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Enigma, the Infiltrator (Card)

Of course, the second purpose I had for the art from DanzaDragon was this card. This piece was commissioned specifically to serve as art for the card. Danza knew that going in, as I had provided the sample template for him to work with.

You can tell with the finished product that he drew up the art to fit comfortably into the dimensions of a Planeswalker card, while serving as it’s own standalone piece even if the viewer was unacquainted with Magic: The Gathering. Aside from maintaining regularly communication with me to make sure my needs for the piece were being met, I also recall that he contacted one of his artist friends who had done with Wizards of the Coast prior to solicit additional advice to get the overall feel and dimensions down. The result was that the art looks stunning both in and out of the card frame.

With all that said, I can’t say that I’m 100% happy with the card itself upon reflection. I don’t believe the design is either over or under-powered, but the issue I take with it in hindsight is that it doesn’t encourage the kind of healthy interaction that makes planeswalkers fun as gameplay pieces. When Enigma is attacked, by the rules on the card he’s almost certainly being attacked for lethal damage. If I were to go back, I would play around with the design to allow for smaller attacks to keep him in check without removing him from the board.

As it stands, the card encourages a bit of a vicious/virtuous cycle where the longer it remains on board, the more difficult it is to interact with. Perhaps how that we have Ward, I could go back and redesign in in the future with a Ward cost and a way to make people pay mana for attacks similar to Sphere of Safety. Maybe one of these days…