Teyo, Kiora, Arlinn, the Wanderer and Tamiyo are my favs. The others are kind of mixed, there are a lot of stiff poses/generic-looking moe girls etc.
The Tamiyo is 100 times better. No more middle aged lady look.
She's supposed to be a mom though…
this has already been explained better by someone else on another post in another thread, but I'll just say it again. Tamiyo is not a human woman and should not be drawn like a middle aged human.. because she is a Moonfolk. Almost all other planeswalker art of Tamiyo has her slim with a long neck.
And they got Daisuke Isuka from Fire Emblem for Yanggu! But no Akira Toriyama, it seems. Pity, I would have loved to see his take on Sarkhan. DRAGON BALLZ YO
Narset is so pretty. She's got that long, flowy hair I love in anime girls.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
About the only one of these special edition Japanese alternative artworked Planeswalkers I might ever track down is the Yo*****aka Amano Liliana. The rest, along with the rest of the War Of The Spark set, I can thankfully ignore.
Full art gallery. Much cooler when you notice some details like Dovin surfing on thopters or Sorin slashing the same stones that Nahiri throws at him.
Forgot to say this on a previous post. They're in the same place, and still fighting. Makes me wonder if their feud ended with the end of the war.. or they're still in single combat somewhere on Ravnica?
____________________________________________________
Full art gallery. Much cooler when you notice some details like Dovin surfing on thopters or Sorin slashing the same stones that Nahiri throws at him.
Definitely check out the Gallery. Very Cool.
Domri, Teyo, Tibalt, Davriel, Lily, Karn, Sahelli are all way better than the English ones. Ob Nixilis is also awesome.
I feel bad to say it, but that Nicol Bolas is AWFUL, like really bad, though.
Agree Bolas is terrible. I would had love to see Kentaro Miura trait and style for a truly dark and threatening Bolas with that black eclipse in head.
That is the best Ashiok artwork by a huge, huge, HUGE margin. Nothing has ever captured his creepiness and his overall aura as well as that art.
I also think the following are the best representations so far:
Karn, Ugin, Chandra, Tibalt, Domri, Tamiyo, Kiora, and Vraska.
I’m not a fan of Arlin mostly because the card art doesn’t show anything about her wolves and the same goes for Sarkhan. Wolves and dragons are core to their identity and it’s odd for their card art to avoid that reference.
That is the best Ashiok artwork by a huge, huge, HUGE margin. Nothing has ever captured his creepiness and his overall aura as well as that art.
I also think the following are the best representations so far:
Karn, Ugin, Chandra, Tibalt, Domri, Tamiyo, Kiora, and Vraska.
I’m not a fan of Arlin mostly because the card art doesn’t show anything about her wolves and the same goes for Sarkhan. Wolves and dragons are core to their identity and it’s odd for their card art to avoid that reference.
I'm still partial to the first Ashiok, I believe that card is beautiful.
I do agree these are some of the best though, Domri is just awesome, perfect. Arlin has wolves in the full art no?
That is the best Ashiok artwork by a huge, huge, HUGE margin. Nothing has ever captured his creepiness and his overall aura as well as that art.
I also think the following are the best representations so far:
Karn, Ugin, Chandra, Tibalt, Domri, Tamiyo, Kiora, and Vraska.
I’m not a fan of Arlin mostly because the card art doesn’t show anything about her wolves and the same goes for Sarkhan. Wolves and dragons are core to their identity and it’s odd for their card art to avoid that reference.
Arlin, at least, has the wolves in her full-art form.
Not my cup of tea. Glad many like these but I am NOT a fan of Manga/Anime style artwork. It works on some of them but most of them are a total turnoff to me. Its why I can't get into Force of Will or others of its ilk. I know I am in the minority but I bet I'm not the only one.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I like Mowu, Samut, and Tamiyo, but note to Gideon's artist: Beards and bishonen don't go together.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I like the vivien art. It's a bit much and kinda busy, but I still like it. I bet it would look amazing in foil.
Lili is gorgeous. Ugh my wallet.
Slight aside, I've always heard great things about the Japanese card quality. Can anyone opine and share if they've noticed a difference between English and Japanese printings? I don't know who sources different geographic regions but if it is bettter then I'm even more excited.
I like the vivien art. It's a bit much and kinda busy, but I still like it. I bet it would look amazing in foil.
Lili is gorgeous. Ugh my wallet.
Slight aside, I've always heard great things about the Japanese card quality. Can anyone opine and share if they've noticed a difference between English and Japanese printings? I don't know who sources different geographic regions but if it is bettter then I'm even more excited.
Yes, the art/colour is crisper, and the stock is marginally better. Mostly its the vibrancy of the inks though in my experience. Euro/Japanese > NA by far, and they dont put a coating on them to keep them from warping like we have had since Dominaria.
Another reason these are really cool is the fact that there are MULTIPLE areas where the image pops out from the frame.(Unlike the 1 small instance on standard planeswalker cards) It really POPS and stands out and makes the card look very unique.
