Monday, October 22, 2018

The Art of Magic the Gathering: Ixalan


Magic the Gathering is an extremely popular card game and has been for 25 years now, with new expansions released every few months.  Expansions are typically set in a world or plane, with certain themes.  Recently, the makers of Magic have produced art books to:
- better showcase the art of a given block or expansion
- provide backstory of a world
- give insights into the design process

Today's review is of the Ixalan art book.  In a sentence, this world is "vampire conquistadors meet Aztecs with dinosaurs."  With pirates also lurking and merfolk protecting a lost city of gold, you know there will be trouble- and fun.

This book was mostly fantastic.  The art was amazing- so much work goes into each card, it's nice to see the art in more detail.  The writing was interesting and insightful, though a bit vanilla and repetitive.  It's impressive how much planning goes into a given expansion- the world-building sounds like a blast.  In all, this gave me an even greater appreciation for a game I already enjoy; I look forward to checking out other offerings in this series, and may even buy a few.

Rating: A

No comments:

Post a Comment