Magic: The Gathering just went through a hectic 24 hours with controversy about the The One Ring.
On Late Friday and Saturday, Magic was rocked by the latest controversy - reusing an image of The One Ring for the new The Hobbit box topper card with a few alterations...and an artist going uncredited.
For those out of the loop, Magic announced on Friday the return of box toppers with The Hobbit. Knowing that fans missed box toppers, Magic decided to go all out and bring back favorites from the original LOTR set. As we noted, this was met with some of the biggest cheers of the preview panel.
However, fans quickly noted that the image was a virtual copy of the previous The One Ring, only with a few alterations, and a different artist. Something odd was going on, and fans quickly brought this up, with artist agents quickly responding. In fact, the artist, Dan Frazier, was a bit surprised by it. The original artist of the The One Ring, however, was silent.
Magic, seeing the controversy, responded on Tuesday along with Dan Frazier. There had been speculation that this was just placeholder art and their response was...surprisingly nuanced. Frazier explained that he had used her art as a reference and accidently put that piece in. He then apologized to the fans and the original artist, Marta Nael.
Meanwhile, Wizards had an apology as well. It was a mistake, and both artists will be credited, with Marta getting paid as well. And, of course, apologies all around. Everyone makes mistakes. Plus, Magic also thanked the fans for pointing it out.
All in all, fan response so far has been a mix of disappointment with it, but also praise for correcting it quickly. While the situation still needs word from Nael, it looks like the situation is at the best it can possibly be. While new art for it would have been the ideal option, the cards are already printed and packed, so this is the best outcome based on where we are now.
If anything, Magic has learned to be a little more vigilant about this in the future, and a new rule for artists is likely to come about as a result. As for the The One Ring box topper, the controversy may, ironically, give the The One Ring even more value as a result.
