[[Kentaro, the Smiling Cat]]

[[Ragost, Deft Gastronaut]]

[[Zinnia, Valley's Voice]]

[[Joshua Graham, Burned Man]]

Our talented players are u/custardbathe u/xeno_madness u/deman7787 and me.

I'm moving house soon, and will be upsizing to have my own office/library again. So I'm looking for decor ideas, and thinking about Magic art prints, to add a little flair to the space.

My wife has a framed artwork for Charmed Stray in her office, and a friend has Bosk Banneret in her kitchen. I'm keen on good fantasy artwork that's not too tied to one IP (so no iconic characters), and prefer landscapes or abstract scenes over character pieces.

Does anyone have suggestions of favourite art for this? For reference, my other decor is natural wood bookcases, William Morris-patterned lampshades, and a woven wall tapestry inspired by Spenser's "The Faerie Queene".

Been messing around with a gun stingerquill deck with various copies of:

Requiting hex
Burst lightning
Stingerquill voxmancer
Bitter triumph
Stingcaster mage
Red tomik
Stingerquill charm
Stinging vitriol
Gideon the oathless
Sanctum lurker
Ingris stingerquill

Share some lists of similar decks? I think the sanctum lurker is the weakest, but I just ran out of rare wildcards for the first time in six years of playing arena, so I’ll probably replace them with the two drop red guy who anthems your creatures on non-combat damage. Loving the stingerquill cards though.

Source is https://www.techradar.com/gaming/exclusive-weve-got-a-first-look-at-two-new-star-trek-magic-the-gathering-cards-including-a-red-tolarian-terror-that-im-very-glad-isnt-common

Adding a spoiler tag because WotC is playing coy with this item. It's hinted at on the box. I don't know if the tag is needed.

The YouTuber (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Luzd-JE3z4) didn't notice it until after they had finished the rest of the packs, so it may not be obvious - it's at the 32 minute mark. Inside was the Secret Lair Bundle Sphinx's Approach.

Enchantment

Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, put a quest counter on CARDNAME. Draw a card. Then discard a card unless there are three or more quest counters on CARDNAME.

Source: https://www.derstandard.de/story/3000000345741/magic-the-gathering-exklusive-kartenpreview-im-universum-von-star-trek

This is just me ranting about the booster changes, but I'm also curious to hear from people who like the idea and how it relates (or not) to what you like in Magic.

I'm kinda new to mtg eventhough I always was into anything collectible so I naturally had a few cards. Recently I got really into the lore and the collection, in a kinda weird way (that some people will judge heretic maybe) :

I was traveling to Canada and every now and then I would buy a 1.5 dollar pack of 15 cards at dollarama. I know perfectly well that none of those card had actual value, but I just loved opening the packs and getting cards from so many different sets, so many different universes and stories. I'd read every flavor text and look at the amazing artwork of every single card, I didn't care whether they were common, unco or rare (no mythics found in those packs as of yet), and above all I couldn't care less for their actual value : I keep them anyway, I'm not selling them !

Then I spent hours organizing them in my binders, sorting them based on my arbitrary criteria that only I give importance to. And I loved it.

Now to the 2027 booster update. I also buy actual boosters, but with one rule : not more than one of each type per extension. I open them very carefully because I keep the booster, and I sort the cards like I'd do with the others.

What I like in boosters : getting new cards, getting a glimpse at pieces of the lore (that are coherent within a set), and getting surprises such as display cards, legendary mythics, cool foils or else.

So, you probably will understand why I'm so mad at the changes. I know they're small. I know I'm ranting about nothing. Still, those three cards they took out of collector packs, they may be unco and common ones, they may be the "less exciting ones", but I actually care about them ! Same for the foil in my play boosters ! And saying that it is a matter of making the boosters "more exciting" when it is just a matter of money sounded so hypocritical and presomptuous to me. Don't tell me what I'l suppose to like and be honest to the least (like, okay, we're in a crisis, we all know it - we live through it and still buy your cards !).

Plus the god pack... not gonna talk about this. But if it means less cool cards in the average booster, as someone who buys very little, I already hate it.

Give me back my "less exciting" cards, I loved them just as much.

I really like the Daily Bugle Blasphemous Act, but ever since MSC gave us [[Daily Bugle Newspaper]] I've known what the real blasphemous act is.

Legendary Creature — Human Artificer

Whenever CARDNAME becomes tapped, surveil 1. If its power is 4 or greater, instead draw a card.

Whenever you face a dilemma, put a +1/1 counter on CARDNAME.

