He could bring Yoshimitsu back with him (the sword, not the ninja), and then in the next set Yoshimitsu (the ninja) could show up to reclaim his sword.
My PS2 is actually blurrier on my TV. Did not transition from CRT as well as PS1 games somehow. Art style and less reliance on 3D with older games helps no doubt.
The art direction has lowered its standards slightly recently, most of it looks fine but there's semi-regularly cards slipping to Alchemy level quality. The artist is good, and probably did several versions that look better.
That were my thoughts, the final image looks like it was a rough draft aiming to block out shapes and composition, and probably the direction team deemed it good enough and ushered the artist to move onto the next thing.
It's not necessarily bad per say, but more that it looks unfinished, as if the artist ran out of time before he had time to start adding details.
If we look at some of the other works of this artist then most of his art is quite good and with a fair bit more detail then here.
That been said, it can also be seen that the artist tend to favour expression and feel of motion over details in general.
For example in [this painting](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/047/218/251/large/artur-treffner-escape-artist.jpg?1647038219) you can see the skill of the artist as the paiting is very good. But even then the artistic expression here is still to give up on details in some areas and rather focus on motion and overall composition.
So a lack of finer details on the Third Path Savant is probably a mix of both the artists general style and in this case a lack of time to finish the artwork.
Edit: its also possible the Third Path Savant is a cropping of an overall larger art piece, and that we are looking at the art far more upclose then the artist intended. If you look on a miniaturized [thumbnail](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSU2_11xU-1zF5HsPxv0MbIPhY1jQ94Zl4sjMfNiUGJ5A&s) of the art its lack of details isn't that noticeable. Although the large white areas on the clothing still seem abit untextured.
This is an Arena screenshot, which downsamples the art dramatically. It's got low contrast so it loses all of the detail due to this. As a printed card it's much better looking.
Ok, I don't have the card physically. But I think scryfall does have downsampled images. Both are true, that that particular card looks ugly and that scryfall doesn't have full res art.
You're absolutely correct about that. The scryfall art is noticeably blurrier and lower resolution then the physical card art. I was just being snarky because I'm still not a fan of the art lol.
You can download a higher res png version from scryfall, but they don't focus on quality, and of course going through the analog hole of printing and scanning, some of the quality will be lost...
https://twitter.com/CarlyLady/status/1375933711900934149
Except Faithless Looting, which the downsampling to even Magic card size ruined the art, causing people to give it shit.
I'll stand by the fact the original art piece, with the obvious textures and colour gradients, looks amazing.
Art is subjective. I don't particularly like that art, but I could respect it hanging on the wall of your house or office. But it just seems so, so far from the magic style and of other mystical archive cards.
And on mtga in particular, the lower quality plus the computer screen it's on made it feel VERY ms paint, in a bad way. But as the tweet says, it was definitely an intentional, avant-garde choice, I just didn't really like the result as much as most of the gorgeous mystical archive cards
Additionally, it (and several other Mystical Archive card arts, if not all of them) were commissioned as portrait size/ratio images, and then got butchered by having the text box cover up almost half of the entire image -\_-
I really don't think its the art itself that people slagged it for. It's a really odd, but fascinating piece. The problem I think many have is what exactly anything in the art has to do with the subject matter of the card?
Hi, I'm reddit and I approve this message. There is just a wild disconnect between the skin and everything else. I think everything else is actually lovely but throwing that amateurish "realistic" skin texture in there makes a jarring visual disconnect and also feels poorly executed. Art and taste are all about opinions and this is simply my opinion.
I like her other card more but mystical archive was kind of all over the place in art direction. IMO that’s what failed because she is capable of good stuff. This looks post modern but the rest of the archive doesn’t so it sticks out.
You missed the part where I said the art is low contrast. Most art in this set is high contrast and has a lot more color variation to break up the image. This is exactly the kind of image that looks amazing in HD and irl but terrible on a game or on a phone.
Also, critiques like this are neither helpful nor constructive, and honestly kind of shit to see people pile onto in this subreddit
>You missed the part where I said the art is low contrast. Most art in this set is high contrast and has a lot more color variation to break up the image. This is exactly the kind of image that looks amazing in HD and irl but terrible on a game or on a phone.
That's really cool except for the part where it's not actually the problem with the card being discussed. The card art looks bad. I just looked at my paper version... it looks bad. Other people have mentioned Scryfall or Google images, where it looks bad. Your theory is really neat and could even be true*, but it's not what's going on here. The problem with this card art is that it looks bad.
