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MTG Head Designer Explains Why Nicol Bolas & Niv Mizzet Are Being Depicted With Humanoid Noses


Wizards of the Coast

If you're wondering why the recent artworks of Nicol Bolas and Niv Mizzet have been depicting Magic: The Gathering's important dragons with weird goblin-y humanoid faces, Magic's Head Designer has an answer for you.

When an MTG fan asked Mark Rosewater why Nicol Bolas and Niv Mizzet are recently being depicted this way instead of traditional dragon faces, Rosewater said it's because of the artists' choice of perspective.

"I talked with our art directors about this," Rosewater explained on his Blogatog page. "When you paint a dragon from the front straight on, it collapses the snout and makes the face look flatter. The dragons facial structure isn't changing, it's just a perspective choice of the artists."

Here are some recent artworks illustrated by Svetlin Velinov.

Art by Svetlin Velinov/ Image: Wizards of the Coast

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Art by Svetlin Velinov/ Image: Wizards of the Coast

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For comparison, here's an old Nicol Bolas art:

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Image: Wizards of the Coast

As you can see, this one has a traditional dragon nose unlike the recent artworks of Nicol Bolas and Niv Mizzet. While you can easily spot the differences between them, I don't think it's a major change but I prefer the ones with dragonlike snouts instead of goblin-y ones. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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