Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. Eldrazi (2015)

This was the first Duel Deck to include spindown dice.

Battle for Zendikar (2015)

The Masterpiece series was first introduced in Battle for Zendikar and featured the Expeditions.

Commander 2015 (2015)

The only way to obtain these cards on MTGO was to redeem them in six card prize packs.

Oath of the Gatewatch (2016)

Oath of the Gatewatch introduced a new basic land type; Wastes. These specifically produce colorless mana.

Duel Decks: Blessed vs. Cursed (2016)

Six preview cards for Shadows Over Innistrad were in this Duel Deck (I’m sensing a theme).

Shadows Over Innistrad (2016)

The art of Tamiyo’s Journal featured a puzzle that led to the flavor text on Clue tokens. When successfully decoded, a hint for Eldritch Moon was found.

Eternal Masters (2016)

The development codename for Eternal Masters was “Jitterbug.”

Eldritch Moon (2016)

Meld cards were a riff off of transform cards, and first released in this set.

From the Vault: Lore (2016)

This is the first From the Vault to include tokens.

Conspiracy: Take the Crown (2016)

The name for this set when it was announced was Conspiracy: Reign of Brago. The next day it was changed to Conspiracy: The Empty Throne. It was then changed two days later to be Conspiracy: Take the Crown. This name change was designed to directly reference to the events between the original Conspiracy and this one.

Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis (2016)

The set symbol is a hedron with a set of horns around it.

Kaladesh (2016)

In addition to the introduction of Vehicles and Energy, Kaladesh also introduced Planeswalker decks in lieu of intro decks.

Commander 2016 (2016)

The first four colored legendary creatures came out in this set.

Planechase Anthology (2016)

Planechase Anthology included an exclusive planar die.

Aether Revolt (2017)

The card Dark Intimations foreshadowed a future Nicol Bolas appearance.

Modern Masters 2017 (2017)

Like Modern Masters 2015, Modern Masters 2017 does not have the words “the Gathering” follow “Magic” on its packaging.

Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might (2017)

This set contains eleven rares, the most of any duel deck.

Amonkhet (2017)

Amonkhet released a four sided die to be used as -1/-1 counters.

Commander Anthology (2017)

I bought a Commander Anthology with my tickets at GP Atlanta 2017. There’s nothing interesting about this set, so I figured I’d brag.

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas (2017)

A rules change for Archenemy alongside this set now allows Teammates to block for each other.

Hour of Devastation (2017)

The first ever Horse lord was released in Hour of Devastation.

Commander 2017 (2017)

The keyword Eminence debuted in Commander 2017.

Ixalan (2017)

Due to the double sided cards of this set being on a different printing sheet, there were some issues of double sided cards being on the incorrect cardstock.

Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. Goblins (2017)

This is the second duel deck to feature goblins as a headlining faction.

Iconic Masters (2017)

Mark Rosewater is not a fan of the name of the set due to the many iconic cards not printed in it.

Explorers of Ixalan (2017)

This set features a board game component that is to be played alongside traditional Magic cards, a game variant that has not been seen before.

I picked this up at a discounted price, and really enjoy it. The pre-built decks are balanced against each other, and the board-game component is enjoyable and well-designed. I would NOT recommend purchasing it at MSRP, but if you find it discounted it’s good fun – Editor

From the Vault: Transform (2017)

The set symbol has a mirrored version of itself on either side of each card.

Unstable (2017)

Unstable was only printed in English.

Rivals of Ixalan (2018)

The first non-dragon Elder creatures were released in Rivals of Ixalan.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this series. I tried to include the most interesting anecdotes and make the series fun and have something for everyone. The goal was to give a new perspective on Magic that is not commonly seen. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Born of the Gods (2014)

This set saw the printing of Kiora, a much anticipated character originally from the Duels of the Planeswalkers video game.

Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska (2014)

This Duel Deck is based on a web story called The Gorgon and the Guildpact.

Journey into Nyx (2014)

Certain packs of Journey into Nyx included all fifteen gods released in Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey Into Nyx. They are quite literally god packs.