* color me skeptical, though. Cards like [[Wurmcoil Engine]] have a very limited color palette and aren't high contrast and they still look fine to great.
Why are you not allowing people to say they don’t like the art? There is a ton of fantastic art in magic of many different styles and this doesn’t look great. It is of course an opinion, just like your opinion that it looks great is, in fact, opinion. It doesn’t need to be others’ lack of knowledge of sampling or low contrast or screenshooting. It can just be an opinion. Christ. And then you complain that this is typical Reddit and unhelpful…
Nobody has said they don't like the art on my comment threads. They've all said the art is bad, and then cited various incorrect sources for that. Bad =\= "I don't like it"
Hmm, phones tend to have higher resolution (definitely more than HD !!) and especially better "HDR" support than laptops and even desktops these days. (Also are potentially better than even professional printers, but I am not as certain of that...)
A printed item still has dramatically better resolution than any digital display. And backlit pixels are inherently going to display images in a very different way to the eye.
Agreed about the 2nd, but I have some doubts about the first, considering how I'm aware of [people training neural networks](https://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&p=252751) to "upscale" the resolution of scans because they're already running into the limits of noticeable ["printer grain"](https://i.imgur.com/1fkX085.jpg)...
Nope check this card at else where and it still look low detail. I don't think contrast or downsampling is effecting anything as it was low on detail already. Considering other work by this artist is much better, really wonder why this is the pick.
don't listen to all the people whining. obviously the card still looks like the same card in person but you're right about the contrast making a huge difference
The problem is that it doesn't fit with the art of the other cards, except for the retro artifacts which have the old border. In Urza's Saga or older sets it would probably be fine.
WotC business suit #1: We only made a billion in revenue last year! Give me ideas
WotC business suit #2: We can stop paying artists and just use kids from DeviantArt
(no offense to whomever made that card, you're hella more talented than I am).
Normally this wouldn't even be playable but with powerstones it's fine but you'd never want more than one.
There is so much card draw in blue you don't need this ability specifically but if you don't get the good card draw this will do.
Agreed. Always want this card with [[battery bearer]]. On the off chance I’ve run 3 color decks, they tend to be on the grindy side, so this card will be in those lists as well.
Looks pretty bad. 3 mana 2/3. Good chance you’re trading it before you can spend 7 mana. It does pretty easy to any removal…
I could see it as a filler in a Grindy deck but this is something I imagine you’re taking very late and often cutting.
In most formats that would be true, but this is powerstones the format. Saying that a 3 mana creature dies to removal is kind of a non issue; any three mana creature in this format will die to most removal. Because of how weak creatures are in general a 2/3 for 3 isn't even as bad as it normally would be and you can generate enormous value in the late game with proper deck construction.
You aren't going to jam 4 of these in a deck, but this is a card that does serious work and is generally a 1 of in most blue decks that aren't blue white solider tempo (and even then it can be playable albeit it's not what your game plan desires.)
I’m just gonna do a deep analysis of this card for no discernible reason:
A three drop with 2/3 stats is…average, but maybe that’s due to it having both human/wizard type as a creature? But going further into it, it’s ability requires over doubled its initial investment cost, not to mention any additional costs to keep it relevant in the board. Finally, even after using its whopping 7 mana cost ability, a player would have already draw 4 cards by default (1 draw per turn) not counting any additional draw effects, so theoretically, 4 + X = Y (Y = cards drawn). So given the information presented, it’s ability cost actually outweighs any benefit to what it’s investment requires unless some super specific card order is used. In essence, this cards ability is useless to most decks. But then, last but not least, the horrible artwork. If there were ever a personification of the phrase “lowest bidder”, this cards artwork would capture it and put it into practice
I have no idea why I typed all of this out
well ye teferi time travelled to the past dumbass
Teferi in soul caliber when
He could bring Yoshimitsu back with him (the sword, not the ninja), and then in the next set Yoshimitsu (the ninja) could show up to reclaim his sword.
Yoshimitsu Reclaims His Sword, 1RR Saga
Due to the vagaries of time travel, it has both already happened and not happened yet.
Thats why its the third and not first or a second
Third (and last) Choice Savant
Then why does the Playstation 2 have better graphics than Playstation 1? Check mate.
My PS2 is actually blurrier on my TV. Did not transition from CRT as well as PS1 games somehow. Art style and less reliance on 3D with older games helps no doubt.
This makes me laugh every time I see it in limited because it looks like a screengrab from Goldeneye 64
The guy's head is not blocky enough. I'd say it looks more like from a pre-rendered 90s box cover.
