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 Welcome to THE ART OF WAR!
 Read further to find out what it is, or click here if you just can't resist.
 

A TOURNAMENT FOR VORTHOS?

 A few years ago, in a famous follow-up to an even more famous article of his, Mark Rosewater added two new psychographic profiles to three classic ones that he had devised to help establish the different characters of Magic's player base, so to better cater to their needs. Vorthos was one of these new profiles, and was actually created by Matt Cavotta two years earlier, as briefly mentioned in the revised version of the original article.

 Now, Cavotta was writing about flavor at the time, and his Vorthos creation was meant to acknowledge those players who aren't defined by the way they play the game, which is all that the Timmy-Johnny-Spike classification cares for. Vorthos doesn't even need to play in order to enjoy the game. It's the reason it isn't really an additional profile that fills a void in the original trifecta as much as it is a transversal element. You can be, say, a Timmy, while being or not being a Vorthos. The term describes something else. So, what exactly does it describe? To put it broadly, as you should in this kind of archetypical explorations, Vorthos is the player who cares less about what the cards do, and more about what the cards are. The cards as objects, as entities, as collectible items, as stories (because, yes, Vorthos reads the novels), and as pieces of art. The acronym "CCG" spells "collectible card game", after all. Vorthos isn't necessarily a collector, but he looks at the cards from the point of view of someone who doesn't immediately see them as moving parts in a game of Magic. Here's some example of cards designed specifically for Vorthos, and for nobody else but Vorthos:

  

Oooh, pretty! But, mmh, will this frame look good next to the regular one?

 That's right, one of the main things you'll see when looking at the cards with the eyes of a Vorthos is the art. Granted, everybody sees and, to some extent, appreciates the art on the cards, right? Everybody at some point has noticed those recurring names at the bottom of the frame, next to the paintbrush symbol, and realized who those ladies and gentlemen were supposed to be. But where a non-Vorthos might acknowledge their existence and be mildly pleased whenever his or her deck happens to feature some good-looking cards, they usually don't build a deck only for the purpose of being good-looking, or aesthetically coherent. Whereas a Vorthos looks at those paintbrush names as a primary factor for the card's existence in itself. It's an entirely different, non-play-related approach: the cards are more than a collection of game-affecting stats. They are objects. They are stories. They are art.
 The Art of War is the tournament that gives an outlet to the approach of "cards as art".
 

THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE

 Let's be honest: a tournament for Vorthos is a contradiction in terms. I'm fully aware of that. Hell, I just said that Vorthoses might not even be all that interested in playing the game at all. Plus, let's face it, every tournament, the very concept of tournament, is first and foremost a Spike thing. While everyone wants to win (thinking that Timmies or Johnnies don't try to win when they play is a grave misconception), Spike is someone who wants, if not needs, to put his skills at test through a competition. He's so hard-wired to do this that he'll have a hard time playing casually. For Spike, everything is competition, so if you're not actually playing in a competition, you're just training for that. It's something Spikes sometimes aren't even aware of. And that, as a result, makes every competition good for Spike.

 But the Art of War is also good for Johnny, because it's a deckbuilding challenge. You'll find out that in order to come up with 60 cards that actually do something together, you'll have to ponder and elucubrate a lot. Just choosing what to build to begin with is an exercise in research and comparison, which Johnny likes. So Johnny can approach this tournament in his own way and get satisfaction out of the creation of a functional deck, or even a deck that still manages to do Johnny things within the tournament's peculiar restriction.

 And what about Timmy? Well, the entire thing is fascinating for a Timmy. It's unusual, it's epic, it's cool. You can go Timmy easily in the builds, and find out how Timmy cards are related to one another in unexpected ways. Plus, it's not a secret: the pure psychographic profiles don't exist in reality. They're like those elements from the periodic table that never appear in nature on their own. All of us are all of the profiles at once (including the transversal ones), only in different measures. So just find the Vorthos in you that you always repressed, and have him guide your dominant profiles toward this new, strange enterprise.
 

OKAY, BUT WHAT THE HECK IS THIS, THEN?

 I've ranted enough, it's time to be concrete here. The Art of War is a free tournament that will debut Saturday, December 28, at 20:00 GMT. It's Classic format, 4 rounds of Swiss, prizes to all the 3-1 and 4-0 scores, registration already open on Gatherling.com. There's only one, main rule that (quite wildly) differentiates it from any other Classic tournament: all the cards in your deck must feature the same artist name at the bottom. Physically, not theoretically: the cards that you actually play in the game must be the correct versions from the chosen artist, or you'll get disqualified. The use of reprints by other artists isn't allowed. If your artist made a version of a card that is unavailable online, you can't play it. The only exception, of course, is for basic lands, but if you also manage to have basic lands of the chosen artist, you'll get more prizes. Click on the link above to find out more. (There's no additional ban list, aside for the DCI-banned cards for the Classic format, except for the only two cards that would invalidate the entire premise, allowing for decks that are "mono-artist" only because they are "mono-card": Relentless Rats and Shadowborn Apostle. I don't even care if those decks might or might not be strong enough – they might, this format is totally uncharted territory – they are just wrong. We're going Vorthos, remember?)

