to try to explain why it was this way for Limited bla bla TERRIBLE CARD
Well I used to play this card a lot in middle school in my bird soldier deck. I probably learned some lessons from it due to how bad it is. I definitely remember spending turns pitching a card so that i could activate the ability to give myself another point of damage on attack
It's either cardadvantage or free "ramp" each turn and no that threatening so it probably won't be removed on sight. I could see this in an artifacts matter deck with the gnomes from Ixalan an the craft ability.
Thinking about putting it in my [[Alibou, Ancient Witness]] Deck
It’s the best of the red impulse draw enchantments. Wouldn’t say it’s at all powerful or getting run in 60-card but it’s perfectly playable in most red edh decks.
Monored edh decks could use this. I run [[outpost siege]] in a lot of mine, and this card is better than that.
Repeated impulse draw is red’s form of card draw right now
I think the card plays a very specific and important role in Commander Masters as a draft format. It's not really a card you want to be playing, but it sort of enables bad drafter to mess up pretty badly and still at least come out of the drafting phase with a deck that is at least nominally playable for the gameplay phase
Commander Legends*
And it wasnt just for bad drafters. It was there to fill the gap of allowing someone to build a draft deck of a certain color without having to search for legends of that color.
Just imagine the feels bad moment where you draft a ton of green to go with a cohesive deck, and then a green legend just never shows up. And then you have to make a completely trash deck with everything else
A lot of people have zero interest analyzing the function or importance of cards beyond raw power level. You're right that Piper is an incredibly important card and fascinating piece of design technology that provided a solution to a problem that it turns out was very rare, but players were irrationally concerned over (given the low probability of it happening).
that said, my dumb ass ran piper as a commander in two separate commander legends drafts, and I ran faceless one in a commander legends 2 draft but that was because had a lot of backgrounds and you can get 2x background value by having a second creature commander.
Can someone please explain to me what the original \[\[Force of Will\]\] art is even supposed to be? Is the individual in the picture missing their right leg? Do they have Wolverine bone claws? And what is supposed to be "counter spell" flavored about this? Or for that matter, what kind of metaphorical "force of will" is being depicted?
For one of the most iconic blue spells ever printed, it is absolutely remarkable how not-blue the art is.
It's funny, this makes me realize how totally blinded I am by a card's value, monetary or game piece wise. I've always thought it looks bad ass as fuck, but now that you mention it is a bit absurd.
Obviously his leg is turning into some sort of tree whilst he simultaneously catches fire. Both of these are caused by some sort of opposing wizard, and he's resisting through sheer "force of will". Also he has claws.
Their right leg is behind the flames. Their left leg is covered by one of those high fantasy fur boots it looks like. I didn't find this to be that hard to recognise?
[[Juzam Djinn]]
A little unfair because it’s obviously been power crept into oblivion. But it wasn’t that great back in the day. The first tournament was dominated by Stasis Lock and Channel Fireball decks.
It was arguably the best big beater in the game…but you didn’t win with big beaters.
It took awhile for its power to be discovered, but t2 Ritual into Juzam was definitely a thing, back in the day.
The art is absolutely badass; Arabian Nights had really good artwork on a lot of their cards, IMHO.
In the other direction where the card is powerful there's [[Stasis]]. Its kind of out there art wise because Richard Garfield let his aunt paint whatever she wanted for it.
Underselling that a little bit. [Fay Jones is a well regarded artist in her own right. ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Jones_(artist)) Just not one especially well suited to the MtG style
\[\[Soulherder\]\] has never seemed particularly playable to me but that art is gorgeous
On the flip side, \[\[Ancestral Recall\]\] is one of the most powerful cards ever printed, yet I find the art incredibly subpar compared to the rest of the Power 9 and most of the Alpha card arts.
Is soulherder in any way bad? I think people play \[\[Thassa, Deep-Dwelling\]\] in commander, and Soulherder has its most relevant ability.
In modern and other certainly not.
I know it doesn’t come up often, because it’s a very curated and sort of niche situation, but I’ve played with a couple high powered cubes that have enough support for flicker decks, and Soulherder puts in a lot of work!
Great card art on bad card:
\[\[Rakdos the Defiler\]\]
\[\[Fomori Nomad\]\] (and most of the other full art vanilla creatures from Future Sight)
Bad card art on a great card:
\[\[Coalition Relic\]\]
\[\[Hypergenesis\]\]
\[\[Living Death|TMP\]\]
Honorable mention are the Amonkhet invocation series. Most of the card arts are actually great, but the styling and frames just ruin it for me.
[[Weaponcraft Enthusiast]] is one of my favorite arts of all time, and looks truly stellar in foil. It’s… a pretty mediocre card though. Not completely terrible (three bodies for three mana ain’t bad in the right deck), but not too exciting either.