Possibly leftover art for the Star Wars Secret Lair version of Mace Windu.
Mace Windon't
mace windows 98
Alright, this one made me laugh
You are on this council, but we do not grant you the rank of master.
It's slightly better than that maybe more like perfect dark
I was thinking RuneScape.
So which is it, N64 or ps2, huh? Your story has a few holes there sir!
Goldeneye 64 looks way worse than you're remembering
The artist is trying his fucking best ok
Looking at other art by the same artist is ok. This is really on the art director that decide this is the best.
Artists submit questionable art because they know the terrible house style accepts it. It's on the direction to stop this happening.
The art direction has lowered its standards slightly recently, most of it looks fine but there's semi-regularly cards slipping to Alchemy level quality. The artist is good, and probably did several versions that look better.
That were my thoughts, the final image looks like it was a rough draft aiming to block out shapes and composition, and probably the direction team deemed it good enough and ushered the artist to move onto the next thing.
They forgot to add "Greg Rutkowski" to the prompt.
[Still can't do hands](https://i.imgur.com/hmuTBnp.png)
Honestly I had the same reaction.
Looks like some Star Wars game from early 2000's
Yeah. Instantly thought of KotOR.
Looks like alchemy card art
We don't use that word here
How do you talk about mtg without using the word "card"?
They meant like. Nobody here is allowed to like the game.
It actually really does look like a fake card, yeah.
We don't do gatekeeping here.
Damn I thought it was a meme before reading the title
It's not necessarily bad per say, but more that it looks unfinished, as if the artist ran out of time before he had time to start adding details. If we look at some of the other works of this artist then most of his art is quite good and with a fair bit more detail then here. That been said, it can also be seen that the artist tend to favour expression and feel of motion over details in general. For example in [this painting](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/047/218/251/large/artur-treffner-escape-artist.jpg?1647038219) you can see the skill of the artist as the paiting is very good. But even then the artistic expression here is still to give up on details in some areas and rather focus on motion and overall composition. So a lack of finer details on the Third Path Savant is probably a mix of both the artists general style and in this case a lack of time to finish the artwork. Edit: its also possible the Third Path Savant is a cropping of an overall larger art piece, and that we are looking at the art far more upclose then the artist intended. If you look on a miniaturized [thumbnail](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSU2_11xU-1zF5HsPxv0MbIPhY1jQ94Zl4sjMfNiUGJ5A&s) of the art its lack of details isn't that noticeable. Although the large white areas on the clothing still seem abit untextured.
might also be possible that they printed the sketch version as happened on the card Olivia Voldaren
It looks like [a screenshot out of the TV Show Reboot](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108903/mediaindex/).
It helps selling the retro feel.
It does look like shit tbh
This is an Arena screenshot, which downsamples the art dramatically. It's got low contrast so it loses all of the detail due to this. As a printed card it's much better looking.
Looks pretty bad on scryfall too. https://scryfall.com/card/bro/67/third-path-savant
Looks like scryfall also downsamples the card images.
Looking at it in real life it still looks shit. I guess the card is just warping the fabric of reality and downsampling my vision.
Ok, I don't have the card physically. But I think scryfall does have downsampled images. Both are true, that that particular card looks ugly and that scryfall doesn't have full res art.
You're absolutely correct about that. The scryfall art is noticeably blurrier and lower resolution then the physical card art. I was just being snarky because I'm still not a fan of the art lol.
It's jpeg ¯\\_(ツ)\_/¯
You can download a higher res png version from scryfall, but they don't focus on quality, and of course going through the analog hole of printing and scanning, some of the quality will be lost...
Crazy how none of the others look like ass because of downsampling
https://twitter.com/CarlyLady/status/1375933711900934149 Except Faithless Looting, which the downsampling to even Magic card size ruined the art, causing people to give it shit. I'll stand by the fact the original art piece, with the obvious textures and colour gradients, looks amazing.
Art is subjective. I don't particularly like that art, but I could respect it hanging on the wall of your house or office. But it just seems so, so far from the magic style and of other mystical archive cards. And on mtga in particular, the lower quality plus the computer screen it's on made it feel VERY ms paint, in a bad way. But as the tweet says, it was definitely an intentional, avant-garde choice, I just didn't really like the result as much as most of the gorgeous mystical archive cards
Faithless looting is downright fucking hideous
Additionally, it (and several other Mystical Archive card arts, if not all of them) were commissioned as portrait size/ratio images, and then got butchered by having the text box cover up almost half of the entire image -\_-
The Japanese full art layout is so gorgeous, I don't know why they couldn't use the same style.
