I recently got back into MTG after playing/collecting some in the 90s. Like a lot of newer players I probably think I know more than I do, so please correct me if I’m spreading bad information. But I think my opinion is valid.
Maybe I’ve just got my nostalgia blinders on, but there’s something about the older cards I connect with that isn’t there in MTG anymore. The flavor and art of the older cards was rooted in mythology, legends, fairy tales, literature, archetypes, and folklore in a way that made it much more relevant and relatable to me. Cards like Book of Raas, Sylvan Library, or Dark Sphere made me feel like I was playing with the same sources of power that ‘real’ wizards did, and they made me feel more invested in whether I won or lost. Now it just seems like an afterthought, something to fill the space on the cards other than rules text. Cards like Orcish Librarian or Urza’s Sunglasses made me smile, and cards like Amnesia and Cosmic Horror shocked and frightened me like a good horror movie. MTG art just doesn't stir anything in me anymore.
The art and flavor of the newer cards- by which I mean maybe since the Urza Block- doesn’t really inspire me to play MTG. The art all has this very glossy, cookie-cutter, computer-generated look to it. The flavor quotes all just sound like soundbites from a C-rate video game. There are newer cards that I think have cool art, like Eon Hub or Crucible of Worlds, but people like Anson Maddocks (Maze of Ith), Drew Tucker (Dust to Dust), and Tony Diterlizzi (Urborg Mindsucker), who can stand as artists in their own right, just don’t seem to do magic cards anymore. The flavor text from Pendelhaven is from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem. Imagine that these days.
Good artists, regardless of what they’re drawing or painting, know how to lead a viewer’s eye around a piece of art and reward observant viewers with details that tell a story or say something worthwhile. Most MTG players would probably gloss over the art on a card like Flood from the Dark. But if you look closely, you can see an animal stranded in the tree, that the rooftop belongs to a church, and the dejected looking figure huddled on top of it. It’s a picture that’s about how man’s faith and institutions like religion won’t protect him from the cruel indifference of nature. The art on MTG cards isn’t really about anything anymore, other than itself. It doesn’t seem to assume anyone will give it more than a cursory glance.
A lot of people accuse the art and flavor of MTG in the 90’s as being ‘bleak,’ compared to the more brightly colored and inoffensive art that comes out now. It seems like WOTC has just become afraid of offending or disturbing anymore, making anyone think too much, or being politically incorrect around themes like religion and the occult. WOTC just doesn’t seem to want to take artistic risks with their big cash cow anymore.
The mechanics of MTG have certainly improved since I collected cards as a kid, which is great. It’s also great that the price of cards has gone down to the point where it’s a competition about who has the sharpest mind, not the fattest wallet. But I think it’s really lost touch with creating compelling settings or stories. If I just wanted to play a well-balanced or designed game, I’d play chess or go. That’s not what makes MTG unique to me.
I bought three Unlimited copies of Berserk for my Stompy deck recently. It didn’t really bother me to pay that much money because it felt like I was buying a work of art, a ‘real’ magic spell, a kind of artifact. But I go to pay $40 for an Inkmoth Nexus, or $80 for a Verdant Catacombs, with the ugly, cluttered-looking new borders, and it feels like I’m just buying a piece of paper that would have no value to anyone except MTG geeks. I think that has a lot to do with why MTG is losing its relevance to casual, and newer, players, and if WOTC was willing to bring in artists who did something new, memorable, and different, the ‘outside world’ would have much more of an interest in the game.
Magic's current aesthetic has more to do with presenting a cohesive look with each new world for the stories they are telling. The challenge with a lot of a the early artwork from Magic's history is that it's all over the place. Some good. Some bad. In some cases the artwork is such that you can't really tell where the object or action being depicted is taking place. These days even the basic lands and common creature races have their own distinct look for each world. That's a good thing. That helps to market the product. Magic has grown immensely over the last ten years and the artwork has gotten better overall as a result.
Give it time, that feeling will come back. There will always be art and themes you relate to or alienate yourself from. The artists and writers definitely aren't afraid of offending anyone, given the existential themes that come with the Eldrazi, and the realistic violence in cards like murderous compulsion. It's just your nostalgia messing with you. That, or the community you're playing with. My playgroup is competitive to a fault, and they find it distracting to investigate the significance of a card beyond its practicality.
Personally, I recommend investigating the events of Tarkir block and working your way forward from there. Wizards does a great job of assigning a philosophy to each color group and matching a civilization to each one. Then they do very interesting things with the concept of colorless spellcasting through Ugin, a planeswalker who transcends color, and the Eldrazi, who dissolve it.
