Starting With the Man in the Mirror

Since Wizards of the Coast released the Commander preconstructed decks earlier this year, many of the requests I've received have been for the new commanders. So far, the only one I've done is this Riku of Two Reflections for Andre Garcia, the guy behind T:apped.

The big challenge here was cutting identical mirrored pieces when the art was so dark; without clear outlines it was easy to go astray. Like many of the cards I make these days, the process was documented on GatheringMagic.com.

Other new commanders I have planned are Zedruu the Greathearted and oversized foil Edric, Spymaster of Trest.

Broken Record

Making this 3D Kiki-Jiki was a lot of fun. For a long time I avoided cutting up cards that cost more than $1 each unless they were commissions; I'm glad I let that go because a lot of my favorite 3Ds would never have been made otherwise.

I currently have about 10 normal Commander decks built. In those, there are certain cards that I consider annoyingly powerful so they're only in one deck even though they could fit into the colors for more than one. Constant Mists, Tooth and Nail, Genesis Wave, and Reveillark are on that list. Kiki-Jiki is certainly strong enough to make that list, but I love the card too much, and it's in 4 of my 5 decks that play red - only Atogatog doesn't get one.

The process for making this card is detailed here. The card itself is currently in Trick Jarrett's possession, along with a bunch of other awesome Kiki-Jikis - foil Japanese, From the Vaults, and a Guru alter by Eric Klug.

As Bad as Advertised

Back in the day, this was one of my favorite cards. Stealing effects of any type seemed insanely powerful to me. I was very happy when I was contacted to make this for someone whose love for the card was stronger than mine.

Of course, it turns out in practice that The Wretched's ability never triggers; he's either an unblockable 2 power for 5 mana (blah), gets blocked by a chump who's dead before he can steal it, or gets blocked by something that can kill it so it's not around to steal anything. That didn't stop me from dreaming up scenarios involving Lure and Regeneration.

This 3D was the first one I made after I bought pottery tools to help with shaping individual pieces, so it has a lot of curve in the body parts and wings.

Probe'd

I made this for an article on GatheringMagic because it won a poll for which card I should do next. I don't dislike the finished product, but I think that being 3D makes it less creepy.  Part of the atmosphere of the original art is the murky darkness of the room; detailing the spine, blades, and pincers takes away from that by defining the borders of everything too much.

Tho Pretty and Popular

I initially built my Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck because white and black were the colors I played the least of among my other decks. I avoided working on this 3D Teysa for a while - it was actually the winner of a poll I put in one of my articles, forcing me to finally make it.

If you're interested in Teysa's story, consider checking out MTG Fiction's review of the Guildpact novel.

Good Buddy

Anson Maddocks was known for making some of the creepiest, most memorable art of the early years of Magic, but it was the size of this guy that captured my imagination back in those days (10 power! For four manas!!).

Whenever I cut up a Legend I get curious about the character's backstory. Apparently the Lord of Tresserhorn was killed and reanimated by Lim-Dul. Who knew? (beside every Vorthos ever)

If He Rode a Phelddagrif, He'd Be Augustin of Hippo

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is the epitome of an awkward card for me. The art was fantastic for 3Ding, but the effect is one I'd never play in any deck, ever, let alone as a Commander. For the most part, I try to avoid cards that mess with what other players are trying to do.

That's the reason my Commander decks feature almost no removal - I'd rather spend my cards doing fun things of my own instead of messing with other players' stuff. Sure, not playing Swords to Plowshares and only having counterspells in one deck sometimes causes me to get blown out sometimes, but I want that to happen. I would rather lose a spectacular game than win an average one.

For the walkthrough of how I made this Grand Arbiter, check out the article.