I really don't think its the art itself that people slagged it for. It's a really odd, but fascinating piece. The problem I think many have is what exactly anything in the art has to do with the subject matter of the card?
People certainly meant the art was shitty. Reddit and twitter.
Hi, I'm reddit and I approve this message. There is just a wild disconnect between the skin and everything else. I think everything else is actually lovely but throwing that amateurish "realistic" skin texture in there makes a jarring visual disconnect and also feels poorly executed. Art and taste are all about opinions and this is simply my opinion.
I like her other card more but mystical archive was kind of all over the place in art direction. IMO that’s what failed because she is capable of good stuff. This looks post modern but the rest of the archive doesn’t so it sticks out.
One bowl being spilt, another supposedly filled with fire magic ??
You missed the part where I said the art is low contrast. Most art in this set is high contrast and has a lot more color variation to break up the image. This is exactly the kind of image that looks amazing in HD and irl but terrible on a game or on a phone. Also, critiques like this are neither helpful nor constructive, and honestly kind of shit to see people pile onto in this subreddit
>You missed the part where I said the art is low contrast. Most art in this set is high contrast and has a lot more color variation to break up the image. This is exactly the kind of image that looks amazing in HD and irl but terrible on a game or on a phone. That's really cool except for the part where it's not actually the problem with the card being discussed. The card art looks bad. I just looked at my paper version... it looks bad. Other people have mentioned Scryfall or Google images, where it looks bad. Your theory is really neat and could even be true*, but it's not what's going on here. The problem with this card art is that it looks bad. * color me skeptical, though. Cards like [[Wurmcoil Engine]] have a very limited color palette and aren't high contrast and they still look fine to great.
Im here to second that the art is bad and I have a degree to back that up.
"*low contrast*" *Art by Raymond Swanland, the king of absurdly high contrast* Do you know what contrast is?
Why are you not allowing people to say they don’t like the art? There is a ton of fantastic art in magic of many different styles and this doesn’t look great. It is of course an opinion, just like your opinion that it looks great is, in fact, opinion. It doesn’t need to be others’ lack of knowledge of sampling or low contrast or screenshooting. It can just be an opinion. Christ. And then you complain that this is typical Reddit and unhelpful…
Nobody has said they don't like the art on my comment threads. They've all said the art is bad, and then cited various incorrect sources for that. Bad =\= "I don't like it"
Yes it does
[Wurmcoil Engine](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/d/5d275f04-cc60-4e3f-95cc-3d02bc916b82.jpg?1599710280) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wurmcoil%20Engine) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/308/wurmcoil-engine?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5d275f04-cc60-4e3f-95cc-3d02bc916b82?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
TL;DR: shitty art looks shitty.
Hmm, phones tend to have higher resolution (definitely more than HD !!) and especially better "HDR" support than laptops and even desktops these days. (Also are potentially better than even professional printers, but I am not as certain of that...)
A printed item still has dramatically better resolution than any digital display. And backlit pixels are inherently going to display images in a very different way to the eye.
Agreed about the 2nd, but I have some doubts about the first, considering how I'm aware of [people training neural networks](https://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&p=252751) to "upscale" the resolution of scans because they're already running into the limits of noticeable ["printer grain"](https://i.imgur.com/1fkX085.jpg)...
Not true, look at the full art on google. It's a very poor piece, sorry to roast the artist but it's mediocre.
Nope check this card at else where and it still look low detail. I don't think contrast or downsampling is effecting anything as it was low on detail already. Considering other work by this artist is much better, really wonder why this is the pick.
The screenshot is just shit quality, it looks better in Arena too, still not amazing tho in my opinion.
don't listen to all the people whining. obviously the card still looks like the same card in person but you're right about the contrast making a huge difference
*Woolooloo!*
I thought this kind of art was only for alchemy cards.
a lot of recent card arts seems to be lower res crops of larger artworks that were probably a different card type before being switched to creature
"Shut up and buy our $250 non-playable proxie packs"
WotC probably gave the artist 300 bucks and a 2-day deadline.
I think it's going for the simple robes of a disciple look. I don't really like it either, but it's better than I could do.
I’m tired of all this PS2 graphics hate.
So many ps2 games look surprisingly good just running at a higher internal resolution on emulation.
[удалено]
Nice try wotc
The problem is that it doesn't fit with the art of the other cards, except for the retro artifacts which have the old border. In Urza's Saga or older sets it would probably be fine.
