Classic Genius

The new art has a great perspective. Fish eye at ground level? Love the approach. The original, though, is much more evocative and tells a better story.

You can almost hear the Bird Man say "Gimmee that!", instead of the depiction in the new art, of the moments after the theft, as the original owner attempts to retrieve the stolen goods.

While I applaud the style of the new art, the original fits better flavorwise and wins the round for Classic Genius.

Classic Genius

At card size, I can hardly tell what is going on in the new art. even once I tracked down the full scale image, I still couldn't really make sense of it.

A bunch of old mast heads on a cliff face? Even in the world of Ixalan that is a stretch to consider it a Necropolis. While the original art is a bit generic, it at least communicates what is required.

Classic Genius

This one is pretty close to a push, but I like Wayne's take over Rob's. The original is a bit more unfinished and overgrown, which makes more sense for a Jungle Shrine.

New Hotness

New Hotness all the way for this one. Instead of a generic red glowing eye effect, you have a crew turning against their captain? This one is almost a gimmee.

Classic Genius

Jesper's art has more color, detail, and character. I get that Slawomir was likely hamstrung by an art direction that required a bunch of mist, but the new art loses the evocative shapes that made the original so great.

New Hotness

The new art is very interesting, as it doesn't really indicate whom is being "Preyed Upon". The original three images, all have the larger figures being the implied predator, while the implied motion and flavor text of the Ixalan art leaves it up to your interpretation, with the edge going to the smaller Merfolk attacking from above.

With Merfolk and Dinosaurs both sharing the color green, you still can't be sure, which makes the art even more interesting.

In all honesty, the more I look at the Ixalan art, the more I like it. Alexander usually makes a color study/sketch of all of his Magic art, I'll have to pay close attention when and if this one comes up for sale.

New Hotness

Neither of these are really illustrating what I would consider "Zealous Persecution" without out outside information, but the new art looks great.

We're I to nitpick, I think the helmet placement on the male vampire is a bit odd, is it resting on just the tippy top of his head? Otherwise, it's much more engaging and interesting than the generic "glowing thing of doom" of the original.