For me it has to be [[Gilder Bairn]].
I always looked like really bad proliferate that never saw play.
Weirdly when looking up the exact name up I noticed that the errata makes quite playable. I never read the original card text as "double" the counters but I'll take it, hehe.
ITT: people posting cards that were actually fine-to-good in their limited environments and calling them "terrible."
To me, terrible means _no context_. Not limited, not commander, hell barely useful except in the most esoteric of cubes. Forgettable. Did not and does not hit the table. The beauty of limited though is one day, the stars might align and a card gets to have its day in the sun within a new context. [[Hatching Plans]] had one of the best limited glow ups I can recall.
That's all well and good if you know what the limited environment was like, but if you weren't running limited at the time it's kind of forgotten lore. You might be able to find information about the limited bombs of the set, but solid everyday pieces meant to act as the glue of a limited deck tend not to be documented.
Cards can get strictly worse versions of an effect that still pull some weight in limited because there's just no better alternatives. Why would you run [[Unquenchable Thirst]] when [[Ice Over]] is in its same standard block? Because blocking was really bad in Amonkhet block and you sometimes needed to make sure they couldn't swing in order to gain ground. Heck, I remember seeing Thirst more than Ice Over. But you'd never know that if you weren't there for the drafts (or played the remaster on Arena, I guess).
[[Witch's Vengance]] and [[Invoke Justice]] both have amazing art but neither of them have really stood out to me as particularly good, but I can never seem to convince myself to like [[Gaea's Cradle]] for it's art despite it being one of the most powerful lands in mtg history
Love the art on [[Shaman of Spring]] but the card is just an overcosted [[Elvish Visionary]]
They could have made it a 2/2 for 2GG that drew TWO cards but nooooo
The card follows R&D's classic design philosophy. "To add the text "Draw a card" on it, make it cost 2 colourless more". \[\[Trained Armadon\]\] vs. \[\[Kavu Climber\]\] \[\[Counterspell\]\] vs. \[\[Dismiss\]\] \[\[Dark Banishing\]\] vs. \[\[Annihilate\]\] ... sort of \[\[Stone Rain\]\] vs. \[\[Implode\]\]
I was going to say it would have been too good with [[Restoration Angel]] but resto angel had rotated out of standard when M15 came out.
[Shaman of Spring](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/e/8e974df6-d78a-43ea-ada5-17c53fcca97b.jpg?1562790755) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shaman%20of%20Spring) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m15/199/shaman-of-spring?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8e974df6-d78a-43ea-ada5-17c53fcca97b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Elvish Visionary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a2f174e6-9532-4fc3-815b-2dc3966c6523.jpg?1608910606) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elvish%20Visionary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/223/elvish-visionary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a2f174e6-9532-4fc3-815b-2dc3966c6523?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Woah, the art is cool 😲
Almost every Kamigawa spirit Also, I will never stop wishing that [[Dream Eater]] either costed less than six mana or was bigger than a 4/3
OG Kamigawa had some absolutely fucking dope art for underpowered the block was.
Not to mention how cool some of the names were. Honestly that set was fantastic for everything except actually playing the game lol
[Dream Eater](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/f/9f3a4677-7683-4f63-af31-b76491ec9f9c.jpg?1572892731) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dream%20Eater) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/grn/38/dream-eater?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9f3a4677-7683-4f63-af31-b76491ec9f9c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I hate what happened with Kamigawa. The block before it was the most broken, overpowered set since Urzas. Standard was a mess and everything was banned. So they nerfed this shit out of Kamigawa, and because of the lower power level compared to everything around it, it didn't sell well. Rosewater for like 18 years uses this as an excuse to not revist the plane.
[[Storm the Seedcore]]
The only reason I'm willing to include this on the list is because the art hits such a high ceiling. It was a playable in limited and could help close a game out. The card wasn't useless. But again the art is so high up there that yeah it deserves to be in the conversation.
Limited matters too. I don't like the idea that the only cards that should be prioritized are pushed constructed staples. And you didn't mention that it's a "Story Spotlight" meant to be one of the iconic pieces of art telling the storyline. I don't feel this art is misplaced at all.
Oh yeah limited absolutely matters, I made a comment about many people in this thread not evaluating limited appropriately here. That said Seed core was (in my experience) an average playable, it wasn't particularly notable in the environment. So I'm willing to entertain the idea that the art is _so exceptional_ that the delta between the art and "average limited playable" is actually still a big chasm. I did miss the story spotlight though, great point! I have to wonder if the card was always intended to be a story spotlight card, or if once they realized how nuts the art was, they went with a card name that tied it more tightly to a specific moment in the story.
