You truly understand what makes Magic what it is and we're lucky to have content like this. I scoured the Internet for a specific 7th edition foil forest, 26 of them, for my Azusa commander deck. It was so worth it. Long live.
Tech bro: THAT'S IT! We just scrub all of Donato's art to train our ai on hands, problem solved! Literally the entire world: Can't you just learn to appreciate good art for what it is?
@@AB-sw4kb More like he's done with wizards, which is unfortunate for us players, but probably best for artists that big names like him are standing up for themselves. It gives somewhat of a chance for new blood to have a shot at decent working conditions.
Donato is my favorite magic artist, there’s a large framed print of his rendition of “Cartographer” hanging in my living room (same as my profile picture). It’s really a shame that WOTC has lost a fantastic artist in pursuing Universes Beyond, and is a sign to me that Magic may be losing its identity.
I broke out in tears when you talked and redrew Patagia golem. Your love of the game, the appreciation of the art. the worlds within worlds. The memories each of us have made, the connections we've made along the way. Thank you for all the amazing content. May we all fly , may we all learn to use our own wings.
Thank you so much for all your awesome videos. I'm a tattooer and spend a lot of time drawing with youtube in the background, and I'm always so pleased to get a new one from you. I've watched most of your videos multiple times, and it's always such a pleasure to hear your firm and passionate voice extol the hidden beauties within the game and it's art. There's now a Wurmcoil Engine card hanging up above my desk after your Raymond Swanland video made me fall in love with his art. Thanks for all your hard work, and when times get better for tattooing, I look forward to supporting your patreon. In the meantime, I just wanted to you to know how much I look forward to each new video you make, as well as watching old favourites. Many thanks
A friend gave me a strange brown card after a swimming pool afternoon when I was 11 years old. First Magic card I had ever seen and owned, a Patagia Golem. Great art evoking Da Vinci machines, feelings of freedom and change. I thought it was incredibly cool, even though the name of the game felt 'adult' and was alarming to me at the time for religious reasons (strict evangelical upbringing against anything "magical", Magic the Gathering was vilified, along with Diablo 2, Baldur's Gate, Harry Potter or even Pokemons!). Well keptin my collection now
"A boy lost in his imagination, suspended in a world within a world" - that hits differently. With those words you sum up my relationship with magic when i was young.
Man that Thorn Elemental box was a serious blast from the past for me. Growing up, my dad had beta cards, my brother ice age and beyond, but 7th was the first time I got my own cards and decks. I recall trying to run the CD that came in the box with the chunky family dell laptop and it barely running while sounding like a plane taking off 😂
Won my first ever game of MTG with that Thorn Elemental when I was a kid, when my older sister's ex bought that starter kit and a bunch of other cards and let me borrow them for some games. Made me fall in love with green decks and MTG forever after, as a kid that watched Yu-Gi-Oh on tv back then and loved to check out my mother's and siblings' massive collection of fantasy art books of Brian Froud, Frank Frazetta, Gerald Brom, Ciruelo and a bunch of other big names. I still have that Thorn Elemental to this day, with all the borders worn out by time, after my sister's ex gave it to me. I even built a 60-card deck for it, themed around plants. That seventh edition art still remains one of my favorite art pieces ever.
I started with that exact starter kit and that thorn elemental stayed burned into my memory this entire time. I've lost all my cards from back then to a number of moves, but I recently purchased a copy of that foil 7ed thorn elemental for my cube, partly because it's a great card but also out of nostalgia and as a symbol of when I first got into magic.
Videos like this is why I'm still subbed to your channel despite no longer being interested in Magic outside of games with my kids. It's great work, and I love the art analysis into iconic cards from the past. Keep up the good work!
My day instantly improved, the magic all gathered here, real sorcery, all your videos should be histrionic artifacts, your word smithing is enchanted, you’re a legendary creature and you always hit the land
17:31 I am glad to see the return of art-related content on this channel. The original art for Sisay's Ring remains one of my all time favorites to this day.
That scry magazine shot of prices just sent me back 20+ years. Sitting outside the local comic shop bullshitting with other kids about having a black lotus
For me, what makes the Patagia Golem story so moving is how the creature represents the player. The Golem was never intended to fly but there it is, face pointed up and out of the frame, lifting itself skyward through sheer effort and idealism. Playing Magic has, for me, always felt like a similar reaching or yearning for something more. A view of the world as predictable, mechanistic, solid all the way through -- this has had a deadening effect on me over the years. I crave something more wondrous or joyful, something that affirms the delights of my imagination as not childish trivialities but meaningful parts of who I am and what I value. So playing Magic really enlivens my life and worldview, elevating me above what is and into a space of what could be, a space of play and potential and, well, magic. It's nourishing on a level that is at once aesthetic, creative, social, and spiritual -- and I see that all in the Golem's flight. Thanks for another remarkable piece of work, Sam.
You never fail to get me to feel nostalgia for a bygone era of Magic. Your work, as always, fills me with a deep sense of appreciation for this game that I sometimes forget it deserves.
That Thorn Elemental made me the KING of the playground. It was bigger than anything else and everyone else went 'woah, why would I even block it???? It's just going to kill me in 3 hits!' I still sits in my collection binder. It will never leave it.
I just discovered the channel. You do an amazing job with your videos. I feel so much nostalgia of when I got into magic in the 90s. I would love to get back into it, but it's difficult with money, time, and people to play with. These videos help me relive the old days, and I thank you for it.
The way you describe individual pieces is very evocative. I recall a similar experience as a kid of having Fantasy cards (they weren't MTG at the time, but some fantasy art thing) and just getting lost in imagining what was happening in those worlds. Getting lost in the details. Excellent video.
Sam, your deep love and passion for every aspect of this game is so infectious. Thank you for always binding the emotion and passion for this game. I needed this.
