Least favorite card art?
General forum
Posted on Oct. 10, 2015, 4:41 p.m. by bsian
Does anyone have a card art which they really kinda despise? For me it'd have to be Viridian Zealot. One of the things that I love about mtg card art is the backgrounds, and the zealot has no background or setting. If someone photoshopped this art onto a yu gi oh card, I'd probably believe it.
Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #3
Raging Bull by far
or maybe Plunge into Darkness because more than the ones that were mentioned already, it look EXREMELY infinished and overall very out of tune in compairison to the entire mirroden set.
October 10, 2015 4:49 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
Not only do I have least favorite card arts (Blue Mana Battery and Word of Command) but I also have a least favorite artist Margaret Organ-Kean. Of the 28 cards she illustrated only 2 don't have some simple geometric pattern for no damn reason. And may of them have little pseudo frames going around them. I looked up some of her other work to try to be fair and its all a bit soft focus and still has the geometric patterns and pseudo frames so it's not to my liking. However they do look much better not on cards.
October 10, 2015 4:57 p.m.
If we're talking about creepy art, can i get Voracious Null? I refused to play this card at prerelease because a. its bad, and b. just ew. that art.
October 10, 2015 4:59 p.m.
RegisteredDecksOffender says... #7
Gidgetimer: Ewwww.. I can respect her as an artist because that's way better than I can do.. But I feel like in most of those pictures the shapes bode NO significance to what's going on in the card.
October 10, 2015 5:01 p.m.
RegisteredDecksOffender says... #8
Celestial Prism. Looks like a fourth grade art project.
October 10, 2015 5:03 p.m.
BobTheSlobbb says... #9
I second Macabre Waltz. I pulled a couple at the Origins prerelease, and was just so sick of looking at them that I betrayed my inner TCG player and chucked them in the trash. Some cards just take it too far...
October 10, 2015 5:05 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #10
Stasis, which has always been all the worse art-wise because it's an interesting, powerful card that still sees play. I'm surprised nobody went right to it.
October 10, 2015 5:11 p.m.
With a name like Pestilence, unsettling imagery shouldn't come as a shock, but that is the card that I bought a new version of for purely artistic/aesthetic reasons.
October 10, 2015 5:11 p.m.
Stasis's artwork is far from being bad. It was one of the first card arts done by a well known, good artist.
October 10, 2015 5:19 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #13
Necromancy is just gross, I've always disliked it.
Pulling Teeth is weird and disturbing but I don't dislike it.
October 10, 2015 5:27 p.m. Edited.
Channel is kind of weird too. That guy's fingers must be like, 15cm long or something.
October 10, 2015 5:31 p.m.
There's literally hundreds of cards from the older sets that are hideous. Stasis, Giant Strength, Kobolds of Kher Keep, Living Wall, Shivan Dragon, Prodigal Sorcerer, Phelddagrif, that black ogress I can't remember the name of... I could go on and on. Jesus.
Of the more recent cards, I've always had a strong dislike for Snapcaster Mage, and it's not even because of Tiago's face. That armor is ridiculous, the huge tube with spirits [?] on his arm looks clunky as f*ck, that dragon statue looks completely out of place in there... and the funny thing is, he was supposed to look even worse.
Liliana of the Dark Realms is another one I can't stand to look at. Uglier than some of the zombies Lili likes to summon.
October 10, 2015 5:31 p.m.
That original art for him makes Snappy look like a Scuba Diver.
October 10, 2015 5:33 p.m.
I should clarify somewhat. I didn't mean to suggest that the original art for pestilence is "bad art"(which isn't the image I linked to - that's a newer version).
In a way, it could be considered "good art" because as I was eating a sandwich and posting, looking at the card literally made me gag and I had to look away.
I like stasis abstract art and don't mind background less art as it leaves room for the imagination.
I dislike "gross" art enough to avoid certain archetypes and shy away from black in general. I don't think of myself as highly aesthetically focused but some mtg art is quite disturbing to the not-yet-desensitized eye.