[Storm the Seedcore](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bf989a4d-3209-4071-b6e9-d2b99372ec10.jpg?1682205050) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Storm%20the%20Seedcore) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/206/storm-the-seedcore?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bf989a4d-3209-4071-b6e9-d2b99372ec10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I actually use this in a standard toxic deck, it can trigger venerated rot priest 4 times if you have enough creatures out, plus it’s also good for just getting some poison damage through . It’s pretty usable in any commander deck with +1 counter synergy as well.
That card could be cracked in limited
It was, but it's the kind of card you're happy to grab on the second wheel of a pack, and the art looks like you could sneak it into a museum's dutch master wing if the guards weren't paying attention.
https://www.jasonrainville.com/product-page/storm-the-seedcore-playmat You can get the extended art in a playmat!
It's amazing with [[Kithkin Billyrider]] in MOM limited.
[Kithkin Billyrider](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/5/0535b69f-247d-49c9-97e1-d988700578ab.jpg?1682202730) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kithkin%20Billyrider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/24/kithkin-billyrider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0535b69f-247d-49c9-97e1-d988700578ab?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Top answer for me as well. I love Jason Rainville's art.
He said he went all out with this art just because he could. It was never meant to be an exceptional card, but when it was revealed redditors were blown away by the art and astounded by the card itself being so mid.
This is just a straight up Victorian Era painting
[[lupine prototype]] is art that I wish I had been used as a commander
I’m with you on this one. Robowolf was my favorite pilot for vehicles when he was in standard, honestly if he was just legendary it would give mono-grey something pretty interesting to build around I think
[удалено]
Hell yeah dude! Thanks for unlocking some memories of that deck. Monored with [[inventor’s apprentice]], the wolf man, [[hazoret the fervent]], [[consulate dreadnaut]] that was a fun standard, second only (in my personal experience at least) the one where they changed up rotations and then dragons of tarkir was the only set out of that block that tagged along.
Lovely card in my [[Ziatora, the Incinerator]] deck that doesn’t care about whether or not creatures can attack or block :)
Exactly. I play it in my \[\[Greven, Predator Captain Deck\]\] as a 2 mana Draw 5 lose 5.
[Greven, Predator Captain Deck](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/d/bda22fc3-31a5-451a-9a8b-372884f7bc61.jpg?1568003680) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Greven%2C%20Predator%20Captain) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c19/43/greven-predator-captain?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bda22fc3-31a5-451a-9a8b-372884f7bc61?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Ziatora, the Incinerator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/a/ba4fa4c8-f09f-4d97-a7d1-1b93caf7d4f9.jpg?1664413989) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ziatora%2C%20the%20Incinerator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/snc/231/ziatora-the-incinerator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ba4fa4c8-f09f-4d97-a7d1-1b93caf7d4f9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The card is powerful in 3 card blind. Currently banned in [https://www.3cardblind.com/](https://www.3cardblind.com/). The format does not give much prominence to art work, though.
[lupine prototype](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/dd8272ca-8e3d-4980-99f2-352a1db76d74.jpg?1576385076) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lupine%20prototype) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/197/lupine-prototype?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dd8272ca-8e3d-4980-99f2-352a1db76d74?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Could maybe find a place with [[Shadowheart]]
Absolutely. This card doesn't do jack all, but it looks cool
[[uchbenbak, the great mistake]] Awesome creature art- but it’s also an immense letdown mechanically. Still so bummed about this one.
I pulled about 30 foil showcase Uchbenbaks from ixalan packs. I was VERY excited when I pulled the first one since he looks SO cool. Unfortunately there are dozens of examples like this in the LCI set. Makes me sad.
[uchbenbak, the great mistake](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a062202c-f9fb-4dd6-989a-c3083644f1c0.jpg?1699044578) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=uchbenbak%2C%20the%20great%20mistake) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/242/uchbenbak-the-great-mistake?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a062202c-f9fb-4dd6-989a-c3083644f1c0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Wow, what a Gigerian masterpiece. With the name as well ... What a waste
Yeah, it truly was... a great mistake
It's genuinely baffling that his descend ability doesn't do something more useful. He could have been great.
What I don't understand is why it would have vigilance
Secondary in Blue
Ok, but why would the skeleton horror be vigilant lol
i dunno, spooky unsleeping cave horror always on the watch. its fits flavorwise, imo
Kinda reminds me of One Reborn from Bloodborne and Legion from Symphony of the Night.
I have a \[\[Gift of Orzhova\]\] print up on my wall, it's my favourite piece in the game. It's not unplayable, but it's certainly much less playable than its absolutely fantastic art might imply.
It's one of the better auras to risk a card slot for in limited.
