Later this month, Magic: The Gathering returns to certainly one of its most novel and beloved fantasy worlds with Lorwyn Eclipsed. To have fun the brand new set’s world reveal on Jan. 5, Polygon can completely reveal that Wizards of the Coast has partnered with an sudden but excellent collaborator: The Jim Henson Firm. On Monday, the puppet masters over at The Jim Henson Firm will reveal a brief movie set in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor starring handcrafted puppets. However earlier than that, check out a 3-minute mini-documentary about its growth shared by Wizards of the Coast.
The video provides a peek behind the scenes at how the varied designers at Jim Henson’s Creature Store handcrafted distinctive Lorwyn-Shadowmoor characters and creatures for the manufacturing, together with a take a look at the manufacturing itself. Members of The Jim Henson Firm, together with Brian Henson, stroll by means of how the upcoming brief was conceived and constructed, from early story pitches to puppet design, fabrication and efficiency.
In a video name, Brian Henson additionally defined to Polygon how the connection between The Henson Firm’s creative type and that of Lorwyn Eclipsed was fast.
“We’re a world-building firm,” Henson stated. “The worlds of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are family to Labyrinth and The Darkish Crystal. Working inside fantasy worlds is our favourite place to be.”
Lorwyn is the whimsical land of unending sunshine whereas Shadowmoor is its darkish mirror, with the 2 sides flipping as a part of a cycle and remodeling its residents into their alternate selves as a part of the method. The upcoming Magic set will discover this duality by means of card sport mechanics, and the creatures dwelling in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor make puppets an ideal match. There are halfling-sized Kithkin, goblin-like Boggarts, Treefolk, Giants, and extra creatures impressed by Celtic folklore. Even the elves have horns and cloven toes. With their huge, brief heads, a Kithkin may simply be mistaken for a Gelfling from Darkish Crystal.
This shared DNA goes even deeper. Henson pointed to a mutual respect for seen artistry between the 2 firms. Magic’s identification, in any case, is rooted in hand-painted card artwork and particular person creative interpretation, values that Henson stated align carefully with the Henson Firm’s sensible, performance-driven method to puppets. Henson stated that fantasy loses one thing when it turns into too slick, arguing that puppets and sensible results let audiences droop disbelief whereas nonetheless appreciating the artists behind the work.
That philosophy resonated strongly with Wizards’ Lorwyn workforce, notably artwork director Deborah Garcia, who admitted the thought felt nearly unreal when it first surfaced.
“Early in growth, we at all times ask ourselves, ‘What’s the dream trailer?’” Garcia stated. “I joked concerning the Henson Firm being that dream. I by no means truly thought it might occur.”
Lorwyn’s setting helped flip that dream into one thing tangible. In contrast to many Magic planes, Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are totally inhuman worlds — populated by goblins, elves, faeries, and stranger issues — leaving ample room for exaggerated kinds, textures, and expressions that really feel proper at house in puppetry.
“There aren’t any people on this airplane,” Garcia defined. “That provides you a lot freedom to manufacture creatures with out worrying about human realism. Lorwyn already feels tactile, folkloric, and emotional.”
For Neale LaPlante Johnson, the worldbuilding lead on Lorwyn Eclipsed, seeing that tactile fantasy realized bodily made the venture really feel actual far sooner than typical.
“You’re employed on a set for years, and it doesn’t really feel actual till gamers have the playing cards,” Johnson stated. “Seeing these characters constructed, held, and carried out? It felt like another person had stepped into the world we made. That was extremely validating.”
That sense of physicality wasn’t incidental. Each Wizards and the Henson workforce emphasised the significance of texture, conventional supplies, and visual craft all through the method, a deliberate callback to Lorwyn’s unique artwork path and its status as certainly one of Magic’s most visually distinctive planes.
“Lorwyn is pricey to plenty of gamers,” Garcia stated. “For some, it was their first set. The artwork is carefully tied to that reminiscence, and we needed to honor it with out freezing it in time.”
The outcome, in response to everybody concerned, is one thing that doesn’t simply promote Lorwyn Eclipsed, however displays what makes the airplane particular within the first place: whimsy with out softness and darkness with out edge-lord grit. It’s an inviting reminder of why puppet classics like Darkish Crystal stay so beloved even in the present day. There’s one thing nearly uncanny concerning the design that pulls the attention, however these puppets wind up wanting extra enchanting than they do disturbing.
“Should you simply attempt to be cute, like youngsters’ toys, it’s not going to be entertaining,” Henson stated. “It’s not as fascinating a personality. You want that slight weirdness, that slight quirkiness, that slight sudden what-does-it-mean-ness.”
Each Lorwyn and basic darkish fantasy puppets from The Jim Henson firm have that very same je ne sais quoi that really makes seeing Magic puppets such a delight.
Lorwyn Eclipsed releases Jan. 23, with prerelease occasions starting Jan. 16. Watch the set’s debut — and The Jim Henson Firm’s brief movie — on Monday, Jan. 5 beginning at 1 p.m. EST on YouTube or Twitch.
