Top 10: the Art of Edge of Eternities

10. Mightform Harmonizer

Jessica Fong

While I will admit to having found the art direction of the green insect faction in Edge of Eternities a bit non-descript (maybe that was the point, as they are infinitely adaptable), this deft rendition won me over with abundant elegance, flair, and gesture! Importantly, it makes for a damn good looking card~!

9. Temporal Intervention

Chris Rallis

By all accounts, this painting is a bit "busy", featuring no less than six figures vying for the Endstone in an almost Norman Rockwell-ian arrangement. I daresay Rallis is probably one of the only MtG artists who could have pulled off such an image, and I'm a bit in awe of the clarity and expressiveness on display despite the small format and seemingly impossible brief. Both this image and Chris's promo image featuring Tezzeret really aid in making this set feel like its own sci fi franchise!

8. Glacier Godmaw

Bruce Brenneise

For what is essentially "the Exogorth scene in Star Wars", I'm genuinely surprised I like this piece so much, but I just keep coming back to it. Simple, iconic, sci fi but Magic, classic space adventure! A good reminder that you don't always have to reinvent the wheel.

7. Galactic Wayfinder

Quintin Gleim

 This painting works for me on so many levels — it captures at once a sense of impending adventure like I'm rewatching Treasure Planet for the tenth time, the utopic whimsy of wind-powered agriculture, the groundedness of "growin' up on the farm lookin' up at the stars and dreamin' of bein a pilot", and an appealing mix of retro spaceman with modern cinematic sensibilities. Definitely worth exploring this one up close!

6. Hardlight Containment

Dominik Mayer

 My favorite depiction of white control magic since Detention Sphere, the combination of scale, graphicness, blinding yellow, and flavor text yield a result that is more than the sum of its parts.

   

5. Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar

&

The Endstone

Ryan Pancoast

 Objectively some of the most impressive paintings of the set, Ryan once again shows us how it's done, and in a way that remains authentically "Magic". Both also feel like climactic blockbuster moments if Edge of Eternities was a movie!

4. Famished Worldsire

Kev Walker

I appreciate that Edge of Eternities teased the possibility of Eldrazi and Slivers but actually bypassed them for the most part. Likewise, restraint was shown with depictions of world-ending calamity aliens. The nice thing about Famished Worldsire is that it feels like a nod to the classic Magic Leviathans of old: badass, enormous, overcosted, and eating all your lands...with homerun art from Kev Walker, as always!

3. Frontline War-Rager

Jason Rainville

This one is an emotional fav (the best kind!), I just love these little guys! The depiction of the Kavu as slightly comedic and chunky in this piece just tickles me. Huge fan of the graphic compositional circle in the background, perfectly framing the Kavu's battle cry echoing in the lava-lined entrails of whatever planet or asteroid they just bored their way through. Fantastic moment and execusion, also my vote for best foil of the set!

2. Ragost, Deft Gastronomer

Zack Stella

There's something beautiful that happens sometimes when the absurd is played completely straight, and I think that's what's going on here. For this is the power of imaginative realism on full display: it helps us believe that in the infinite vastness of space, anything is technically possible...even this. From the custom-fitted chef outfit to the gear in the jello, you can't help but be drawn in to investigate. For me, the gag would have been even stronger if this was the art on some non-descript common with witty flavor text, a sort of background character in Mos Eisley thrown in as a delightful nonsequitur.

 

1. Tezzeret, Cruel Captain

Chris Rahn

When Chris is at his best, there is no beating him, and it feels like he pulled out all the stops for this one. The subtle control of detail and value on the figure allows for the absolutely explosive contrast with the delightfully textural impasto of the golden throne. Chris is the Rembrandt of Magic art! Selling me on Magic's first forray into hard sci-fi was no easy feat, but I feel like this painting did a ton of the heavy lifting for me.

Also, Chris recently updated his website, yay!

...and many more!

