Notes: please make this iconic.
March 4, 2016 7:41 PM Subscribe
"Her wide eyes glow a bright blue and bright blue sparks of overflowing energy are rushing out of them. A huge WAVE OF FIRE splits around her and DISPERSES as if it’s hitting an INVISIBLE SHIELD, leaving her unharmed." Terese Nielsen takes us through her process in creating the art for an upcoming reprint of Force of Will (scroll down for story), one of Magic: The Gathering's most iconic cards.
Bonus Beefcake: Enthralling Victor by Winona Nelson.
Bonus Beefcake: Enthralling Victor by Winona Nelson.
Guess I could have put this in the post, but I didn't want it to be an ad or anything. Eternal Masters was announced last month, is coming out (in paper and online) in June. Won't be standard legal.
posted by ODiV at 9:05 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by ODiV at 9:05 PM on March 4, 2016
I always liked Terese Nielsen. My all time favorite is Richard Kane Ferguson though.
posted by atoxyl at 9:06 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by atoxyl at 9:06 PM on March 4, 2016
Cool a WoC for WotC.
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:36 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:36 PM on March 4, 2016
Terese Nielsen is so amazing. I bought my husband a signed print of Descendant's Path a couple of Christmases ago because I felt like it was actually nice enough to look at that non-MtG-geek people might not question its presence on our wall.
posted by town of cats at 12:13 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by town of cats at 12:13 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love seeing someone given a very particular, circumscribed task (the picture must be X, Y, Z, P, Q, and R) and producing something that looks so beautiful and organic while still meeting every single item requested by the instructions.
posted by straight at 1:29 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by straight at 1:29 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Aw man :( Just a couple months ago I walked into a FLGS and practically fainted with glee to see the old Force of Will selling for a triple-digit price tag. Better sell 'em while I can...
posted by Merzbau at 6:43 AM on March 5, 2016
posted by Merzbau at 6:43 AM on March 5, 2016
most iconic cards
This needs additional context...
1) Over 20M people play this silly game
2) It's so silly that its complexity is considered by some to be greater than chess (mathematically it certainly is)
3) The value of the actual cards and collections can be surprising valuable with single cards going for multiple thousands of dollars
It's impossible to know, but I would guess that Force of Will is the card that has been played the most number of times in the history of the game. Iconic, indeed.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 7:11 AM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
This needs additional context...
1) Over 20M people play this silly game
2) It's so silly that its complexity is considered by some to be greater than chess (mathematically it certainly is)
3) The value of the actual cards and collections can be surprising valuable with single cards going for multiple thousands of dollars
It's impossible to know, but I would guess that Force of Will is the card that has been played the most number of times in the history of the game. Iconic, indeed.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 7:11 AM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
Force of Will was an interesting card when Alliances first came out. The game, and the surrounding community was vastly different in 1996. Initially, players were skeptical that it was any good. Balduvian Horde, from the same set, was the chase rare when Alliances was brand new.
For a kid that made some egregiously bad trades around that time, even I realised the power of FoW. You can stop *anything*. Oh, and the 'cost,' I have to play lots of blue cards. Oh my, such a burden.
Needless to say, I did everything I could to acquire my 4 copies as quickly as possible. I figured that if Magic was going to continue existing, more and more degenerate things would be possible, and I needed to always have a way to put the brakes on that sort of thing.
I never expected them to reach a price of ~$100/each, ever. My whole family used to play, and between my mother and I we have 11 copies of. I'm glad it is being reprinted, as it's a crucial piece of the eternal formats (Vintage and Legacy), because it polices the format and gives players at least some chance at disrupting opposing decks that can fairly consistently kill you on turn 1 if unimpeded. If those formats are to survive, Force of Will needs to be way more accessible. (Along with a lot of other cards, but that is a huge digression.)
I would argue that Force of Will is definitely the most iconic card in the game. The power 9 have their place, but FoW is the pillar upon which Vintage and Legacy rest.
posted by Dark Messiah at 7:49 AM on March 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
For a kid that made some egregiously bad trades around that time, even I realised the power of FoW. You can stop *anything*. Oh, and the 'cost,' I have to play lots of blue cards. Oh my, such a burden.
Needless to say, I did everything I could to acquire my 4 copies as quickly as possible. I figured that if Magic was going to continue existing, more and more degenerate things would be possible, and I needed to always have a way to put the brakes on that sort of thing.
I never expected them to reach a price of ~$100/each, ever. My whole family used to play, and between my mother and I we have 11 copies of. I'm glad it is being reprinted, as it's a crucial piece of the eternal formats (Vintage and Legacy), because it polices the format and gives players at least some chance at disrupting opposing decks that can fairly consistently kill you on turn 1 if unimpeded. If those formats are to survive, Force of Will needs to be way more accessible. (Along with a lot of other cards, but that is a huge digression.)
I would argue that Force of Will is definitely the most iconic card in the game. The power 9 have their place, but FoW is the pillar upon which Vintage and Legacy rest.
posted by Dark Messiah at 7:49 AM on March 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
opposing decks that can fairly consistently kill you on turn 1 if unimpeded.0_o
what a time to be alive
posted by Merzbau at 8:47 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's impossible to know, but I would guess that Force of Will is the card that has been played the most number of times in the history of the game.
I'd take this bet and win on a technicality. :P
posted by ODiV at 9:11 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'd take this bet and win on a technicality. :P
posted by ODiV at 9:11 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
The most broken combo deck I've ever seen in person is the same one juv3nal describes in the first comment which I think was probably *closer* to turn 2 in average but certainly could do turn 1 often enough. But that's considered one of the most degenerate deck archetypes ever - I haven't played in a while but as far as I know things are usually kept a little tamer than that.
posted by atoxyl at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2016
posted by atoxyl at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2016
opposing decks that can fairly consistently kill you on turn 1 if unimpeded.
0_o
what a time to be alive
posted by Merzbau
what a time to die, Mr. Bond
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:27 PM on March 7, 2016
0_o
what a time to be alive
posted by Merzbau
what a time to die, Mr. Bond
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:27 PM on March 7, 2016
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posted by juv3nal at 8:44 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]