I loved learning about the art that pulled you into the game with petagia golem. we started magic at nearly the exact same age and time, ironically. there was a Japanese foil glade gnarr in a box of cards I was given from the trunk of a car. I didn't know anything about the game, but I saw the strange creature that was clearly cautious of the viewers presence and the deep, unknowable forest behind it. I stared and stared until I was completely obsessed with artistic expression, which persists to this day. I'm glad it also brings people together like this ❤
Thank you for always making me emotional with your videos. I have been playing magic since I was a child and there's something special about it to me. I've taught friends to play, made friends through the game and it gives me a comfort when someone else is as (or in your case) more invested in it than me.
When I was a kid, I remember drawing Skirk Commando, Undead Warchief and Frontline Strategist, same as you show here - pen and paper. I was so intrigued by the looks of the cards and I cared not whether the card was common or rare, good or bad. I was genuinely in love with Magic back then.
Though I've only played Magic for four years, one of my favorite things from many older sets are the sayings/catchphrases that you find in the flavor text. And the poems are my absolute favorite
As someone who started in 2010, drifted away a few years later, and then came back to the game a few years ago, this video was awesome. Getting to see what magic was makes me nostalgic for a version of the game I never knew. Great video!
Once again, Sam...you prove why you are one of the best magic documentary makers. The amount of care and attention to detail is so high. You, and Summoning Salt, are my top 2 most watched long form video creators. I appreciate the time you dedicate and the hard work involved.
Rhystic Studies, you truly inspire me. I can only assume that this will be lost to the comment section, but I absolutely adore every single deep dive, every single video. The art of this amazing game has always spoke to me in volumes, but I could never express it as well as you do. Your rendition of Patagia Golem is making me get a foil copy as soon as possible, and the Foil video made me get a Lightning Dragon too. Thank you Rhystic Studies, for all that you do. The community of this amazing game is truly blessed to have you. Hopefully I'll start making enough to support you on Patreon soon.
Sam, this video brought me to tears. The passion, love and craft you bring to magic through your essays, through your work is unmatched. Thank you so much.
As a player and collector thank you for this video. 7th edition was such a wonderful time for me and my friends, Invasion block was coming out as we enjoyed the art from Mercadian block and said farewell to Urza's block. I love this set the art and foils are amongst the most beautiful of the silver age of Magic.
This almost made me cry. Too many memories! All the people who are saying magic is just an empty shell of rules and mechanics that could be filled with any IP should watch this. The art and setting were so inspiring back then.
When you mentioned another art by kev walker I blurted out patagia golem!! To this day its one of my favorite art works. The art and flavor text captured my imagination as I was starting MtG in 7th ed. one of my grail cards is a foil patagia golem. Thank you for all your excellent videos ❤
Oh God. I got goosebumps when Donato appeared (by far one of my favorite artists ever) and, as I continued watching, started to reminisce how his renditions of hands were one of the main things that pulled me towards his work; I’ve always thought of them almost as characters, with the expressive qualities that eyes usually bring… and then he starts talking just about that. Now I need to get the two cards that depict his parent’s hands. This has made my day.
Yeah 8th and Mirrodin are a clean break moment due to the redesign too. Or you could go earlier and maybe start it at Invasion which to me feels more like the sets after it than those that came before
@@Blackadder75It's the plastic age. Mass produced, cheaply made, pumped-out assembly line product that is nice for a while but ultimately bad for the environment.
I love the last bit, when Mike talks about differences between printings. Today flavor texts still differs from language. I'm french, so most of the first cards i own are french. I had the chance to pull a Sheoldred from a Dominaria United set booster, a french one. The original flavor text is "Gix failed. I won't." But when you translate back in english the french one, it saids "Gix failed. I didn't." Which is a pretty huge change in what that implies.
Sir, this video is a masterpiece. I started playing MTG around the same time, during Odissey block, and stopped playing around Ravnica / Coldsnap. Many years later I discovered the PREMODERN format, and fell in love with MTG again. Watching this video was extremely pleasant and brought back a lot of nice memories. Thank you for making these videos with so much dedication, quality, and passion.
Awesome getting an interview with Giancola. His style was pivotal for my early love of the game. Sisay's Ring from Weatherlight is one of my all time favorite arts.
Absolutely. If you couldn't kill it with spells or randomly have enough first strike damage to kill it, you may as well just accept that you're taking 7 to the face at least once. That was huge.
I just want to thank you Sam for helping me retain my whimsical love for this fantastic game and it's art. It's easy to get lost in all the monetary controversy or objective gameplay, but it's refreshing to step back a bit and just appreciate art for what it is. I do this with music sometimes but I forget about conventional pieces. For reference, Seb McKinnon is my favourite MTG artist for this exact reason. Thanks for reminding me every now and again
This video is truly special the amount of research that went into this is incredibly impressive. As someone who really started collecting Magic when 7th was released this touches a special place in my heart and is really eye opening in retrospect of the game throughout the years. Thank you.
So I've been a long time lapsed MTG fan and I've been going through looking at all the old cards and appreciating the art and details because I had that same sense of wonder and appreciation that you so eloquently described in your video. Strangely, I also had the exact same thought regarding the Rolling Stones and Oasis, which is weird given I was JUST looking through them. One thing that I think was lost with some of the newer art was a feeling of non-standard high fantasy. The original Llanowar Elves card had art that featured elves the likes of which I had never seen before, for example. Others were ones that just got the imagination running for me. I was fascinated by the art for Red Mana Battery and Mana Vault.) A lot of Mark Tedin (Abomination and Leviathan have both stuck with me) and Drew Tucker's (Power Leak) stuff were also wild to me and offered something different that was wildly imaginative. Thanks for the timely deep dive into some art I had just started digging through again!