October 10, 2015 5:38 p.m.
Tastes are different I guess. I actually like art that deserves to be called 'art'. Stasis has a very interesting art imo.
I generally prefer older cards for that reason. Cards back in the 90's had lots of different art styles, just look through the cards in a set like The Dark. Nowadays everything is the same. It's just the typical generic, exaggerated, bombastic high fantasy crap you see everywhere in commercial fantasy products. All of it. Sure, technically they're all done very well. But when I look at the cards from Battle for Zendikar for example they look like they were all made by the same artist.
That said I think Forest Bear, Word of Command and Charging Rhino (the Portal version, no idea how to format this properly in a forum post) look very funny.
October 10, 2015 5:45 p.m.
formayor: Really? Stasis is bad art? Goddamit im gonna destroy you by doing absolutely nothing.
Stasis is my, by far, favorite card ever printed. Art AND playability wise
Tipping the scale Playtest
Legacy*
SCORE: 170 | 12 COMMENTS | 24083 VIEWS
October 10, 2015 6:21 p.m. Edited.
Dread Specter is pretty awful. I altered all my copies just to have different art. Animate Artifact is borderline offensive with the lighting and proportions.
Honorable mentions include: Tainted Specter, Island of Wak-Wak, Unstable Mutation, Giant Tortoise, Mijae Djinn, Warp Artifact, Celestial Prism, Ironroot Treefolk, etc.
And some cards are in so-bad-it's-funny territory. Staff of Zegon, Xenic Poltergeist, Reverse Polarity, etc.
October 10, 2015 6:22 p.m. Edited.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #23
Honestly, old art is just like like wine, you learn to appreciate it over time. Personally, I love the Stasis art.
October 10, 2015 8:33 p.m.
andymaul123 says... #25
I don't know if it's my absolute least favorite, but Grim Feast comes to mind for artwork I dislike. Child of Alara, too.
October 10, 2015 8:51 p.m.
jethstriker says... #26
No one mentioned Dwarven Thaumaturgist yet? It's not like the art is bad, it's just that the artist's style don't fit in MTG, even way back in those times in my opinion.
October 11, 2015 2:22 a.m.
that reminds me Ertai's Familiar is the same way imo.
October 11, 2015 9:53 a.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #28
@aaron.jacob its rude to call white supemesists idiots.
its fine to call them biggots, fuckfaces, needledicks, pieces of shit, and "going to hell" though.
October 15, 2015 7:10 p.m.
InfiniteParadoX says... #31
aaron.jacob you think a klans man would put a picture of his group on a card called "invoke prejudice?" rather than something like "smite the unworthy" or something making it seem more, i don't know, realistic and more of a worthy cause than just hating people with out much of a reason. I really don't think the artist was a klans man. Maybe they didn't even mean to to be klans related? could just be a silly coincidence.
October 15, 2015 10:58 p.m.
BobTheSlobbb says... #32
InfiniteParadoX I think if you look at the picture it's pretty reminiscent of the KKK... The "prejudice" part is no coincidence. The question is just if the artist was a member, which could be argued no, as this places them in a negative light.
October 16, 2015 12:03 a.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #34
October 16, 2015 1:04 a.m.
You know what's a silly coincidence (or not)? Here's another card McNeill designed:
The art looks rather innocuous on this one, but... come on.
October 16, 2015 8:59 a.m.
aaron.jacob: nah, I don't see any subliminal messages in that picture. I just find it funny that it's in a card that protects you from black. I mean, who's better than a white supremacist to illustrate an anti-black card? :P
Of course, I'm only joking. He did the art for all Circle of Protection cards in Tempest, not just the black one. And yes, I have to admit most of his drawings look pretty damn great.
nayrash5 says... #2
Aven Trooper It's like it's half finished or something. :(
October 10, 2015 4:43 p.m.