The popular card game, Magic: The Gathering, has been a major part of tabletop gaming for over 25 years, since it debuted in 1993. Throughout the years, the Wizards of the Coast game has released over 100 sets between expansions and core sets, totaling in thousands upon thousands of cards.

　　With MTG's next set, Double Masters, Wizards of the Coast is reprinting fan favorite cards with brand-new art. There will be 332 cards in the upcoming set, which arrives in stores on August 7, 2020. Wizards of the Coast gave GameSpot an early look at some of the upcoming cards, which you can check out below.

　　Urza's Tower Showcase art by Mark TedinGallery

　　All of the showcase cards--the ones without borders--were drawn by artist Mark Tedin. And one thing you may notice are the beautiful panoramic portraits. "It was demanding having the four compositions work together both individually but also as a narrative panoramic set," Tedin explained. "The art direction allowed me to arrange the four subjects in a manner that would present Karn's re-emergence into Dominaria, renewed and freed of Phyrexia's influence. Having low sunlight unifying the lands on the left, then focusing on Karn on the right provided a more dramatic reveal of this legendary character. I felt the Power Plant, Mine, and Tower had a working relationship with one another in the past. I envisioned that the Mines had extracted resources, the Power Plant had been powering it all, and the Tower administrated the whole operation. Colorful leylines connect all three, suggesting that they could be re-energized once again."

　　The Urza trio is really important to the game if you're trying to build up a mana pool. Sure, it's all colorless mana, but if you have all three of the cards in play, you can add seven colorless to your pool per turn by tapping these cards. And that mana can come in handy if you're casting something like Fireball or any other spell that takes X colorless mana to strengthen it.

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　　However, this wasn't the first time Tedin worked on a panoramic piece. Back in 2010, he crafted a beautiful forests piece for Scars of Mirrordin. "The Mirrodin piece was different because the art was limited to just the art area for the cards themselves," said Tedin. "Because of that, the composition was very elongated and resembled a horizontal panoramic photo. The thick Mirrodin forest had the potential of becoming visually cluttered, and because of that it was both important to switch between density and openness. I had to alternate the compositional balance in each card, as well as for the overall set. In the case of Urza's Lands, there was a lot of space in the sky and in the foreground, which dramatically opened up the compositional opportunities for me. I knew I had to make these areas somewhat interesting in order to support the main focal area. Placing Karn and the Mines as dominant features on either side created a strong framework around the Power Plant, the Tower and the landscape vista that they share."

　　For Double Masters, booster packs will consist of 15 cards--with two rares and two foils in each pack, Two non-foil showcase cards will be included in each booster box, which consists of 24 booster packs. Double Masters will arrive one day earlier than the physical release date for Magic Online, and boosters will be $7 each.

　　Mat Elfring on Google+