How Magic: The Gathering Etched Foils From Commander Legends Are Made

The new Magic: The Gathering set Commander Legends introduced the "foil-etched" treatment. These premium cards use a brand-new foiling process that looks different from previous foils: they feature a metallic sheen that provides each card with an ethereal yet brilliant glow.

During a recent interview with Comics Beat, Senior Product Designer Gavin Verhey and Senior Manager of Operations Tom Wanerstrand talked about Commander Legends, and how the etched foils from the set were produced. When asked about the materials and processes used to achieve the glittery effect of the etched foils, the Wizards of the Coast employees explained how they were made.

"The cool thing about this process is that the foiil has no plastic layer, just the metallization itself adhered to the card," Wanerstrand told Comics Beat. "This means that there is no plastic at all on the card surface, so the foiil picks up some of the grain of the paper and visually amplifies the textured efffect."

"The smoothness you feel is the top varnish, which has both a glossy effect over the card frame, and secondary matte effect over the other card elements," he added.

Wanterstrand also explained the challenges in getting the materials used in etched foils to have the same weight and thickness expected from Magic cards.

"There are lots of materials and techniques out there available for print, but relatively few of them yield the characteristics required for a playable card," Wanerstrand said. "This particular foil process adds very little extra material to the card surface, so it really excels in this area."

Recently, some consumers who purchased Commander Legendsreported about the curling problem in foil cards from the set, but it looks like these etched foils are not seeing that problem. If Wizards of the Coast moves to using etched as standard foiling, they might have found a way to dramatically reduce curls.

Commander Legends was released worldwide on November 20, 2020.

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