Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast went all out, revealing major details about three upcoming MTG sets. While Reality Fracture and Marvel Super Heroes aren’t to be scoffed at, The Hobbit was undoubtedly the star of the show. With tons of spoilers being unveiled, MTG players have plenty to enjoy and digest; however, this set has already sparked controversy.
An All-Too-Similar Reprint?
As expected, given it’s another Lord of the Rings set, The Hobbit is reprinting The One Ring. First printed in Tales of Middle-earth, this card is currently selling for $86+, so many players were understandably excited to see it. Even if it is only appearing as a box topper, this is still undeniably a fantastic reprint.
That said, while The One Ring sees widespread play and is a financial slam dunk, this card isn’t perfect. After looking more closely at the reprint’s new art, many MTG players realized it looks shockingly familiar. On Reddit, user Stiggy1605 even claimed that the new art is simply a mirrored and blurred version of the old artwork.
Looking at the details, it’s very easy to see how Stiggy came to this conclusion. While the blurred text does muddy things somewhat, the shine is seemingly in the exact same spots. On top of this, some MTG players even claim there’s excess glow on the new ring, making it look lifted from the old scene.
Sadly, art theft isn’t entirely unheard of within MTG; however, it’s remarkable that these accusations are against Dan Frazier. Having created art for 188 cards over the years, Frazier is a hugely prolific artist. In fact, Frazier even did the original art for the five Moxen, all the way back in Alpha.
With this in mind, many MTG players are absolutely baffled that the art theft looks so clear-cut. To justify this, some players theorize that Frazier may only be responsible for the background, but that’s unclear. Sadly, Wizards hasn’t spoken up to explain what’s going on here; however, Frazier’s agent, Mark Aronowitz, has rebuked the art theft claims.
Not Theft, Just Confusing
Responding to a post from MTG artist Donato Giancola on Facebook, Mark Aronowitz stated outright that no art has been photocopied here. Given Aronowitz’s position as Frazier’s agent, this should put things to bed; however, it’s not that simple. From the sounds of things, this might not even be entirely Frazier’s artwork to begin with.
“He did not. After several changes requested we never saw this version.”
Mark Aronowitz
While it’s unclear who “we” is in Aronowitz’s comment, it sounds like Wizards took charge and made their own art. This is seemingly supported by a follow-up comment from Aronowitz, which stated: “[Frazier] got so frustrated with them making him change stuff.” Potentially, this may have caused a breakdown, which led Wizards to make their own version using Frazier’s background.
“I’m looking forward to returning from Magic con and have Dan show me his final piece. I’ve not seen it. He got so frustrated with them making him change stuff. I saw some early attempts,”
Mark Aronowitz
Hopefully, once MagicCon: Las Vegas is over, Aronowitz and Frazier will be able to speak up and confirm what happened. Sadly, until that happens, there are a lot of unanswered questions that fuel one hell of a rumor mill. Either way, things don’t look good for Wizards of the Coast right now.
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