Hello folks! I hope that you are having an awesome day today! Moreover, I hope that you are keeping yourself safe in our modern COVID-19 world!

Today I want to hit up a theme I looked at last week! Last week I looked at my favorite new art from Commander Legends that really struck me as well done. You can check out that article here. However, there are more than 12 good pieces of art running around the block that I want to unpack for you and your kin! Today, we'll be looking at another set of great art from the newest set.

Please note that my musings are nothing more than an unqualified opinion of a fan, not a critic or a fellow artist. As an MTG writer, I feel qualified to discuss other MTG columns from a level of expertise. But when it comes to visual art? I am out of my qualified elements, so these are just pieces that I enjoy.

Ready?

Let's take another stroll through the gallery of Commander Legends!

Honorable Mention #1: Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood

This is a fun card. If you read this Elf's bio over on WOTC's website, you would see that this one left Wirewood to call Elves in broken and destroyed forests home to Gilanra's home in the Wirewood forest which was still safe. That's cool, and the card art is cool as well. Jehan Choo has done some great art in this piece, and I really enjoy it The Wirewood brambles are nicely done and set the scene. The shiny magical effect is great as well. I'm sure you can see this well done detailed and colored scene. Good job Jehan! This artist has done fewer than 25 pieces for the game, but they include Basri Ket, Goblin Engineer, Thantis, the Warweaver, and Yargle, Glutton of Urborg. This is likely my favorite piece by the artist. Shout to Jehan Choo's Secret Lair Opt... Looks pretty Yargle-y to me!

Honorable Mention #2: Nadier's Nightblade

Let's turn to Randy Vargas's 85th piece for the game, Nadier's Nightblade. It's nicely done! I've said before that I don't like the common trope of Black art being hard to see, and that's not the case here! Nice colors and light coming to show off our Elf Warrior up in the tree nicely. You can see the light peeking very realistically on the face, shoulder, and knee. The entire picture is just gorgeously done! I sit here in awe. Great job Randy! You might know some of his work with Embereth Shieldbreaker, Captain Vargas Wrath (from this set, which is pretty nicely done), Charming Prince, Fierce Guardianship, Frilled Mystic, Gavi, Nest Warden, Speaker of the Heavens, Tangled Florahedron, and more. Good stuff!

Honorable Mentions #3: Hans Eriksson

Hello fans of Saffi Eriksdotter and the original Lhurgoyf! I hope you are having a marvelous day today! These siblings are a great duo as you can sacrifice the one to save the other from his fighting trigger. I really like the art in Hans's piece, with those fleshed-out details in the clothing, sword, but what really makes me wonder is the details of that hair. That's really nicely done! I like the happy big trees in the background, it's just so well pieced together! And who gave us this great piece of art? Ryan Pancoast did! Ryan has just over 100 pieces of art. You might have some in your decks like Arena Rector, Army of the Damned (my favorite piece by Ryan), Ayara, First of Locthwain, Creeping Corrosion, Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders, Hero's Downfall, Inventor's Apprentice, Khalni Garden, Knight of Autumn, Leyline of Sanctity, Mox Tantalite, Saheeli, the Gifted, Wear // Tear, Unburial Rites, and that's a whole passel of commonly played cards at the kitchen table. Ryan has done a lot of great pieces you'll know fondly! This is not the first time this artist has made my favorite art from a set either! If Ryan keeps it up, it won't be the last one either!

10. Flamekin Herald

Welcome back to Lorwyn! Er... Shadowmoor! Anyways our good Elemental Wizard loves giving your Commanders cascade which is pretty awesome if you have more than one! Free spells for the win! In the meantime, check out this art by Johan Grenier! The great details of the flame proper are very nicely done in contrast with the rest of this art, and I enjoy it. The details and texture of the clothing? Johan did a really nice job with that well. The background pillars are nicely done as well. As a result, we have a fun scene. Now this is just Johan's 21st piece, but my favorite by him is likely Colossification. Or maybe Rapacious Dragon... or maybe Glasspool Mimic... which do you like best?

