Another Magic: The Gathering card is currently under spotlight for allegedly having stolen art. This time, the card Trouble in Pairs art by Fay Dalton is under scrutiny for its similarities to a cover of a Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. novel, The Ravengers. Released in 1995, the art was drawn by the iconic MTG artist – Donato Giancola!
Fay Dalton is a relatively new artist in Magic: The Gathering, having done a few Secret Lairs and some cards in Murders at Karlov Manor Commander cards (Scryfall list of cards) but has worked for numerous other franchises such as Google, Warner Bros, PlayStation, and more.
Past precedence has shown that although Wizards will likely stop collaboration with the artist, the card will not see a reprint with the same art, and could even be replaced in the digital versions. The card is not available in MTG Arena as it is from a Commander product.
Other Examples
There has been other previous examples of plagiarized or stolen art in Magic: The Gathering:
On November 19, 2023, artist Lorenzo Lanfranconi compared one of their paintings and the card side by side to show how the background of the art has been used on the card art:
@wizards_magic just want to let you know one of you artists stole one of my paintings to paste it as it is in the background of their illustration. I don't even want to know the reason behind this. It's so stupid that deserve a prize. LOL pic.twitter.com/hxfxaGKGTj
Not long after, David Sondrered released a statement on social media and claimed to have reached out to the original artist and Wizards of the Coast to settle the matter.
David Sondered Instagram
Statement From Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast subsequently released a statement:
We recently became aware of claims that David Sondered’s artwork on the card Wayfarer's Bauble used art created by another artist without that artist’s permission. Such misuse of art is expressly prohibited by our artist guidelines and does not reflect the values of Wizards of the Coast. As such, we will be suspending any future work with David Sondered until further notice.
Since then, all social media presence by David Sondered has been deactivated and Lorenzo Lanfranconi has also released a statement to say the matter has been clarified privately.
