Mana Drain card artwork

[mcairedale]

I'm just curious if anyone knows what the artwork on the card "Mana Drain" is depicting?

I've looked at that picture hundreds, if not thousands, of times and I still can't figure out what it is.

Any clues??

[Ric_Flair]

I always thought of it as the archetypal blue image, that of a mind syphoning power (knowledge) away from another mind.  This seems especially true in light of blue's traditional role on the color wheel, even before such a thing officially existed.

That is my take on it.

[Klep]

Kerz actually asked Mark Tedin about the art at Origins.  Mark said something to the effect of "They told me to paint Mana Drain, and that's just what I came up with to fit the idea."

[johnstown713]

If you look closely at the picture it looks like this is under water.  In that case it seems as though an organism is leeching off another.  The colors in the picture just make it seem so perfect for the title.  I feel that Mark Tedin did an amazing job in drawing this.

Johnstown713

[Kerz]

Something that always plagued me was what information the artists were given when prompted to draw such classics as Balance, Mana Drain,  Ancestral Recall, and etc.

Meeting Mark Poole at Origins, I asked him what was up with the Acestral Recall art. He said Wizards told him the name of the card and its basic flavor, and he was left completely alone to do what he wanted. How exactly does a guy covering his ears in front of a Mayan temple demonstrate the aura of "Ancestral Recall"? I don't know, and I didn't really want to disrespect him and ask.

After meeting Tedin, he told me that they wanted a creature leeching (draining) off something else, so he drew some kind of creature that looked like it would dwell in the sea, and he made it red to contrast well with all of the blue tones.

From the mini-interviews on the artists, I conlcuded that In the beginning, everything involving magic art was very clouded and artists had near infinite freedom. This is the complete opposite of what happens today, strangely.

[johnstown713]

That is why the quality of artwork these days is declining.....

Damn advancing technology.

Johnstown713

[jazzykat]

I am going to stop myself from going into a full blown rant, but I hate the way the new cards look. Cowboy and I proxied tons of decks on the new card face because I hate them so much (obviously we use them to playtest, but I relish wrecking new cards!!!!!!!  ).

I miss the actual look of a painting, or at least the medium the artist used. If you look at the old cards and printing techniques A, B, U, and the original expansions I feel an organic connection to the less than perfectly sharp and colored printing process. The new process looks like it comes off laser printers wich to me is wickedly antiseptic and makes the cards feel like a pack of poker cards. When I pick up a card from UL or B, whatever it may be it feels like it was infused with a love of labor and actual time was put into constructing the card.

Now even though an artist may have spent a ton of time creating the image for the card, the printing process makes them all lifeless to me. And foils...don't get me started! I like shiny underwear or swim wear (you know crazy lingerie and such) on chicks, I do not like my cards shining.

I so wish they would go back to the old printing process(not saying it has to be black bordered, but I like the way they printed rings) and change the card face back. My mindslaver looks somewhat like a yugio card or something. My Beta Island looks like a magic card.

Obviously this is my opinion so no one should take offense to it, but I felt like bitching and this is the best place to do it.

Oh and the mana drain picture: I always thought it was a jelly fish and the sun in the background *shrug*

[Methuselahn]

yea, it really sucks when the marketing gurus and storylines restrict the artists' freedom.  Personally, I think the individuality of each card is far greater than some momentary story line.  I mean, you still see Ice Age cards but when was the last time you read the books? (are there books for IA?)

[VGB]

To me, the thingie in the Mana Drain pic looks like a chrysalis.  It is sucking energy from some power source before it pupates and emerges as some sort of other thingie.

[DEA]

believe it or not, there are books for the dark and ice age
the gathering dark ,the eternal ice and the shattered alliance books are all by jeff grubb
not worth buying, btw

[johnstown713]

I was talking to some people who bought magic cards for their artwork.  Lately many of them have stopped buying cards since the artwork has not been up to par.  I think Wizards loses a lot of money from resticting the freedom of its artists.  The art is what makes the card what it is and I know I don't want some laser scanned image on my stuff.

Could this be one of Magic's downfalls?

Johnstown713

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

@Johnston

NOO, wizards makes money cuz there new cards are shiny, and a little kid (target audience now) looks at it and goes wow! a monster thingy! The cartoonish look sells to little kids these days.

[Dr. Sylvan]

I think this might be a case of distorted memory. If we hold new cards next to Mana Drain, one by one, of course 99% of them will be unconditionally less awesome, because the Drain art is one of the best ever. I actually did this exercise once, going through each expansion card by card and listing the artwork I liked. I haven't revised it in a while, but it should still be very accurate, because my art tastes change slower than my music preferences.