9. Ghost of Ramirez DePietro

I love this throwback Spirit Pirate! He reminds you of the first Ramirez DePietro from way back in Legends. Which was a long time ago, admittedly. I enjoy lots of stuff about this work of art, from insubstantial aspects of the blade and the key figure to the misty effects as well as the moon in the upper right corner. The whole thing is just nicely done! This is not Grzegorz Rutkowski's first appearance in my countdowns. This is not his first appearance in the Commander Legends conversation as another work of his charted last week! Good stuff! You can check out the full gallery of cards here. Enjoy!

8. Dargo, the Shipwrecker

Who wants to wreck some ships? I know I do. And Dargo too, it seems! Let's get our wrecking on! This Giant Pirate is sitting by the coast all nice and snug, with a big ol' jeweled sea to our right (his left). I love the look on Dargo's face, and the details of him are very nicely done. I love how Red is getting out of the boring box with this piece by an ocean that wouldn't be out of place in Blue art, but here it is. Check out the sinking ship at the top. See how nicely it's doing? The artist just doesn't call it background and a day, but really seems to invest time in it! And who has given us Dargo's fun art? Classic artist Zoltan Boros has! He has done a lot of great art and notched 144 (a gross) of pieces to his name! These include cards like Ankle Shanker (in the conversation as my favorite); Archaeomancer; Boros Charm; Decimate; Dire Fleet Daredevil; Firesong and Sunspeakerd; Krond the Dawn-Clad; Pir, Imaginative Rascal; Sevinne, the Chronoclasm; Spike, Tournament Grinder; Toothy, Imaginary Friend. Good stuff Zoltan Boros!

7. Cuombajj Witches

This is the first reprint of this card since...Chronicles! That's a long time ago! We also have some great new art by Seb McKinnon who has a little more than 100 pieces of art (114, to be exact). I really like the designs choices here. In the first piece we have a White and Black witch hanging out together and Seb does that here. He also does a hair color swap so the witch in white has dark hair, and vice versa, which feels like a strong choice for the illustration. I enjoy the details of the robes, knives, hair, skin, and the gold rich colors. Seb has done a great job! You might also know Seb's Aminatou, the Fateshifter; Assassin's Trophy; Bedevil; Blind Obedience; Entomb; Giver of Runes, Grim Haruspex; Growth Spiral; Mire Triton; the Mythos cycle from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, Selfless Spirit; Soulherder; and Vandalblast. All good stuff, right? Right! Good job Seb McKinnon!

6. Merchant Raiders

Hello, fans of Pirates...and Humans too I suppose. Deruchenko Alexander's piece is full of color and vitality. I really enjoy how shiny the mast is, and how great the details of the ship are. Check out the detailing of that rope! And the clothing on the two people? And the colors thereof? Isn't this a well-crafted piece? Deruchenko has also crafted 64 total pieces for Magic, including... Abbot of Keral Keep, Dark-Dweller Oracle, Expansion // Explosion, Macabre Mockery, and Vial Smasher the Fierce. Shout out to Journey to Eternity, Entreat the Dead and Escape Protocol. Good stuff Deruchenko Alexander!

Ready for the top five? Okay!

5. Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant

I just built a fun deck around this bad boy on Tuesday, and you can check it out here. I really like the art here, with the scene and character all done nicely! As you can see, the classic Nevinyrral holds a powerfully well-crafted scene with the details looking great of the rocks in the background. Look out our Urborg Tyrant's clothing! See that detail? Isn't it nice looking? I think so too! From the background elements to the foreground ones, Yongjae Choi has really done a respectable job with everything here. There are 70 cards to Choi's credit in the Gatherer list, and they includes many ones you may have heard about, like Ajani, Inspiring Leader; Chandra, Fire Artisan; Chevill, Bane of Monsters; Ghired, Conclave Exile; Jaya, Venerated Firemage; Jodah, Archmage Eternal; Kaya, Orzhov Usurper; Kethis, the Hidden Hand; Narset of the Ancient Way; Nissa of Shadowed Boughs; Oko, Thief of Crowns; Teferi, Master of Time; Vivien, Arkbow Ranger; and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. That's a lot of big-name stuff for just 70 pieces! Good job Yongjae Choi!

4. Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith

Much like art for Black cards can be mired in ugly swamps, art for red cards can get stuck in ugly mountains or with some variant of fire, lava, etc most of the time. But not Svetlin Velinov's, Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith! In this piece we have a beautiful storm scene and the possible mountains are at the bottom which flank the piece nicely. Toggo is very well done as the center of interest to the piece. The lightning sets up everything and draws my eye to the Goblin Artificer. And the art of him is quite well done and fleshed out! Svetlin Velinov made my Top Ten last week with Breeches, Brazen Plunderer, another great well-done, fleshed out, Red goblin that breaks out of the mold nicely. Svetlin's 258 pieces (which you can find here) starts with Abrupt Decay and ends with Witness of Tomorrows. Enjoy getting caught up with this artist!

3. Miara, Thorn of the Glade

Why do I like Johannes Voss's Miara, Thorn of the Glade so much? Great question! Miara's art here is one of the most detailed in the entire set! You can see great details on the character herself, the spear in her hand, the lush plantlife on the ground, and my favorite: the bark of the tree on the left of the scene. It's so ably done. Again, I love black art that breaks out of the drudgery that this color often gets, and Johannes Voss does that quite well here! This is the 74th card by Voss in the MTG canon, and these include cards like Blood Artist, Clearwater Pathway, Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen, Estrid, the Masked, On Serra's Wings, Restoration Angel, the Sanctum Cycle from Magic 2021, and many more. This not the first time that Jonannes Voss has hit my Top Ten Favorite art lists either! Good stuff!

2. Glacian, Powerstone Engineer

If you didn't read last week's article yet, then I'm sorry for the spoiler, but fellow Thran nation Rebbec, Architect of Ascension hit the back in the Honorable Mention section at (essentially) #11 and here is Glacian at (essentially) #14, just a few spots behind! Much like Rebbec, Glacian reminds me of the fleshed-out art that a lot of legendary dorks get, and these are often improvements for those that are fleshed out.

Consider these as a good example. Compare these two versions of Jhoira of the Ghitu. There is nothing wrong with the first version, far from it. But see how fleshed out the latter one is? That's what the illustrator of Glacian has brought to the table. Ironic, right? See the name at the end of the latter Jhoira of the Ghitu? Yup, it's the same credit. Magali Villeneuve. You'll note that the art I began this piece with, Rebbec, Architect of Ascension is also a piece by Magali Villeneuve as well, giving two pieces of art in our countdown! See how we've come full circle?

1. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar

Who's a cute little Elemental Lizard Familiar? This guy is! Kediss loves the head scratches! And you too! I think he loves all the scratches, from head to toe. He's so cute! I adore its eyes, it's my favorite part of Jesper Ejsing's art here. I also love the details of what appear to be gauntlets or greaves he is standing on and around, and the bladed weapon and loads more. The colors here are strong as well - Good job Jesper! But are you surprised? Jesper has 163 pieces to his credit, and they go back years and years. More than a decade of work. They include ones you might know like Beast Within, the Ultimate Masters Bitterblossom, the forgotten Borderland Ranger, Fblthp, the Lost, Goblin Charbelcher (Eternal Masters version), Lush Growth (my favorite of his works), Reliquary Tower, and Scarecrone. He also had a piece that almost made this list: Obeka, Brute Chronologist. Great job Jesper!

What did you think of the art I discussed today, and the artists thereof? Anything in here that resonated with you? What are your favorite pieces from the set, and did I miss any? Just let me know!