Every video you make has such thoughtfulness, such poignancy, and so much heartfelt love for Magic, that it’s impossible to be anything but swept away for every second of the feature. Thank you for giving words to what I had believed were indescribable feelings, fascinations, and wonderment. You;re one of the very best creators I’ve ever seen on UA-cam, and I am endlessly entranced by your work.
Patagia Golem has also always been one of my favorite art pieces in Magic since I started with 7th Edition. So happy to see it highlighted here. ^_^ Thanks, Sam!
Love the explorations as always. One of the things I've come to adore abour Magic over the years is just the incredible pieces you find on cards of all rarities.
Amazing video as usual, man! I've really learned a lot from your channel, on history of MTG, sets, planes. The Phyrexian vid you made is just *chefs kiss*.
I am always glad to be supporting this channel. Thank you for always making videos of what you are most passionate about. It may not even be a topic I thought I'd be interested in and I am always impressed.
You made me realize how much I love this game all over and that wasn't ever in question. Thank you sir for these lovely words and trip down memory lane.
Excellent video, 7th edition was my intro to magic as well and I've always felt like an odd out for having such nostalgia for it. It was a real treat watching such a thorough and thoughtful examination of these beautiful works of art (including yours at the end!)
I started in Onslaught Block at age 9. My dad got me into the game. I've always loved the older style cards with these bordsrs and artwork. Your love of the artwork of Patagia Golem is how I feel about Glory Seeker. Thank you for sharing your love of this era of Magic. It made me feel like a kid again appreciating this era.
While this is easily one of my favorite channels on UA-cam, this is an incredible example of how one's passion for something seeps through their creation and into the hivemind. Artists work thanklessly to produce paintings for playing cards mass-produced and forgotten like bits of glitter in the wind, until someone like you comes along and shines a spotlight on these artists. Paintings within paintings, stories told through limited quotations that can only be pieced together with multiple cards... The idea of a tome is one I barely paid any mind to, and after hearing you speak on them, it truly rocked me how much work would need to be done to actually create a tome of such majesty and significance. Anyway, time to climb a mountain just for the sake of it. Thank you, Rhystic Studies.
Great video as always Sam. The bit about drawing cards in your early days really resonated with me. I did a lot of that myself growing up, and even if I don't have the originals anymore, I can still pull up the scans I did back in the early aughts. Very strong memories there, so thanks for sharing that little tidbit.
I started playing Magic over 15 years after the release of 7th Edition, but when I came across a selection of Plains from the set in a London game store's basic lands box during a Zendikar Rising draft I was mesmerised. The combination of the classic frame, the white border and the large central mana symbol - not to mention some incredible art by Jon Avon and others - was really striking to me for reasons I couldn't explain. Only 6th and 7th edition basics have that combination of graphical elements. I now have an almost complete set of 2 copies of each of those basics (the Avon Mountains are hard to find!) which I always use for limited. Despite having no personal connection to the sets in question, discovering and playing with these lands over 20 years from their printing has brought me more joy than almost any other Magic card. Iconic indeed.
We both have a similar story. That 7th edition game was my first set. It’s how I learned to play and remembering how much I loved it as a kid inspired me to pick this hobby up a few years ago.
I also started playing with 7th. This video made me so emotional in a good way. I just turned 30 this year. I've spent over 2/3 of my life with this game and still love every minute. These videos give me hope and remind me of the community this game can harbor.
I'm like 1 year older than you and got started with 6th Edition Starter Set and a pile of cards (a "deck") from a friend. Love seeing you go through the Starter Box. 7th Ed feels so similar but also so different.
I love literary quotes on MTG cards and the one on seventh edition Wind Drake is my favorite one by far. It just enhances the whole aesthethic of the card beautifully. From the art, to the frame and the flavor text, seventh edition Wind Drake is one of my all-time favorite cards. Seeing it highlighted here filled my heart with joy. Thanks Sam.
I’m a novice player, and am not nearly as uncommitted to the game as many. But I am committed to your videos. They’re fascinating and your love for the game is mirrored in the care you put into your videos. Keep truckin’
Another intimate and honest love letter to the game-thank you, Sam. This one in particular hits home for me all too closely: 7th was the first set I decided to collect in full. I finished it back in 2005, ending up with about 5% of the cards in that still flawless foil treatment. I will soon look through that folio again, with an eager adoration and new perspective that this video has inspired.
I also started with 7th edition and Kev Walker is my favourite mtg artist. This video is speaking to my inner child, making memories from Black Lotus covers and articles rise to the surface, thank you for that ❤ Also, I still use my old starter guide to initiate new players to the rules, and it's still working. If it was good enough for 7 years old me, it's good for those newcomers. And, I mean, it's a relic, I enjoy the reaction people have when seeing what we were given with 7th edition, the comic strips are a gem. Plus, they will see new cards and be amazed by how strong they are compared to that old grizzly bear, making discovering new cards really exciting !
Quick aside, I Lived in the Eastern Panhandle of WV for many years and made plenty of trips to Elkins in HS for marching band competitions and a parade. It's so pretty down there. The stylized 7 definitely helps make 7th edition stand out hardcore, and definitely showcases a small nuance that rippled with the changes to the game and the art styles. I thoroughly Loved finding out about the story about the set and rivaling factions. It is so cool to see all of the stuff you kept from that trip and to see your drawings from when you were a kid. It's also awesome to see that you redrew patagia golem. 7th edition has a special place in a lot of people's hearts and also represents so much in regards to the game and certain shifts in how things have gone with the game from 8th edition onward. My personal pick is Charcoal diamond. I have a foil for my Skithiryx Deck. Absolutely love it. Superb video as always Sam.