Sadly, you are correct. Magic has lost much of its original grit as its player base grew and it was forced to appeal to a larger denominator. Gone are quotes from real-world poems or writings as the promise of greater profits forces the obsession with product identity. Gone are crusty, dramatic art pieces in favour of shiny video game stills. Magic is a better game than it was (though not dramatically so!) but it is unfortunately not the institution it once was.
Sadly, you are correct. Magic has lost much of its original grit as its player base grew and it was forced to appeal to a larger denominator. Gone are quotes from real-world poems or writings as the promise of greater profits forces the obsession with product identity. Gone are crusty, dramatic art pieces in favour of shiny video game stills. Magic is a better game than it was (though not dramatically so!) but it is unfortunately not the institution it once was.
Pretty much.
Old magic unquestionably felt closer to our world. A sort of encroachment of what happens in that plane in our plane. Arabian Nights, The Dark and Legends all felt like a different reality was touching our own plane. So when I played those cards, I felt a sense of familarity and alienation at the same time. A little like Sliders or Stargate.
More importantly, the very idea of Magic is that your cards are pages from some ancient tome. Take a look at the Starter Boxes from Revised or before. Try to find photos from the left and right side. Notice something about the box? It's designed to look like a book. Even by Ice Age, they started to gravitate away from that. That Starter Box looks like a weird block of ice or something. Mirage brought in clasps but after that, it was completely gone. Obliterated by all the nonsense legalize.
Now imagine a myth is where each new generation writes their pages in the Great Book. Each set by a different generation or plane. Each card (spell) by a different author. Sensible art created by those still in possession of their faculties. Obscene or unintelligible art by those who've completely lost it. Ocassionally a bit of humor or racism (I was still innocent and thought they were just ghosts) shows up. Different art for the same card was even cooler, different authors documenting the exact same spell. Each colors border represented by that mages strengths. You are just another in a long line of Planeswalkers. After you die, new generations will take your book and add new spells or remove old.
The new frame and the cohesive artwork makes me feel like I'm looking through a widescreen on the history channel. Compare Arcum's Weathervane between Ice Age and the Coldsnap reprint to see what I mean. It's interesting and has its place, but WotC worked hard to dissolve the sensation that it's an old tome. What's the next fad? Art that curves around the edges? Art that you can only see with augmented reality? Text boxes that auto update with each new Oracle wording?
I see why WotC did what they did. I think in doing so, Maro and friends lost a little bit of what makes the older cards so endearing.
You couldn't be more correct. Exactly how so many of us feel. Those who don't simply weren't around then. Just compare these to what is getting put out now
It's the style guide per plane that impacts the art so much. You can't get individually when the world builders set in stone what the art is meant to be.
Take Ixalan and these three Merfolk. Some very nice artwork but there is no variation they all wear the same armour down to the pattern design.
Would you even know that these three are done by completely different artists?
Now take some Elves from Urza's Saga, all very different allowing for more individuality which then gives more options for some to dislike or like different cards.
You couldn't be more correct. Exactly how so many of us feel. Those who don't simply weren't around then. Just compare these to what is getting put out now
As an artist, all I see in those images is a lack of skill. There’s bad proportions, no use of color theory, terrible composition. Just compare that Icy Manipulator to the art by Mark Zug. It’s virtually the same image, but with much better color theory. If you prefer the old, incompetent art aesthetic, more power to you. The art has immensely improved, though.
Oh, and I’ve been around since all of those cards came out. It’s not an age thing.
You couldn't be more correct. Exactly how so many of us feel. Those who don't simply weren't around then. Just compare these to what is getting put out now
As an artist, all I see in those images is a lack of skill. There’s bad proportions, no use of color theory, terrible composition. Just compare that Icy Manipulator to the art by Mark Zug. It’s virtually the same image, but with much better color theory. If you prefer the old, incompetent art aesthetic, more power to you. The art has immensely improved, though.
Oh, and I’ve been around since all of those cards came out. It’s not an age thing.
I like the Mark Zug art your referencing but have appreciation for the Douglas Schuler original as well. I understand what your saying about color theory etc but there is beauty in the un beautiful sometimes as well. I could state lack of skill for some old cave man paintings or items sculpted by the pharaoh's servants. There is a feeling that comes from such imperfection when you can feel the work that went into it. Something that is hard to convey with something too clean.
