.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5)
Since its creation in 1993, Magic: The Gathering has garnered millions of fans. The long-lived card game has thousands upon thousands of unique cards, all playable in various decks, sets, and formats. The once-modest trading card game has become a multimillion-dollar sensation. Magic: The Gathering features innumerable cards that display an assortment of mythical creatures and spells, yet each boasts beautiful and detailed artwork conducted by noteworthy artists from all over.
It is impossible to define the best card artwork in Magic: The Gathering, as beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Every card features distinct, gorgeous, and eye-catching portraits, making it nearly impossible to choose and list the best artworks in the trading card game. Players, artists, and casual fans will all have different takes, but these are just a few of the most beautiful artworks featured in Magic The Gathering.
Updated July 11, 2022, by Christopher Anaya: Few trading card games possess the same popularity and reverence as Magic: The Gathering, and understandably so. The trading card game features a near-endless amount of diverse and astoundingly crafted cards that make it all the more enjoyable. There is a card or particular set of cards for everyone, granting players much versatility and choice as they carefully create their decks. While this diversity contributes much to the fame of Magic: The Gathering, the captivating artwork of every card attracts trading card game enthusiasts and collectors alike.
Every card in Magic: The Gathering features breathtaking artwork that does well to visually represent the card while standing alone as an awe-inspiring artistic piece. Few cards fail to astound and inspire a sense of wonder, fear, or another powerful emotion. While every card in Magic: The Gathering is admirable, some go above and beyond in terms of imagery. Determining the cards with the best artwork is subjective, but some are undeniably impressive. These Magic: The Gathering cards are considered the most beautiful in the entirety of the trading card game.
10 Subtlety
- Type: Creature — Elemental Incarnation
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Set: Modern Horizons 2
- Released: June 18, 2021
- Artist: Anastasia Ovchinnikova
Many people fear the ocean, and for a good reason, because it possesses various wonderous yet unknown horrors below its pristine surface. The creature card known as Subtlety explores these feelings of awe and fear with a haunting depiction of an elemental beast. The artwork depicts something resembling a dragon formed from the sea, flourishing its grand and imposing wings over the endless waters of the ocean.
The creature featured in Subtlety is a great, albeit somewhat petrifying concept, and the imagery does well to bring it to life. Though most would shake in fear if they came face-to-face with this, its art makes it look beautiful. The sunlight glistens off the top of the creature, and blue energy radiates from its core, further adding to its strange and mysterious beauty. Few cards can captivate and horrify as effectively as Subtlety does.
9 Life From The Loam
- Type: Sorcery
- Rarity: Rare
- Set: Ravnica: City of Guilds
- Released: October 7, 2005
- Artist: Terese Nielsen
Fantastical settings inspire amazement and a sense of wonder in people, especially when they mingle with more advanced technologies. The sorcery spell card Life From The Loam achieves just that by depicting an ominous mechanical building tucked away in an enchanted forest, dominated by its whimsical greenery. Luminescent orbs hover around the derelict building, contrasting the sizeable gears and machinery sprawled about the ruin.
The structure seen in Life From The Loam is astounding for various reasons, the most prominent being its combination of traditional fantasy and steampunk elements. These seemingly opposite themes create a sense of intrigue in people, as they wonder why such a contrasting intermingling is occurring. Moreover, it is a subtle implementation of opposing elements that few cards other than Life From The Loam achieve.
8 Izzet Guildgate
- Type: Land — Gate
- Rarity: Common
- Set: Commander 2019
- Released: August 23, 2019
- Artist: Kirsten Zirngibl
When discussing the best card arts in Magic: The Gathering, filling the list with lands would be easy. Even basic land cards have some of the best-looking artwork in the series, and the variance in design is incredible. However, land cards like Izzet Guildgate stand above the rest without question. Rather than boasting a typical landscape, this card features a gateway implemented with various advanced and bustling machines towering over a simple brick path.
Izzet Guildgate plays well to the futuristic and industrial side of Magic: The Gathering, revealing how machinery can be just as awe-inspiring as the fantastical. The sparking pylons, the sprawling pipework, and the ominous red glow lend themselves to the perception of technology as remarkable yet somewhat frightening advancement in the universe of Magic: The Gathering. Izzet Guildgate is one of the few cards to use advanced technology effectively in its artwork.
7 Risen Reef
- Type: Creature — Elemental
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Set: Core Set 2020
- Released: July 12, 2019
- Artist: Johan Grenier
In Magic: The Gathering, there are other worlds below the sea, aquatic biomes filled with a myriad of diverse life. One of the most captivating environments of the ocean is coral reefs, beautiful regions reminiscent of a garden. But what if that coral reef got up and started walking? That is the idea behind the creature card Risen Reef, which perfectly depicts such an impossible phenomenon. The artwork presents a massive elemental entity covered in coral, emerging from the ocean's depths in an explosive emergence.
The creature in the Risen Reef card is a rare combination of colorful and beautiful, yet its towering size and aggressive demeanor cannot help but evoke fear. This aquatic behemoth is a formidable guardian of the sea, revealing the combined adoration and horror often associated with the ocean. Gazing upon the monstrous elemental of the Risen Reef only causes one to think of what other dangers lie below the gorgeous waters of the sea. The Risen Reef is the perfect medley of beauty and peril that makes Magic: The Gathering cards stand out.
6 Painter's Servant
- Type: Artifact Creature — Scarecrow
- Rarity: Special
- Set: Masterpiece Series: Kaladesh Inventions
- Released: September 30, 2016
- Artist: Magali Villeneuve
Scarecrows are a popular motif for horror writers, either as props or as living monsters. Magic: The Gathering features this classic figurehead of horror with the creature card Painter's Servant, which takes a much different approach. Rather than capitalizing on the terrifying aspects of a scarecrow, this card combines the elements of fantasy and technology into one semi-natural yet mechanically tinkered being.