 

Pictured: sorry, Thomas M. Baxa and Lucas Graciano

 EXIT WORDS, ENTER ART

 How does one even find the artists and their cards?, you may ask. After all, there have been lots and lots of different artists in MTG history. This useful list includes 418 of them (in Limited Edition Alpha there were only 25!), but it only covers the sets up to and including Shards of Alara. If you click on the artist field of the client (in the Beta, too), you'll order the entire pool of cards by artist, so you can scroll and review them. To better check which cards one of them exactly made, you can do a search by artist name both in the client (it works only with V3 for now), or in external databases like Gatherer or magiccards.info. You might also start with some card you want to play and see which other cards you would get from one of the artists that, over the course of the years, made a version of that card.
 Now let's have a look at the different pool of cards that some of the most popular and prolific artists provide. I won't try and build decks with them, because that's a large part of the fun, but let's just give us a taste of what this whole thing entails.

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Rob Alexander

 

 Active since: Limited Edition Alpha
 Official website: www.robalexander.com
 Cards (paper count): 143
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: All the shocklands, Ancient Den, Badlands, Bloodstained Mire, Demonic Consultation, Creeping Mold (9th Edition version), Deserted Temple, Evacuation, Exalted Angel (Promo), Flooded Strand, Great Furnace, Greater Gargadon, Harmonize, Harrow, Heartbeat of Spring, Leyline of the Void (Magic 2011), Lim-Dul's Vault, Llanowar Wastes, Miren, the Moaning Well, Plow Under (8th Edition), Polluted Delta, Rubinia Soulsinger, Savannah, Selesnya Evangel, Shivan Reef, Squadron Hawk, Taiga, Tendo Ice Bridge, Tranquility (Invasion), Treetop Village, Underground Sea, Vault of Whispers, Verduran Enchantress (7th Edition), Will-o'-the-Wisp (9th Edition), Wooded Foothills.
 Commentary: Alexander is a true legend of Magic. It's hard to find someone who doesn't like his style, especially when the depiction of highly detailed, vivid places is concerned: after all, he is the author of art books like Drawing & Painting Fantasy Landscapes and Cityscapes and How to Draw and Paint Fantasy Architecture. As a result of his knack for landscape portrayals, along with the fact that he's being doing Magic cards since the very beginning, his pool comes with what's probably the best mana base of this format, with an amazing number of original duals and fetch lands, and the entirety of shocklands. Online, he even loses some powerful cards like Armageddon, Hurricane, and Wildfire. He might not be as strong on creatures: Exalted Angel is the only one that really shines, and you even need to chase down an expensive promo for that.

   

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John Avon

 Active since: Mirage
 Official website: www.johnavon.com
 Cards (paper count): 194
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: All the bouncelands, the Empires artifacts, Adarkar Wastes, Ancient Ziggurat, Anger, Armageddon, Brittle Effigy, Cephalid Coliseum, Clifftop Retreat, Darksteel Citadel, Dawntreader Elk, Decree of Annihilation, Explore, Fellwar Stone (9th Edition), Fog (Magic 2010), Gilded Light, Karplusan Forest, Legacy Weapon, Maelstrom Pulse (Modern Masters/Promo), Magus of the Moat, Millstone (7th Edition), Mirrorworks, Mist Raven, Murmuring Bosk, Nemata, Grove Guardian, Opalescence, Prismatic Omen, Prophetic Prism, Purify, Pyroclasm, Pyrotechnics, Runechanter's Pike, Sapling of Colfenor, Savage Twister, Seat of the Synod, Serrated Arrows (Duel Deck), Supreme Verdict (Promo), Spirit of Resistance, Strip Mine (From the Vault), Suppression Field, Tangle, Thespian's Stage, Transguild Courier, Tree of Tales, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Vault of the Archangel, Winding Canyons, Witchbane Orb
 Commentary: Probably the most popular basic land artist (thanks to his full-art lands, both the Unhinged and the Zendikar ones), the British John Avon is the main rival of Rob Alexander as a landscape painter, and a truly master of lighting. The lands he was tasked to visually create over the course of his career aren't as much a treasure trove of color fixing as they are a collection of interesting utility stuff. And you can find a little bit of everything in his pool, including a few combos.

