T-Minus 10: Early Artwork from Edge of Eternities
A five minute first look at the most exciting artwork (at full size!) blasting off in Magic's newest set
Magic: The Gathering’s journey into space, Edge of Eternities, will be fully revealed in just 10 short days. It may only be Day 1, but there have already been some absolutely astonishing artworks shown, and a ton of early promise for what might be Magic’s most exciting set of the year. So welcome aboard, and let’s take a closer look.
Main Set & Commander
The artwork for the Main Set and Commander Decks of Edge of Eternities is a cross section: veteran artists who have scores of cards, working alongside many who just recently began with the game. The result is a beautiful dichotomy, brimming with talent and imagination, that literally crosses time and space.
From exciting new ships (!) of all shapes and sizes:
To the return of shocklands, giving new players their first experience with perfect mana and veteran players a firm dose of nostalgia:
There is no telling what you might find among the stars, whether it’s an artist’s second card of a space angel, or their two hundredth with some very punny flavor text:
And some artist’s have made a massive contribution on their own: we’ve already seen five artworks from Andrew Mar between Preview Panels, Streams, and Story, including a brand new Mutavault. Go see if you can find them all!
This is a tiny fraction of what’s to come, and it’s well surpassed my early expectations.
But what about Booster Fun, the darling child and sweet spot of Snack Time on the Stack?
Spoiler alert: it gets even better.
Stellar Sights: Borderless & Poster
The bonus sheet cards, known as Stellar Sights, come two ways: Borderless and Poster. The Borderless cards are land reprints reimagined by some of the game’s top landscape artists, with a border and text treatment reminiscent of the Amonkhet Invocations (yes, that font aged well), but rethemed for this new frontier:
The Poster variants exemplify retro-futurism, evocative of the mass-tourism, Art Deco travel posters of the early twentieth century. These cards conjure that sense of wonder and destination aspiration from a hundred years ago, and it’s largely because of those tapped to create them. Look closely, and you’ll see just what Art Director Sarah Wassell has done; many of the same names that made the Streets of New Capenna lands and the Wilds of Eldraine Enchanting Tales sheet really sing have been brought to space! It’s a brilliant move, and speaks to the care of art direction for this brand new setting.
Borderless Special Guests
The Special Guests for Edge of Eternities are, in essence, science fiction book covers, creating an astute, in-universe dialogue with a bygone era. These are SO inspired, and yet they’re legible and functional as a game pieces all the same. I love what Special Guests does for a set, and these are some of my favorites yet.
I’m already out of Substack space (too much full art is never a bad thing) and haven’t even mentioned the Viewport Lands, the Surreal Space subset, or the Japan Showcase! There is just so much to see already.
End Step
Previews for Edge of Eternities are a ten day countdown (pretty clever, Wizards), with the entire card gallery being available on July 18th. The set releases on August 1, 2025.
See you on the other side!