The armored construct seen in Painter's Servant stands in a sunny mythical city, glistening in the daylight. White doves fly around it as clouds of iridescent paint flow from the scarecrow's many hands, coloring the pristine birds in various colors. Seeing a seemingly lifeless construct artistically perform its function is intriguing, for a typical scarecrow stands menacingly meanwhile the one in Painter's Servant actively and creatively deters birds, making it one of the most imaginative cards in Magic: The Gathering.
5 Negate
- Type: Instant
- Rarity: Common
- Set: Core Set 2020
- Released: July 12, 2019
- Artist: Magali Villeneuve
Being the namesake of Magic: The Gathering, the presence and power of magic in the trading card game is unsurprising. Cards utilizing this titular force always feature the most alluring art, but the instant spell card Negate makes it look dazzling, flashy, and dangerously beautiful. On the card, an ominous and impressive-looking spellcaster deflects an incoming fireball with a magical lash of water, colliding in a burst of color. The particle effects of the crashing waves and flames are brilliant.
The exchange of spells seen in Negate reveals how powerful and dangerous magic is when it is utilized by experienced casters, as seen in the card. The spellcaster almost effortlessly counters the ball of fire, matching its intensity and potential for devastation. Despite being an intense scene, it is weirdly captivating as the meeting of opposing colors and elements come together into a dynamic display. Negate captures magic's enigmatic and cataclysmic nature in an awe-inspiring fashion that other cards do not.
4 Nimbus Maze
- Type: Land
- Rarity: Rare
- Set: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
- Released: July 23, 2021
- Artist: Jason Chan
For a long time, mazes were markers of status. Rich folk would often have immaculate hedge mazes made for weekend parties. As time went on, mazes, in general, became more mainstream and found a home within fantasy writing as places of danger and mystery. While traditional mazes were placed in forests and constructed from bushes, the land card Nimbus Maze takes to the clouds. This sky-bound labyrinth boasts an air of mystery and beauty that almost compels others to approach.
Nimbus Maze invokes dreams and fantasy with its distant star systems and curious blue-tinted, magic-touched clouds, taking much inspiration from the Forgotten Realms. The traditional maze design looks fantastic when placed in the heavens and scratches a fantasy itch many fans probably did not even know they had. Nimbus Maze takes the conventional mysteries of a maze, ascending them even further, both literally and figuratively, making it one of the few Magic: The Gathering cards to combine fantasy with something found in the real world.
3 Rin and Seri, Inseparable
- Type: Legendary Creature — Dog Cat
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Set: Core Set 2021
- Released: July 3, 2020
- Artist: Leesha Hannigan
While many cards in Magic: The Gathering elicits feelings of fantasy and wonder, the creature card Rin and Seri fulfill the regal artwork feel. Seemingly inspired by beautifully crafted paintings found in a castle, the two titular animals in the card appear powerful, majestic, and mysterious. Yet, the most eye-catching part of this art is the friendship between Rin and Seri, considering that dogs and cats typically are not so friendly toward each other.
It is rare that cards in Magic: The Gathering can depict something grounded in reality and make it mystical, yet that is what Rin and Seri, Inseparable do. The two creatures featured on this card's artwork appear to be mundane breeds of dog and cat but with subtle features that allude to something more. Boasting a grander size, impressive mane, and unusual markings, the dog and cat in Rin and Seri, Inseparable are creatures of great import and power. This card feels more like a standalone art piece than anything else, which is astounding.
2 Mountain
- Type: Basic Land — Mountain
- Rarity: Basic Land
- Set: Unhinged
- Released: November 19, 2004
- Artist: John Avon
Although many may disagree, the most basic of art can be the most moving. Such is consistent with the myriad of basic land cards seen throughout Magic: The Gathering that boasts incredible artwork, most of which could feature on this list without question. Yet, one particular land card known as Mountain, Unhinged, stands above the rest for its simple yet awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur. Overall, this land card is nothing inspiring, but that simplicity makes it astonishing compared to others that seem to have too much.
Mountain, Unhinged presents imposing peaks towering over a forest and lake near their base. The grand mountains pierce the sky, which in conjunction with a red hue, evoke a sense of fear and wonder that elicits powerful emotions from players. Few Magic: The Gathering cards cannot inspire these feelings, even those boasting intricate and detailed artwork. While more artistic features seem beneficial, sometimes less is more, as seen with Mountain, Unhinged. Thus, making it one of the most beautiful cards in Magic: The Gathering.
1 Lightning Bolt
- Type: Instant
- Rarity: Promo
- Set: Magic Player Rewards 2010
- Released: 2010
- Artist: Véronique Meignaud
As with other trading card games, Magic: The Gathering has many iconic cards, one of the most notable being the instant spell card, Lightning Bolt. Even people who know nothing about the famous trading card game know of this venerable card, as it has reached the fame or notoriety seen by cards such as Pot of Greed in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Consequently, Lightning Bolt has received numerous renditions, but none have such an impactful effect as this one. This version of Lightning Bolt is imposing, powerful, and starkly gorgeous.
This rendition of Lightning Bolt combines feelings of awe and sheer power, all while including contrasting visuals. A colossal hand of clouds reaches from the storm above, sending a vibrant line of luminous red and yellow electricity down to the vivid blue landscape below. The frightening red storm and graceful blue sky come together to create a seemingly opposing scene that inspires dread and admiration alongside an understanding of how noteworthy of a card this is.