   

 

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Matt Cavotta

 

 Active since: Mercadian Masques
 Official website: www.cavotta.com (currently rebuilding)
 Cards (paper count): 176
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: Argentum Armor, Armored Ascension, Blood Knight, Brawn, Caller of the Claw, Cenn's Enlistment, Crypt Rats (7th Edition), Dread, Elvish Aberration, Empress Galina, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, Etched Champion, Etched Oracle, Fact or Fiction (Commander), Faerie Mechanist, Firemane Angel, Future Sight, Giant Growth (10th Edition), Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Ruinblaster, Great Sable Stag, Icy Manipulator (9th Edition), Imperial Hellkite, Iridescent Angel, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Lim-Dul the Necromancer, Living Tsunami, Master of Etherium, Mimic Vat, Pristine Talisman, Protean Hulk, Raid Bombardment, Rite of Replication, Scourglass, Silvergill Adept, Still Life, Symbiotic Wurm, Time Stretch, Tuktuk Scrapper, Unified Will, Viridian Corrupter, Yavimaya Elder (Duel Deck), Yixlid Jailer
 Commentary: I mentioned earlier Matt's writing for the WotC website, but he's an illustrator as well. His pool of cards feels peculiar and is worth exploring. Note that Merfolk Spy, which is credited to "Matt Cavotta & Richard Whitters", still counts in Matt's pool and is legal in a Matt Cavotta's deck: you only need for your chosen artist to be featured, even alongside other artists he or she worked with for a card's art (and in some cases, the artists are always working as a team, so yes, you can build a "double artist" deck).

   

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Dan Frazier

 

 Active since: Limited Edition Alpha
 Official website: www.danfrazier.com
 Cards (paper count): 153
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: Aladdin's Ring, Arrest (Mercadian Masques), Cockatrice, Enlightened Tutor, Forcefield, Gaea's Herald, Gloom, Ice Storm, Jester's Mask, Juggernaut, Mahamoti Djinn, Mox Diamond, Orcish Artillery, Orcish Lumberjack, Powder Keg, Prosperity, (Ring of Maruf), Sedge Troll, Sunweb, Sword of the Ages, Thicket Basilisk, Vendetta
 Commentary: I know which cards a Dan Frazier deck would be about. These cards. Maybe someday, uh? (If they'll even release them with Dan's art).

    

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Rebecca Guay

 

 Active since: Alliances
 Official website: www.rebeccaguay.com
 Cards (paper count): 146
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: Abundance, Angelic Renewal, Auramancer, Aven Mindcensor, Bitterblossom, Bloodline Shaman, Boomerang (7th Edition/Promo), Channel (From the Vault), Commander Eesha, Crackdown, Dark Banishing (7th Edition), Dark Ritual (Mercadian Masques), Dawnglow Infusion, Defense of the Heart, Elvish Piper (9th Edition), Enchanted Evening, Enchantress's Presence, Fecundity, Gaea's Balance, Gaea's Blessing, Greenseeker, Haru-Onna, Hush, Kaysa, Memory Lapse, Moment's Peace, Mulch, Nantuko Shrine, Path to Exile (Promo), Perish, Pride of the Clouds, Priest of Titania, Respite, Scryb Ranger, Seedtime, Serra's Blessing, Spellstutter Sprite, Taunting Elf, Thornwind Faeries, Thoughtleech (7th Edition), Transcendence, Wall of Wood (10th Edition), Wonder, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Dryad
 Commentary: Rebecca Guay has definitely one of the most instantly recognizable style of the entire (along with some old favorite of mine like Harold McNeill, Drew Tucker and Cliff Nielsen, but for entirely different reasons). And her atmospheric paintings, akin to fairy tale book's illustrations, were at some point (more precisely, after the release of Onslaught) considered too "girlish" for the male-oriented world of Magic: The Gathering. So Rebecca, as she recounts the episode herself, was told she won't be needed anymore. It's a very infamous moment in the game's history of art direction, that generated such an outrage among fans that the art director at the time, Jeremy Cranford, quickly backpedaled with an official statement explaining how they will certainly find ways to include Ms. Guay's artwork in future sets. And they did, so Rebecca's ethereal faeries and romantic knights could live happily ever after on Magic's cards. (The incident was then satirized by Mark Rosewater with two Unhinged cards, Persecute Artist and Fascist Art Director). As for her pool, Rebecca surely was given some powerful cards to illustrate over the course of the years. There's really strong stuff in each color here, but also one typical flaw we're bound to find in pools from artists of the first generation: the creatures aren't that great. Well, actually, Guay's pool has some good stuff in that department, too. But for instance, try and find something worthy for Elvish Piper to drop. They need to give Rebecca a big monster to paint!