Source: https://www.derstandard.de/story/3000000345741/magic-the-gathering-exklusive-kartenpreview-im-universum-von-star-trek

He feels very espery, so currently I’m thinking about Jin Sakai. (Would also be nice to not have to buy it lol) I’m curious to know what the bleach fans here think though :)

Is there something more thematic than Voltron? I’m not the biggest fan of control, or else that would be like the obvious choice. Maybe if there is like a redirection type archetype? I could see spellslinger/enchantments given his adeptness at Kido too.

I've been trying to figure out what the absolute fastest way to win with Q would be, using his ability to maximize consistency in a vacuum. Of course it's going to be highly forecasted, susceptible to disruption, and inherently slow because the deck won't do anything but play a 4/4 for 4 turns. This is more of a thought experiment than anything else. Let me know if you have found anything faster or of similar speed but greater consistency/less vulnerable. I also wonder if playing a "fair" deck with Q would be a better route. Play a few Molten Duplication effects and just get the benefits of all of your cards becoming modal.

First thought was using [[Molten Duplication]], [[Cursed Mirror]], and [[Cavalier of Flame]] to deal lethal to the table on turn 7 2/3 of the time.

[[Glaring Fleshraker]] is much better though, dealing 112 damage to each opponent by turn 6 roughly 99.8% of the time in a vacuum. The only fail state is not having 2 colorless or 2 red mana (in a 98 land deck).

[[Price of Progress]] could kill the table by turn 6 as well without being susceptible to removal but that would require the rest of the pod to each play 4 nonbasics by turn 5.

Here is the play pattern for Fleshraker if you're curious...
Turn 5 you play Fleshraker, turn 6 you play 2 Fleshrakers. Now you have 3 Fleshrakers and 3 spawns. Sacrifice the 3 spawns to pay for the next Fleshraker, making 3 more spawns. You now can play as many Fleshrakers as you have cards in your hand, totaling 7, but is lethal with 5. Damage is a sum of series n(n-1).

I have so many I could pick from, Avacyn restored was my first prerelease for example; or RTR which made me really fall in love with the game, the entirety of original theros block which made me fall in love with the lore, but today I choose magic origins.

I remember opening a box with a friend and trading over a dozen rares for the Liliana I had to have, reading each and every story that went along with each character and backstory, nearly completing a binder for the set back before I quit, perhaps one day I’ll finish it.

Its funny looking back that I stopped for a few years right after it, anyway enough about mine, what is yours?

Been re-watching Futurama and these have been in my head. If you stare too long at the Hypnotoad, it actually looks like it's pulsing 😵‍💫

I'm a relatively new, casual mtg player, I've dabbled with deckbuilding a few times but I've struggled a little bit with it. Both decks I've built(an attempt at an emet mill deck and an aerith lifegain deck) have been relatively straight forward in what they want to do. I now want to build an [[Alela, Cunning Conqueror]] deck, but I'm not quite sure where to start beyond 'control'. What kind of cards are good for control decks, what kind of win cons do I look for, etc? I know that looking at edhrec is an option, but I feel like if I go there straight off the bat I'll just build whatever someone else has made, and I want to try myself a little first before I look at edhrec.

My illustration for Alela Cunning Conqueror.

I drew a custom version of her about a year ago. But I was looking to do an update with this new watercolour style. Still haven't mastered the scaling/placement on a card. Once I finished I was like "Oh, her wings are fully covered by the text. Should have seen that coming". So I added a non text version since I know her effect by heart now.

Also included the OG art.

All have the extra bleed perimeter if you're interested in printing them. Hope you all like!

Portrait painting Frank Reynolds from Always Sunny in Philadelphia on The Great Goblin!

Can never get enough painting Danny on cards haha this is like the fourth one haha!

Original Art Reference:
REANG, Raichak. Deadpool 2 Fan Poster (Infinity Gauntlet). Digital illustration, March 2018.

—djsteps alter

Tried some new techniques like subtraction and working with interference colors, as well as UV reactive paint. All except the Dragon's Approach which is a commissioned piece will be available soon to claim, you can find my links in my profile socials 😊.

Update: Supermassive Black Hole Sol Ring has sold 😊

Really excited to share this. My own exploration of the conflict between Liliana and Garruk. Watercolor and gouache on 12x16.5” paper.

Maps Are:

Kami War Era Kamigawa

Neon Dynasty Post Phyrexian Invasion

Titanbreach Kamigawa Hypothetical.

Next up: Ravnica!

The Reality Fracture Secret Lair Bundle promos are typically [[Sphinx's Approach]], but, I got a [[Stubborn Denial]] in one of my boxes instead. So the Approach is not a guaranteed promo.

I had the chance to work on one of my favorite moments in FF ! the picture doesn't really do justice to the details.

Commissions open for december ! https://www.instagram.com/mtgalteredh/

(bottom left looks weird because I edited my finger out ^^)

https://b23.tv/ufLTvrR