Cactus Game Design Message Boards

During a recent conversation with some of the other playtesters, the topic of card art came up--specifically regarding how often previously used art should be used in new sets.

My personal feeling is that I like to see the original art on a reprinted card if the original card never sees play and the art is a quality piece. Some great examples of this would be cards like Red Dragon and Abaddon from the Unlimited set. Those pieces of art are awesome and they look even more amazing when we reprinted those characters in RoJ (and crazy awesome with the alt-border versions!). When a card is reprinted but a previous version is still comparable or played a lot, I think new art is definitely preferable. Examples of that would be Jacob and Samuel from Cloud of Witnesses. The FooF/RoA versions of those Heroes still see a fair amount of play so it makes sense to give them different art for recognition purposes and variety. I think new art is also great when the original isn't that exciting or perhaps not very fitting for that card. The Joshua promo (which never sees play) comes to mind as art that certainly wasn't worth re-using when we reprinted Joshua, Son of Nun (which has great art).

I guess I always assumed that most players felt like I do, but that has not been the perception that others on the playtest team have had so maybe I've been mistaken all along...wouldn't be the first time. 

What are your thoughts re-using old art? Does it depend on the piece of art? Does it depend on how much art is re-used in the new set as a whole? Would love to get some feedback on this so that we as a playtest team, and myself personally, have a better understanding of what players want and don't want for future sets. Thanks guys! 

Will this work?

To be honest, it depends on the art.

Most of the art from Limited to C/D was really good. A lot of it could be reused with no problem. Otherwise, art like Aaron which was used for the Patriarchs, G deck, Priests, and Disciples was a tad annoying.

I agree with Justin for the most part.  If there is a piece of art for a character (and possibly other type) that isn't seeing the light of day and looks good it should be reused.  I do also like the idea of using a different piece of art for the different versions of characters that might see play, like Samuel & Joseph.  I think it just boils down to the piece of art itself, the quality of it and even "wow factor."  The main thing to keep in mind is that not everyone will agree with what they think is a good piece of art, so you will hear praise and backlash regardless of what you do.