Art card
An art card is a regular sized collectible bonus card that comes with some Magic: The Gathering boosters.[1] Art cards are not Magic cards and are not for gameplay.[2]
Description
The front side depicts a piece of art in a horizontal orientation. There are no foil art cards. Instead, all of them are treated with a specially developed gloss varnish that brings out the art.[3] The card backs are mostly blank, with some collector's info (Magic logo, illustration credits, legal text and collector numbers). The backs are left uncoated. They are similar to an artist's proofs and thus provide room to get an artist's signature or sketch on it. They can also be used as tokens for copy effects, proxies, or if it is for a legendary creature it could be a good way to store experience counters, life total, commander tax, etc.
History
Arts cards were first featured in the Modern Horizons Art Series. They returned for the Zendikar Rising Art Series and Kaldheim Art Series.[4] In these sets, five percent of the time, rather than a normal art card you'll get one with a gold-stamped signature of the artist.[5][6] Every art card exists in both its normal version and its signature version.
Starting with Dominaria United, Wizards of the Coast increased the rate at which gold-stamped signature art cards were found from 1-in-20 (5%) to 1-in-10 (10%).[7]
With the introduction of Play Boosters in Murders at Karlov Manor, Wizards of the Coast switched from 81 art cards being made per set down to 49. Then with Outlaws of Thunder Junction going forward, there will be 54 art cards per set release. This change was made, in part, to reflect that there are fewer art cards showing up in each pack.[8] The change in numbers also necessitated a change in the odds of gold-stamped signature art cards, from 1-in-10 (10%) to 1-in-7 (~14.29%).[9]
List of sets with art cards
| Set Name | Release Date | Number of Art Cards | Chance of Stamped Card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modern Horizons | Jun 2019 | 54 | 5% (1 in 20)[10] |
| Zendikar Rising | Nov 2020 | 81 | 5% |
| Kaldheim | Mar 2021 | 81 | 5% |
| Adventures in the Forgotten Realms | Jul 2021 | 81 | 5% |
| Modern Horizons 2 | Jul 2021 | 81 | 5% |
| Strixhaven: School of Mages | Jul 2021 | 81 | 5% |
| Innistrad: Midnight Hunt | Oct 2021 | 81 | 5% |
| Innistrad: Crimson Vow | Nov 2021 | 81 | 5% |
| Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty | Apr 2022 | 81 | 5% |
| Streets of New Capenna | May 2022 | 81 | 5% |
| Baldur's Gate | Jul 2022 | 81 | 5% |
| Dominaria United | Sep 2022 | 81 | 10% (1 in 10)[7] |
| The Brothers' War | Nov 2022 | 81 | 10% |
| Phyrexia: All Will Be One | Feb 2023 | 81 | 10% |
| March of the Machine | Apr 2023 | 81 | 10% |
| The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth | Jun 2023 | 81 | 10% |
| Commander Masters | Aug 2023 | 81 | 10% |
| Wilds of Eldraine | Sep 2023 | 81 | 10% |
| The Lost Caverns of Ixalan | Nov 2023 | 81 | 10% |
| Murders at Karlov Manor | Feb 2024 | 49 | 14.29% (1 in 7)[9] |
| Outlaws of Thunder Junction | Apr 2024 | 54 | TBC |
| Bloomburrow | Q3 2024 | TBC | TBC |
| Duskmourn: House of Horror | Q4 2024 | TBC | TBC |
| Untitled "Death race" set - Codeword "Tennis" | Q1 2025 | TBC | TBC |
| Untitled Tarkir set - Codeword "Ultimate" | Q2 2025 | TBC | TBC |
| Untitled Space opera set - Codeword "Volleyball" | Q3 2025 | TBC | TBC |
| Untitled Lorwyn set - Codeword "Wrestling" | Q4 2025 | TBC | TBC |
| Untitled Arcavios set - Codeword "Yachting" | Q1 2026 | TBC | TBC |
| Untitled event set - Codeword "Ziplining" | Q2 2026 | TBC | TBC |
Gallery
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Art card back for Zendikar Rising.
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Stat block card back for creatures in the AFR art series.
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Thrun, Breaker of Silence (Phyrexia: All Will Be One, #331) "What if?" manga style.
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Back face of Hedge Whisperer's art card with the Murders at Karlov Manor puzzle elements.
References
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen, Stephen Sunu, Adam Prosak and Ryan Pancoast. "Weekly MTG: Modern Horizons special preview". Twitch.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (May 31, 2019). "Modern Horizons Release Notes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 26, 2019). "Can you give us more information regarding the art cards?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Magic: The Gathering Panel with Mark Rosewater | Comic-Con@Home 2020 (Video). YouTube.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 25, 2020). "Set Boosters". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Ari Zirulnik (January 25, 2021). "Kaldheim Product Overview". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Kendall Pepple (August 30, 2022). "Dominaria United Art Cards". magicthegathering.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (October 20, 2023). "Play Booster Discord Q&A". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Kendall Pepple (January 30, 2024). "Murders at Karlov Manor Art Cards". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen (May 30, 2019). "Modern Horizons Tokens and Art Series". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022.