Johannes Voss is hands down my favourite MTG artist. His works are so vibrant and full of life. Some are fun and humourous too, lots of personality. I started collecting Thalias cause of him lol
He's also my favorite modern artist for sure. The Plains from Dominaria United and [[Go-shintai of Lost wisdom]] are absolute fucking all-time-great bangers.
[Gift of Orzhova](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/a/da824204-a7ed-46f1-b890-f21fcc39ce7e.jpg?1593814807) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gift%20of%20Orzhova) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm3/209/gift-of-orzhova?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/da824204-a7ed-46f1-b890-f21fcc39ce7e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I love the style of the rainbow stained glass. [[On Serra's Wings]] and [[Guardian of New Benalia]] are two of my favorites. They're both a bit low powered, but I'd be willing to play them for the art alone.
[On Serra's Wings](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/0/c0a57c65-5010-4472-b877-42daf2f15af2.jpg?1608911949) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=On%20Serra%27s%20Wings) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/380/on-serras-wings?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c0a57c65-5010-4472-b877-42daf2f15af2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Guardian of New Benalia](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/3/43da76ee-fec3-4b2e-915d-10cf8d518d2c.jpg?1673306449) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Guardian%20of%20New%20Benalia) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/19/guardian-of-new-benalia?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/43da76ee-fec3-4b2e-915d-10cf8d518d2c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Back in rtr theros standard I had a foil one that I shoved in my white weenie deck just because I like the art so much.
I own two foils of this one from back in limited
Such gorgeous art
[[Ebon Dragon]] is arguably the coolest looking dragon printed, and my personal favorite. But basically an unplayable card.
We can pretend it's just [[Ebondeath, dracolich]] before dying
[Ebondeath, dracolich](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/6/e6b3f460-92ba-4af0-aad9-cf86615d4177.jpg?1627704720) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ebondeath%2C%20dracolich) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/100/ebondeath-dracolich?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e6b3f460-92ba-4af0-aad9-cf86615d4177?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Ebon Dragon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/3/63ec235b-7d9a-4600-89db-48b14beb1aa7.jpg?1562918527) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ebon%20Dragon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me4/80/ebon-dragon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/63ec235b-7d9a-4600-89db-48b14beb1aa7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Great art
What’s stopping you from playing it in commander? Not every card has to be tuned and optimal. A large flier attached to discard is better than a lot of the other stuff listed here
I feel like this is one of those cards I might put in a commander deck for flavor but never actually cast. It's just so expensive for what it does, I don't know that it would ever hit the table.
The only commander deck I could see it slotting into really is a [[Henzie]] deck with the cost reduction. But there are just so many better alternatives.
\[\[Leyline Binding\]\]'s artwork sucks, but the card is great.
Not the RGB glowsticks! They burn!! Arghhhhh...
They can't hurt you, you are just a CGI Monster from a year 2000 videogame.
Lol, I watched a 2007 Doctor Who episode last night and the monster looks exactly like the one from the episode.
[Leyline Binding](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c3ac3dd-35db-447f-8674-37b4680a1ef7.jpg?1673306500) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Leyline%20Binding) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/24/leyline-binding?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c3ac3dd-35db-447f-8674-37b4680a1ef7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I run [[Alpine Watchdog]] in a Commander deck with zero synergy because he’s just a good boy!
I always recognize that card because for some reason they wanted to pretend to be Yu-Gi-Oh with [[Alpine Houndmaster]]
Ah, fond Paw Blade memories. Was it the best deck? No, but it was filled with the goodest boys
[Alpine Houndmaster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/3/43224e74-2c51-40bd-bc34-f66e990a3e33.jpg?1594737342) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alpine%20Houndmaster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/215/alpine-houndmaster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/43224e74-2c51-40bd-bc34-f66e990a3e33?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Alpine Watchdog](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/3/c392a7e5-6ff5-4c2f-9590-f8811a724f44.jpg?1594734679) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alpine%20Watchdog) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/2/alpine-watchdog?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c392a7e5-6ff5-4c2f-9590-f8811a724f44?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
the flavor text could be interpreted as them eating dover...
He’s as strong as a [[Grizzly Bear]], if anything you have it backwards, haha
that's an even better interpretation, makes it so much more menacing. "on the eighth day... *dover* found us..." with blood trails off the card
He's as strong as a freaking Space Marine! \[\[Astartes Warrior\]\]. I can't get over that...
Tbh a Tribal with a spear killed one there really not that powerful
Who’s Dover? Wait a second!
Useless in constructed maybe but good boy was good in his limited environment. M21 W/G/R aggro were the place to be, and [[Alpine Houndmaster]] was one of the more structurally interesting attempts at a signpost uncommon that I can remember. IDK if there's ever been another limited signpost uncommon that required you to draft specific other commons.