   

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Terese Nielsen

 

 Active since: Alliances
 Official website: www.tnielsen.com
 Cards (paper count): 164
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: Aku Djinn, Angel of Jubilation, Basandra, Battle Seraph, Birds of Paradise (Promo), Boon Reflection, Call of the Conclave, Catapult Master, Choke, Circle of Protection: Artifacts, Delusions of Mediocrity, Descendants' Path, Despise, Dismember, Divine Offering (Mirage & Mirrodin Besieged), Dryad Militant, Enter the Infinite, Ertai, Wizard Adept, Essence of the Wild, Essence Warden, Eternal Witness, Fact or Fiction, Faerie Trickery, Force of Will, Frogmite, Garruk Wildspeaker (Duel Deck), Giant Growth (7th Edition), Glorious Anthem (7th Edition), Guiding Spirit, Heroes' Reunion, Holy Strength (10th Edition), Honor the Fallen, Immerwolf, Ixidron, Jilt, Keening Apparition, Kird Ape (9th Edition), Legacy Weapon (10th Edition), Life from the Loam, Lifelink (Magic 2010), Liliana Vess (Duel Deck), Lotus Cobra (Promo), Loxodon Warhammer (Duel Deck), Magus of the Candelabra, Mana Reflection, Master Apothecary, Moonglove Extract, Natural Order, Nature's Lore (Duel Deck), Nature's Spiral, Nimble Mongoose, Rampant Growth (Promo), Rest in Peace, Rhystic Study, Silvercoat Lion, Spell Burst, Static Orb (7th Edition), Swords to Plowshares (Duel Deck), Timber Protector, Unholy Strength (10th Edition), Yavimaya Enchantress (7th Edition)
 Commentary: Another artist with a very strong style, exquisitely detailed backgrounds, and a predilection for bad boys & girls (I like to think of her as Rebecca Guay's complementary). And just look at this pool! The sheer quantity of power cards from Terese's history is overwhelming. I mean, she got Force of Will and Natural Order (I'll leave to you to find something to fetch with that, though). There's the basis for a seriously badass green-based deck here, although it's definitely not a budget-friendly one, because you'll need the pricey promo versions for Birds of Paradise and Lotus Cobra.

   

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Mark Tedin

 

 Active since: Limited Edition Alpha
 Official website: www.marktedin.com
 Cards (paper count): 194
 Card pool: Gatherer results
 Notable cards: Abyssal Gatekeeper, Beacon of Creation, Braingeyser, Browbeat, Circle of Protection: Red, City of Brass, Death Spark, Defense Grid, Dismantling Blow, Doubling Cube, Draining Whelk, Eater of Days, Eldrazi Monument, Elemental Resonance, Elite Vanguard, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Enormous Baloth, Ertai, the Corrupted, Experiment Kraj, Feldon's Cane (Timeshifted), Fertile Ground, Fireball, Flying Carpet, Forgotten Ancient, Fungal Behemoth, Genesis Chamber, Goblin Bushwhacker, Grim Tutor, Guul Draz Specter, Ideas Unbound, Isleback Spawn, Juzam Djinn, Kami of Ancient Law, Keldon Champion, Lava Spike, Leviathan (Timeshifted), Mana Crypt, Mana Drain, Mana Vault, Memory Lapse (Promo), Mind Control, Mindstab Thrull, Minion Reflector, Myr Matrix, Necropotence, Nemesis of Reason, Nevinyrral's Disk, No Mercy, Phyrexian Colossus, Phyrexian Devourer, Phyrexian Rager, Plague Boiler, Planar Portal, Polar Kraken, Ponder (Lorwyn), Predator, Flagship, Reprocess, Ring of Gix, Scorching Lava, Serpent Generator, Skyship Weatherlight, Sol Ring, Supreme Exemplar, Telepathy, Temple Bell, Temporal Adept (9th Edition), Terashi's Grasp, Tetravus, Time Vault, Winter Orb
 Commentary: Mark Tedin is the "monster painter". Alien anatomy, organic architecture, exposed brains, twisted flesh, disturbing mutations are all Mark's call and signature. He takes the basic inspiration from the surrealist horror of H. R. Giger into a whole new direction, because Mark's monsters and landscapes aren't darkly lit, they're colorful and vibrant with otherworldly hues. One result of this vocation is that we'll find more big fatties in Tedin's pool than in probably everyone else's (he was the man born to give life to Eldrazi. And Phyrexians, of course). But there's more. Just take a look at the cards listed above. That's right, there's the full package: Mana Crypt, Mana Vault and Sol Ring! Plus Time Vault! And Necropotence! All the broken cards of yonder were Mark Tedin's job, apparently.

   

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 So, that should give you a good idea of what The Art of War can do for you (and it's also fun to make do with "younger" artists that don't provide such a large pool of cards. What would a Brad Rigney or a Volkan Baga deck look like?). Now, it's just time to start choosing an artist, and start building!

 I'll see you in the Art room!