Wizards Versus Robots
Reading Time: 6 minutesHow a Beloved Card Game Became Embroiled in a Controversy Over Bots, In a world where companies are trading the work of talented artists for generative A.I., many players have started to wonder if and when such a change will happen for Magic: The Gathering
It’s the most magical moment of my life.
I am 10 years old and in the games aisle of a Target. Before me is a wall filled with all manner of trading card games. The dazzling monsters of Yu-Gi-Oh! The glittering colors of Pokémon. But at this moment, a new game has grabbed my full attention. Displayed on the booster pack is a beautiful angel—but not like the ones I see every Sunday at church. This angel is clad in battle-scarred golden armor, holding a pair of wild, serrated swords aloft. Behind her, a field of weary soldiers all look up at her in awe, as if she’s arrived in answer to all their beleaguered prayers. The lead soldier rises limp-armed, his jaw hanging open, and as I stand there in that Target, my jaw falls open, too.
This was my first encounter with the art of Magic: The Gathering, the trading card game I would soon get hooked on and play for the rest of my life. First premiering at GenCon in 1993, Magic has grown over its 30-year history to become a billion-dollar industry, with over 27,000 unique cards created for it.
Ask any of the game’s 50 million fans how they first got into it, and you’ll probably hear a story very close to mine. We all saw a dragon on the cards our schoolyard friends were shuffling, or a grisly, grinning demon in the long glass case at the comic store, and it stopped us in our tracks.
It was the art of the cards that first drew most of us into the game, and its art has always been something that sets it apart from its competitors. From the beauty and power of my beloved ‘Serra Advocate‘ to the frank adorability of Magic’s recent Redwall-esque ‘Bloomburrow’ expansion pack, Magic’s art has allowed players not just to tell one card from another, but to build connections with specific cards, encouraging a high degree of customization and self-expression. Yet in a world where companies are increasingly trading the work of talented artists for the creations of generative A.I., many players have started to wonder if and when such a change will happen for Magic.
‘I think we’re all pretty afraid of what the potential is, given what we’ve seen from the generative image side,’ Sam, a YouTube creator who runs the channel Rhystic Studies, told me. ‘It’s staggeringly powerful. And it’s only in its infancy.’
Sam has been creating video essays for Rhystic Studies since 2013, exploring the art, culture, and history of Magic. For Sam, the game’s art isn’t just something nice to look at while playing, but ‘a core pillar of the game.’
‘Magic’s greatest asset has always been its commitment to create a new illustration for every new card,’ he said. He adds that if we sacrifice that commitment for A.I., ‘you’d get to a point pretty fast where it just disintegrates and becomes the ugliest definition of the word product.’
So far, Magic’s parent company, Wizards of the Coast, has outwardly agreed with Sam, saying in an official statement in 2023 that Magic ‘has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people’ and forbidding outside creatives from using A.I. in their work. However, a number of recent incidents—from the accidental use of A.I. art in a Magic promotional image to a very intentional LinkedIn post for a ‘Principal AI Engineer,’ one that Wizards had to clarify was for the company’s video game projects—have left many players unsure whether Wizards is potentially evolving their stance, or merely trying to find their footing in an ever-changing A.I. landscape.
In response to fan concerns, Wizards has created an ‘AI art FAQ‘ detailing, among other things, the new technologies it’s invested in to detect A.I. use in art. Still, trust in the company has been damaged by this year’s incidents. Longtime Magic artist David Rapoza even severed ties with the game this past January, citing this seeming difference between Wizards’ words and actions when it comes to the use of A.I. Sam says the larger audience has likewise been left ‘cautiously suspicious,’ hoping to believe Wizards’ official statements while also carefully noting the company’s moves and mistakes with the technology.
‘I think what we want is for Wizards to commit hard to one lane and stay [with] what is tried and true,’ Sam says. ‘And that is prioritizing human work over shortcuts.’
