linvala, keeper of silence
25, Apr, 23

MTG Players Enraged With Controversial Art Error!

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Article at a Glance

Earlier today, the new Secret Lair Superdrop has graced players with its presence, and there’s much to discuss. Some of the reprints featured in this set are incredible, granting a good outlook in terms of value for those who want to engage with Wizards of the Coast’s latest offering. While some strong potential is visible through these exciting reprints, not everything seems to go to plan. One interesting art malfunction has been reported from Wizards of the Coast, and while it doesn’t heavily affect what players should expect for their Secret Lair product, it may catch some art enthusiasts who are unaware of the changes by surprise.

Secret Lair Artist Series: Alayna Danner

Among the new Secret Lairs being offered as a part of the Spring 2023 Superdrop, Alayna Danner’s artistic prowess has made a brilliant appearance. Offering a Secret Lair with an angelic theme, the value being provided from Danner’s fantastic works is nothing to scoff at. As mentioned in a quick Superdrop spotlight, this Secret Lair offers Emeria, the Sky Ruin, a sought-after Commander card that is incredibly powerful in a deck that can meet the land’s requirements. The card also sees some play in Modern, but its $20 secondary market value is primarily fueled by Commander interest. The foil iteration of this card has a massive multiplier due to scarcity, pushing it to $50!

The value of this Secret Lair doesn’t stop at Emeria. Linvala, Keeper of Silence is also available in this Secret Lair, offering an $18 secondary market value that, once again, gets a lot more expensive once foil prints enter the conversation.

Even though these cards highlight a Secret Lair that, if you’re interested in these cards, promise strong financial returns, the problematic artistic hiccup has nothing to do with these cards and, instead, a 25-cent Common that Angel decks love.

The Wrong Seraph’s Sanctuary

Alongside the release of Danner’s Captivating masterpieces, Wizards of the Coast released a bizarre announcement regarding the Seraph Sanctuary pictured above. It turns out that the picture above was not as intended for this card. Instead of using the finished version of Alayna Danner’s intended work for Seraph Sanctuary, it appears that Wizards of the Coast has accidentally printed an in-progress version of the card’s art:

“We are aware of an error in the printing of the card Seraph Sanctuary, found as part of the Secret Lair Artist Series: Alayna Danner drop. An in-progress version of the art was used instead of the final version, and this error affects both traditional foil and non-foil products.”

Wizards of the Coast

According to Wizards of the Coast, the artwork shown above is instead the intended artwork for Alayna Danner’s Seraph Sanctuary. The core building is much more detailed in Danner’s finished work, while the previous one has many smaller buildings to the upper right of the picture. Additionally, the spires seen in the piece’s bottom left corner are much more detailed and traditional in Danner’s final work.

How Do You Get the Correct Art?

This answer is unexpected, and it’s not one players are happy about. Traditionally alongside any Secret Lair product is an additional Bonus Slot card. These cards are not spoiled in a Secret Lair’s preview and generally vary between a random alternate art for an existing card unrelated to the Secret Lair drop or, commonly the case for artist Secret Lairs, a sketch of one of the cards featured in their Lair. For players who want the intended artwork for Danner’s Seraph Sanctuary, you’ll need to find it in one of these Bonus Slots in a future Secret Lair product. According to Wizards of the Coast, they “worked with Alayna Danner to come to this solution.”

Player’s Aren’t Thrilled

Players are not too enthused that they must buy a separate Secret Lair product just to get the correct artwork that Danner intended for Seraph Sanctuary:

“…seriously? Is it too much to ask that you ship it to the people who purchase the Secret Lair drop it was supposed to appear in? It’s less than $1 – it’s not like they’d even be burning any reprint equity by shipping a bunch of free copies out.”

Hmukherj

“Having to buy a different product to get the corrected land is kind of annoying.”

AvatarofBro

“So, let me get this straight: WotC’s solution to people not getting what they’re paying for is… to tell them to buy a future product they may or may not want and hope this time they get what they’re paying for…?”

ProxyDamage

Seraph Sanctuary, as mentioned previously, does not have a lot of secondary market value. The card has been printed as a common twice, meaning that there are a lot of copies in circulation on the secondary market. Shipping out a bunch of 25-cent cards probably will not impact the card’s value much, but it does prevent players from buying another product to get the intended version of the card that they were supposed to get with the original product.

Notably, this is not the first time a mishap like this has happened in recent history:

“I’m not usually one to cry about QA but it does frustrate me how shit like this keeps happening with art and artist treatment in particular. Over the last two years we’ve had plagiarized art, wrong or swapped artist credits more than once, now wrong art altogether. Just seems unprofessional to me with respect to the artists. Their names and work will be forever attached to what gets printed on the cards so wrong credit or art is just shitty.”

chipzes

From plagiarized fan art to incorrect artistic credits, recent MTG artwork has had some bumps. However, there have also been some instances quickly fixed by Wizards of the Coast regarding the Secret Lair product, like the controversial artwork presented on a Stonecoil Serpent not too long ago. This proves that, if absolutely necessary, Wizards of the Coast can fix issues like this. Hopefully, more effort will be made to avoid stuff like this in the future, especially when players are vocal about their concerns. That said, players will buy this Secret Lair product regardless of whether the artwork on Seraph’s Sanctuary is as intended or not.

Read More: Wizards of the Coast Pushes Back Against Massive MTG Leaks

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