Longtime Magic: The Gathering artist Jason Felix acknowledged and apologized for using other artists’ work on the Mystical Archive version of Crux of Fate on Twitter today.
Kitt Lapeña made a video on Sunday showing how his fan art of Nicol Bolas, created in 2016, was used on the new art of Crux of Fate by Felix. Other users on Reddit and Twitter also pointed out how the image of Ugin on the new variant was incredibly similar to an illustration by Raymond Swanland.
Felix’s apology comes two days after Wizards of the Coast (WotC) issued a statement saying the company suspended its contract with him. Felix said in his statement that he was “overworked, but that’s no excuse.” He said he messed up and is looking to make amends by compensating the artists he lifted the art from and will advocate for their names to be used on the card instead of his.
Felix ended his chain of Tweets saying “The artists did not deserve this. It’s not much and I don’t expect forgiveness. But I hope it’s a step towards being better. I’m so sorry this ever happened and to let down the fans.”