This desire for a hard commitment from Wizards is a sign of just how rapidly A.I. technology, and fears around it, has grown in the last few years. It was, in fact, only a couple of years ago that the very idea of A.I. Magic cards was, quite literally, a joke. Social media account RoboRosewaterMasters has been posting A.I.-generated Magic cards on X on since 2021. Following in the footsteps of the original RoboRosewater (both named for, but not affiliated with, Magic’s longtime head designer Mark Rosewater), the 2000 users on the account’s Discord use an A.I. model trained on real Magic cards, as well as outside A.I. art generators, to create wacky and often nonsensical cards. The project has been a great source of laughter within the Magic community, its cards not only underscoring the shortcomings of A.I., but often highlighting absurdities in things like Magic text and naming conventions.
The team at RoboRosewater tells me the project exists ‘purely for comedy,’ but as advances in A.I. have raised increasing ethical concerns, even they have needed to take it more seriously. Concern within the team about their use of generative art has prompted them to seek new ways to create card illustrations, and the team gives me a resounding ‘No’ when I ask if generative A.I. should be used to help make official Magic cards.
‘Generative A.I. has fascinating potential, but should never be used as a cost-saving measure or to replace a human artist whose livelihood might be impacted,’ they said. For Wizards to utilize current versions of A.I. in making Magic, without the consent of their artists and writers, would be, the team believes, ‘a cynical corporate cost-saving scheme.’
This sentiment touches an unsettling truth at the heart of fan concern on this issue, one which Sam also pointed out. While most believe the game’s internal team can be trusted to keep Magic’s magic, they aren’t the only ones making decisions for the game.
Toy company Hasbro has owned Wizards since 1999, and it’s sometimes been hard for Magic fans to know how the company views its subsidiary in relation to A.I. While Hasbro released a statement on generative A.I. in 2023, asserting ‘an unwavering respect for the rights of creators’ and pledging to ’empower each of our teams to determine if generative AI tools are right for their businesses, fans, and community,’ many fans remain skeptical. Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks didn’t help the matter when he told VentureBeat last March that there were ‘interesting and compelling use-cases’ for combining A.I. and Hasbro brands, reiterating a need to respect the art and creators they work with. However, he specifically called out Magic and Dungeons and Dragons as sources to ‘mine’ and ‘leverage.’
When asked about the issue now, Hasbro CTO of digital studios Scott Neumann told me plainly that ‘Hasbro stands behind Wizards’ commitment to avoid AI art and writing,’ adding that while Magic itself does see opportunities to grow in this new era, it’s only through the use of ‘ethical AI.’
‘Respect for creators comes first,’ Neumann said, ‘and our exploration of AI is being done within that framework.’ As an example, Neumann says their dev team has recently been working on a proof of concept for a generative A.I. resource to help new players learn to play Magic.
‘Players could ask questions about all aspects of gameplay,’ Neumann said, ‘from questions about specific card interactions and categories to deck-building and strategies.’ According to Neumann, aiding new players with questions is the current focus of Magic’s research with A.I. and Wizards’ archives, and the company’s commitment to human-made art and writing ‘hasn’t changed.’
Whether such reassurances will be enough to move Magic players from ‘cautiously suspicious’ to ‘cautiously optimistic’ is difficult to say. The rise of A.I. has brought us into a brave new world, with people from all sectors simultaneously trying to capitalize on, guard against, and figure out how to use it ethically. Like most fans, Magic players remain vigilant about the integrity of the game they love, and the continued creep of A.I. into everything from search engines to dating apps has left many on edge.
While much is left to be seen as to how A.I. will ultimately impact the game, there’s one thing I do know: Regardless of the new technologies Magic might have utilized, the little boy in that Target wouldn’t have even looked at the game if it wasn’t for artist Matt Wilson’s illustration of that striking battlefield angel.
Whatever else comes from combining A.I. and Magic, I hope that Wizards’ creative teams continue to hold to their principles—and that the people pointing the way for the company continue to know where the magic is.
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