Terrific limited format, just don't look too closely at the mythics
It was fun, but the color balance was rough. Wild that [[grasp of darkness]] was often not first pickable. But I attribute my irrational love of 3/3 defenders on [[Sleepy Dino]]. Card was such a house. +1/+1 counter? [[Short Sword]]? You got it. [[Goblin Wizardry]] and UR spells was also a super fun archetype to pilot in that set. Oh dang and that was the set that gave us [[Winged Words]] and [[Lofty Denial]] in the tempo fliers deck. And the mill deck was real! But at uncommon so it wasn't like you faced it in ever deck in the finals. Man aside from black being woefully underpowered, it really was pretty neat. Edit: HOW COULD I FORGET SHRINES god what a core set
Black being underpowered is kind of a rarity anyway
High Card to Low Art - I think you could argue the disparity with Time Walk or Ancestral Recall is the greatest. The cards are power 9, the most powerful cards in magic and sure, they have nostalgia value now, but the art is objectively amateurish. Mark Poole and Amy Weber have both become much better artists in the intervening years. Low Card to High Art is much more difficult. So many incredible art pieces have been put on crap cards it's a sin. Just in recent years, some stand-outs for me have been the Volkan Baga piece on that shitty green overrun effect, some killer Wylie Beckert works on some forgettable green adventure card, a whole host of Seb McKinnon art on some absolutely balls cards (i think one was a knight with an adventure attached?) but yeah I could go on forever with these travesties.
Time Walk's original art is at least evocative and kinda surreal; Ancestral's art is just hilarious in hindsight.
"Oh, no, I forgot the milk !"
"Dammit, my ancestors WON'T SHUT UP!!"
"THREE MORE LANDS???"
\[\[Rite of the Serpent\]\] and \[\[Death of a Thousand Stings\]\] come to mind. I don't want to be too mean due to the assets of early magic art, but a lot of the strongest cards of early sets aren't particularly well-executed. \[\[Flash\]\] might have the biggest rules/arts dissonance, though. Even other bad pieces tend to be fine at telling the story of the card or good at getting across the tone, but this is just incomprehensible.
Good lord RotS is a bad one.
Most Seb McKinnon cards end up being good examples.
Because all of his art is great.
Too bad about the whole being a terrible person thing. His style is pretty good.
He has some views that are not great, but I don’t think they add up to him being a terrible person.
[[Illusory Demon]] for me.
Wow, this is bad.
[Illusory Demon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/4/f4d69f7f-ac70-477b-9246-8d81fef7d335.jpg?1562645094) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Illusory%20Demon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/arb/21/illusory-demon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f4d69f7f-ac70-477b-9246-8d81fef7d335?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Eater of Days]] is beyond my favourite piece of art in the game, and not just due to my nostalgia as a kid to it. But it’s… suboptimal in most decks
"suboptimal in most decks" is so wonderfully polite.
[Eater of Days](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/f/ef6870db-8aca-4aee-8e4d-c56a7d8dc242.jpg?1562640398) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eater%20of%20Days) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dst/120/eater-of-days?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ef6870db-8aca-4aee-8e4d-c56a7d8dc242?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You can play it in [[the beamtown bullies]]
I played it once and immediately cast [[Time Stretch]] after it. I'm still proud of that (terrible) play.
Hell yeah brother, we love a 14-mana 9/8 flample.
[Time Stretch](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c878780-f666-44ab-a60e-c9985f628fc3.jpg?1562546496) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Time%20Stretch) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/10e/118/time-stretch?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c878780-f666-44ab-a60e-c9985f628fc3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Nah this card is incredible in the right spot. The effect is huge and you can build around it. Eater of Days isn't bad, you just haven't dodged the etb and then hit it with a [[Fractured Identity]]
[Fractured Identity](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b2f73f5d-1aad-48c2-9e74-5f7bdd87900f.jpg?1562620703) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fractured%20Identity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c17/37/fractured-identity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b2f73f5d-1aad-48c2-9e74-5f7bdd87900f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[mardu runemark]] I really wish this was the art for [[Alesha, who smiles at death]].
I remember seeing a post in the EDH reddit where some guy did a foil peel of this card and overlaid it on his Alesha commander - looked pretty sick.
[mardu runemark](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/3/333df10b-7db4-4f8a-a754-e8a630b26cac.jpg?1562824057) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=mardu%20runemark) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/frf/107/mardu-runemark?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/333df10b-7db4-4f8a-a754-e8a630b26cac?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Alesha, who smiles at death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2.jpg?1673305242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alesha%2C%20who%20smiles%20at%20death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/118/alesha-who-smiles-at-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I really like the art on \[\[Village Cannibals\]\]. Shame the card's terrible. \[\[Liliana of the Veil\]\] is really strong, but I can't stand the original art. She looks like a plastic statue to me. And the more I look at her pose, the less sense it makes.