What a gorgeous love letter to the game I have spent 3 decades with. There was a real magic, for lack of a better word, when I was 13 and opened my first starter deck or when the long search bore fruit and I was finally able to buy a couple packs of Antiquities and Legends to see what was possible inside. Thank you for this.
This is wild. That Mark Zug Serra Angel is by far my favorite art for that card, and I'm shocked that wasn't the popular sentiment, at least as the time.
"But the innocence preserved in the first drawing is too tangible and too genuine". That one hits really hard.... Always find a way to make me cry at the end of these videos.
7TH was the first set of magic cards I ever got. I completely forgot that starter CD was how i learned how to play. This video really hit me in the feels. Thank you for the amazing work.
7th edition starter was my first introduction into magic at age 9. School camp in the woods and a local store was selling them. the entire class wanted to play suddenly and it looked awesome! Vizzerdrix has a special place in my heart.
Hey Sam. A quick note about your comment on the reason behind foil and white border. From a printing standpoint, you could absolutely do a white border on foil. If you look at the card Breathe of Life from 7th, for example, the white text box isn't foil. A double hit of white would cover up enough of the foil. I'm not sure of the exact reason behind the black vs white border, but from a doable standpoint, it's absolutely something that could have been done. If I had to take a guess, something like that would require a 7 or 8 color press, which maybe the print shop at the time didn't have access to. So rather than have to do a multi-pass job, they just decided to have them use a black border instead. As always, love the videos man.
He talks about the process in his Foil documentary. The problem was that the printing process for text boxes was different from borders. Borders usually have one layer, whereas the text boxes and rest of the card use multiple layers. White ink is notoriously translucent so the printers would have had to do multiple coats on the boarders, and so they decided to forego the treatment and make the borders black.
@Throwaway-p2p I saw that video. I commented on this because I am one of the people who prints Magic cards, so this is my whole life haha. I do not know the exact reasoning behind why Wizards didn't use foil with the white border, but I can tell you with 100% accuracy that we have the ability to do so.
You speak for every magic player when you speak. That’s how powerful your words are sir. Thank you for all that you do for this game. You are one of a kind ❤️❤️
Thanks for pulling up some memories I didn't even know I had with that 7th edition CD-ROM. I'm not sure how I forgot that guy in the freeze frame but now I shall cherish his memory.
Thank you for such passionate video! I also started my MTG journey with 7th edition PC game, still remember your opponent evil laughts in that game 😄 Led me to recreate those decks from the game about several years ago.
For my own, I got a Fourth Edition gift box that started me with Magic. The art of Melissa Benson just stuck, the coolness of the Shivan Dragon, and the wild Nightmare, wreathed in flames in the sky. I came back to Magic, and I will always have a copy wherever I can use them.
7th edition has always been my favorite core set. I was completely caught off guard by this video. Nice to see I wasn’t the only one that noticed its unique charm
Genuinely felt awestruck looking closely at Donato Giancola's art. I had seen it all before but I had never really looked at it, absorbed it. It's absolutely incredible.
My dad's such a huge Rolling Stones fan he insisted on naming me Mick. I bought him a Beast of Burden and a Rolling Stones back in the day which he had displayed together with his vinyl collection. The mentioning of these cards in the end of the video made me really nostalgic and happy!
I too was introduced to mtg during 7th edition. Patagia Golem was one of my favourite cards as the idea of an artifact creature seems so rare - by chance I didn't come across many artifact creatures until Mirrodin. Im also dyslexic and never knew the right way to pronounce it until now... Thank you Sam!
Fantastic video! I only started palying magic during Origins, but fell in love with cards like Shivan dragon, Serra angel and Nightmare when making my first decks using a builders toolkit. It's nice to see you dedicate a whole section of this video discussing what in my opinion is the best artwork depicitng Shivan dragon.
You also started with a core set! I have similar feelings about Magic 2013, the clear vision of high fantasy, the evocative art, core sets are absolutely my favorites.
You truly understand what makes Magic what it is and we're lucky to have content like this.
I scoured the Internet for a specific 7th edition foil forest, 26 of them, for my Azusa commander deck. It was so worth it. Long live.
which Forest specifically?
@BalldoTM Forest 331! I talked about it on my channel (shameless plug)
@@foxherd3r hell yea, that's one of my all-time favorite forests 🙏🏽
Scoured the internet? There are 41 foils on tcgp right now lol
Wow. If nothing else, thanks for making me realize how much I love Donato Giancola's art. He is SOOO good at hands!!!
Tech bro: THAT'S IT! We just scrub all of Donato's art to train our ai on hands, problem solved!
Literally the entire world: Can't you just learn to appreciate good art for what it is?
he's long been one of my favorites. he recently made a post discussing financial realities of being a Magic artist this year I think
@@AB-sw4kb More like he's done with wizards, which is unfortunate for us players, but probably best for artists that big names like him are standing up for themselves. It gives somewhat of a chance for new blood to have a shot at decent working conditions.
Donato is my favorite magic artist, there’s a large framed print of his rendition of “Cartographer” hanging in my living room (same as my profile picture). It’s really a shame that WOTC has lost a fantastic artist in pursuing Universes Beyond, and is a sign to me that Magic may be losing its identity.
@@frosty980 Cartographer and OG Sisay's Ring are two of my all time Giancola favorites.
I broke out in tears when you talked and redrew Patagia golem. Your love of the game, the appreciation of the art. the worlds within worlds. The memories each of us have made, the connections we've made along the way. Thank you for all the amazing content. May we all fly , may we all learn to use our own wings.
I almost cried at this ending as well. Something about it really stirs something in me.
It really is the best game ever made my brother!
@@heeshkait’s the best game ever made!
We dont deserve you
It made me emotional too, felt confused by that until I read your post. Thank you
Thank you so much for all your awesome videos.
