Demonic Tutor was so iconic that any effect that allows you to search your library in Magic is colloquially known as "tutoring." This sorcery appears in the very first set in Magic's history (Limited Edition, Alpha printing) with a depiction of a demonic bookworm by Douglas Schuler (sic), and a set of rules text that was lightly errata'd in subsequent printings. (Notably, the inclusion of "You may" in the original version means that, rules as written, this card has the potential to do absolutely nothing when cast.) The first of these was among the promo cards given as gifts to Magic judges in 2008, with an updated piece of art by Daarken, which again shows a literary demon, but also adds its tutor in the background... or is it the other way around? The first Tutor showed up again the very next year as part of the third Duel Deck: Divine vs. Demonic, this time with art by Scott Chou showing the original black planeswalker Liliana Vess in the moment of having her demonic contract drawn onto her skin. The full frame format of Zack Stella's art for Ultimate Masters is an example of one of the 40 promo box toppers that come with Ultimate Masters booster boxes.
The ten three-timers in UMA include at least one of each color, plus an artifact and a land, so we might as well go around the color wheel. Faith's Fetters originally appeared in Ravnica: City of Guilds, the home plane of Magic's current story. Although the effect on the card would fit perfectly in Azorius, the blue/white guild wasn't introduced until the third set in the block (Dissension), which means that Chippy's art could either go with Boros or Selesnya. This card also has a similarity to Demonic Tutor in that they were both reprinted in the Divine vs. Demonic Duel Deck, although on opposite sides. The new art by Kev Walker follows the theme of Brian Despain's art from DD #3 in that they both show a generic angry horned demon being restrained by bonds of light.
Unstable Mutation has the honor of being the oldest card to have its third unique art reprint occur in UMA, as we first saw this aura in Arabian Nights. I'm not sure exactly what the figure on the ground has to do with the mutation in its original piece of art, but it's interesting to note that artist Douglas Shuler is credited with the correct spelling of his name. Charles Gillespie's art for the Fifth Edition printing takes away some of the ambiguity - I find it funny to imagine the -1/-1 counters coming as an effect of the enchanted creature being strangled by their freakishly long tongue. The art by Slawomir Maniak on the Ultimate Masters version is the first piece of unique art to appear on a card frame with the new and improved "Enchantment - Aura" subtype - Shuler's art appeared on the Time Spiral - Timeshifted version of the card back in 2006.
I haven't run all the numbers, but Lorwyn is likely the non-Dominaria plane most represented among UMA new art reprints, with nine cards originally from the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor mega-block - although none from the eponymous Lorwyn set. Rebecca Guay lent her trademark watercolor-style artwork to the first printing of this card, from 2008's Morningtide expansion, which also included a Faerie Rogue token with art by Jim Nelson. (While Guay's same art was used in the Modern Masters 2015 reprint, that version did get its own unique token, this one illustratd by Dave Allsop. I can only imagine that we'll get a new one when Ultimate Masters hits shelves on December 7, 2018.) Like Demonic Tutor before it, Bitterblossom was also included in the Judge Gift promo program, this time in 2011, and with art by Nils Hamm. And also like Demonic Tutor, and as you can see from the full frame surrounding Jesper Ejsing's art, this one is also available as a promo box topper.
Red leads this group with three cards, so it makes sense to go chronologically. Seismic Assault first showed up in Exodus, where Dermot Power's art shows our heroes desperately trying to escape the artificial plane of Rath in the skyship Weatherlight, in what would quite likely be tabbed as a "Story Spotlight" card in the current format. It's interesting to note that the Ultimate Masters art by Adam Paquette appears to be an updated version of what's happening in the card's first piece of art, although this could be the newly-constructed Weatherlight from the recent Dominaria expansion. In between these two printings, Greg Staples created a more generic volcanic piece of art for the Seventh Edition printing.
