The year is 2002. Fresh off a December 2001 viewing of The Fellowship of the Ring I had decided to take up my best friend’s offer to teach me how to play Magic: The Gathering. The game was sweeping their neighborhood, and while I hadn’t ever been particularly interested in fantasy, my pilgrimage to that first Tolkien movie had changed things. I learned during Onslaught, and therefore grew up with the stories of Akroma, Ixidor, and Kamahl’s quest across Dominaria. Ivory Empire, with Justin Sweet’s Doubtless One was my first ‘precon’ (preconstructed 60-card deck). And inside that deck would be a card that told a story, and one I never forgot: Pacifism, with art by Matthew D. Wilson.
This card, common as it was, had everything. It still does. And nearly 25 years later, I had the opportunity to acquire the original painting, hang it on my wall, and tell a story of my own.
This Pacifism is one of eight unique artworks for that card that dates back to 1996, each conveying the meaning of ‘Pacifism’ in their own unique way. This visual history will explore the card art with insight from their original artists, context from the time in which they were printed, and some interesting parallels along the way. It will also serve as a chronological reference point for further research and exploration.
Each work is presented with as much information as possible as of the writing of the article, including the original card artworks artist, medium, and number of printings. The number of printings takes into account legal, paper-printed versions, and does not include different bordered Core Set foils, World Championship Gold-Bordered cards, or Magic: The Gathering Online Remastered variations (though they are all available at the link).
Pacifism by Rob Bliss, first printed in Visions, 1996
Traditional | Printings: 18
From Core Sets, to Masters Sets, and even a gold-bordered World Championship printing, Pacifism by Rob Bliss is one of the game’s most recognizable artworks, whether you began playing in the mid-1990s or just before COVID. For this card artwork, Pacifism is not an act, but a way of life. A droll-faced zombie in a flower crown and flower…cloth, who has made friends with a host of Polymorph-esque creatures from Bliss’s own mind. What you can’t see in the card printings is the incredible vibrancy of his airbrush, the impressionistic power of the single background flower, and that cheeky friend hiding in the margin, a doodle as the artist worked laying in color. You also can’t see the invisible guiding hand of Magic’s early art direction.