I'm a tattooer and spend a lot of time drawing with youtube in the background, and I'm always so pleased to get a new one from you. I've watched most of your videos multiple times, and it's always such a pleasure to hear your firm and passionate voice extol the hidden beauties within the game and it's art. There's now a Wurmcoil Engine card hanging up above my desk after your Raymond Swanland video made me fall in love with his art.
Thanks for all your hard work, and when times get better for tattooing, I look forward to supporting your patreon. In the meantime, I just wanted to you to know how much I look forward to each new video you make, as well as watching old favourites.
Many thanks
really appreciate this comment, thank you.
Giancola is a true master. I play his cards even when they are functionally suboptimal just because I love the art so much.
It's all the more sad how WotC has treated him and many other artists.
And WotC treated him like trash
A video shouting out 7th edition thorn elemental AND PATAGIA GOLEM??? my heart is so full
A friend gave me a strange brown card after a swimming pool afternoon when I was 11 years old. First Magic card I had ever seen and owned, a Patagia Golem. Great art evoking Da Vinci machines, feelings of freedom and change. I thought it was incredibly cool, even though the name of the game felt 'adult' and was alarming to me at the time for religious reasons (strict evangelical upbringing against anything "magical", Magic the Gathering was vilified, along with Diablo 2, Baldur's Gate, Harry Potter or even Pokemons!). Well keptin my collection now
I STILL have my old thron elemental card. It's not the best, but it still goes in my green decks.
"A boy lost in his imagination, suspended in a world within a world" - that hits differently. With those words you sum up my relationship with magic when i was young.
Man that Thorn Elemental box was a serious blast from the past for me. Growing up, my dad had beta cards, my brother ice age and beyond, but 7th was the first time I got my own cards and decks. I recall trying to run the CD that came in the box with the chunky family dell laptop and it barely running while sounding like a plane taking off 😂
Won my first ever game of MTG with that Thorn Elemental when I was a kid, when my older sister's ex bought that starter kit and a bunch of other cards and let me borrow them for some games. Made me fall in love with green decks and MTG forever after, as a kid that watched Yu-Gi-Oh on tv back then and loved to check out my mother's and siblings' massive collection of fantasy art books of Brian Froud, Frank Frazetta, Gerald Brom, Ciruelo and a bunch of other big names.
I still have that Thorn Elemental to this day, with all the borders worn out by time, after my sister's ex gave it to me. I even built a 60-card deck for it, themed around plants. That seventh edition art still remains one of my favorite art pieces ever.
I started with that exact starter kit and that thorn elemental stayed burned into my memory this entire time. I've lost all my cards from back then to a number of moves, but I recently purchased a copy of that foil 7ed thorn elemental for my cube, partly because it's a great card but also out of nostalgia and as a symbol of when I first got into magic.
SAME
When so much of Magic seems to go from high to low, your content always elevates.
Every few years I stop playing the game, but sometimes I stumble on one of your videos and it makes me wanna get back into it all over again
Love hearing Giancola talking about Benson's Shivan Dragon; with his design being inspired and informed by the original.
Videos like this is why I'm still subbed to your channel despite no longer being interested in Magic outside of games with my kids. It's great work, and I love the art analysis into iconic cards from the past. Keep up the good work!
My day instantly improved, the magic all gathered here, real sorcery, all your videos should be histrionic artifacts, your word smithing is enchanted, you’re a legendary creature
and you always hit the land
17:31 I am glad to see the return of art-related content on this channel. The original art for Sisay's Ring remains one of my all time favorites to this day.
That scry magazine shot of prices just sent me back 20+ years. Sitting outside the local comic shop bullshitting with other kids about having a black lotus
I think almost all if not all of my most rewatched youtube videos are from your channel.
Thanks for the learning experience.
Same. Something about his Lantern control video itches my brain
For me, what makes the Patagia Golem story so moving is how the creature represents the player. The Golem was never intended to fly but there it is, face pointed up and out of the frame, lifting itself skyward through sheer effort and idealism. Playing Magic has, for me, always felt like a similar reaching or yearning for something more. A view of the world as predictable, mechanistic, solid all the way through -- this has had a deadening effect on me over the years. I crave something more wondrous or joyful, something that affirms the delights of my imagination as not childish trivialities but meaningful parts of who I am and what I value. So playing Magic really enlivens my life and worldview, elevating me above what is and into a space of what could be, a space of play and potential and, well, magic. It's nourishing on a level that is at once aesthetic, creative, social, and spiritual -- and I see that all in the Golem's flight. Thanks for another remarkable piece of work, Sam.
You never fail to get me to feel nostalgia for a bygone era of Magic. Your work, as always, fills me with a deep sense of appreciation for this game that I sometimes forget it deserves.
That Thorn Elemental made me the KING of the playground. It was bigger than anything else and everyone else went 'woah, why would I even block it???? It's just going to kill me in 3 hits!'
I still sits in my collection binder. It will never leave it.
I just discovered the channel. You do an amazing job with your videos. I feel so much nostalgia of when I got into magic in the 90s. I would love to get back into it, but it's difficult with money, time, and people to play with. These videos help me relive the old days, and I thank you for it.
The way you describe individual pieces is very evocative. I recall a similar experience as a kid of having Fantasy cards (they weren't MTG at the time, but some fantasy art thing) and just getting lost in imagining what was happening in those worlds. Getting lost in the details. Excellent video.
Sam, your deep love and passion for every aspect of this game is so infectious. Thank you for always binding the emotion and passion for this game. I needed this.
I loved learning about the art that pulled you into the game with petagia golem. we started magic at nearly the exact same age and time, ironically. there was a Japanese foil glade gnarr in a box of cards I was given from the trunk of a car. I didn't know anything about the game, but I saw the strange creature that was clearly cautious of the viewers presence and the deep, unknowable forest behind it. I stared and stared until I was completely obsessed with artistic expression, which persists to this day. I'm glad it also brings people together like this ❤
Thank you for always making me emotional with your videos. I have been playing magic since I was a child and there's something special about it to me. I've taught friends to play, made friends through the game and it gives me a comfort when someone else is as (or in your case) more invested in it than me.
