Wizards of The Coast has givenMagic: The Gatheringfans a first look at the upcomingUnsanctionedexpansion.Unsanctionedis the latest expansion in the line of “Unsets,” a series of non-competitiveMagic: The Gathering cardsthat lean into the fun, wacky, and downright silly side ofMagic.Magicplayers have already found an easter egg in the new set: Each of the basic lands inUnsanctionedhas a squirrel hidden somewhere in the art.
It appears that the easter egg was first discovered by an observant redditor on theMagic: The Gatheringsubreddit. While the initial post only found the easter egg in the plains art, users in the comment sections were quick to find the squirrels in the rest of the land cycle. While the reaction to theThero’s Beyond Death Land Cyclewas mixed, so far the squirrel lands have been met with mostly positive reactions.
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Mark Rosewater, the lead designer forMagicsince 2003 has long professed an affinity for squirrels. He said that his love for them developed after a miscommunication withMagic’sart department led to a card that was supposed to have a squirrel on it getting a cat instead. As a result, squirrel cards have since become a staple of the Unsets. They’ve appeared in all of them since the first Unset, 1998’sUnglued,and are on thebox cover for the upcomingUnsanctioned. Considering the silly nature of these expansions, the squirrel has made for a perfect mascot.
The location of the squirrel in each card is as follows. On the plains card the squirrel can be seen in the central clouds. On the mountain card a squirrel head can be seen in the furthest right mountain. For the island card, the whole island is made up of a squirrel - a great place to vacation, perhaps. On the swamp card the leaves in the lower left hand side make up the shape of the squirrel. Finally on the forest card the sunlight coming through the leaves on the upper left hand side show the outline of a squirrel. As of now it’s unknown whether the lands will be available onMagic Arena, but if they are, hopefully theydon’t breakMagic The Gathering: Arenaagain.
So far thefull art land cyclehas gotten the most attention, which makes a lot of sense. These full art land cards are absolutely gorgeous, and considering the land cards from the last unsets are some of the most expensive full art lands, players are clearly excited to get their hands on them.
These basic cards are a prime example of the type of silliness that players have come to expect in the unsets. While the full art lands will probably get most of the attention, the basic lands will be certainly find a home in the decks of magic players who don’t take themselves too seriously. And even players who do take the game seriously will have to agree that these aren’t theworst lands ever printed.
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