Modern Event Deck (2014)

The deck was titled “March of the Multitudes” and generally considered by Wizards as a failure.

Conspiracy (2014)

Conspiracy is the first ever set to be geared specifically towards both multiplayer and drafting.

Magic 2015 (2014)

With the release of this set came a new card frame, something not seen since the release of Eighth Edition. Each card printed since this set features the new frame style and a new font called “Beleren.”

From the Vault: Annihilation (2014)

The art of Living Death saw its first paper printing in From the Vault: Annihilation.

Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning (2014)

Similar to previous Duel Decks, Speed vs. Cunning acted as an “early release” of cards scheduled to be released in the next upcoming set.

Khans of Tarkir (2014)

Khans of Tarkir introduced alternate-art foil cards that couldn’t be pulled from booster packs as the face cards of intro packs.

Commander 2014 (2014)

Planeswalkers that could act as Commanders were introduced in this set.

Duel Decks Anthology (2014)

This set was one of the few that was not printed on Magic: The Gathering Online.

Fate Reforged (2014)

Alesha, Who Smiles At Death is the first transgender character in Magic lore.

Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Kiora (2015)

Six cards in this set received new artwork.

Dragons of Tarkir (2015)

Dragons of Tarkir aptly contains the most dragons in a Magic set.

Modern Masters 2015 (2015)

In an effort to be more environmentally conscious, the individual booster pack packaging was made out of paperboard. This resulted in cards shifting around in the booster and becoming scuffed and damaged before even being opened.

Magic Origins (2015)

Letting players scry 1 after taking a mulligan at the beginning of the game was introduced with the release of this set.

From the Vault: Angels (2015)

The art for Serra Angel in this set was only ever available on a 6 inch by 9 inch oversized promo.

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Planechase 2012 (2012)

This set introduced the Phenomenon card type, which went into the Planar deck. These were not based on a location, instead acting as anomalies in the multiverse.

Magic 2013 (2012)

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is the first multicolored card to be printed in a core set.

From the Vault: Realms (2012)

The set symbol depicts a sunrise coming up over a mountain, or so I’m told.

Duel Decks: Izzet vs. Golgari (2012)

The “plot” of this duel deck previewed the events of Return to Ravnica.

Return to Ravnica (2012)

Twenty five basic lands were printed in this set rather than the original. This was done in order to reprint basic land art from the original expansion.

Commander’s Arsenal (2012)

Sliver Queen and Karn, Silver Golem are both on the Reserved List, but were still reprinted as oversized cards in this set.

Gatecrash (2013)

The mechanics Battalion and Evolve were originally entries from the second Great Designer Search.

Duel Decks: Sorin vs. Tibalt (2013)

Tibalt… Really?

Dragon’s Maze (2013)

The prerelease for Dragon’s Maze allowed individuals to choose their guild and act as a “maze runner.” Those who completed the maze mini-game during the prerelease were awarded a special code for a title on the Planeswalker Points website.  

Modern Masters (2013)

Due the limited nature of the set, the MSRP per pack was raised to $6.99, the highest MSRP seen on a booster pack at the time.  

Magic 2014 (2013)

Several rule changes occurred with the release of Magic 2014. Two of the most notable was an updated legendary rule, and allowing a sideboard to contain zero to fifteen cards rather than zero or fifteen.

From the Vault: Twenty (2013)

This set featured a significant card printed every year of Magic’s printing, one for each year. Also included in the set was an explanation of each card’s impact.

Duel Decks: Heroes vs. Monsters (2013)

Heroes vs. Monsters largely consisted of Theros cards and allowed them to be played prior to the release of Theros.

Theros (2013)

Alongside the release of Theros came a self playing Hydra deck for players to combat. The Hydra deck had its own rules and abilities. The cards in the Hydra deck are not legal in any format and most closely resemble tokens.

Commander 2013 (2013)

Commander 2013 introduced cards that directly referenced and worked with the Command Zone.