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Been a member here for over a dozen years. Playing since '95 just got lost in the twitch shuffle.
I like the vivien art. It's a bit much and kinda busy, but I still like it. I bet it would look amazing in foil.
Lili is gorgeous. Ugh my wallet.
Slight aside, I've always heard great things about the Japanese card quality. Can anyone opine and share if they've noticed a difference between English and Japanese printings? I don't know who sources different geographic regions but if it is bettter then I'm even more excited.
Yes, the art/colour is crisper, and the stock is marginally better. Mostly its the vibrancy of the inks though in my experience. Euro/Japanese > NA by far, and they dont put a coating on them to keep them from warping like we have had since Dominaria.
Exactly what I wanted, thanks! My only Japanese cards are foils of older printings 10+ years old, I'm not up to speed on current stuff.
I'd really love to get custom art sleeves for the Japanese Nissa artwork to go in my Nissa, Vastwood Seer EDH / Commander deck though it'd probably be insanely expensive. I did come across Lightning Store Online that helps design card sleeves as long as you're able to upload the file with the picture they put on the back of it. Inked Gaming used to offer a service for custom art sleeves though unfortunately they discontinued it a few years ago for some reason.
My biggest concern is that these Japanese Alternate Art Planeswalkers are most likely going to be sold at the same premium as Mythic Edition Planeswalkers even though you're not particularly purchasing them directly from Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro but from other online retailers / sellers. Hopefully there won't be a limited print run on this Japanese product compared to past Standard sets like Dominaria and Hour of Devastation.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Not a big fan of this type of anime style personally but I have to say some are very well done for who those who do.
My main query is though, anime is popular worldwide, and we've now had quite a break since Amonkhets invocations, I'm surprised these weren't just put in all product tbh. They said expeditions/inventions etc would be done again right? We have no set in standard offering them, I'd have thought maybe they'd have done it so one set at any one time has them, when that rotates the next set will contain some, leaves you a reasonable time period between "special" sets.
Not a big fan of this type of anime style personally but I have to say some are very well done for who those who do.
My main query is though, anime is popular worldwide, and we've now had quite a break since Amonkhets invocations, I'm surprised these weren't just put in all product tbh. They said expeditions/inventions etc would be done again right? We have no set in standard offering them, I'd have thought maybe they'd have done it so one set at any one time has them, when that rotates the next set will contain some, leaves you a reasonable time period between "special" sets.
Yeah I think these Japanese Alternate Art Planeswalkers would've sold more as individual card sleeves instead of being random inserts in Japanese War of the Spark boosters. It would sell out more than the Ultra Pro Chibi Planeswalker sleeves despite creating as much demand as Ultimate Guard Katana sleeves which have been out of stock for quite a while now. The challenge is being required to memorize card abilities with the alternate art compared to the English version where there's a lot less quality.
I'm guessing it would be illegal to run both the English and Japanese versions in a single perfect fit within a regular card sleeve in EDH / Commander since you're only allowed to run 99 cards in your deck minus your Commander / General. It also sounds like something you'd need to approve with your local playgroup on. Either way it was a dumb move on Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's part to announce this right after everyone had already pre-ordered the English War of the Spark boosters. Just glad I wasn't one of those people since I mainly buy singles anyway.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
They should go all in anime-style and trigger more people and call mangakas and doujinshi artists and have the proper "anime style". It would be cool if they had Akira Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi, or Eiichiro Oda draw some of them.
I'm happy with Amano's piece, but I wish they had other prominent artists like Tsutomu Nihei, Huke, or Ghibli style ones which have a more general appeal.
They should go all in anime-style and trigger more people and call mangakas and doujinshi artists and have the proper "anime style". It would be cool if they had Akira Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi, or Eiichiro Oda draw some of them.
I'm happy with Amano's piece, but I wish they had other prominent artists like Tsutomu Nihei, Huke, or Ghibli style ones which have a more general appeal.
Going back to Kamigawa would be a good excuse to hire these Japanese artists to illustrate Magic cards despite how weak the block was in Standard and Modern compared to how popular it is in EDH / Commander. Maybe then we'll finally get more Ninja tribal support for Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow by bringing back Ninjutsu as well as a Samurai tribal Commander that does Bushido justice though to be fair it's basically Flanking. Oddly enough it wasn't as popular of an evergreen mechanic as Banding was which was more broken back in the day.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Glorious! There'll probably never be another Liliana card that looks that good.
Stuff like this gives me hope for the future of Magic art. Maybe it won't all be the same tired crap going forward. Seb McKinnon is already kicking ass. Maybe they will start to allow more artists with their own styles to work in the main sets.
Arlin and Liliana look particularly fabulous, and have much more to offer than just a Japanese style. Most of them are just in the manga style,which is kinda refreshing to see in MTG, but is not anything we haven't seen before artistically. Nevertheless, I'd be extremely happy to see a whole set illustrated in like style to this. Changing art styles between sets is the way to go. They forgot that after Tempest block....
