1. Acquire plutonium from Libyan terrorists to power time machine (risky, to say the least)
2. Actually use my memory (oh fine, if I have to...)
So welcome to the first of several spotlights on a card or more in the deck. I intend to write these whenever I feel like it, and the purpose is to give some insight into how the deck formed, explain why I have the cards I do, and to give some credit where it is due.
Today we're going to take a look at two of the more striking cards from the deck!
These two cards are none other than Oros, the commander himself, and Sol Ring, probably the first card that goes into every Commander deck! CardKitty is a duo of card alterers (Dereck and Eva) from Canada who are just stellar. If you haven't before, go ahead and browse their website. Their gallery is vast and they have a few great tutorials if you are looking to get into card altering! They are always taking commissions with competitive prices.
Only one of these cards was actually commissioned by me, and that was Oros. The Sol Ring, interestingly, was one of the first acquisitions for the deck and more or less solidified the plan of pimping it out. Two years ago around the holidays, I had started to search eBay for some of the cards I wanted in foil (I'm not sure if I was even seeking out Japanese at the time, though I was aware that I preferred to get those versions!) and I stumbled across a player who had basically pieced apart his or her Commander (EDH at the time, I suppose) deck and put them up for $0.99 starting bid auctions. I found the Sol Ring there and it was basically the first card alter I had seen. They weren't hot like fire like they are now - back then you didn't find several alterists hanging at their own booths and taking commissions at 5K tournaments! I've always been a big Lord of the Rings fan and was looking for a judge foil Sol Ring anyway with little luck finding it, so I sniped it and won. Of course, the Eye of Sauron Sol Ring variants are about a dime a dozen, however the depiction of Sauron on this one is pretty amazing. Even though I didn't commission it myself, I'm not sure I would have asked for it any differently if I had!
Oros, then, came not long after the Sol Ring arrived. I was totally hooked on card alters and was determined to get a CardKitty alter done on my general as well. First I had to find the Japanese Foil Oros - again, eBay was kind to me, and back then these Dragons didn't go for $50 a piece like they do now. I found one and bought it - I think in the $25 range - and arranged a deal with CardKitty. They've got some great burn effect cards, so the basic idea was to just add a burn effect and embellish Oros' birds - giving full art or borderless treatments to modern foil cards is actually a bit hard to do and can look pretty weird at angles, so they turned me away from that idea and towards the more simple alter. Cards sent, painting done, scan sent to me, money sent to them, card sent back, and I had myself a pimp Commander!
There's one more thing to these, though - you may have noticed that these both have artist signatures as well. In both cases, those came after the alterations were done. Some have heard horror stories about artists who are more strict with the use of their work and despise or even attempt to file lawsuits against the alterers. That's not always the case - I met Mark Tedin at GenCon 2010 and warily showed him the altered card - to my surprise he was just amazed at the alter and thought it was incredible! He gladly found a spot to sign the card, which is really simply a form of homage to his original work anyway. As for Oros, a few months ago I contacted Daren Bader and arranged a signing through the mail, and hoped for the safety of the precious cargo as it shipped down to Texas and back again. Daren also had no problems whatsoever with the alterations, stating that he'd simply have to find a different place to sign the card! I was pleasantly surprised with his great choice of white sharpie on the burn effect. He also signed the Scourge of Kher Ridges and did the fantastic alter on the MPS Plains - but I'll save that for another time!
Hope this has been an interesting read. Please use the comments below and let me know what you think!
Until next time!
Day 2 Dan
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