Derevi was a mistake, I don’t care what you say – Editor

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Only because EDH IMHO runs once a week, and you run Tues and Thurs – Editor

Scars of Mirrodin (2010)

Scars of Mirrodin introduced the keyword Infect, a culmination of Poisonous and Wither.

Premium Deck Series: Fire & Lightning (2010)

Fire & Lightning is the first Premium Deck to feature cards with new art made for the set. The cards were Jackal Pup and Chain Lightning.

Salvat 2011 (2011)

Like the original Salvat set, these cards were only obtainable from the Magic Encyclopedia and includes 600 cards.

Mirrodin Besieged (2011)

The release of Mirrodin Besieged changed the rules of drafting. Prior to Mirrodin Besieged, packs were opened in release order, oldest to newest. Beginning with Mirrodin Besieged draft packs are now opened newest to oldest.

Doesn’t that change again with Dominaria? Since draft formats will now only ever be one set? – Editor

Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons (2011)

This Duel Deck was the first to include tokens.

New Phyrexia (2011)

Leaks of this set prior to its released resulted in the suspension of several pro Magic players.

Commander (2011)

This was the first Commander supplemental set. It is also the first set to focus on the tri-color wedges.

I still play my current take on Riku, purchased when this set was released – Editor

Magic 2012 (2011)

The release of Magic 2012 brought back the printing of cards in Korean, and brought the total number of languages Magic is printed up to 11.

From the Vault: Legends (2011)

Seven of the cards printed in this From the Vault were printed with new art.

Duel Decks: Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas (2011)

The version of Lightning Helix that was printed in this set features Ajani in the art in an effort to help the card fit the flavor of the set.

Innistrad (2011)

The art for Liliana of the Veil had to go through some revisions before the art was finalized. Originally, Liliana was adorned with skulls and walking down a skeletal staircase. This art was considered to be too much like a Rakdos bloodwitch and did not match the promotional art of Liliana that was already released.

(Original art in the left, printed card art on the right.)

Premium Deck Series: Graveborn (2011)

Due to a lack of popularity, Graveborn was the last of the Premium Deck Series.

Dark Ascension (2012)

Dark Ascension was the first set to print Planeswalker emblems.

Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth (2012)

The battle depicted in this Duel Deck is from the book The Quest for Karn.

Avacyn Restored (2012)

Misthollow Griffin, a creature card printed in this set, is the first ever card that can be cast from exile.

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Alara Reborn (2009)

No lands or colorless cards were printed in this set.

Magic 2010 (2009)

Magic 2010 was the first core set since Beta that featured new cards created solely for the set.  

From the Vault: Exiled (2009)

The theme of From the Vault: Exiled was reprinted cards that were at one point either banned or restricted in a format over the course of Magic.

Planechase (2009)

Several futureshifted cards in Planechase turned out to be from the upcoming Zendikar block.

Zendikar (2009)

Certain packs of Zendikar contained ultra-rare cards including the Power Nine and original dual lands; some of these were even signed by the original artists. These chase cards acted as a predecessor to the masterpiece cards found in later sets.

Duel Decks: Garruk vs. Liliana  (2009)

Not immediately obvious, the set symbol for this duel deck is a combination of a leaf and Liliana’s crown.

Premium Deck Series: Slivers (2009)

The first of the Premium Deck Series. They were composed of a sixty card, completely foil deck without a sideboard.

Worldwake (2010)

The card Eye of Ugin has direct reference to Eldrazi, a concept that was not explained at the time.

Duel Decks: Phyrexia vs. The Coalition (2010)

This is the first Duel Deck to include all five colors.

Rise of the Eldrazi (2010)

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, one of the formidable Eldrazi titans, was printed with the wrong collector’s number.

Duels of the Planeswalkers (2010)

This set was a printing of Planeswalker’s decks from the video game of the same name. Each deck also included a Magic 2010 boster.

Archenemy (2010)

Similar to Planechase, Archenemy featured oversized cards to create a new game type.

Magic 2011 (2010)

Magic 2011 was the first core set not to include an Enchantress card.

From the Vault: Relics (2010)

Several of the cards printed in From the Vault: Relics circumvented the reserved list because they were printed in foil. Wizards changed the reserved list to included foil printings shortly after.

Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret (2010)

While the other Duel Decks typically had a webcomic to explain the battle was occurring, this one did not. However, both characters were present during the events of Scars of Mirrodin.

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Coldsnap (2006)

Coldsnap is the third set in the Ice Age block, alongside Ice Age and Alliances. This makes playing the entire set together difficult due to the scarcity of Ice Age and Alliances boosters.

Coldsnap was marketed as the “lost” set of the block, as though it had been accidentally forgotten in a filing cabinet for years. It was a VERY small set, so they tried to play that up as a ‘feature’ for drafting. This is most evident in the Ripple mechanic. Which is a TERRIBLE mechanic, no matter how hard I try to make it work – Editor

Time Spiral (2006)

For the Timeshifted version of Consecrate Land, the original artist Jeff A. Meneges had to create a copy of his original art as the original painting could not be located.

Planar Chaos (2007)

No artifacts were printed in Planar Chaos.

Future Sight (2007)

Similar to how the Timeshifted versions of cards looked into the past of Magic, Futuresighted cards looked into the future of Magic. These cards hinted towards future sets that we would later visit including Theros, New Phyrexia, and Unstable.

My favorite futureshifted cards are probably the two-color lands: Nimbus Maze, Grove of the Burnwillows, Graven Cairns, River of Tears, Horizon Canopy, in that order – Editor

10th Edition (2007)

Foil versions of cards in this set were devoid of reminder text and in place had flavor text added instead. This change is most evident in the foil version of Time Stop.

Lorwyn (2007)

This set was the first to introduce Planeswalkers. The design team wanted to release them in Future Sight, but they were not ready from both a rules and design standpoint until Lorwyn.

Duel Decks: Elves vs. Goblins (2007)

Elves vs. Goblins is the first duel deck, and was hugely popular. The design team took special care to make sure each of the sides had mirrored pairs in the decks.

Morningtide (2008)

While being a tribal set, Morningtide focused on the class of creature types rather than the race; Kithkin < Soldier.

Shadowmoor (2008)

Shadowmoor was meant to be an inverse of Lorwyn from a lore perspective. Instead of highlighting +1/+1 counters, Shadowmoor instead emphasizes -1/-1 counters.

Eventide (2008)

The keyword Chroma was featured in Eventide, and was the basis for the Devotion keyword. 

From the Vault: Dragons (2008)

The first From the Vault set. This set included a rules insert for Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), Wizards’ first nod towards the format.

Shards of Alara (2008)

Mighty Emergence and Manaplasm were printed with collector numbers #137 and #138 respectively. Alphabetically, those should be reversed.

Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra (2008)

This duel deck had a Japanese exclusive version that featured anime-influenced, stylized versions of the Jace Beleren and Chandra Nalaar planeswalker cards.

Conflux (2009)

The set list for Conflux was spoiled nearly six months prior to the set’s release.

Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic (2009)

The tribes for Divine vs. Demonic were chosen to continue the theme of natural rivalries seen in the previous duel decks.

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Legions (2003)

Only creatures were printed in Legions. No enchantments, sorceries, or artifacts.

Scourge (2003)

The card Xantid Swarm was originally from a rejected “You Make the Card” competition submission.

8th Edition (2003)

8th Edition introduced a new card frame. While retaining some elements of the original frame, such as texturing, the new look was cleaner overall and remained in place until the release of Magic 2015.

Mirrodin (2003)

The Solemn Simulacrum art by Dan Scott was done in the likeness of Jen Thoren as his Magic Invitational card.

Darksteel (2004)

Skullclamp was found to be such a overpowering card it became the first card to be banned in standard in 5 years.

Fifth Dawn (2004)

The development codename for Fifth Dawn was tomato. This is in line with Mirrodin’s codename of Bacon and the Darksteel codename of Lettuce.

Champions of Kamigawa (2004)

This set was the first to have colored mana symbols in the textbox for things like activated abilities. Since the frame change in Eight Edition the mana symbols had been black and white.