Top 10: the Art of Dragonstorm

10. New Way Forward

Wayne Wu

Between the rich skin tones, clear effects, strong posing, and subtle but effective stylization of the hands, there's a lot to love about Wayne's work this set! This would low-key be a near-perfect image for the Avatar!

9. Soldier Token

Eelis Kyttanen

As many of you have probably noticed, I tend to prefer cards with a strong pop of color, stark comic-book lighting, and striking gestures. This piece has none of those things, seemingly swimming in a sea of subtle muted greyish colors. And yet I find it absolutely beautiful! Nice to enjoy a subtle, sensitive piece (that still kicks ass on a card) every once in a while.

8. Kishla Village

Bruce Brenneise

This piece perfectly bridges the gap between last time we visited Tarkir and now. I love the clear layering of Old Sultai decrepit temples in the shadows of the island and the new fishing village catching the sunlight. It also has the rare and distinct quality of bringing a smile to my face every time I see it for some reason. Some paintings just do that! It's just a perfect little painting.

7. Sagu Wildling

Gaboleps

This is quickly just becoming a Gaboleps appreciation page. What can I say, I adore his digital empasto style, buttery strokes, vivid colors, clear contrasts, graphic effects, and yummy volumes. They feel like paintings made to look good small on a trading card, which is no easy feat. Plus, chonky green dragons just really do somethin for me. Anxiously awaiting for the full hi-res versions to be posted!

6. Monastery Messenger

Forrest Imel

Forrest continues to deliver incredibly graphic, impactful images that look second to none on the actual cards, especially Monastery Messender. I love the energy and shapes on display, reminding me of my favorite Reynolds or Prescotts, and how Forrest incorporates the colors of the creature into the art which really help to tie the whole thing together.

5. Rot-Curse Rakshasa

Chris Rahn

Simply masterful.

4. Zurgo, Thunder's Decree

Steve Prescott

I get a headache just thinking about how I would balance a purple lightning effect on a pale Orc, in front of a stadium bathed in golden light, with a roiling dragonstorm in the far background. Yet Steve makes it look pitch perfect and dare I say effortless. Pure Prescott excellence.

"Are you not entertained?!"

3. Eski Dragonclaw

Tran Nguyen

An absolute standout traditional piece from the set, and a fan favorite amongst collectors, players and artists alike, Eshki Dragonclaw is a clear winner. Graphic, bold, dynamic, and simply beautiful! In my opinion, matching an unreal talent like Tran to a legendary creature is an absolute no-brainer and should have happened ages ago! Magic is lucky to sport an image like this on their products.

2. The Fetchlands

Adam Paquette

I don't usually include lands on my list (I really should) but Adam just popped off on this series. Honestly, his work on Magic of late has really been doing it for me, being a highlight of the otherwise unspectacular Thunder Junction. All in oils, with his signature eye for flow, shapes, light, and color!

1. The Spirit Dragons

Alexander Ostrowski

Not content to redesign the five chromatic dragons and five metalic dragons for DnD (some of the best, most thoughtful, most compellingly naturalistic designs), Ostrowski now blesses us with 3 of the 5 Tarkir Spirit Dragons (the other two were designed and illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez, and stunning in their own right). 

I am just in awe not only of this man's seemingly overnight cemented legacy in draconic fantasy but also his eye for illustration which lends his pieces an unparalleled authentic and researched quality. In this case, the dragons themselves are interesting and gorgeous, but seeing them in their environment is what takes these over the top for me. Betor amidst arid scale-like stones, Teval skating across a marshland lake, and Ureni soaring above the Temur tundra.

Incredible precision, legibility, and mood, all while avoiding any signs of belabored over-rendering. There is a playful impressionism and masterful brushwork on display despite the detailed feeling of the paintings.

In the end, they feel like beautiful, hand-painted stills from an Attenborough-narrated Natural History episode of Tarkir, and that is just extremely my shit, and thus worth all the praise I can muster.

The distinct, high-key value scheme of Ureni is a particular standout and second to none in this set, in my humble opinion!

As always, here's many more ; )