Please answer without looking at the previous replies, so your choice isn't affected by them.
Imagine that someone told you: I'll give you up to 20 original Alpha artworks. You can choose those you want, with the condition that you will never be able to sell them (nor your heirs). That way, you don't care about current prices.
There is so much amazing art in early magic (and still today, although it is different), but my favorite is and always will be Stasis. I know it doesn't particularly match the card name or mechanic but it's one of a handful of pieces of magic art that I wouldn't be surprised to see at a museum.
The artwork from the past are the best... yes the 3d now is nice, but to me the old cards were really arts....no wonder why i have so many of them
You look at the Water Elemental, and the first thing you think, the guy in the boat is your creature, but no, take a closer look, it's the head in the water with its arm holding the paddle... well though
If i flip all the pictures, my eyes will always stop on the Vesuvan Doppelganger and the Serra Angel might be the second one.
Then follows the Mahamoti Djinn, Balance, Bad moon, Wheel of fortune, Verduran Enchantress, Ancestral Recall, Winter Orb...
I think Quinton Hoover's artworks from Alpha are quite remarkable. His artworks complement their respective cards almost intuitively, and I think his art style really stands out & above the rest from Alpha.
I know that Alpha was first and is sacrosanct and all that, but I think it has to be said: Most of the art is hideous, and the rest ranges from passable to pretty cool. And for some reason, half the pieces lack a real background - it's either odd patterns or nearly solid colour with some slight shading. Feel free to disagree, that's just my take on it.
I like most of the alpha artwork, but you're right that a lot of it amateurish. I saw an interview with Dan Frasier talking about the art on the moxes. He said his payment for each piece was $50 now, $50 on delivery, plus "royalties." Since MTG literally didn't exist yet and a million games come out every year, he figured the royalties on nothing would be nothing. On top of that, the format of the art was like a 7x5 inch piece of cardboard or something, so very limiting when it comes to detail. So, he bought some cheap swirl-paper for the background, drew some gemstones, cut them out and pasted them onto the swirl paper, and painted over the whole thing with a clearcoat of some kind. Voila! Moxes... and only a few hours time investment each, which was worth the $500 he figured he'd get from them. He was evidently rather surprised when he ended up getting a $60,000 royalty check that year.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
PSA: Add "|Limited Edition Alpha" (without the "")after the card name in your card tags to make sure you get the alpha image and not the reprint image.
I generally feel like many of the older cards were more instantly recognizable than are the modern cards. Much like with modern video games, while the art is more realistic and detailed, it requires more effort to visually distinguish one from the next.
I do miss some of the more storybook-like art, such as many of the pieces by Quentin Hoover. Some of my picks are more likely more driven by nostalgia than anything else.
All of the Quinton Hoover pieces are terrific, with Vesuvan Doppelganger as the best.
Melissa Benson's Nightmare is so much better than any of the reprints it's not even funny. (Not true of Shivan Dragon, which although great is outclassed by Donato Giancola's version.)
what I like about the art in Alpha, is that the art seemed like it was a representation of the spell, something you'd find illustrated next to the spell in a dusty grimoire. Because of this, even bad art felt flavorful.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Imagine that someone told you: I'll give you up to 20 original Alpha artworks. You can choose those you want, with the condition that you will never be able to sell them (nor your heirs). That way, you don't care about current prices.
What would you answer (you can choose from 1 to 20 artworks)? You can take a look at all the Alpha cards at the following link: http://magiccards.info/query?q=e:al/en&v=card&s=cname
When I get enough replies I'll start a poll
Moved to Opinions and Polls -Cythare
Bog Wraith
Conservator
Craw Wurm
Crusade
Dragon Welp
Elvish Archers
Farmstead
Holy Strength
Ironroot Treefolk
Island Sanctuary
Magical Hack
Mesa Pegasus
Nightmare
Shanodin Dryads
Tranquility
Verduran Enchantress
White Knight
Wild Growth
Of these I'd say my 3 favorites are
Island Sanctuary
Elvish Archer
And Nightmare
If I could only have 1...I think I'd choose Nightmare.
The artwork from the past are the best... yes the 3d now is nice, but to me the old cards were really arts....no wonder why i have so many of them
You look at the Water Elemental, and the first thing you think, the guy in the boat is your creature, but no, take a closer look, it's the head in the water with its arm holding the paddle... well though
If i flip all the pictures, my eyes will always stop on the Vesuvan Doppelganger and the Serra Angel might be the second one.
Then follows the Mahamoti Djinn, Balance, Bad moon, Wheel of fortune, Verduran Enchantress, Ancestral Recall, Winter Orb...
Nettling Imp
Feedback
Meekstone
Regeneration
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Honorable mention to: Stasis for it's interesting and rather abstract art.
Power Leak is a favorite. There are a lot of artwork in Alpha that does not appeal to me, but here's a few more that I like in no particular order.
Nevinyrral's Disk, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Chaos Orb, Goblin Balloon Brigade, Disintegrate, Conversion, Time Walk.
—Lim-Dûl, the Necromancer
I like most of the alpha artwork, but you're right that a lot of it amateurish. I saw an interview with Dan Frasier talking about the art on the moxes. He said his payment for each piece was $50 now, $50 on delivery, plus "royalties." Since MTG literally didn't exist yet and a million games come out every year, he figured the royalties on nothing would be nothing. On top of that, the format of the art was like a 7x5 inch piece of cardboard or something, so very limiting when it comes to detail. So, he bought some cheap swirl-paper for the background, drew some gemstones, cut them out and pasted them onto the swirl paper, and painted over the whole thing with a clearcoat of some kind. Voila! Moxes... and only a few hours time investment each, which was worth the $500 he figured he'd get from them. He was evidently rather surprised when he ended up getting a $60,000 royalty check that year.
With that said, my favorite art from alpha:
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Weakness
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Demonic Tutor
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
E.g Sol Ring instead of Sol Ring.
I do miss some of the more storybook-like art, such as many of the pieces by Quentin Hoover. Some of my picks are more likely more driven by nostalgia than anything else.
Nettling Imp
Meekstone
Jayemdae Tome
Feedback
Tsunami
Darkpact
Timetwister
Wheel of Fortune
Lord of the Pit
Channel
Dark Ritual
Holy Strength
Underground Sea
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Wooden Sphere
Shivan Dragon
Bog Wraith
Cyclopean Tomb
Time Vault
Conversion
Bog Wraith and Black Knight both show Jeff Menges at his best.
All of the Quinton Hoover pieces are terrific, with Vesuvan Doppelganger as the best.
Melissa Benson's Nightmare is so much better than any of the reprints it's not even funny. (Not true of Shivan Dragon, which although great is outclassed by Donato Giancola's version.)
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!