Unhinged (2004)

The dinosaur creature type was first introduced in Unhinged, errated to be removed in the Grand Creature Type Update, and then reintroduced as a creature type in Ixalan.

Betrayers of Kamigawa (2005)

The all-powerful card, Umezawa’s Jitte was included in the Rat’s Nest premade deck.

Saviors of Kamigawa (2005)

Evermind is the first card printed in Magic that does not have a casting cost, only an alternate ability in order to use it.

9th Edition (2005)

9th Edition was the last set to be printed with white borders.  

Salvat 2005 (2005)

This set was only obtainable through a biweekly printing of the Magic Encyclopedia. It was only released in Spanish, French, and Italian speaking markets.

Ravnica: City of Guilds (2005)

This set was hailed as such a success both by fans and critics alike that it received the Origin Award for Best Collectible Card Game or Expansion in 2005.

Guildpact (2006)

Although a card from the Izzet guild, Hypervolt Grasp was printed with a Gruul watermark. The card even has a blue activated ability, a color not in Gruul’s identity.

Dissension (2006)

When this set was released on Magic the Gathering online, four new tokens were made to compensate for tokens not previously made.

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Urza’s Destiny (1999)

Urza’s Destiny was the first non-supplemental set to remove “summon” from a creature’s card type and instead have “creature” followed by the creature type.

Starter 1999 (1999)

Mons’s Goblin Raiders were misprinted with a rare set symbol where in reality they were a common.

Mercadian Masques (1999)

This set gained immense yet short lived popularity in 2017 due to a hoax Legacy deck on MTGO called “Pirate Stompy.”

Nemesis (2000)

The only new keyword to be created in Masques (Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, and Prophecy) block was Fading, introduced in Nemesis.

Starter 2000 (2000)

This set was the first to include a CD for a computer version of Magic to use as a learning tool.

Prophecy (2000)

Prophecy is one of the few sets that did not have any reprints.

Beatdown (2000)

Speaking of reprints, the Clockwork Avian reprint in Beatdown did not include the card’s flying ability.

Invasion (2000)

Raging Kavu, the prerelease promo card for the set, was printed in Latin. Several of the next prerelease promos would be in languages Wizards didn’t currently print in including; Hebrew, Sanskrit, Greek, and at the time, Russian.

Planeshift (2001)

There are three cards in this set that have alternate art on the foil version of the card.

7th Edition (2001)

7th Edition is the first core set to have foil versions of cards in boosters.

Apocalypse (2001)

Spindown twenty-sided dice were first introduced in the fatpacks of Apocalypse.

Odyssey (2001)

The first non-token squirrel was created in Odyssey; Squirrel Mob.

Deckmasters 2001 (2001)

Deckmasters 2001 is the spiritual predecessor to Duel Decks. The factions in Deckmasters 2001 were Richard Garfield (creator of Magic) vs. Jon Finkle (famous Magic pro).

Torment (2002)

Each of the intro decks for Torment were mainly focused on black with a splash of a second color. This was to emphasize the events occurring in the story.

Judgment (2002)

This set is an inverse of Torment in terms of the color-pie and mostly focuses on green and white colored cards.

Onslaught (2002)

Special care was taken to giving the five allied color fetchlands first printed in Onslaught “generic” names as Wizards wanted to keep them easily reprinted.

As a wrap up, I do have to pay mind to the fact that I did omit a single set… Battle Royale. Why, you may ask? A fun piece of trivia: there’s nothing anecdotal about this set. No misprints or “oops,” no crazy design stories. Nothing.

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

Alliances (1996)
Force of Will, currently the most sought after card of the set, was initially not well received. The cycle of “pitch” cards allowed players to tap out completely and still cast spells from their hand. This was viewed as detrimental to the game early on in Alliance’s release because it broke the conventional rules of Magic at the time.

Mirage (1996)

The creature card Maro was named in honor of set designed Mark Rosewater.

Visions (1997)

Visions was a card printed previously in Legends. Visions the set is the first to share a name with a previously printed card.

5th Edition (1997)

Only the Chinese printing of 5th edition cards had a set symbol. It is the Roman numeral V.

