Easter Eggs

[Loaded Shaman]

My lord that artwork is glorious. I'm looking too hard, and probably missing something right in front of me. Clueless on this one!

Lower left corner in the water, the Finding Nemo fishes.

The funny part is, I THOUGHT that to myself upon first glance, but assumed it couldn't be so simple!

[Morganator 2.0]

Even more easter eggs!

The creature lands from Forgotten Realms all have the image of their creature in the frame, sometimes in the negative space.

There is a short story in the Ikoria cards Forbidden Friendship, Capture Sphere, and Cathartic Reunion.

Normally Fall of the Titans wouldn't be able to destroy Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, but it will if you first use Bonds of Mortality.

The second conspiracy set was first spoiled as being Conspiracy: the Reign of Brago with 221 cards. The next day, the MTG twitter account posted a picture of Brago getting stabbed in the neck by Kaya, with the caption "Due to unforseen circumstances, Brago will not be making an appearance in our new Conspiracy set". They renamed the set Conspiracy: The Empty Throne and decreased the card count to 220 cards.

A little while later, an image of Marchesa on the throne was spoiled, the set name was changed to Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and the card count was back up to 221.

You can see the Mirari in the Cabal Coffers.

Champion of the Perished has more than a few references to Champion of the Parish. You can see their death in Defenestrate.

The different abilities for Bow of Nylea each have a result that increases from 1 to 4. The abilities are also a reference to the 4 seasons... or so I'm told. Not sure which ability coresponds to which season.

The five clans of Tarkir are each based around a different culture. Abzan are Persian, Jeskai are Shaolin, Mardu are Mongolian, Sultai are the Khmer, and Temur are Siberian.

You can see Guardians of Meletis in the background of Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis.

The basic lands from Commander 2016 each have a shooting star in the image, similar to the Wizards logo.

The original art for Birds of Paradise was supposed to be for Tropical Island, but the birds were too prominent and the island too distant. Not wanting to scrap the art, the design team just made an entirely new card.

Relentless Dead shares the same location as Endless Ranks of the Dead.

The Clue token from Modern Horizons 2 also appears in Hard Evidence.

The Tainted lands are all modified versions of a basic land from Odyssey.

The artifact lands from original Mirrodin all show up in their respective Sun's Zenith. They also appear as basics in New Phyrexia.

One of the arts of Goblin Chirurgeon shows them stitching together a LLanowar Elves, Uthden Troll, and the aven from Natural Selection.

Elvish Healer and Cooperation reference each other.

Tribute Mage is holding a Sword of the Meek.

[The Golgari Guy]

Tribute Mage is holding a Sword of the Meek.

The Sword of the Meek also appears in Return to Dust and Krosan Grip 

Also don't know if it was said already, but Sword of Vengeance is the sword of Akroma, angel of Wrath.

[WWolfe]

I’m glad you guys notice this stuff and point it out, I always miss it.

[The Golgari Guy]

I just noticed one that I had never seen, despite having Oxidize in my binder. Oxidize shows a rusty, destroyed Platinum Angel:




And here's another: In the art of Inexorable Blob, in the picture hanged in the Hallway, you can see the guy from the Ancestral Recall art:

[BoBWiz]

"Goblin Charbelcher is launching a Black Lotus."
There is also a ratchet bomb on the ground as well.

The Voltaic Servant has instead of a left hand a Voltaic Key from Urza's Saga.

https://scryfall.com/card/usg/314/voltaic-key

Oh man I'm so bad at recognizing things like that ...

At all three named Mage-Ring-Cards is the Mage-Ring on it. (Surprise!) Mage-Ring Bully, Mage-Ring Network, Mage-Ring Responder

[ApothecaryGeist]

The Dominaria United Commander expansion symbol contains the Invasion expansion symbol within it.

[The Golgari Guy]

The Dominaria United Commander expansion symbol contains the Invasion expansion symbol within it.

Well spotted! That's the Coalition symbol You can see it in the art of Coalition Relic and many other (at least 73!) cards. See here: https://scryfall.com/search?q=art%3Acoalition-symbol&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name

[BoBWiz]

The shadowmage infiltrator from odyssey is John Finkel.

[ApothecaryGeist]

The shadowmage infiltrator from odyssey is John Finkel.