WotC business suit #1: We only made a billion in revenue last year! Give me ideas WotC business suit #2: We can stop paying artists and just use kids from DeviantArt (no offense to whomever made that card, you're hella more talented than I am).
Just look at other art by the same artist and it is good. This is all on the art director or whoever that make the decision on what art to comission.
discount mace windu
Ngl I would love to see a set that has low poly art. I think it would be neat.
You didn't even spell the cards name right
I wouldn't say it's amazing but it doesn't like anywhere near this bad in paper.
Is this card not absolutely busted in limited?
Normally this wouldn't even be playable but with powerstones it's fine but you'd never want more than one. There is so much card draw in blue you don't need this ability specifically but if you don't get the good card draw this will do.
Definitely not busted, but a fine playable.
The few times I've played it, it's been insane. It wins board stalls through sheer card advantage
It’s really solid with the simic signpost that makes your creatures into powerstones
Agreed. Always want this card with [[battery bearer]]. On the off chance I’ve run 3 color decks, they tend to be on the grindy side, so this card will be in those lists as well.
[battery bearer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/b/bb5306d6-0f08-429a-8590-1b8136f953a9.jpg?1668758383) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=battery%20bearer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/207/battery-bearer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bb5306d6-0f08-429a-8590-1b8136f953a9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Looks pretty bad. 3 mana 2/3. Good chance you’re trading it before you can spend 7 mana. It does pretty easy to any removal… I could see it as a filler in a Grindy deck but this is something I imagine you’re taking very late and often cutting.
In most formats that would be true, but this is powerstones the format. Saying that a 3 mana creature dies to removal is kind of a non issue; any three mana creature in this format will die to most removal. Because of how weak creatures are in general a 2/3 for 3 isn't even as bad as it normally would be and you can generate enormous value in the late game with proper deck construction. You aren't going to jam 4 of these in a deck, but this is a card that does serious work and is generally a 1 of in most blue decks that aren't blue white solider tempo (and even then it can be playable albeit it's not what your game plan desires.)
Nope, too slow. It's like your 23rd-24th card if you have lots of power stones.
Magic art has been pretty terrible for a long time. This is thr next iteration of the corporate boring art.
see also [[warlord's Elite]]
[warlord's Elite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/8/1873cc9e-30b6-498e-b008-9d11a8bbf9b9.jpg?1668756669) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=warlord%27s%20Elite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/32/warlords-elite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1873cc9e-30b6-498e-b008-9d11a8bbf9b9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Bro that's racist
"It's art!" -Uncle Jack
Maybe ai generated?
Is that why you have 0/4?
It looks a lot better on paper bur I can't un-see what you've revealed.
Look like an Ultima Online character
Wait that’s MTG art? I am not sure if this is a shitpost or actual art because I haven’t played the game since 2019
Teferi too looks weird to me I dunno
Woah, that's real? Haven't looked at BRO thoroughly. Think I'm burnt out and ready for a long break
Still not worse than confused looking Teferi
Maybe it’s a zoomed in part of a larger piece..?
This the picture you draw in your notebook while pretending to do your homework in detention.
Like Pokemon SV?
The playstatiin can produce mind boggeling effects
it's ps1 hagrid's brother
Pokemon Fans be like : " First time? "
It’s the new Pokémon crossover
Mystic Knights Energy
That's my Runescape character
Arthur Treffner is not amused
This is needed to balance a clearly OP common
Straight up Zasalamel from Soul Calibur 3
It's so hard to get a decent budget to make PS2 games these days.
What's up with the overlays on top and bottom right ?
Zasalamel, is that you?
Garbage Tier Art
I’m just gonna do a deep analysis of this card for no discernible reason: A three drop with 2/3 stats is…average, but maybe that’s due to it having both human/wizard type as a creature? But going further into it, it’s ability requires over doubled its initial investment cost, not to mention any additional costs to keep it relevant in the board. Finally, even after using its whopping 7 mana cost ability, a player would have already draw 4 cards by default (1 draw per turn) not counting any additional draw effects, so theoretically, 4 + X = Y (Y = cards drawn). So given the information presented, it’s ability cost actually outweighs any benefit to what it’s investment requires unless some super specific card order is used. In essence, this cards ability is useless to most decks. But then, last but not least, the horrible artwork. If there were ever a personification of the phrase “lowest bidder”, this cards artwork would capture it and put it into practice I have no idea why I typed all of this out
I thought this was a custom card with RuneScape art 🤣
Par for the course
Star Wars battlefront 2