Portal (1997)

There are no instants printed in this set.

Weatherlight (1997)

No new abilities were introduced in Weatherlight. 

Tempest (1997)

The card Mogg Squad both in name and flavor text is a riff off of a 60’s TV show; The Mod Squad.

Stronghold (1998)

This set contains the first 5-color card; Sliver Queen. Due to her significance, she is also the first 5-color legendary creature.

Exodus (1998)

A card part of the wizard cycle of this set, Keeper of the Mind had to be censored due to the seemingly sexualized pose in the original art. The art that got printed is a zoomed in of the original. The original would later get printed on the card Censorship in Unglued.

Portal Second Age (1998)

The set was considered a failure in terms of lore due to some card’s depiction of firearms.

Unglued (1998)

Mark Rosewater drew the card art for Look At Me, I’m the DCI. It was the only card in Magic for which he drew the art, and he was paid $1 for it.

Urza’s Saga (1998)

The card Phyrexian Colossus was printed with a collector number of #306 when it actually should’ve been #305. Both Phyrexian Colossus and Phyrexian Processor were printed as #306.

Anthologies 1998

Mirri, Cat Warrior was printed with a common rarity symbol instead of rare and was a 2/2 instead of the actual 2/3.

Urza’s Legacy (1999)

The DCI banned their first card, Memory Jar, which saw its initial printing in Urza’s Legacy.

6th Edition (1999)

This set first introduced basic lands that only had their mana symbol printed in their text box.

Portal: Three Kingdoms (1999)

Portal: Three Kingdoms introduced several creature types seen on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar including rooster, horse and rabbit. Unfortunately these have not received a commander tribal deck yet.

(Zodiac Chicken is a… plainswalker…)

Did I miss one that you like? Comments or questions? Drop us a line and thanks for reading!

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist signed cards.

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.

The very first card I owned was the alternate art 7th edition Thorn Elemental. Was it difficult building upon the work you already had done for the original?

Yes and no.  I had a place to start and that made it a bit easier.  I painted the 7th art considerably larger and spent more time on detail.

I know you also helped in designing the Planescape setting for Dungeons & Dragons. Did you do any work for for the video game, Torment?

None at all.  They just ran with art that was already done.

There’s a clear Gothic influence in your work. Is there any piece in particular from this era that acted as a catalyst for you incorporating these elements into your own style?

I just love any illustration that was at the turn of the century.  Especially Franklin Booth, Virgil Finlay, and Arthur Rackham.

What is your preferred medium to work with? Have you had any shift towards digital mediums in recent years?

Good eye.  The first half of my Magic art was done in oils…then it shifted to digital, or at the very least, mixed media with a digital finish.

I’ve read in previous interviews with you that Unmask is one of the favorite cards you’ve done. What was given to you by the design team as the guidelines for it?

There was a basic story element and characters that needed used, but the rest was me.

In your (what I assume is infrequent) downtime, what hobbies do you have?

Not many really.  I travel way to much and then have to bust out some work when I’m home.

What are your top 3 “stranded on a desert island” songs?

Hahahaha!  I’m the lame guy that doesn’t really have any.  I listen to whatever and whenever.

What card do you sign the most often?

I can tell you that I have signed over 6000 Modern Masters 2015 Fulminator Mages.  Avatar of Woe is a contender too.

How many Fulminator Mages have you signed?

Weird, I just channeled this question with the last.

What advice do you have for people looking to start a career as an artist?

Oh hell.  It’s not easy.

A big thank you again to rk post for taking the time for this interview. For those who are fans or interested in his art, please check out the following sites:

http://www.rkpost.net/

http://www.patreon.com/rkpost

He has a wide array of tokens available for sale as well as art books. Please comment and share if you liked this interview and if you have any memorable experiences with rk post!

Loren Toporek

While not a mix of sugar, spice, and everything nice, Loren wishes to share his love of Magic with everyone. Loren plays Modern (not well) and EDH (not well). He lives in northern Arizona with his girlfriend and vault of artist-signed cards.