A Look at Aesthetics in Magic: The Gathering

Full-art lands were confirmed to be in fatpacks for the next Magic: The Gathering set, Battle for Zendikar, and I am completely pumped! Now for those unfamiliar with the MTG card game, lands are tapped for resources, or "mana," and used to cast spells. A deck needs a collection of land to function. While there have always been special and unique lands printed throughout Magic's history, basic lands are one of the game's constants. So, what's the difference between full-art lands and basic lands? Besides the art, absolutely nothing. Both types of lands function equally, however, full-art lands do satisfy one thing, aesthetics.

Full-art Zendikar lands...Oh, yeah!

Magic: The Gathering is a complex beast. From deck archetypes to numerous formats to reading the meta, there are many facets to the game. Some aspects of Magic, leaning towards its aesthetics, even extend beyond the game; trading is a fun and social way of obtaining new cards, gathering every single item in a set is a real goal for collector's and customized playmats and sleeves allow players to express themselves. In a competitive card game such as Magic: The Gathering, superficial aesthetics, such as full-art lands or fancy sleeves, do not affect a card's quality nor does it impact play. In fact, special eye-pleasing cards may only elicit reactions that stretch between "Oh, that's pretty sweet," to "Holy Eff! You have a foil version of that card?! Aesthetics exists in different forms, but are definitely part of the game.

Planeswalkers! I need them! 

I haven't been playing Magic for long. However, the realisation of how capitulated I was to pimp out my my collection came quick. And funny enough, this affected how I built my decks. Exactly like having a full set of badass lands or using only specific tribal cards, I sought, and still seek, to unify my decks under a central theme or "flavor." The first deck I ever spent a ton of energy on and compiled together was a Red-White Heroic Soldiers deck. It was the Magic equivalent of the Homeric Achaeans bursting forth from the womb of the wooden horse and slaughtering the soldiers of Troy in their sleep. Did my deck accomplish anything that epic? Absolutely not. I lost more matches than I care to remember, but completely loved playing this flavorful composition of cards.

Two Foil Abzan Falconers: The Pearl in the Storm.

Since those days when I basically ran The Iliad equivalent of a deck, I've improved as a Magic player. Uh, well maybe. I at least found that winning came easier when a player explored beyond themselves ... or bought better cards. Now I know building a competitive deck without some investment is unlikely, but I found little joy in the ultra-competitive aspect of Magic. I forged a deck that was part competitive, part aesthetically pleasing and all parts badass. I didn't win every game, but the formula worked. The all too often "Why are you playing that?" only met a sly smile and one answer, "for flavor."

On the Fate reforged Gameday (Gameday is a free Magic tourney held to celebrate every new set release), I went in hoping I would at least make top eight to score a very shiny promotional card. I lose my very first round to a Blue-White Heroic deck, let the irony pass over me completely and immediately throw away any thoughts of scoring first place. However, the rest of the tournament went extremely well. By the end of the fourth round or so, I end up in the top 4. I got my promo and was ready to book it. But, the night wasn't finished. The particular store had its top players continue battling. and by some cruel jest from the gods, I found myself playing against the same Blue-White Heroic deck that kicked my butt previously. This time I won. Then I won again and took the championship playmat! I joked immediately, "Abzan Falconer IS the new meta!"

The Binder! 

Taking home the prize that day wasn't just work, but pure, absolute fun. I somehow managed to beat tough decks using cards that weren't necessarily great, but rather cards I enjoyed using. The competitive heaviness of Magic dissipated and the wonder of using flavorful and thematic cards hit me all over again. There was suddenly a place for cards like Abzan Falconer, Hardened Scales, and Abzan Ascendancy in standard.


Magic: The Gathering's aesthetics easily lured me in and continues to keep me intrigued. Top-decking a shiny creature card in a game is as enjoyable as scouring through all the promos I've managed to collect in my binder (there isn't a lot, but it's still nice to look through). Of course, competition in all forms still and will continue to exist in Magic, but so will fun and personal enjoyment. And I'm glad I discovered this. Now if you'll please excuse me, I need to start saving up to get those full-art lands in the next set.

We did it, Abzan Falconer...

Are you foil collector or a a hyper-competitive Magic player? Either one, both or neither, let us know how you enjoy your games of Magic: The Gathering! 

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