Magic: The Gathering continues to experiment with radically different visual styles and this affects its premiere digital game in ways never seen before… by introducing cute little kittens.
Magic: the Gathering, the world’s biggest and most popular trading card game, is widely known for two things: having an exceptional art style, and offering special, highly sought-after rare cards that collectors pay exorbitant prices to acquire.
Back in early December those two aspects collided with the release of the Secret Lair box sets. These are luxurious packages aimed at superfans of the game, that were offered only through game makers Wizards of the Coast’s online store and were available to buy for an extremely short time period. The packs included small collections of 1-5 iconic cards from the game’s history, presented with brand-new art and a matching sleeve to use inside MTG Arena.
The set contains Modern staples such as Bitterblossom (and a cool ensemble to matching tokens for the Fairy Rogues) and Serum Visions, Commander and Goblin Trible powerhouse Goblin King, as well as Cat Tribal crowd-pleasers Arahbo, Roar of the World, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist, and Leonin Warleader. Since most of these cards aren’t playable in MTGA, those who managed to snatch the treasured black boxes were given exclusive sleeves to use in their digital games. So far, nothing uncommon.
However, what’s very much uncommon is the aesthetic chosen for some of the cards, namely Goblin King, and Leonin Warleader. That’s right, this time Wizards went full kawaii.
This is a drastic shift in a game that cares very much about its uniform look and spends a long time designing its worlds, characters, associated iconography, and overall style. On the other hand, these are adorable little kittens we’re talking about, so how can we complain? After all, Magic is an ever-evolving game and its creatures have come a long way since their inception back in the distant 1993. Just look no further than the King himself for a reference:
Now that the precedent is set, it will be very interesting to follow the further development of the game in the cute front. Imagine watching some of the world’s best players competing on stage for millions in prize money and swinging those ferocious furballs around… Now, that would be a sight to behold!
Previously, MTG had two other visual experiments with its art style. One was the set of planeswalkers commissioned to famous Manga artists from Japan, also available as digital card sleeves:
Another was the silver-border set of My Little Pony cards issued to support charity Extra Life 2019, that are not tournament legal and not really meant to be played.
What cards do you want to see cuteified next? Let us know! We have our fingers crossed for Slivers!