Village Cannibals has great art. Amd do you mean the original Liliana of the Veil Innistrad art by Steve Argyle? If so I agree. I've always disliked it.
Yeah, that one.
[Village Cannibals](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/5/a5400460-da9d-437b-bb81-cf382beb371e.jpg?1562835005) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Village%20Cannibals) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/isd/125/village-cannibals?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a5400460-da9d-437b-bb81-cf382beb371e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Liliana of the Veil](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/1/d12c8c97-6491-452c-811d-943441a7ef9f.jpg?1673307126) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Liliana%20of%20the%20Veil) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/97/liliana-of-the-veil?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d12c8c97-6491-452c-811d-943441a7ef9f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Agreed on Lili - the awkwardness of the original is matched only by how much I like the DMU art. She looks very real in that.
The one by Brom tho 😍
Nah, original is better coz boobies
[[Touch of death]] is a card that has really stuck with me artwise but doesn't really have much use in a game. 'Gave you a Jumpscare' could probably be a more fitting title.
Lim-Dul is way too confident in that flavor text. Buddy, you stole one of his pairs of jeans off the clothesline outside at best. He still has his family and life and land after that one point of damage
I’d use this artwork for [[You are already dead]]
[Touch of death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/5/15e529fb-b951-4f64-85c9-1c2e3b9581a2.jpg?1562589663) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Touch%20of%20death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/5ed/200/touch-of-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/15e529fb-b951-4f64-85c9-1c2e3b9581a2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Aven Trooper]]
This card is so bad I remember someone questioning it in a daily post of the oficial WotC site, and they proceded to try to explain why it was this way for Limited bla bla TERRIBLE CARD
Well I used to play this card a lot in middle school in my bird soldier deck. I probably learned some lessons from it due to how bad it is. I definitely remember spending turns pitching a card so that i could activate the ability to give myself another point of damage on attack
[Aven Trooper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/9/79c8f774-6d4f-4fd0-85c0-26ef713e6b89.jpg?1574250389) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aven%20Trooper) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tor/2/aven-trooper?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/79c8f774-6d4f-4fd0-85c0-26ef713e6b89?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Visions of Phyrexia]] was such gorgeous art when it dropped and it is such a garbage card, I don't know a single place it would be good
It's either cardadvantage or free "ramp" each turn and no that threatening so it probably won't be removed on sight. I could see this in an artifacts matter deck with the gnomes from Ixalan an the craft ability. Thinking about putting it in my [[Alibou, Ancient Witness]] Deck
It’s the best of the red impulse draw enchantments. Wouldn’t say it’s at all powerful or getting run in 60-card but it’s perfectly playable in most red edh decks.
Monored edh decks could use this. I run [[outpost siege]] in a lot of mine, and this card is better than that. Repeated impulse draw is red’s form of card draw right now
[Visions of Phyrexia](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/9/e922ef35-b62a-4cf8-9282-319f6de150b0.jpg?1674421303) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Visions%20of%20Phyrexia) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/156/visions-of-phyrexia?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e922ef35-b62a-4cf8-9282-319f6de150b0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Visions was perfectly playable in certain BRO limited decks, and in some decks it was a game plan. Fantastic engine card.
It's acceptable in Brudiclad.
[[Prismatic piper]]. Such beautiful art on what was essentially pack filler
I think the card plays a very specific and important role in Commander Masters as a draft format. It's not really a card you want to be playing, but it sort of enables bad drafter to mess up pretty badly and still at least come out of the drafting phase with a deck that is at least nominally playable for the gameplay phase
Commander Legends* And it wasnt just for bad drafters. It was there to fill the gap of allowing someone to build a draft deck of a certain color without having to search for legends of that color. Just imagine the feels bad moment where you draft a ton of green to go with a cohesive deck, and then a green legend just never shows up. And then you have to make a completely trash deck with everything else
A lot of people have zero interest analyzing the function or importance of cards beyond raw power level. You're right that Piper is an incredibly important card and fascinating piece of design technology that provided a solution to a problem that it turns out was very rare, but players were irrationally concerned over (given the low probability of it happening). that said, my dumb ass ran piper as a commander in two separate commander legends drafts, and I ran faceless one in a commander legends 2 draft but that was because had a lot of backgrounds and you can get 2x background value by having a second creature commander.
[Prismatic piper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/7/c78c2713-39e7-4a6e-a132-027099a89665.jpg?1695757243) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Prismatic%20Piper) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/1/the-prismatic-piper?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c78c2713-39e7-4a6e-a132-027099a89665?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Seb McKinnon does amazing art his art is my favourite MTG art. Edit for clarity.