4.8% - 14/287 Alpha/Beta/Unlimited
1.3% - 1/78 Arabian Nights
2.4% - 2/85 Antiquities
3.2% - 10/310 Legends
0.8% - 1/119 The Dark
1.0% - 1/101 Fallen Empires
3.9% - 14/363 Ice Age
1.7% - 2/115 Homelands
4.9% - 7/144 Alliances
2.4% - 8/330 Mirage
4.8% - 8/167 Visions
8.4% - 14/167 Weatherlight
6.7% - 22/330 Tempest
8.4% - 12/143 Stronghold
9.1% - 13/143 Exodus
11.8% - 39/330 Urza's Saga
7.0% - 10/143 Urza's Legacy
4.9% - 7/143 Urza's Destiny
1.5% - 5/330 Mercadian Masques
4.9% - 7/143 Nemesis
4.9% - 7/143 Prophecy
3.6% - 12/330 Invasion
4.2% - 6/143 Planeshift
4.9% - 7/143 Apocalypse
4.6% - 15/330 Odyssey
7.7% - 11/143 Torment
7.0% - 10/143 Judgment
3.6% - 12/330 Onslaught
5.5% - 8/145 Legions
6.3% - 9/143 Scourge
10.1% - 29/286 Mirrodin
5.5% - 9/165 Darksteel

This is what I liked from Mirrodin.

29/286 Mirrodin

Bonesplitter
Broodstar
Cathodion
Chalice of the Void
Chrome Mox
Clockwork Dragon
Damping Matrix
Elf Replica
Gate to the Aether
Goblin Charbelcher
Great Furnace
Hum of the Radix
Icy Manipulator
Lodestone Myr
Nightmare Lash
Nim Replica
Pentavus
Platinum Angel
Power Conduit
Seething Song
Silver Myr
Tel-Jilad Archers
Tel-Jilad Exile
Tempest of Light
Tower of Champions
Tower of Fortunes
Turn to Dust
Viridian Shaman
Worldslayer

I'm no art critic, but I know when something makes me think "Cool!" (and trust me I don't care for foils). The recent sets have been doing an ample job. If you look carefully, there is probably art out there to fit your style. If the typical set is only 5% or so "Cool!", then who cares? Of course not everything will make you go nuts, but neither did the old sets and neither will anything, ever. If I open a pack and see one picture that is dead sexy, the rest could be from a Bea Arthur fashion show for all I care.

[johnstown713]

I wasn't talking about foils or anything.  Kids will always collect shiny cards and that's how it is.  I am fine with everything I am just making the point that lately they are changing the way art is done and I feel they were losing business because of it.  The cartoonish artwork is actually ok on some cards but just ruin others.  Whe I was younger I would just sit and stare at the sweet artwork and now it just doesn't look the same.  The new artwork attracts the younger people(target audience) but a lot of people don't like it.  I know that since we are players were mainly don't care what the card looks like but only what it does.  

Dr. Sylvan's statistics are very interesting.  I wish there was a way we could come up with those type os statistics for our community.

Johnstown713


P.S.  I know a lot would disagree with my statements but that is what I have noticed.

[Smmenen]

I think the Dark has the best art, but AB and Arabians have the most aesthetically pleasing style.

[Matt]

I think the new art just isn't imaginative enough (though Mirrodin block is a notable exception, I haven't seen anything else strong since Urza's Saga).

I wrote an entire article about my feelings on Starcitygames

[johnstown713]

I think the new art just isn't imaginative enough (though Mirrodin block is a notable exception, I haven't seen anything else strong since Urza's Saga).

I wrote an entire article about my feelings on Starcitygames

This is exactly what I was trying to say but I am just to stupid to figure that out.  This statement sums up all most posts in this thread.  I am sorry for all the others.  Thank you Matt for saying what I couldn't.

Johnstown713

[Ephraim]

The art has been swinging a little bit more in the direction I like, lately. All through the series dealing with Urza, the Weatherlite, and Phyrexia, the cards arts seemed more to be illustrations than art. They were depicting a character or a particular event in many cases. Now, sometimes they did this beautifully, as in the cases of Jilt, Slay, and Pernicious Deed, but gone were the works of artists like Richard Kane Ferguson, who abstracted the flavour of the card far beyond the realm of illustration.

In recent sets, I've noticed a handful of cards that I consider more artsy than illustrative. Something like All Suns' Dawn, while illustrative of the title, is also depicted in a decidedly abstract style. Words of Wisdom is fairly abstract. What exactly the wall that the blindfolded man is studying represents is quite unknown. Thought Prison, while illustrating the physical device of a Thought Prison, is also abstract, since the functioning of the device is totally beyond comprehension (compare to Mindslaver, which is clearly a helmet placed upon the victim's head.)

[Outlaw]

We all know that the picture in Mana Drain is a face hugger from the movie Alien, it is draining all the mana off an innocent human in order to cast a drone alien and win the game.  Aside from that, I always thought it was a jellyfish but never really looked closely into the picture.  We also know that Ancestral Recall is a picture of a human getting knowledge from the ancients or the predators (they were wicked smart) they just forgot to put the UFOs in the background (based on edited artwork I've seen)  just my 2c's.