Wizards of the Coast
With War of the Spark bringing Bolas's arc to its climax, there are new art pieces featured in the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set for fans to enjoy and one of them turns out to be inspired by an artist's beloved pet.
MTG artist Chris Rahn has taken it to Facebook to share the true story behind the "Charmed Stray" card from War of the Spark. The cat featured in the art is inspired by the cat Rahn lost.
"There's a story behind this one. Last year I lost my cat, Willow, after 17 years," he wrote on his Facebook account. "I adopted her half way through my first year of art school and she was the first pet I had on my own. She saw me through everything, art school, graduation, getting my career off the ground, break-ups, you name it. Needless to say, it was hard to let her go."
Rahn went to explain how he took the opportunity from Magic art director Dawn Murin. "A couple of months later, I got a tentative email from Dawn Murin asking if I'd be interested in an assignment that would include her in mtg (they already had a cat card planned) and I jumped at the chance. When the assignment came in it had been tailored to match Willow exactly. Painting it was a lot of fun and helped me get over it. Anyway, that's the winding path that got my old girl into War of the Spark."
Most stories behind artists' works are mostly unknown so it's nice to hear that one of the new cards from War of the Spark was inspired by a charming pet, and I'm glad that Rahn found catharsis on his work.
The War of the Spark card set will be released on May 3, 2019. Prerelease events will take place on April 27-28. It will be available in digital version on Magic Arena on April 25.
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Magic: the Gathering