Gamble was originally printed in Urza's Saga, one of four cards from that expansion set to get new art reprints in UMA - along with one more from Urza's Legacy and an additional two from Urza's Destiny. There's nothing story-specific happening in Andrew Goldhawk's art in the card's original version - likewise, Winona Nelson's artwork for the Eternal Masters reprint leans heavily into the Indiana Jones-style treasure hunting aspect rather than depicting a recognizable event from the Magic multiverse. The newest printing, with art by Even Amundsen, sets the card on the plane of Ixalan, as The Belligerent is the ship captained by the Golgari gorgon Vraska, as chronicled in the DailyMTG stories published during that block.
Through the Breach was first seen in the Japanese-inspired Champions of Kamigawa, with art by Hugh Jamieson depicting an otherworldly kami (i.e. vengeful spirit) emerging into the material plane. The ornate frame in the card's second unique art printing (accompanying art by Darek Zabrocki) is unique to the Amonkhet Invocations, the somewhat ill-defined entry of the Masterpiece Series that goes with the ancient Egyptian-themed Amonkhet block. In our third example of an Ultimate Masters box topper, Randy Vargas's art shows a scene from the Shadows over Innistrad block, wherein the Kor planeswalker Nahiri summons the plane-destroying Eldrazi titan Emrakul onto the gothic horror-themed plane of Innistrad as revenge against the vampire Sorin Markov.
Eternal Witness has perhaps the most utility of any card getting its third new art reprint in this set, especially considering that UMA has a strong graveyard recursion theme, at least in Black. Four years after she illustrated the card's first printing in Fifth Dawn, Terese Nielsen created another piece of art for one of the Friday Night Magic promo cards in 2008, which essentially depicts the same character in the same pose, just with slightly different lighting and shading. Chris Rahn goes in a decidedly different direction in his art for the Ultimate Masters box topper, showing the shaman actually using magic to reconstitute a creature, apparently using autumn leaves to stand in for any material that was lost upon its initial death.
Tarmogoyf represents the exact point at which tournament competitiveness takes a backseat to real world monetary value. You can buy a copy of the original "futureshifted" version of the card from the Future Sight expansion (with art by Justin Murray) for just under $100 online. However, the stamped foil version of the card from Modern Masters 2015 that Pascal Maynard selected during a high-profile draft tournament sold for nearly $15,000 on eBay. Given that financial windfall, it's understandable that Maynard would have picked that card (which uses the same art by Ryan Barger from the initial Modern Masters set) instead of taking a card that would have helped his deck. In his art for the Ultimate Masters version, Filip Burburan pushes the limit of how many teeth he can fit into the special box topper card frame.
I always found it strange that Gnomes refer to certain Artifact Creatures in Magic, while they are a flesh and blood race in Dungeons and Dragons. The distinction becomes less clear when you look at the art for the first two printings of Patchwork Gnomes: Mike Raabe's metal contraptions on the Tempest version are decidedly artifactual, while Jerry Tiritilli's illustration from the Odyssey expansion shows more anthropomorphic figures... despite the windup cranks and replaceable limbs. Filip Burburan's art from Ultimate Masters gravitates back to the machinery-focused look, while moving in a more scarecrow-ish direction overall.
And to round things out, Ancient Tomb is another card that made its first appearance in the Tempest expansion, this time with a quite spooky illustration by Colin MacNeil. The next time this double-painland got a new piece of art was from Howard Lyon as part of the Zendikar Expeditions, the first ever Masterpiece Series, which stayed on-theme by including only lands. In yet another UMA box-topper entry, Yeong-Hao Han eschewed the ghostly undertones of his predecessors, instead emphasizing the foreboding elements of the eponymous tomb.
I'm sure I will get back to baseball content soon enough, because I feel no need to punish the players and other employees of an organization just because of stupid decisions by the people at the top. It's also notable that MLB tried to reverse course, but only after intense public backlash. And who knows, maybe the top brass at Wizards of the Coast will make (or have already made) some insensitive political donations of their own, and I'll have to focus exclusively on Batman-related content. Which shouldn't be a problem in a few weeks, given what I have in the pipeline...
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