Magic: The Gathering/Gameplay Tropes: Difference between revisions

** Due to both a preference for more detailed, elaborate art, and much more meticulous guidance given to the artists. When the company commissioned the art for the card [http://magiccards.info/al/en/23.html Lord of the Pit], they reportedly gave the artist a one-word instruction: "balrog". (This was years before the [[The Lord of the Rings]] movies were made.) Under the circumstances, it came out pretty well, but today artists get multi-paragraph descriptions of what the image on the card should look like, generally designed taking into account both exactly what the card itself does and the flavor and description of the world of the current set. Nowadays comprehensive style guides and concept art are made for each set, or consecutive block of set that share the same setting: for example, the goblins of the current Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Besieged block have a large round head with a sharp snout and long pointed ears.