When I was a kid, I remember drawing Skirk Commando, Undead Warchief and Frontline Strategist, same as you show here - pen and paper. I was so intrigued by the looks of the cards and I cared not whether the card was common or rare, good or bad. I was genuinely in love with Magic back then.
Though I've only played Magic for four years, one of my favorite things from many older sets are the sayings/catchphrases that you find in the flavor text. And the poems are my absolute favorite
As someone who started in 2010, drifted away a few years later, and then came back to the game a few years ago, this video was awesome. Getting to see what magic was makes me nostalgic for a version of the game I never knew. Great video!
I'm not an art enthusiast, but I tune in whenever Sam does art analysis. The man is a master.
Once again, Sam...you prove why you are one of the best magic documentary makers. The amount of care and attention to detail is so high. You, and Summoning Salt, are my top 2 most watched long form video creators. I appreciate the time you dedicate and the hard work involved.
Rhystic Studies, you truly inspire me. I can only assume that this will be lost to the comment section, but I absolutely adore every single deep dive, every single video. The art of this amazing game has always spoke to me in volumes, but I could never express it as well as you do. Your rendition of Patagia Golem is making me get a foil copy as soon as possible, and the Foil video made me get a Lightning Dragon too. Thank you Rhystic Studies, for all that you do. The community of this amazing game is truly blessed to have you. Hopefully I'll start making enough to support you on Patreon soon.
Sam, this video brought me to tears. The passion, love and craft you bring to magic through your essays, through your work is unmatched. Thank you so much.
As a player and collector thank you for this video. 7th edition was such a wonderful time for me and my friends, Invasion block was coming out as we enjoyed the art from Mercadian block and said farewell to Urza's block. I love this set the art and foils are amongst the most beautiful of the silver age of Magic.
This almost made me cry. Too many memories!
All the people who are saying magic is just an empty shell of rules and mechanics that could be filled with any IP should watch this. The art and setting were so inspiring back then.
When you mentioned another art by kev walker I blurted out patagia golem!! To this day its one of my favorite art works. The art and flavor text captured my imagination as I was starting MtG in 7th ed. one of my grail cards is a foil patagia golem.
Thank you for all your excellent videos ❤
Oh God. I got goosebumps when Donato appeared (by far one of my favorite artists ever) and, as I continued watching, started to reminisce how his renditions of hands were one of the main things that pulled me towards his work; I’ve always thought of them almost as characters, with the expressive qualities that eyes usually bring… and then he starts talking just about that. Now I need to get the two cards that depict his parent’s hands.
This has made my day.
i think its fair to say that 7th is start of the 'silver age' of magic after the foundaing sets and the 'golden age'
I think it's actually 8th, no more counterspell design shifted towards the modern creature centric game we have now
Yeah 8th and Mirrodin are a clean break moment due to the redesign too. Or you could go earlier and maybe start it at Invasion which to me feels more like the sets after it than those that came before
and now in 2024 we are in the 'mud age' :(
@@Blackadder75It's the plastic age. Mass produced, cheaply made, pumped-out assembly line product that is nice for a while but ultimately bad for the environment.
I love the last bit, when Mike talks about differences between printings. Today flavor texts still differs from language. I'm french, so most of the first cards i own are french. I had the chance to pull a Sheoldred from a Dominaria United set booster, a french one. The original flavor text is "Gix failed. I won't." But when you translate back in english the french one, it saids "Gix failed. I didn't." Which is a pretty huge change in what that implies.
Sir, this video is a masterpiece. I started playing MTG around the same time, during Odissey block, and stopped playing around Ravnica / Coldsnap. Many years later I discovered the PREMODERN format, and fell in love with MTG again. Watching this video was extremely pleasant and brought back a lot of nice memories. Thank you for making these videos with so much dedication, quality, and passion.
Awesome getting an interview with Giancola. His style was pivotal for my early love of the game. Sisay's Ring from Weatherlight is one of my all time favorite arts.
2:29 Thorn Elemental was The Truth in the lunch table meta.
Absolutely. If you couldn't kill it with spells or randomly have enough first strike damage to kill it, you may as well just accept that you're taking 7 to the face at least once. That was huge.
Nothing makes me more nostalgic than 7th edition and Invasion-block. Great video!
Kevin Walker’s Mortal Wound and John Avon’s Jungle Basin from visions are two of those innocuous cards that just captured me as a child
I just want to thank you Sam for helping me retain my whimsical love for this fantastic game and it's art. It's easy to get lost in all the monetary controversy or objective gameplay, but it's refreshing to step back a bit and just appreciate art for what it is. I do this with music sometimes but I forget about conventional pieces.
For reference, Seb McKinnon is my favourite MTG artist for this exact reason. Thanks for reminding me every now and again
I could watch close up magic illustrations for hours. Thanks for your videos
This video is truly special the amount of research that went into this is incredibly impressive. As someone who really started collecting Magic when 7th was released this touches a special place in my heart and is really eye opening in retrospect of the game throughout the years. Thank you.
Ahh, such a great video! The heartfelt homage to 7th edition artwork was done so genuinely wonderfully.
So I've been a long time lapsed MTG fan and I've been going through looking at all the old cards and appreciating the art and details because I had that same sense of wonder and appreciation that you so eloquently described in your video. Strangely, I also had the exact same thought regarding the Rolling Stones and Oasis, which is weird given I was JUST looking through them.
