Magic: The Gathering - The 10 Best Cards With Art By Pete Venters
By Chris Guest
Magic: The Gathering is home to tons of terrific original artwork. While the game’s art direction has changed myriad times over the years, there are a number of notable artists who’ve worked with the game for decades.
One such artist is Pete Venters. Venters has illustrated a whopping 302 cards over the course of his MTG career, starting with Sage of Lat-Nam from 1994’s Antiquities expansion all the way up to notable cards from Modern Horizons 3.
Pete Venters is one of the most prolific artists in Magic: The Gathering history, with over 300 cards to his name
Venters has covered a vast array of subjects, including notable story beats such as Phyrexian Arena from 2001’s Apocalypse set, Goblins galore and much, much more. Read on to explore the 10 best cards with artwork by Pete Venters.
10. Tahngarth’s Glare
Set: Apocalypse (2001)
One thing that Pete Venters does, perhaps better than any other MTG artist, is include humor in his artwork. This card from Apocalypse perfectly showcases that innate ability. Featuring the gruff, burly minotaur character Tahngarth looking through a spyglass only to see, on the other side, the delightfully goofy comic relief goblin Squee peering back at him, Venters perfectly captures the emotions that each character would likely feel in this scenario as well as the innate humor in it.
Combine that with a beautiful rose red, lavender-tinted sky in the background and you’ve got classic artwork on your hands.
9. Phyrexian Dreadnought
Set: Mirage (1996)
A 12/12 for one mana? In this economy? That’s right, this card from 1996’s Mirage expansion was an immediate combo piece upon release when it debuted, though it was supposedly given a “game-breaking” drawback.
Beyond the card’s stats, though, the terrifying and iconic artwork from Pete Venters certainly makes this card look threatening, as you can even see a minuscule person in the foreground of the card to show scale – this is one big artifact creature. Featuring great use of oranges and reds, this legendary card will cost you at least $150 on the secondary market these days.
8. Mons’s Goblin Raiders
Set: Fifth Edition (1997)
Pete Venters is perhaps the best goblin artist in MTG history – and that’s saying a lot. There’s something so special about Venters’ green goblin beasties; he just seems to draw them the way we all imagine goblins would look like in our heads.
Just compare the dull and uninspiring Fourth Edition version of this card to Venters’ unsettling, thrilling and downright fun take on the card to see who MTG’s real master of gobbos is.
7. Survival of the Fittest
Set: Exodus (1998)
A juggernaut card when it debuted in 1998’s Exodus set, this card still retains a staggering price point of close to $200 on today’s market. Why? Well, its effect is incredibly powerful, and it has only been printed once… and perhaps because it also features amazing Pete Venters artwork.
Brutally violent artwork that showcases Venters’s pet subject, a goblin, this card serves as a perfect synthesis of card name, artwork and in-game effect.
6. Ensnaring Bridge
Set: Stronghold (1998)
With rather minimilastic art, this Venters showcase features longtime MTG protagonist Gerrard Capashen duking it out with… a bridge? That’s right, this powerful card shows a bridge springing to life and fighting Gerrard.
While this card has seen a few reprints over the years, Venters’s original artwork remains the best example of it, as it simply has that retro charm that other printings of the card lack. Also, because the card’s text reads: “Creatures with power greater than the number of cards in your hand can’t attack,” it’s incredibly strong – and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any version of this card for less than $12.
5. Psychic Frog
Set: Modern Horizons 3 (2024)
The newest card on this list by a long shot, Psychic Frog from Modern Horizons 3 showcases Venters’s amazing use of color on this interesting Frog-type creature.
While it’s not quite as cute as Poison Dart Frog from the Lost Caverns of Ixalan set, this card will likely be more competitively viable as it serves as a ramped-up version of Psychatog from MTG’s past.
4. Time Warp
Set: Tempest (1997)
Back when “take an extra turn” cards didn’t have the clause of “exile this card” after playing them, Pete Venters’s take on an extra turn features awesome mirrored artwork that is meant to represent a break in time – allowing the subject to act again.
Featuring a fascinating swirling background, this Venters artwork has stood the test of time on one of the best extra turn cards of all time.
3. The Abyss
Set: Legends (1994)
Some of the most striking MTG artwork in Pete Venters’s career can be found on this black card dating all the way back to 1994’s Legends expansion. Featuring no background save for a plain black color, that perfectly fits this card; that deep, inky blackness is meant to represent “The Abyss” itself as well as the subjects of the card being slowly sucked into that nothingness.
An incredibly potent card even today, The Abyss has seen no reprints since it was first printed in 1994, and, as such, this Pete Venters-illustrated card is worth roughly $650 on average on the secondary market.
2. Natural Affinity
Set: Mercadian Masques (1999)
While Pete Venters might be known for producing zany, colorful and sometimes violent card artwork that features goblins, his second-best work of art on an MTG card actually features another, far rarer, creature type (Dryad) and employs muted earth tones and softer lines than is Venters’s preference.
The symmetry of this card is brilliant, and the use of parallel lines draws your eye towards the Dryad casting this spell. Striking, naturalistic and beautifully realized, this card showcases the softer – but no less powerful – side of Pete Venters’ artwork.
1. Orcish Settlers
Set: Weatherlight (1997)
An absolute masterpiece of absurdist humor, this card from 1997’s Weatherlight expansion features the best-ever card art from Pete Venters: a parody of Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic painting that replaces the farmer and his daughter (often mistaken for his wife) with a downtrodden “orcish settler” and his rather angry-looking wife. Venters even paints the words "After G. Wood" on the farmer's overalls, in case there was any doubt as to this card's inspiration.
Venters uses the American Gothic template to have some fun, as the farmer has a piece of burnt toast on his pitchfork, and his wife holds a rolling pin in her hands, angrily tapping it into her open palm in advance of likely bonking her husband on the head.
This is truly incredible artwork, and the flavor text serves as the cherry on top of this (quite cremated) cake. Cards with art like this are one of the many reasons why Magic’s popularity and importance in the world of games endures.