A Promised End, Undone, Yet Made Anew

Steady On Approach

From Mirage "Purple" Mountains (#345) to a forthcoming Artist Series Secret Lair, John Avon is the Cormac McCarthy (author of The Road, Blood Meridian) of Magic: The Gathering. Similarly to McCarthy's Olivetti typewriter, outputting roughly five million words from the 1960s through 2009, Avon's Conopois airbrush - that he affectionately calls his "right hand" - is responsible for countless contributions to the game of Magic: The Gathering over his 27 years with the game. In that time, he painted more than 300 cards, shifting primarily to digital art in 2013.

"There's art and there's gaming, and there's the synergy of the two. And I don't think that is achieved anywhere else"

With the latest Secret Lair, Avon takes us on journey of beauty and fear with his distinctly classic style - bringing out his Conopois. The card selection, the flavor text, and, to an extent, art direction, are all of Avon's choosing. His process is unforgiving in physical mediums: pen, ink, and acrylic on canvas. There is only forward momentum in the creation, because looking back, is the oncoming terror of Emrakul.

"A lot of my art is driven by fear"

Run Like Hell

At MagicCon Las Vegas, Avon summed up his interpretation of Emrakul, the Promised End in a single word: Threat. We last saw this card printed in 2016's Eldritch Moon, unleashed upon Innistrad as a weapon of vengeance, and it was already too late then. A promise realized.

With his interpretation, subtitled, Run Like Hell, Avon asks, "Do we grab the cat and my iPhone and the family photographs and run like hell?" Or is that merely Emrakul filling your mind with the hope of escape? With the idea of free will? The full art for this piece is stunning. We see a pod of figures holding onto hope, but there is only a Promise - one of them is already under her control.

"The Moment of Crisis"

In a reversal to Avon's interpretation of Emrakul, we find ourselves already in the thralls of Progenitus' awakening. Last we saw the Soul of the World in Conflux, it was at a shrouded distance. Avon brings us to the extinction wrought upon Alara during what might be the Sundering when Progenitus unleashed five storms. The first storm? Wildfire.

Avon took inspiration from photos of desolation brought by Australian wildfires. Sir David Attenborough referred to their recent occurrence in 2020 as, "the moment of crisis." With Progenitous comes undoing; a planar Avatar tired of creation - a crisis of existence. Yet from the ashes grows new, terrible life. The art feeds the mechanical flavor, and Progenitus shall rise again until the end.

"I Have Very Weird Dreams"

Brainstorm goes back to the early days of Magic: The Gathering with Ice Age. A flood of ideas, but the ability to apply one. Avon would tell you, "please don't throw your dreams away because you are too afraid to start." Good news is those leftover ideas will still get their chance. The design of this piece drives home the reversal of the card. The ideas are surreal - flipped instruments, upside down mug, and a duck being fed. Things are backward and don't make sense in the moment while we determine a starting point. Perhaps start with hope? But only after we return the others for later.

The Ascension

In probably the most personal work of the set, apart from Brainstorm modeled on his son, James, is Serra Angel. Avon's wife, Pat, serves as the model for the iconic angel of Magic: The Gathering. She appears within the space of a conversation by two unknown figures. She is radiant, statuesque, an intimate portrayal of love and strength. Hearing Avon speak of the piece, and of his life in a pair of panels at MagicCon Barcelona and Las Vegas, there is power to this card. He considered it to be the last painting he would do, but that was not in the cards.

The Promise Fulfilled

While Avon completed these pieces years ago, the delayed release synced to the Magic 30 finale in Las Vegas 2023. The set is currently available through Secret Lair, and it's not one you should miss out on. These cards are a testament to our dreams, the fear they can induce; how we regrow from failure, and the vulnerability we exhibit in placing our creations into the world. Avon tells the story about the happenstance meeting with, then Art Director for Magic: The Gathering, Sue Ann Harkey in his studio in the mid-1990s, and the journey he started because of one conversation. Let this art inspire you to take a step and create, to put yourself out there, and to bring a little more magic to the world.

Because every time you try will make the casting cost one less on your next creation.