Yes.  It is.  He won the Magic Invitational.  His prize was getting to design a card and getting his likeness on said card.  There were 11 such tournaments.  And therefore 11 such winners.  From 1997 to 2007.

[Morganator 2.0]

We should probably just get them all out of the way. Keep in mind that for a few of these the resemblance only applies to the original art.

Kai Budde - Voidmage Prodigy
Tiago Chan - Snapcaster Mage
Jon Finkel - Shadowmage Infiltrator
Darwin Kastle - Avalanche Riders
Mike Long - Rootwater Thief (not the merfolk in the picture, Mike Long is the human)
Bob Maher - Dark Confidant
Chris Pikula - Meddling Mage
Olle Rade - Sylvan Safekeeper
Antoine Ruel - Ranger of Eos
Terry Soh - Rakdos Augermage
Jens Thoren - Solemn Simulacrum

[Morganator 2.0]

It's been a while but here are some more easter eggs.

Interpret the Signs from Journey into Nyx shows the set symbol for Dragons of Tarkir; a set that hadn't been released at the time.

You can see the outline of Zhalfir in Zhalfirin Void. It matches the outline from Teferi's Protection.

There are three 0/0 zombie army tokens from War of the Spark, each with an increasing number of eternals on them.

Phil Foglio signed their name on the pot in Recycle.

Sometimes the gatherer rulings for cards will have little jokes in them. Here are some of my favorites.

• If the second ability of Revel in Riches causes you to win the game, please refrain from throwing your Treasure tokens into the air as this may distract or injure other players.
• Void Winnower: Yes, your opponent can't even. We know.
• While resolving Search for Blex, you may put any number of the cards into your hand, even if you don't have enough life to cover it. We'll assume you have a plan that's better than “and then I'll lose the game.”
• If you're drafting with other sets and draft basic land cards other than the five mentioned above (including Wastes and the “Snow-Covered” versions of the typical basic lands), those cards will be in your sideboard and the activated ability of Sovereign's Realm will allow you to play them. Also, invite me to your next draft—your group sounds rad.
• If Lovestruck Beast's power and toughness are reduced to 1/1, it learns that loving oneself is the first step on the true path to happiness, and it can attack even if you control no other 1/1 creatures.
• Protection from Humans refers only to the creature type Human. As far as Yawgmoth is concerned, you, your opponents, and planeswalkers aren't Humans.
• If you really want, you can choose zero modes for Rankle's triggered ability, but carefully consider the hidden costs in not entertaining someone titled Master of Pranks.
• Blim, Comedic Genius: The player who was dealt damage can't refuse your generous gift. That would be rude.
• If The Meathook Massacre enters the battlefield and it wasn't cast (or it was cast without paying its mana cost), X will be 0. The first ability will trigger, but it won't be much of a massacre.

[ApothecaryGeist]

Sometimes the gatherer rulings for cards will have little jokes in them.

Apex Devastator (the creature with quadruple cascade) - "... the stack can get messy, and we wish you luck."

[Morganator 2.0]

Hey so remember back in my first post where I showed the link between Uktabi Orangutan and Uktabi Kong? Well now we have Kibo, Uktabi Prince from Jumpstart 2022. The new art for Uktabi Orangutan still has those two monkeys in the background.

The basic lands from All Will Be One all tried to fit the phyrexian symbol in the art. Some are more clear than others. These lands also form a panorama.

Resistance Skywarden references Ogre Resister.

In D&D 5e, one of the material components for Tasha's Hideous Laughter is a feather waved in the air. This is visible in the artwork for the card.

I think everyone noticed this, but whatever. Gingerbrute is based on the Gingerbread Man fairytale. "Run, run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!". Gingerbrute can only be blocked by creatures that are equally fast.

Shadowfax, Lord of Horses has reminder text to show you the meaning of haste. Get it?

Gleeful Demolition's flavor text references Kuldotha Rebirth. It makes sense considering how similar they are.

The cookie from the Throne of Eldraine trailer appears as Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender.

Gnomes may be extinct across the multiverse. The only times that non-artifact gnomes appear are in the D&D sets and Quarum Trench Gnomes from legends.

Veteran Bodyguard looks like Lou Ferrigno.

Raptor Hatchling and Bear Cub have similar flavor texts.

The Wasteland from eternal masters shows a destroyed City of Brass.

[CleanBelwas]

Holy shit, that Lou Ferrigno resemblance is uncanny.