One thing that I think was lost with some of the newer art was a feeling of non-standard high fantasy. The original Llanowar Elves card had art that featured elves the likes of which I had never seen before, for example. Others were ones that just got the imagination running for me. I was fascinated by the art for Red Mana Battery and Mana Vault.)
A lot of Mark Tedin (Abomination and Leviathan have both stuck with me) and Drew Tucker's (Power Leak) stuff were also wild to me and offered something different that was wildly imaginative.
Thanks for the timely deep dive into some art I had just started digging through again!
Every video you make has such thoughtfulness, such poignancy, and so much heartfelt love for Magic, that it’s impossible to be anything but swept away for every second of the feature. Thank you for giving words to what I had believed were indescribable feelings, fascinations, and wonderment. You;re one of the very best creators I’ve ever seen on UA-cam, and I am endlessly entranced by your work.
Another wonderful video of truly immense quality.
Patagia Golem has also always been one of my favorite art pieces in Magic since I started with 7th Edition. So happy to see it highlighted here. ^_^ Thanks, Sam!
Love the explorations as always. One of the things I've come to adore abour Magic over the years is just the incredible pieces you find on cards of all rarities.
Amazing video as usual, man! I've really learned a lot from your channel, on history of MTG, sets, planes. The Phyrexian vid you made is just *chefs kiss*.
I am amazed every time a video comes out. Every single one ends on such an emotional note, and this one was all the same. Beautiful.
I am always glad to be supporting this channel. Thank you for always making videos of what you are most passionate about. It may not even be a topic I thought I'd be interested in and I am always impressed.
You made me realize how much I love this game all over and that wasn't ever in question. Thank you sir for these lovely words and trip down memory lane.
Excellent video, 7th edition was my intro to magic as well and I've always felt like an odd out for having such nostalgia for it. It was a real treat watching such a thorough and thoughtful examination of these beautiful works of art (including yours at the end!)
7th was my 1st set, and it will always have a place in my heart. I love the foiling and I have a number of them myself. Thank you for the video.
I started in Onslaught Block at age 9. My dad got me into the game.
I've always loved the older style cards with these bordsrs and artwork.
Your love of the artwork of Patagia Golem is how I feel about Glory Seeker.
Thank you for sharing your love of this era of Magic. It made me feel like a kid again appreciating this era.
While this is easily one of my favorite channels on UA-cam, this is an incredible example of how one's passion for something seeps through their creation and into the hivemind. Artists work thanklessly to produce paintings for playing cards mass-produced and forgotten like bits of glitter in the wind, until someone like you comes along and shines a spotlight on these artists. Paintings within paintings, stories told through limited quotations that can only be pieced together with multiple cards... The idea of a tome is one I barely paid any mind to, and after hearing you speak on them, it truly rocked me how much work would need to be done to actually create a tome of such majesty and significance.
Anyway, time to climb a mountain just for the sake of it. Thank you, Rhystic Studies.
Great video as always Sam. The bit about drawing cards in your early days really resonated with me. I did a lot of that myself growing up, and even if I don't have the originals anymore, I can still pull up the scans I did back in the early aughts. Very strong memories there, so thanks for sharing that little tidbit.
Your childhood drawings are wonderful and moving. Thank you for sharing them.
Another absolute gem, thank-you Sam for your tenderness and uncompromising vision.
Ending brought me to tears. I cannot think of a better way to summarize how Magic captured me as a kid too.
I started playing Magic over 15 years after the release of 7th Edition, but when I came across a selection of Plains from the set in a London game store's basic lands box during a Zendikar Rising draft I was mesmerised. The combination of the classic frame, the white border and the large central mana symbol - not to mention some incredible art by Jon Avon and others - was really striking to me for reasons I couldn't explain.
Only 6th and 7th edition basics have that combination of graphical elements. I now have an almost complete set of 2 copies of each of those basics (the Avon Mountains are hard to find!) which I always use for limited. Despite having no personal connection to the sets in question, discovering and playing with these lands over 20 years from their printing has brought me more joy than almost any other Magic card. Iconic indeed.
We both have a similar story. That 7th edition game was my first set. It’s how I learned to play and remembering how much I loved it as a kid inspired me to pick this hobby up a few years ago.
Same here. I was 10 when my dad first got me that exact starter box.
I also started playing with 7th. This video made me so emotional in a good way. I just turned 30 this year. I've spent over 2/3 of my life with this game and still love every minute. These videos give me hope and remind me of the community this game can harbor.
I'm like 1 year older than you and got started with 6th Edition Starter Set and a pile of cards (a "deck") from a friend. Love seeing you go through the Starter Box. 7th Ed feels so similar but also so different.
I love literary quotes on MTG cards and the one on seventh edition Wind Drake is my favorite one by far. It just enhances the whole aesthethic of the card beautifully. From the art, to the frame and the flavor text, seventh edition Wind Drake is one of my all-time favorite cards. Seeing it highlighted here filled my heart with joy. Thanks Sam.
These more personal videos are really the best! Thank you for sharing your memories with us🎉
I’m a novice player, and am not nearly as uncommitted to the game as many. But I am committed to your videos. They’re fascinating and your love for the game is mirrored in the care you put into your videos. Keep truckin’
As someone who learned MTG using that 7th edition CD-ROM, I found this retrospective incredibly well done and wonderful; Bravo!
Another intimate and honest love letter to the game-thank you, Sam. This one in particular hits home for me all too closely: 7th was the first set I decided to collect in full. I finished it back in 2005, ending up with about 5% of the cards in that still flawless foil treatment. I will soon look through that folio again, with an eager adoration and new perspective that this video has inspired.