It sucks that these are only in Japanese. If they were in English language packs, I would definitely play them over their more dull counterparts. Foreign language cards maybe cool, but I like people to be able to read the cards. I prefer almost all of these to their main art simply because it's not the same boring style again.
this has already been explained better by someone else on another post in another thread, but I'll just say it again. Tamiyo is not a human woman and should not be drawn like a middle aged human.. because she is a Moonfolk. Almost all other planeswalker art of Tamiyo has her slim with a long neck.
Tamiyo field researcher and Moon Sage
Ravnica art with middle aged human mom look. O_o
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
And they got Daisuke Isuka from Fire Emblem for Yanggu! But no Akira Toriyama, it seems. Pity, I would have loved to see his take on Sarkhan. DRAGON BALLZ YO
Narset is so pretty. She's got that long, flowy hair I love in anime girls.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Name-drop on Liliana, awesome.
Tamiyo is likely the best improvement over the English.
I like how the Wanderer pops.
I find myself also liking Ashiok (who looks terrifying) and Kiora. Probably best action shot of her, not excepting Temple of the False God.
Maybe instead of a case of English I'll get three boxes of English and three of Japanese. I theoretically can read the language... ><
He does look like Ainz Ooal Gown.
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He's too busy conquering Ravnica, not much time to pose for a pic. hehe
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Forgot to say this on a previous post. They're in the same place, and still fighting. Makes me wonder if their feud ended with the end of the war.. or they're still in single combat somewhere on Ravnica?
____________________________________________________
Well, for all the suffering Sarkhan experienced. His reward is travelling together with a beautiful planeswalker who also knows karate.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Agree Bolas is terrible. I would had love to see Kentaro Miura trait and style for a truly dark and threatening Bolas with that black eclipse in head.
I also think the following are the best representations so far:
Karn, Ugin, Chandra, Tibalt, Domri, Tamiyo, Kiora, and Vraska.
I’m not a fan of Arlin mostly because the card art doesn’t show anything about her wolves and the same goes for Sarkhan. Wolves and dragons are core to their identity and it’s odd for their card art to avoid that reference.
I'm still partial to the first Ashiok, I believe that card is beautiful.
I do agree these are some of the best though, Domri is just awesome, perfect. Arlin has wolves in the full art no?
Spirits
Arlin, at least, has the wolves in her full-art form.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
On phasing:
Lili is gorgeous. Ugh my wallet.
Slight aside, I've always heard great things about the Japanese card quality. Can anyone opine and share if they've noticed a difference between English and Japanese printings? I don't know who sources different geographic regions but if it is bettter then I'm even more excited.
Yes, the art/colour is crisper, and the stock is marginally better. Mostly its the vibrancy of the inks though in my experience. Euro/Japanese > NA by far, and they dont put a coating on them to keep them from warping like we have had since Dominaria.
Spirits
Exactly what I wanted, thanks! My only Japanese cards are foils of older printings 10+ years old, I'm not up to speed on current stuff.
My biggest concern is that these Japanese Alternate Art Planeswalkers are most likely going to be sold at the same premium as Mythic Edition Planeswalkers even though you're not particularly purchasing them directly from Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro but from other online retailers / sellers. Hopefully there won't be a limited print run on this Japanese product compared to past Standard sets like Dominaria and Hour of Devastation.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
My main query is though, anime is popular worldwide, and we've now had quite a break since Amonkhets invocations, I'm surprised these weren't just put in all product tbh. They said expeditions/inventions etc would be done again right? We have no set in standard offering them, I'd have thought maybe they'd have done it so one set at any one time has them, when that rotates the next set will contain some, leaves you a reasonable time period between "special" sets.
I'm guessing it would be illegal to run both the English and Japanese versions in a single perfect fit within a regular card sleeve in EDH / Commander since you're only allowed to run 99 cards in your deck minus your Commander / General. It also sounds like something you'd need to approve with your local playgroup on. Either way it was a dumb move on Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's part to announce this right after everyone had already pre-ordered the English War of the Spark boosters. Just glad I wasn't one of those people since I mainly buy singles anyway.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I'm happy with Amano's piece, but I wish they had other prominent artists like Tsutomu Nihei, Huke, or Ghibli style ones which have a more general appeal.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Stuff like this gives me hope for the future of Magic art. Maybe it won't all be the same tired crap going forward. Seb McKinnon is already kicking ass. Maybe they will start to allow more artists with their own styles to work in the main sets.
Arlin and Liliana look particularly fabulous, and have much more to offer than just a Japanese style. Most of them are just in the manga style,which is kinda refreshing to see in MTG, but is not anything we haven't seen before artistically. Nevertheless, I'd be extremely happy to see a whole set illustrated in like style to this. Changing art styles between sets is the way to go. They forgot that after Tempest block....
It sucks that these are only in Japanese. If they were in English language packs, I would definitely play them over their more dull counterparts. Foreign language cards maybe cool, but I like people to be able to read the cards. I prefer almost all of these to their main art simply because it's not the same boring style again.
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My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.