Podcast
Top Ten Forests
17 May 2021 - 2 min read
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In Episode 24 of our podcast Chev made an offhanded comment that I could make a Buzzfeed style article of top ten forests and be able to easily upload it in the future. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to that future. Please enjoy my personal favorite forests in the game. Let me know if I missed any good ones though!
Number 10:
Illustrated by Tianhua X
This will be our first and only full art forest shown here. This is the baseline for what you’d expect to see out of a top ten forest. A unique take on what the woods look like with a great fantasy twist in the form of these twisty yet sturdy looking trees. The card almost has some lense flare with the sun coming through the tree tops as well. top notch art. Absolutely chef’s kiss.
Number 9:
Illustrated by Xin-Yu Liu
Here we drop the fantasy trees and substitute bamboo. I definitely have a lot of love for eastern style bamboo forests. However, I think this does an awesome job of using the light rays to create a great visual effect. The transition from the vibrant green on top of the bamboo down into the dark roots is a stunning visual as well.
Number 8:
Illustrated by Eytan Zana
Now let’s take that light to dark transition and flip the axis. The silhouette of this gnarled tree push up close to the camera with the well lit autumn colors pushed back from our point of view. This isn’t just great art, but gets across the vibe of Innistrad incredibly well.
Number 7:
Illustrated by Titus Lunter
I promise we’ll be done talking about lighting soon. Probably. I dunno, but the lighting and staging of this forest is amazing. We get to see large furs in the very close foreground, some small gnarled trees in a harsh midground, then the looming mountains of Tarkir frame the back of the forest. If the last one was a thematic slam dunk, this is a thematic half court shot. It’s nothing but net.
Number 6:
Illustrated by Titus Lunter
Turns out my man Titus and I both love big mountains in the background. But the forest is still the focus of this art. As it should be! We get a great closup of one kind of tree, then we get to see that same tree repeat out to the horizon. It is great to see that repetition and how the visual of the tree changes as we zoom out. I can’t not talk about how good that mountain is also… like it’s split in half, that’s wild.
Number 5:
Illustrated by Adam Paquette
Gotcha! We still aren’t done talking about lighting. This is a unique Japanese forest that makes me wish I found a card shop while I was over there. This forest looks just the right mix of natural and unsettling. The small sunspots and reflections on the creek hit just right. We get to see less and less of the trees as we peer deeper into the dark of these woods. It’s the perfect amount of creepy.
Number 4:
Illustrated by Stephen Tappin
Aight, those of you who have seen any Miyazaki movie can move on because you know why this art is great. Those who haven’t, go watch them! We’re definitely back into the fantasy forests here. We are dwarfed by these massive trees that aren’t even standing at their full height. The longer I look at this the more I wonder what broke these trees and what lies beneath them? All I know is that this is one fine looking forest.
Number 3:
Illustrated by Jung Park
It’s shameful that we had to wait until Number 3 to see some autumn colors! I know that forests should be green, but forests in the fall are just to pretty to ignore. Commander 2013 gave us this gift of a forest art. It actually has a twin art which shows the same scene at night or something and it’s honestly much worse. This forest succeeds entirely on the back of it’s sunset lighting and fall colors. Simply gorgeous.
Number 2:
Illustrated by Alayna Danner
This forest shows us something that we might honestly see in the real world out on a hike. It’s just a perfect day in a perfect looking forest. Seeing the fog rise up as those beautiful clouds pass overhead, you get a perfect forest, sprawling across the landscape and out to the horizon. I actually don’t really know why I love this one as much as I do, but it’s just so dang pretty.
Honorable Mentions:
Illustrated by Rebecca Guay, Darrell Riche, and Alayna Danner
These are all plenty good forest arts, but they unfortunately weren’t able to stack up against the other power houses on this list. Still, much love to the creature lurking in the forest, the small path through the woods, and the water color trees by the lakeside. Now, onto our number one!
Number 1:
Illustrated by Tomasz Jedruszek
Take a look back at number nine for me. We get a great forest that is all shades of green, composed entirely of bamboo. Here we are upgraded. We can see towering bamboo next to us, drawing our eyes up. From there, the sky cuts down the card, until forest covered mountains meet it smack in the middle. Our eyes immediately trace the rivers or paths down those mountains until we hit the ground in front of us. This brings us back to the path ahead, framed by that same bamboo that first pulled our eyes skyward. There is so much good lighting, framing, and theming in this forest. It’s the best of every world. It is just the best forest art.
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