Katsuya Terada, a Japanese artist responsible for illustrating strategy guides for the early games in Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series, has created artwork for two of the cards in Magic: the Gathering’s upcoming Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty set. The artwork was revealed on the MTG Japan Twitter account on Thursday.
Katsuya Terada, sometimes known by the alias ‘Doodle King’, was responsible in the 1980s and 1990s for numerous Zelda illustrations for Nintendo Power – Nintendo’s official news and strategy print magazine for American audiences, which ran until 2012. Over the years he created dozens of illustrations for the series, producing colourful interpretations of the characters and events of the first four games. And, as Nintendo Enthusiast reports, Katsuya Terada has now lent his pen to Magic: the Gathering, creating special borderless variants of two of the more high profile cards revealed in the Kamigawa set.
Both are Planeswalker cards – Tamiyo, Compleated Sage and The Wandering Emperor – and each has particular story significance in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Tamiyo is a scholar from Kamigawa – a recurring character who, in this set, has been brutally converted to a cyborg by Phyrexians, part of an unsavoury process known as ‘compleating’. The Wandering Emperor is Kamigawa’s lost emperor, the recently unveiled Planeswalker previously known only as The Wanderer.
As the upcoming Kamigawa set, which releases February 18, is heavily inspired by Japanese culture, Wizards has made a particular effort to include the work and styles of Japanese artists on its cards, partnering with Kogado Studios to connect to Japanese artists. Katsuya Terada is not the only Japanese video game artist to feature either – the set’s Buy-a-Box promo contains artwork by Yoji Shinkawa of Metal Gear fame.
A wide collection of Katsuya Terada’s Zelda artwork can be found on the Zelda Wiki. Spot anything you recognise?
You can get the full scoop on MTG’s next set in our Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty guide, or delve into past releases with our guide to all the MTG sets.