General Aesthetics Debate Club: Optimizing Art in Cube (Daily!)

[MilesOfficial]

Day 17: Blood Crypt






With the upcoming cycle of old-border shocks by Rob Alexander, I'll likely be swapping all of mine to those, but I currently run the Innistrad version because Rakdos is not my favorite aesthetic representation of BR nor is it the most representative of the vibes, in my opinion. Seb McKinnon's blood fountain is also particularly lovely.

What's your favorite?

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Isn't the survey link missing?

 

[Chris Taylor]

RNA for me, but I'm pretty baised to that whole iteration
@MilesOfficial edit in the survey link

 

[blacksmithy]

what's that one with the big sun and either cattails or skulls on pikes in the foreground? i really like that one.
always just kind of found the whole rakdos deal really icky.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

I'm a sucker for mtg around 2012 (because of me playing right when I started uni) so I'm going with the RTR version

 

[Jason Waddell]

RNA for me, but I'm pretty baised to that whole iteration
@MilesOfficial edit in the survey link

That's my choice as well, but without the bias.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I don't think the Rakdos vibe really translates well to the name Blood Crypt. Look at that Secret Lair art though, now that's a Blood Crypt! Easily my favorite! Out of the Ravnica arts, RNA looks the cleanest, but also the least like a Blood Crypt. I think RtR and Dissension both did a better job capturing the flavor.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Apologies folks, here's the survey for Blood Crypt!
Had issues logging into either of the previous free tools I used for these, but we're back baby.

what's that one with the big sun and either cattails or skulls on pikes in the foreground? i really like that one.
always just kind of found the whole rakdos deal really icky.

It's the Unfinity one:

It's pretty cool! If we hadn't just gotten the Innistrad Blood Crypt, this would have become the sole UNF representation in my cube list.

And I absolutely agree, the Rakdos across all three blocks have my least favorite of any Ravnican art direction.

I get that Mountains x Swamps are the hardest dual land type to draw properly. If we look at other RB lands, we get such incredible pieces that do indeed feel like both - Rakdos rarely feels like either! Give me Rakdos lands that look like these:

Man, they really killed it with those Lord of the Rings lands.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I get that Mountains x Swamps are the hardest dual land type to draw properly. If we look at other RB lands, we get such incredible pieces that do indeed feel like both - Rakdos rarely feels like either! Give me Rakdos lands that look like these:

To be fair, most of the Ravnica lands don't really look anything like the basic types they are supposed to represent. Nothing about Steam Vents screams Island or Mountain in it's Ravnica printings.

 

[Karshtakavaar]

Man, they really killed it with those Lord of the Rings lands.

I'd argue its pretty easy to do so when depicting Mordor, name a fictional place that better embodies black red

 

[alvoi]

my favourite is the RTR one, but in my cube i have all the originals for consistency
i will happily switch to the old-bordered ones though, hoping they won't be too pricy

 

[Velrun]

Up

Also quick reminder that I still think you should do this rarely and consistent. Maybe once per month or once every Monday outside spoiler seasons.

It’s interesting if it’s a bit more rare and if it can be trusted when to check in for the next round.