MTG has always had it's highs and lows for me, the current standard such as M19 is a low point, especially when you add to it silly sets like battlebond. But even in this mess I can find cards that are beautiful to me. All of the Saga's, and some odds and ends such as Yawgmoth's Vial offering are winners in my book. ( except for the new Legendary frame )
Speaking of color theory, the newer sets seem awash with overly contrasty digital looking stuff where every 3rd or 4th card has glowing purple smoke or plasma shoehorned into the art and emanating from something or someone that's supposed to represent "Magic"
Combine that with the identity crises that is the Card frame/Templating that makes you feel like your playing 20 different card games in the same deck and I literally think somebody at Wizards has recently decided that the game needs to look like some flashy mobile game played on a phone.
Just like to say that Ravnica Allegiance has swung the art the right direction. I'd also like to think it would represent a minimum acceptable standard from here on out but I've been around.
I still strongly dislike the M15+ border with the black on the bottom of the frame and despise the Legendary frame.
Maybe I’ve just got my nostalgia blinders on, but there’s something about the older cards I connect with that isn’t there in MTG anymore. The flavor and art of the older cards was rooted in mythology, legends, fairy tales, literature, archetypes, and folklore in a way that made it much more relevant and relatable to me. Cards like Book of Raas, Sylvan Library, or Dark Sphere made me feel like I was playing with the same sources of power that ‘real’ wizards did, and they made me feel more invested in whether I won or lost. Now it just seems like an afterthought, something to fill the space on the cards other than rules text. Cards like Orcish Librarian or Urza’s Sunglasses made me smile, and cards like Amnesia and Cosmic Horror shocked and frightened me like a good horror movie. MTG art just doesn't stir anything in me anymore.
The art and flavor of the newer cards- by which I mean maybe since the Urza Block- doesn’t really inspire me to play MTG. The art all has this very glossy, cookie-cutter, computer-generated look to it. The flavor quotes all just sound like soundbites from a C-rate video game. There are newer cards that I think have cool art, like Eon Hub or Crucible of Worlds, but people like Anson Maddocks (Maze of Ith), Drew Tucker (Dust to Dust), and Tony Diterlizzi (Urborg Mindsucker), who can stand as artists in their own right, just don’t seem to do magic cards anymore. The flavor text from Pendelhaven is from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem. Imagine that these days.
Good artists, regardless of what they’re drawing or painting, know how to lead a viewer’s eye around a piece of art and reward observant viewers with details that tell a story or say something worthwhile. Most MTG players would probably gloss over the art on a card like Flood from the Dark. But if you look closely, you can see an animal stranded in the tree, that the rooftop belongs to a church, and the dejected looking figure huddled on top of it. It’s a picture that’s about how man’s faith and institutions like religion won’t protect him from the cruel indifference of nature. The art on MTG cards isn’t really about anything anymore, other than itself. It doesn’t seem to assume anyone will give it more than a cursory glance.
A lot of people accuse the art and flavor of MTG in the 90’s as being ‘bleak,’ compared to the more brightly colored and inoffensive art that comes out now. It seems like WOTC has just become afraid of offending or disturbing anymore, making anyone think too much, or being politically incorrect around themes like religion and the occult. WOTC just doesn’t seem to want to take artistic risks with their big cash cow anymore.
The mechanics of MTG have certainly improved since I collected cards as a kid, which is great. It’s also great that the price of cards has gone down to the point where it’s a competition about who has the sharpest mind, not the fattest wallet. But I think it’s really lost touch with creating compelling settings or stories. If I just wanted to play a well-balanced or designed game, I’d play chess or go. That’s not what makes MTG unique to me.
I bought three Unlimited copies of Berserk for my Stompy deck recently. It didn’t really bother me to pay that much money because it felt like I was buying a work of art, a ‘real’ magic spell, a kind of artifact. But I go to pay $40 for an Inkmoth Nexus, or $80 for a Verdant Catacombs, with the ugly, cluttered-looking new borders, and it feels like I’m just buying a piece of paper that would have no value to anyone except MTG geeks. I think that has a lot to do with why MTG is losing its relevance to casual, and newer, players, and if WOTC was willing to bring in artists who did something new, memorable, and different, the ‘outside world’ would have much more of an interest in the game.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/something-twisted-way-comes-2016-05-30
The use of colors is quite diverse - the try to keep a cohesive look but make lots of cards with a distinct world in mind.