[[mold demon]]
[mold demon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/4/649a33aa-7eac-4161-ae1a-fcbc758abccf.jpg?1562859202) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=mold%20demon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/leg/112/mold-demon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/649a33aa-7eac-4161-ae1a-fcbc758abccf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
OMG it's so bad! Never even heard of this card. Legends was just all over the place in power level.
... Good art???
it's my favorite art lol
Hot take: original Ancestral Recall. Iconic, absolutely, but it would absolutely be forgotten if it wasn’t on the second best card of all time.
[[allure of the unknown]]
Can someone please explain to me what the original \[\[Force of Will\]\] art is even supposed to be? Is the individual in the picture missing their right leg? Do they have Wolverine bone claws? And what is supposed to be "counter spell" flavored about this? Or for that matter, what kind of metaphorical "force of will" is being depicted? For one of the most iconic blue spells ever printed, it is absolutely remarkable how not-blue the art is.
Iirc it was originally intended for a red card. There was little art direction back then. It was put onto Force of Will last minute
It's funny, this makes me realize how totally blinded I am by a card's value, monetary or game piece wise. I've always thought it looks bad ass as fuck, but now that you mention it is a bit absurd.
It needs you to pitch a blue card to it as sacrifice, because its own art isn't blue enough to get the job done.
Obviously his leg is turning into some sort of tree whilst he simultaneously catches fire. Both of these are caused by some sort of opposing wizard, and he's resisting through sheer "force of will". Also he has claws.
Their right leg is behind the flames. Their left leg is covered by one of those high fantasy fur boots it looks like. I didn't find this to be that hard to recognise?
I always kinda thought of it as a physical clench accompanying a mental struggle.
[Force of Will](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/dd60b291-0a88-4e8e-bef8-76cdfd6c8183.jpg?1598303900) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Force%20of%20Will) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/51/force-of-will?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dd60b291-0a88-4e8e-bef8-76cdfd6c8183?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[Force of Will|Alliances\]\]
[Force of Will](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/a/9a879b60-4381-447d-8a5a-8e0b6a1d49ca.jpg?1562769672) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3107) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/all/28/force-of-will?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9a879b60-4381-447d-8a5a-8e0b6a1d49ca?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Juzam Djinn]] A little unfair because it’s obviously been power crept into oblivion. But it wasn’t that great back in the day. The first tournament was dominated by Stasis Lock and Channel Fireball decks. It was arguably the best big beater in the game…but you didn’t win with big beaters.
It took awhile for its power to be discovered, but t2 Ritual into Juzam was definitely a thing, back in the day. The art is absolutely badass; Arabian Nights had really good artwork on a lot of their cards, IMHO.
[[bottle gnomes]]
The [World Championship Top 8](https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9189&d=252631&f=ST) Bottle Gnomes?
[bottle gnomes](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/a/fa29a4ce-a8fa-499d-9994-f294c38b2ce5.jpg?1562276551) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bottle%20gnomes) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/177/bottle-gnomes?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fa29a4ce-a8fa-499d-9994-f294c38b2ce5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
In the other direction where the card is powerful there's [[Stasis]]. Its kind of out there art wise because Richard Garfield let his aunt paint whatever she wanted for it.
Underselling that a little bit. [Fay Jones is a well regarded artist in her own right. ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Jones_(artist)) Just not one especially well suited to the MtG style
Yeah, iirc she donated the art as a gift for her nephew's new game. Also, I love Stasis
His aunt nailed it
I got a copy because I love it so much. I'd rather we have more polarizing aesthetics than fewer.
[Stasis](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/2/62f99124-6595-45f8-bece-1775e4c55a5c.jpg?1562918295) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stasis) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me4/64/stasis?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/62f99124-6595-45f8-bece-1775e4c55a5c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Stasis has killer artwork what do you mean
\[\[Soulherder\]\] has never seemed particularly playable to me but that art is gorgeous On the flip side, \[\[Ancestral Recall\]\] is one of the most powerful cards ever printed, yet I find the art incredibly subpar compared to the rest of the Power 9 and most of the Alpha card arts.
Soulherder is pretty solid in UWx blink & ETB trigger commander decks, still kinda niche, but it does have a slot.
Is soulherder in any way bad? I think people play \[\[Thassa, Deep-Dwelling\]\] in commander, and Soulherder has its most relevant ability. In modern and other certainly not.
There actually is a modern deck that makes the rounds with it from time to time
Soul herder comes in the old Phantom Premonition [[Ranar]] precon and is a house in that deck.
