[lifeformed]

The art in the old sets were so much more iconic and imaginative. They were so varied in styles and had so much personality. The newer ones have a much more consistent style, but ends up looking really generic and forgettable.

[DonaldPShimoda]

I don't think that's completely true; plenty of the new cards are quite imaginative. I think there's just a greater degree of imposed consistency in the design.

For some counterexamples to your point, look at any of the art by Seb McKinnon.

[moultano]

>For some counterexamples to your point, look at any of the art by Seb McKinnon.

His stuff looks fantastic, and does look a lot like the more "tarot" inspired art of early magic. Thanks for telling us about him! Link for the curious. http://www.sebmckinnon.com/illustration/2019/5/29/2019/5/29/...

[DonaldPShimoda]

(I'm not very good at responding to HN comments, but hopefully you'll see this!)

A few of my favorite pieces by him are Deliver Unto Evil [1], Soulherder [2], and String of Disappearances [3]. His art is just so wonderfully fantastical and different from everything else. I love it.

[1] https://scryfall.com/card/war/85/deliver-unto-evil

[2] https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/214/soulherder

[3] https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/72/string-of-disappearances

[Noumenon72]

There's an extra date in your link.

http://www.sebmckinnon.com/illustration/2019/5/29/answered-p...

[ImprovedSilence]

I totally agree. I also think the newer art looks like it was made to be wall sized, and really just looks muddy, dark, and obscures details when it’s the size of a card. Looking back at old art, it soooooo much clearer and more flavorful.

[NauticalStu]

The varied art in the old sets made the game feel "big" to me, like it was this giant bazaar of oddities that I was sifting through and piecing together in a unique way. Nowadays it feels more like assembling parts in a carefully curated environment. That's not an entirely bad thing, but a lot of the mystique is lost.

[moultano]

Exactly. I always felt like the world of magic was bigger than my imagination of it, that the cards were a tiny window into an unfathomably strange world. "Eldritch" is maybe the best word I can think of to describe it.

[toasterlovin]

Agree completely. The redesign of the card format ruined the game for me. IMO the old format made it feel like you were holding some ancient and special.

[Izkata]

The introduction alongside Mirrodin made sense IMO, but I really hoped they would revert after that. I also lost interest around the end of Mirrodin / start of Kamigawa.