Products like the Art of Mtg - Zendikar really show how far artwork has advanced.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/announcing-art-magic-gathering-zendikar-2015-08-31
Personally, I recommend investigating the events of Tarkir block and working your way forward from there. Wizards does a great job of assigning a philosophy to each color group and matching a civilization to each one. Then they do very interesting things with the concept of colorless spellcasting through Ugin, a planeswalker who transcends color, and the Eldrazi, who dissolve it.
Pretty much.
Old magic unquestionably felt closer to our world. A sort of encroachment of what happens in that plane in our plane. Arabian Nights, The Dark and Legends all felt like a different reality was touching our own plane. So when I played those cards, I felt a sense of familarity and alienation at the same time. A little like Sliders or Stargate.
More importantly, the very idea of Magic is that your cards are pages from some ancient tome. Take a look at the Starter Boxes from Revised or before. Try to find photos from the left and right side. Notice something about the box? It's designed to look like a book. Even by Ice Age, they started to gravitate away from that. That Starter Box looks like a weird block of ice or something. Mirage brought in clasps but after that, it was completely gone. Obliterated by all the nonsense legalize.
Now imagine a myth is where each new generation writes their pages in the Great Book. Each set by a different generation or plane. Each card (spell) by a different author. Sensible art created by those still in possession of their faculties. Obscene or unintelligible art by those who've completely lost it. Ocassionally a bit of humor or racism (I was still innocent and thought they were just ghosts) shows up. Different art for the same card was even cooler, different authors documenting the exact same spell. Each colors border represented by that mages strengths. You are just another in a long line of Planeswalkers. After you die, new generations will take your book and add new spells or remove old.
The new frame and the cohesive artwork makes me feel like I'm looking through a widescreen on the history channel. Compare Arcum's Weathervane between Ice Age and the Coldsnap reprint to see what I mean. It's interesting and has its place, but WotC worked hard to dissolve the sensation that it's an old tome. What's the next fad? Art that curves around the edges? Art that you can only see with augmented reality? Text boxes that auto update with each new Oracle wording?
I see why WotC did what they did. I think in doing so, Maro and friends lost a little bit of what makes the older cards so endearing.
Take Ixalan and these three Merfolk. Some very nice artwork but there is no variation they all wear the same armour down to the pattern design.
Would you even know that these three are done by completely different artists?
Shapers of Nature Kumena's Speaker River Heralds' Boon
Now take some Elves from Urza's Saga, all very different allowing for more individuality which then gives more options for some to dislike or like different cards.
Hush Treetop Rangers Symbiosis
Mr Barrin this Cube is on Fire!! - http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/80149
WG Kei Takahashi: Is in Charge Now !? (EDH) WG
As an artist, all I see in those images is a lack of skill. There’s bad proportions, no use of color theory, terrible composition. Just compare that Icy Manipulator to the art by Mark Zug. It’s virtually the same image, but with much better color theory. If you prefer the old, incompetent art aesthetic, more power to you. The art has immensely improved, though.
Oh, and I’ve been around since all of those cards came out. It’s not an age thing.
My art blog
Claims:
The kicker variant in WWK will be "Kicker without a kicked effect." - proven wrong Jan 2010 : 2 wrongs
Decks:
:symu::symb: Bloodchief Ascension - Modern
:symb::symr: Rakdos, the Defiler - EDH
:symu::symb::symw: Sharuum the Hegemon - EDH
:symw::symu::symb: Zur the Enchanter - EDH
I like the Mark Zug art your referencing but have appreciation for the Douglas Schuler original as well. I understand what your saying about color theory etc but there is beauty in the un beautiful sometimes as well. I could state lack of skill for some old cave man paintings or items sculpted by the pharaoh's servants. There is a feeling that comes from such imperfection when you can feel the work that went into it. Something that is hard to convey with something too clean.
MTG has always had it's highs and lows for me, the current standard such as M19 is a low point, especially when you add to it silly sets like battlebond. But even in this mess I can find cards that are beautiful to me. All of the Saga's, and some odds and ends such as Yawgmoth's Vial offering are winners in my book. ( except for the new Legendary frame )
Speaking of color theory, the newer sets seem awash with overly contrasty digital looking stuff where every 3rd or 4th card has glowing purple smoke or plasma shoehorned into the art and emanating from something or someone that's supposed to represent "Magic"
Combine that with the identity crises that is the Card frame/Templating that makes you feel like your playing 20 different card games in the same deck and I literally think somebody at Wizards has recently decided that the game needs to look like some flashy mobile game played on a phone.
I still strongly dislike the M15+ border with the black on the bottom of the frame and despise the Legendary frame.