I also started with 7th edition and Kev Walker is my favourite mtg artist. This video is speaking to my inner child, making memories from Black Lotus covers and articles rise to the surface, thank you for that ❤
Also, I still use my old starter guide to initiate new players to the rules, and it's still working. If it was good enough for 7 years old me, it's good for those newcomers. And, I mean, it's a relic, I enjoy the reaction people have when seeing what we were given with 7th edition, the comic strips are a gem. Plus, they will see new cards and be amazed by how strong they are compared to that old grizzly bear, making discovering new cards really exciting !
Quick aside, I Lived in the Eastern Panhandle of WV for many years and made plenty of trips to Elkins in HS for marching band competitions and a parade. It's so pretty down there.
The stylized 7 definitely helps make 7th edition stand out hardcore, and definitely showcases a small nuance that rippled with the changes to the game and the art styles.
I thoroughly Loved finding out about the story about the set and rivaling factions.
It is so cool to see all of the stuff you kept from that trip and to see your drawings from when you were a kid. It's also awesome to see that you redrew patagia golem.
7th edition has a special place in a lot of people's hearts and also represents so much in regards to the game and certain shifts in how things have gone with the game from 8th edition onward.
My personal pick is Charcoal diamond. I have a foil for my Skithiryx Deck. Absolutely love it.
Superb video as always Sam.
Your profound appreciation of art makes my favorite game that much more beautiful.
Thanks!
What a gorgeous love letter to the game I have spent 3 decades with. There was a real magic, for lack of a better word, when I was 13 and opened my first starter deck or when the long search bore fruit and I was finally able to buy a couple packs of Antiquities and Legends to see what was possible inside.
Thank you for this.
This is wild. That Mark Zug Serra Angel is by far my favorite art for that card, and I'm shocked that wasn't the popular sentiment, at least as the time.
"But the innocence preserved in the first drawing is too tangible and too genuine". That one hits really hard....
Always find a way to make me cry at the end of these videos.
7TH was the first set of magic cards I ever got. I completely forgot that starter CD was how i learned how to play. This video really hit me in the feels. Thank you for the amazing work.
Just in time to listen at work after lunch
Ayyy, came here to say the same thing.
7th edition starter was my first introduction into magic at age 9. School camp in the woods and a local store was selling them. the entire class wanted to play suddenly and it looked awesome! Vizzerdrix has a special place in my heart.
Hey Sam. A quick note about your comment on the reason behind foil and white border.
From a printing standpoint, you could absolutely do a white border on foil. If you look at the card Breathe of Life from 7th, for example, the white text box isn't foil. A double hit of white would cover up enough of the foil.
I'm not sure of the exact reason behind the black vs white border, but from a doable standpoint, it's absolutely something that could have been done. If I had to take a guess, something like that would require a 7 or 8 color press, which maybe the print shop at the time didn't have access to. So rather than have to do a multi-pass job, they just decided to have them use a black border instead.
As always, love the videos man.
He talks about the process in his Foil documentary. The problem was that the printing process for text boxes was different from borders. Borders usually have one layer, whereas the text boxes and rest of the card use multiple layers. White ink is notoriously translucent so the printers would have had to do multiple coats on the boarders, and so they decided to forego the treatment and make the borders black.
@Throwaway-p2p I saw that video. I commented on this because I am one of the people who prints Magic cards, so this is my whole life haha. I do not know the exact reasoning behind why Wizards didn't use foil with the white border, but I can tell you with 100% accuracy that we have the ability to do so.
You speak for every magic player when you speak. That’s how powerful your words are sir. Thank you for all that you do for this game. You are one of a kind ❤️❤️
Thanks for pulling up some memories I didn't even know I had with that 7th edition CD-ROM. I'm not sure how I forgot that guy in the freeze frame but now I shall cherish his memory.
Could u do an episode about the time Spiral block? That would be really interesting
Thank you for such passionate video! I also started my MTG journey with 7th edition PC game, still remember your opponent evil laughts in that game 😄 Led me to recreate those decks from the game about several years ago.
For my own, I got a Fourth Edition gift box that started me with Magic. The art of Melissa Benson just stuck, the coolness of the Shivan Dragon, and the wild Nightmare, wreathed in flames in the sky.
I came back to Magic, and I will always have a copy wherever I can use them.
7th edition has always been my favorite core set. I was completely caught off guard by this video. Nice to see I wasn’t the only one that noticed its unique charm
'World building is a balancing act between exposition and suggestion.'
What a fabulous line, beautiful scripting as usual from Sam.
The eloquence with which you wrote this episode makes wish I could leave more thumbs up. Well done.
Genuinely felt awestruck looking closely at Donato Giancola's art. I had seen it all before but I had never really looked at it, absorbed it. It's absolutely incredible.
My dad's such a huge Rolling Stones fan he insisted on naming me Mick. I bought him a Beast of Burden and a Rolling Stones back in the day which he had displayed together with his vinyl collection. The mentioning of these cards in the end of the video made me really nostalgic and happy!
Very happy to have started magic the same time as the author!
Seventh Edition will always have a special place, often looked over yet so quintessentially Magic. Seven is the magic number after all.
I too was introduced to mtg during 7th edition. Patagia Golem was one of my favourite cards as the idea of an artifact creature seems so rare - by chance I didn't come across many artifact creatures until Mirrodin.
Im also dyslexic and never knew the right way to pronounce it until now... Thank you Sam!
Fantastic video! I only started palying magic during Origins, but fell in love with cards like Shivan dragon, Serra angel and Nightmare when making my first decks using a builders toolkit. It's nice to see you dedicate a whole section of this video discussing what in my opinion is the best artwork depicitng Shivan dragon.
Watching you recreate the Patagia golem and marveling at your technique is realizing your physical art is just as spectacular as your spoken.
dude that 7th edition Serra Angel is beautiful. That art is perfect.
You also started with a core set! I have similar feelings about Magic 2013, the clear vision of high fantasy, the evocative art, core sets are absolutely my favorites.