I care about it separately from the card game itself, but I still enjoy the art on cards a lot. Just something nice to stare at once in a while. So I'm going to go ahead and point out some of my favorite M11 arts thus far previewed from the Wizards Visual Spoiler.
I generally look for good color, good contrast, and something different from what we've previously seen on cards. While of course being aesthetically pleasing.
There's also a very good blue counterspell coming in M11 - it's a reprint - check out the new art at the end of the article.
This art reminds me of Mufasa from The Lion King.
I think that's all I really need to say.
This is really something new from Dave Kendall, who draws mostly cards that are bleak, rough, and dead-looking. (He drew Crumbling Necropolis - the entire Grixis Shard seems to exemplify his style.) So they gave him a life-gain card this time? Interesting. And yet I love this art the most out of his so far! Too bad the card is, well, lackluster. One of the few Magic card arts I would not be embarrassed to have hanging on my wall.
We cannot get enough of Jace Beleren. Dude is hot. Too bad he's so emo. But hey, it's an acceptable character flaw. Meanwhile he draws tons of cards, mind controls stuff, and exiles brains (your library).
Y'know how Magic always has all these attractive women in its art? Well could we have more attractive men, too? Is Jace all we get? (I know, target audience blah blah blah.)
Kind of reminds me of The Ring. The grimmest images are the ones we can imagine in our own world, I think. And this is just a field of dying horses. One-by-one, dropping dead. The Magic is clearly present but not explicitly visible, and that's the type of Magic I like best. The kind that is subtle and affects the world in unseen ways.
Well this one is just cool-looking. I want one! Can I keep him? Notice how the buildings in the background are totally diagonal? The image is tilted! I can only imagine what the rare-art looks like in this set when the common art's so cool.
I don't like red card art that uses red, yellow, or orange as a primary, warm color. Like I'm sooo tired of it. So I'm glad Nils Hamm went in a different direction here and used icy blue/teal. To me this is just refreshing.
BONUS
Which do you prefer?