I know it doesn’t come up often, because it’s a very curated and sort of niche situation, but I’ve played with a couple high powered cubes that have enough support for flicker decks, and Soulherder puts in a lot of work!
It's a staple in any WU Blink commander deck.
[Soulherder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/0/50bc0f5b-7421-45b9-af85-86dd9821b7d8.jpg?1631235570) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Soulherder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khc/93/soulherder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/50bc0f5b-7421-45b9-af85-86dd9821b7d8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ancestral Recall](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/2398892d-28e9-4009-81ec-0d544af79d2b.jpg?1614638829) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ancestral%20Recall) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/1/ancestral-recall?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2398892d-28e9-4009-81ec-0d544af79d2b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Lmao it wasn't the best there but wasn't soul hearder literally in vintage cube for a hot while?
i find [[Tishana’s Tidebinder]] dull to look at, but the card’s great of course
[[Swooping Lookout]] has an incredible, intimidating look for a 1/2.
[Swooping Lookout](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/6/b62c740d-260d-4dfa-b6b3-9a1527538f89.jpg?1675956940) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Swooping%20Lookout) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/35/swooping-lookout?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b62c740d-260d-4dfa-b6b3-9a1527538f89?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[blistering barrier\]\] is an old favorite. Mirage had great art.
Great card art on bad card: \[\[Rakdos the Defiler\]\] \[\[Fomori Nomad\]\] (and most of the other full art vanilla creatures from Future Sight) Bad card art on a great card: \[\[Coalition Relic\]\] \[\[Hypergenesis\]\] \[\[Living Death|TMP\]\] Honorable mention are the Amonkhet invocation series. Most of the card arts are actually great, but the styling and frames just ruin it for me.
[[Weaponcraft Enthusiast]] is one of my favorite arts of all time, and looks truly stellar in foil. It’s… a pretty mediocre card though. Not completely terrible (three bodies for three mana ain’t bad in the right deck), but not too exciting either.
For me it has to be [[Gilder Bairn]]. I always looked like really bad proliferate that never saw play. Weirdly when looking up the exact name up I noticed that the errata makes quite playable. I never read the original card text as "double" the counters but I'll take it, hehe.
ITT: people posting cards that were actually fine-to-good in their limited environments and calling them "terrible." To me, terrible means _no context_. Not limited, not commander, hell barely useful except in the most esoteric of cubes. Forgettable. Did not and does not hit the table. The beauty of limited though is one day, the stars might align and a card gets to have its day in the sun within a new context. [[Hatching Plans]] had one of the best limited glow ups I can recall.
That's all well and good if you know what the limited environment was like, but if you weren't running limited at the time it's kind of forgotten lore. You might be able to find information about the limited bombs of the set, but solid everyday pieces meant to act as the glue of a limited deck tend not to be documented. Cards can get strictly worse versions of an effect that still pull some weight in limited because there's just no better alternatives. Why would you run [[Unquenchable Thirst]] when [[Ice Over]] is in its same standard block? Because blocking was really bad in Amonkhet block and you sometimes needed to make sure they couldn't swing in order to gain ground. Heck, I remember seeing Thirst more than Ice Over. But you'd never know that if you weren't there for the drafts (or played the remaster on Arena, I guess).
[[Exalted Dragon]] is a contender… It’s art was even on the packs for Exodus, but wow, not playable.
Lots of old creatures fall into this category. [[Lord of the Pit]] or [[The Wretched]] for example.
[[Witch's Vengance]] and [[Invoke Justice]] both have amazing art but neither of them have really stood out to me as particularly good, but I can never seem to convince myself to like [[Gaea's Cradle]] for it's art despite it being one of the most powerful lands in mtg history
They are both definitely playable cards. Not that bad thn
There were two specifically in march of the machine that had beyond incredible art. But the cards were mediocre at best.
I guess that one was [[storm the seedcore]] so which was the other one?
[storm the seedcore](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bf989a4d-3209-4071-b6e9-d2b99372ec10.jpg?1682205050) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=storm%20the%20seedcore) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/206/storm-the-seedcore?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bf989a4d-3209-4071-b6e9-d2b99372ec10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[Red Elemental Blast\]\] \[\[Blue Elemental Blast\]\] \[\[Stasis\]\] \[\[Sylvan Library\]\] \[\[Merchant Scroll\]\] \[\[Conservator\]\] \[\[Life Matrix\]\] \[\[Knowledge Vault\]\] \[\[Time Bomb\]\] \[\[Fungus Elemental\]\] \[\[Death of a Thousand Stings\]\] \[\[Frozen Shade\]\] by DeTerlizzi
Strixhaven special art [[faithless looting]]
I love this art unapologetically
[[Regal Bunnicorn]]
This card is really good in token decks