This article isn't like most of my others. I'm excited because I was inspired to bring up one of my other passions outside of Magic: The Gathering: Movies. Other CoolStuffInc writers discussed which actors should play which characters in the Magic: The Gathering Movie. That's great and important, but arguably there is a bigger concern. I want to ask you all, which director would be best to encapsulate the biggest card game in the world? The wrong hand could ruin this desperately awaited, teased, and never-delivered-on promise. I have some theories on who it could be.

Let me get this disclaimer out: my interaction with the Magic: The Gathering story has been high level explanations and wikipedia pages. I did not read the books, and have invested just enough to have feelings about it, but am in no way an authority on this. I just want to start the conversation and leave it to you all to fill in the gaps.

First, we must discuss vibes. Directors have styles and tones... so basically vibes. You wouldn't usually see them play outside of their theme: comedy directors usually are directing comedies and action directors are typically directing action movies. It got me wondering what exactly is the tone and theme of Magic's story. This is a story told in bits and pieces over books, articles, cards, and now podcasts over 30 years. It's going to be hard to nail down an encompassing vibe. It has a good sense of humor like in Aetherdrift, but some Marvel Cinematic Universe-Esque storytelling like in Oath of the Gatewatch. There is an epic scale like in Rise of the Eldrazi, but a small scale like in Weatherlight. What exactly would we say is the most important to fans for the very first, of hopefully many, Magic Movies.

If we're going for an Aetherdrift vibe, the best director it's going to have to be someone like Edgar Wright. He creates very intense and satisfying action scenes. Very intense and emotional close ups, that emphasize humor or stress. We see this in movies like Baby Driver. I can imagine intense music soundtracks for Spitfire going full throttle in the race in Aetherdrift. I can imagine light-hearted moments like when Chandra calls Winter a loser would match Wright's classic Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. He has already shown his ability to tackle scale and humor with his movie At World's End and serious, intimate problems like he did in Hot Fuzz.

If we're going for an Oath of the Gatewatch, a collection of characters who each all have their moment to shine and their own intimate backstories, it'll have to be Matthew Vaugn. He's known for his super saturated colors and slow and quiet, intimate action sequences that scale up to explosive set pieces like in X-Men First Class. It's Vaugn's bread and butter. He balances the audience's need for action and emotional depth, while keeping it light and playful when necessary. His action scenes are colorful and satisfying and fun like in Kickass and Kingsman: The Secret Service. I could imagine an intense, well-choreographed, fight between Ob Nixilis and all of the Gatewatch to get his spark back, being handled perfectly by Vaughn.

If we're going for an epic scale like Rise of the Eldrazi we'll have to look to Denis Villeneuve. Creating the greatest movie of the fantastical scale in our generation: Dune Part 1, following up with tight and intense scenes of intricate storytelling in Dune Part 2, makes Villeneuve a top contender. Creating scale is deeply important to represent an Eldrazi and otherworldliness. Being able to successfully represent the scale of their ability to drain the plane of their mana is essential and no one could possibly hit it better than Villeneuve. He did it with the aliens in Arrival.

If we're going for a small scale like the adventures of Gerrard and Karn and Sisay in Weatherlight we have to look once again to Denis Villeneuve. Movies like Sicario are all about quiet, intricate, and intimate moments. It's like a play surrounding death and fear. I feel like the small moments with Karn and Gerrard leading up to the explosive cutting off of Urza's head is really possible with Villeneuve.

Honestly, It's hard to find a director that can cover serious, scale, funny, and epic. What if we got two? The Daniels. They don't have a huge laundry list of movies, but they have one that makes me think they're perfect for this movie. Everything Everywhere All at Once has a great sense of slapstick and situational humor that doesn't undercut the serious tone of its message. Epic scale and confusing plots are explained visually in a way that satisfies the audience. Epic scale demonstrated through fun and colorful visuals. They won Best Directors for that movie for a reason. I could imagine someone tackling all the political intrigue of Amonkhet Block along with its humor and scale. I can imagine Nicol Bolas being betrayed by Liliana directed by the Daniels.

All this said, they might have picked someone already for this, but it would be nice to imagine. Let me know what you think? Which director would you like to tackle this movie? I'm @Strixhavendropout at Bluesky.

You can also check out our other writers' takes on who should play the planeswalkers:

• Casting Spells: Who Could Play Ajani Goldmane by Josh Knowles
• Casting Spells: Who Could Play Jace Beleren by Levi Perry
• Casting Spells: Who Could Play Liliana Vess by Mike Cummings
• Casting Spells: Who Could Play Chandra Nalaar by Mark Wischkaemper
• Casting Spells: Who Could Play Garruk Wildspeaker by Kim Ziegler