The artist behind the Pokémon trading card game (TCG)’s most iconic cards is finally making the jump to Magic: The Gathering.
Mitsuhiro Arita, illustrator of the iconic Base Set Charizard and Pikachu cards, begins his Magic: The Gathering journey this August, when his borderless showcase variant of Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, debuts in Bloomburrow.
Arita has penned nearly 700 unique Pokémon cards and many more for various TCGs over the years, but Lumra will be his first foray into the Magic multiverse. While Lumra is a considerably more intense illustration compared to his usual work, Arita seems right at home with Magic – having captured the look and feel of a legendary Elemental Bear perfectly.
Based on information provided in Wizards of the Coast (WotC)’s first look at Bloomburrow article, it’s inferred that the borderless showcase variant of Lumra is Arita’s only illustration for the set, but in that same paragraph, WotC also references “calamity beasts”, which is likely the cycle of legendary Elemental animals similar to Lumra. If these other calamity beasts each have three variants like Lumra, it’s possible that we could see more of Arita’s work in the near future.
Bloomburrow is scheduled to release on August 2.
