The preview season for Strixhaven: School of Mages continue today as Wizards of the Coast and various Magic: The Gathering outlets reveal new cards from the upcoming magical school-themed MTG set. In addition to the cards in the main set, there will also be Mystical Archives, a separate set of 63 of the most famous instants and sorceries of all time. They feature brand new alternate art with a unique special frame, and many fans love the artworks of the cards revealed so far, well…except for one.
The Mystical Archive for Faithless Looting has been revealed today, and many fans on social media are wondering if the card is actually real because of its eccentric art illustrated by Carly Mazur. Several fans on the Magic subrreddit reported posts of this card, claiming that it’s fake, but WotC has confirmed that this is a legitimate card that will be printed for Strixhaven, and that it will be legal in MTG Arena’s Historic format.
For those asking in the comments: This is the real deal and legal in Historic! The Where to Find #MTGStrixhaven Previews article is getting a few updates and adjustments today.
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) March 26, 2021
(In other words, always loot) https://t.co/f6xlpbnj54
Of course, fans are surprised that Wizards decided to feature it in a Standard-legal Magic set; you’d usually expect this kind of art in a silver-bordered Un-set like Unglued, Unhinged, Unstable, and Unsanctioned.
MTG fans react on the new Faithless Looting Mystical Archive from Strixhaven:
The art on this card looks sort of wacky. I blacked out the eyes and I think it looks a little nicer like this.
— Amy the Amazonian (@coL_Amazonian) March 26, 2021
Also, FAITHLESS LOOTING IN HISTORIC??? https://t.co/obvWvCFF53 pic.twitter.com/4kATB6jejO
While I don't know if I actually like the Faithless Looting art, I do like that its completely its own thing. I'm very happy that WotC ADs keep making bold choices like this and with the Secret Lair artists. Magic looks more interesting than it ever has. pic.twitter.com/WT3sqcJorH
— 🔥 RedDeckTries 🔥 (@RedDeckTries) March 26, 2021
While the new Faithless Looting artwork is unorthodox and stands out from the norm of MTG art, I really appreciate the artstyle shown across @CarlyLady's work! pic.twitter.com/aY5D47i4cF
— Hayden Auterhoff (@Auterhaus) March 26, 2021
I love how you make use of these special frames to make space for new artists and their work – in my opinion this is the best thing that happened to Magic and #MTGart in the last year's. And props to @CarlyLady for her work here. ❤️ /g
— Tasty MTG 🧁 (@tasty_mtg) March 26, 2021
Ok so we just found our ugliest card in MtG. This looks like its made by MS-Paint in 2 minutes. Here have a 🏆.
— Juha Hakala (@HaksuItte) March 26, 2021
there better be original art version on sale in mtga.
new magic artist here with my #MTGStrixhaven card about to drop soon. here's the art — can you guess the card? pic.twitter.com/5KsTsxHk1W
— michael (@kaitscralt) March 26, 2021
So much of what goes into game art comes from the art director's guidance. I agree with many that this art is a miss but I hope people arent quick to jump on this person's talent and realize that sometimes when trying to do new things creatively we don't always succeed.
— Adam Denton (@Adamdenton44) March 26, 2021
Looking at her other art. It might just be a style that translates poorly to cards. Her other stuff is pretty cool, this however, just looks like joke photoshop art.
— Alex Anderson (@AlexEdEsquire) March 26, 2021
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean the art is horrible.
— S dot 🔶 (@esdawt) March 26, 2021
— Schmerzenskind (@Schmerzenskind) March 26, 2021
I think I like the Faithless Looting are because it looks like the lead character of a Adult Swim show from 15 years ago that never got released for some reason.
— Saffron Olive (@SaffronOlive) March 26, 2021
It looks like the artist used Microsoft Paint to make this art, but I like how MTG is featuring a totally different style of art. This art will most likely inspire a lot of memes, so even if you hate this kind of art, you’d probably be entertained by the hilarious memes, and we will share the best ones on our MTG Rocks Facebook page, so check them out soon.
Strixhaven: School of Mages is set to release for tabletop on April 23, and it will be released on Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online on April 15. Check out the important dates here. To check out the rest of the new cards from Strixhaven: School of Mages, check out the spoiler section.