#vesuva

Vesuva

It is everywhere you've ever been.

Vesuva (Time Spiral) - Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

More cards with art by Zoltan Boros on Scryfall

I don’t think I’ve ever explained my icon, or why I’m so attached to it.

It’s the city of Vesuva, from the Magic the Gathering card of the same name; I played a lot of MtG at one stage, and Vesuva is my favourite card.

Vesuva is the city of the shapeshifters, though in MtG lore it was destroyed long ago and all that’s left of it now is a ruin. I find the art so evocative, because above the water you can see the city as it is, dead and abandoned, but in the water you see it reflected as it was, with the bridges still standing, the lamps lit in the buildings and people moving in the streets.

And it’s not just the art that fits the idea: it’s the mechanic too. Vesuva is a land, but it has no identity of its own: it does nothing as itself. It’s made to come into play as a copy of somewhere else, and it can shapeshift from one place into another as the game goes on.

And the flavour text?

It is everywhere you’ve ever been.

When Blood Moon is on the battlefield, nonbasic lands are mountains from the moment they enter the battlefield. In fact, since they enter the battlefield as mountains, they don’t get any of their own ETB replacement effects or triggers, so they enter untapped with no choices made for them and no counters.

In the scenario you describe, Vesuva enters the battlefield untapped as a mountain and your opponent doesn’t get to choose for it to copy anything.

(This is a rules change that was brought in for Ixalan. Previously, your opponent would be able to choose to have Vesuva enter as a tapped copy of the forest.)

4 Azusa, lost but seeking, same set

1 vesuva, non foil

Looking for all for 130 preferably, but price is negotiable, plus shipping

Sketch of the Day (May 31st 2016) - some sketches which I did today of Vesuva, a character who could use a few more meals in his stomach. Colour, hopefully, will follow.