10. Totentanz, Swarm Piper
Matthew is one of the undeniable greats of the game, and this piece is just packed with personality, love, and detail. The legibility suffers a bit at card size, which is why I have it lower on the list overall, but looking at the full illustration full-screen is inspiring and humbling to say the least.
9. Rowan's Grim Search
I am simply addicted to Aurore's bold use of contrast at card size and buttery brushstrokes up close. The drama is tangible, the pops of red are rich, and the shapes are delicious, a real winner!
8. Devouring Sugarmaw
Something I am always paying close attention to is how to pull off more stylized cards like this, especially the ones Kev and Jesper regularly get away with. The answer seems to be a combination of appropriate subject matter (a candy horror or a rat king) with grounded elements such as the adventurer's highly practical backpack and muted colors to contrast the pink. I'm not entirely sure, but images like this, much like the candy it is depicting, are so so sweet in moderation.
7. Songbirds' Blessing
A poetic painting and beautifully executed, from the magnetic composition to the gesture of the hand. I'm always delighted to see it played across the table and can never resist picking it up to have a closer look, surely the sign of a great illustration!
6. Beluna Grandsquall
Aside from the usual technical mastery I have come to expect from Victor (just how???), there's some really fun stuff happening in this piece, like the sense of scale, the indication of materials like the jame on the gingerbread house, the stylization of the cloud hair, and the truly impressive treatment of the marble architecture.
5. Warehouse Tabby
There's a little bit of overlap with this piece and the Piper from earlier in the list, especially in how both capture the feeling of an endless swarm of rats, but Tabby does not suffer from legibility in the slightest. On the contrary, Steve expertly delivers a striking read, with a table leg being all that's necessary to efficiently establish a sense of space in what could have been too abstract of a vignette had he not included it. A master at work!
4. Throne of Eldraine
I have an immeasurable admiration for the kinds of illustrations Kieran is consistently able to pull off on Magic deadlines. His pieces feel so defined and observed, yet closer examination reveals an economy of painting that is never over-rendered or tedious. In another life, I would have loved to be a student of his, because to me the line between craft and witchcraft certainly starts to blur.
3. Archon of the Wild Rose
This is just unadulterated Chris Rahn excellence. Subtle yet striking, poetic and bold, heartwrenchingly beautiful.
2. Neva, Stalked by Nightmares
For lack of a better term, this card to me had the "Teysa effect", which is to say the feeling I had when I first saw Karla Ortiz's Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and thought it was too beautiful to be a Magic card. I am devastated that Tyler either decided never to post the high res, or simply forgot in the wake of his epic Lord of the Rings work.
1. Moonshaker Cavalry
Aldo Dominguez
Aldo Dominguez
Fast becoming one of my favorite new Magic artists, Dominguez did not disappoint with this depiction of this set's white Craterhoof. You can just hear the chilling gallop of phantom hooves in this spectral procession. I couldn't help but to create a fullart version for my Darien, King of Kjeldor deck.
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