Having contributed over 200 pieces of artwork to the game in his 15-year career, Washington-based illustrator Chris Rahn has a serious claim to the title of “Most ProlificMagic: The GatheringArtist of All Time.” This is a sentiment clearly echoed by Wizards of the Coast themselves, given that Rahn was granted his very own Secret Lair Drop in 2022.
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He’s perhaps best known for the sense of grandeur he manages to convey in many of his pieces, channelling the vivid fantasy memories of our childhoods with his imposing beasts and epic vistas. As with all great artists, however, he has a wide and varied compositional range; a range we’ll be exploring today, with Rahn’s finest Magic: The Gathering pieces.
10Primeval Titan
A textbook example of Rahn’s style from hisSecret Lair Drop, this take on Primeval Titan is incredibly effective. The sheer size of the Titan is the most apparent feature here, with the clever use of a tree as a weapon giving an idea of its colossal scale. Combined with the subdued lighting, the Titan cuts a truly imposing figure in this scene.
What’s really transcendent are the myriad links to nature, however. The Titan’s antlers, its minimal clothing, the horn strung from its waist, the tree repurposed as a club: all of this comes together to create a creature that feels Primeval in a way that few in Magic do.
9Azorius Justiciar
The Azorius Senate,Ravnica’s blue/white-aligned faction, has always been one of its most interesting. In their overzealous enforcement of the Plane’s laws, they come across as villains just as readily as they do heroes. This is an idea conveyed beautifully in Rahn’s take on Azorius Justiciar.
Showing an Azorius agent standing guard over one of their infamous Detention Spheres, the idea of strictly adhering to the letter of the law is conveyed in the scroll she holds in her left hand. The truly striking element of this piece is the sphere, however, where the desperate handprints of the imprisoned are clearly visible — pleas for help gone unanswered by the cold, unbending Azorius.
8Lord Of The Void
Magic hasno shortage of terrifying Demons, but this particular piece captures the type’s otherworldly terror better than most. Set in what is most likely Ravnica’s undercity, The Lord of the Void is shown leading his fell forces, sword in hand, as they scale the city’s spires and ramps in search of fresh prey.
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The Lord’s gaping jaw and twisted facial features immediately inspire fear, while the pleasant orange back-lighting, in context, evokes the fires of Hell rather than those of the sun. The card’s final trick is the seven sets of glowing eyes it features, matching up perfectly with the card’s mana cost of seven, and its 7/7 stats.
7Sram, Senior Edificer
As with much of Kaladesh’s art, Rahn’s take on Sram, Senior Edificer makes excellent use of intricate filigree gold, developing the Plane’s overarching tone of complex artifice well. It shows the titular Dwarf looking over a scale model of Ghirapur, the Plane’s capital city, deep in worried thought over its future.
Not only is the model itself bright and beautiful, creating an excellent contrast with the contemplative Sram, but it also serves as an excellent visual metaphor for the set’s storyline: beneath the shiny surface, dark schemes are in motion in Kaladesh’s shadowy corners, represented literally here by the poorly-lit workers in the background.
6Mox Opal
The Masterpiece Series was a short-lived initiative in Magic, adding ultra-rare variants of powerful cards to new sets, with a consistent art style that tied thematically into the set they were printed in. The Kaladesh Inventions were stunning examples of this, reimagining classic artifacts as entries in the Kaladesh ‘Inventors Fair’ competition.
Mox Opal is a standout in this collection of standouts, a truly stunning gem suspended in a delicate copper arch, powering some kind of unseen machine. It’s the framing here that really makes it: every inch of the device shown is meticulously detailed, with artistic flourishes like leaves and branches woven seamlessly into the practical structure.
5Kami Of Industry
The Spirits of Kamigawahave always provided spacious fields for Magic’s artists to let their minds roam free, and Neon Dynasty carries that tradition forward into the Plane’s new futuristic age. Nowhere is this more evident than in Rahn’s Kami of Industry, an incredibly creative Spirit that matches the set’s artifact focus perfectly.
Serving the dual role of both blacksmith and forge, this Kami holds metal and hammers in his myriad extra hands, while using the searing fire in his chest to prepare the metal he works on. It’s a design that’s both fun and practical, the tip of the sword the Kami is currently heating emerging from his back in a playful final touch.
4Giltspire Avenger
War is a subject that’s rarely far from view in the overarching storyline of Magic. Conflict, after all, is a natural subject to build expansions around in a game focused primarily on conflict between players. That said, some cards explore the subject with more depth and nuance than others, Chris Rahn’s Giltspire Avenger being a prime example.
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The Avenger in question is shown cleaning the blood of a fallen foe from his sword as night falls on the battlefield, a look of sombre contemplation on his face. Combined with the corpse and bloodstain visible in the background, the piece invites the viewer to join him in his consideration of war and its costs. It’s a powerful piece that adds a lot of nuance to the seemingly virtuous Sigiled Knights of Bant.
3Sword Of Dungeons & Dragons
Chris Rahn is well-known for his Swords. He has provided art for every card in the game’s iconic ‘Sword of X and Y’ mega-cycle, other than Sword of Forge and Frontier. It’s fitting, then, that one of his inspired armaments should make its way onto this list, though perhaps surprising that it should be Sword of Dungeons & Dragons, a parody card from Unsanctioned.
The reason it wins out over all his other sparkling Swords is the level of love and detail that has been applied to its creation. The golden Dragon in the background is an obvious, albeit welcome, link to the source material, but the Sword itself is the real star. Boasting an ‘&’ shaped hilt with a D20 pommel, along with a mace head rather than the traditional second blade, this Sword straddles a fine line between silly and reverential with enviable ease.
2Hythonia The Cruel
Presenting the most hardcore take on a chair since the Iron Throne, Hythonia the Cruel is a villainous composition for the ages. Cleverly making use of statues, an ever-present element in the Greek mythology that Theros is based on, Hythonia turns these reverential monuments into a nice resting place for her sinuous, snakelike form.
Each of the petrified heroes Hythonia sits on are frozen in a classical pre-battle pose, which makes sense in context, and also gives the piece an excuse to dip into the evocative traditions of Greek art. The way that Hythonia, and her writhing tentacles, are strewn so casually over the scene is one final insult to the mighty warriors who fell to her Gorgon gaze.
1Voyage’s End
This piece taps into one of the oldest ideas in fantasy: that there is an edge of the world, and that one can physically fall off it into the abyss beyond. It’s conveyed brilliantly in the huge, crashing waterfalls here, which flow down off the edge of the card, leaving the viewer with nothing to do but speculate as to where they lead.
This idea of the unknown is central to the piece, so much so that the flavour text reinforces it. The cold realism of the shipwrecked man in the foreground suggests a grim, logical ending, but the rising sun, emerging from behind the falls in the back, gives a hint of hope that there may be more beyond. It’s a beautiful duality that’s just as applicable to the mysteries of life as it is to this card.
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