Beginning this evening, Monday August 10, 2020, at 6 PM Eastern, the #MagicArtChallenge team is launching a secondary initiative, known as #SecondMainPhase, to continue their endeavors to raise money for Black Lives Matter and other Black causes.
The initial #MagicArtChallenge project was inspired by Gail Simone’s #ComicWritersChallenge, which raised over $300,000 in just 10 days through the sale of original comic book artwork. Following this example, the #MagicArtChallenge raised $36,432 over just a few short days in June 2020. You can see the incredible art and where it finished up on Scryfall.
The two top lots of the #MagicArtChallenge
The #MagicArtChallenge team is made up of Mike Linnemann AKA “Vorthos Mike,” a collector, artist representative, and writer; Tatiana Dykes, a collector, professional artist representative, and convention organizer; Aaron Hamer, an organizer for the #ComicWritersChallenge; Paul Baranay, a senior Magic Judge; the good folks at Scryfall; and the admins of the MTG Art Market group: Mike, Tatiana, and Joshua.
Second Main Phase
To keep this momentum rolling and facilitate some of the donations that came in during and after the initial #MagicArtChallenge, the Second Main Phase will serve as the other half of this fundraising project. The larger community, especially those in the art-collecting groups and within the MTG Twittersphere, donated all sort of Magic related merchandise, cards, and art that will be sold rapid-fire over one week with all proceeds headed to toward the project’s featured organizations.
Donations from around the world poured in, all funneled the spearhead of this campaign Vorthos Mike in Minneapolis, MN. Here is but a glimpse of what’s coming over the next seven days:
Oversized Grand Prix Promo Cards, donated by Channel Fireball:
Original artwork, from a Magic: the Gathering sketch of Otaria from Planechase, by Charles Urbach:
A 9” x 12” single figure commission in color or gray by artist Sanya Anwar:
There will be oddities, from a Chandra skateboard to MTG Order of the Arrow Patches to 3D Alters by Seishirou Ookubo:
Some assorted sealed product:
Playmats from Original Magic Art:
And even some sketched artist proofs from collectors and artists alike!
And grab bags! Dozens of folks donated cards, from singles to entire collections, and these have been broken down into grab bags that will be sold over the course of the week at a variety of price points.
There will be $10 Grab Bags…
…and $100 Grab Bags
And everything in between. The team has spent weeks creating these, so who knows what might show up!
These sales will run on Twitter, a Square store, and the MTG Art Market on Facebook over the next week. The best way to keep up is to follow Vorthos Mike to stay up on all the information. It begins tonight at 6 PM Eastern, so stay tuned!
For more information or if you have specific questions about the #MagicArtChallenge and #SecondMainPhase, you can reach organizers Paul Baranay on Facebook and Twitter or Vorthos Mike on Twitter.
On the Success of the #MagicArtChallenge
I spoke with the organizers as this #MagicArtChallenge wound down. They were elated with the response to this call for action and thrilled with the success of the first half of their fundraising efforts.
“I’m humbled to be surrounded by so many passionate Magic players and collectors to raise money to help support the Black Lives Matter movement towards a bright and equitable future. Some incredible collectors stepped forward to donate, share, bid and buy in the #MagicArtChallenge, raising $36,432 and we have some phenomenal donations towards #SecondMainPhase at all price ranges for any collector to jump in and be part of making a difference.” — Tatiana Dykes, organizer, collector, and MTG Art Market admin
“Black Lives Matter, Black Trans Lives Matter, Magic art fans coming together to support Black lives and Black causes matters.” — Aaron Hamer, who donated the top lot, the original artwork for Grenzo, Dungeon, Warden
“I’m really proud that the Magic community came together to support Black Lives Matter and raise money for these amazing charities. It was especially exciting to see folks find unique ways to contribute that made sense for them, like T.G. Field, who offered his beautiful woodworking, and Michelle Rapp, who auctioned one of her stunning pieces of pottery. And we also had some wonderful people pitching in behind the scenes, like the Scryfall developers putting together an amazing website to track all the auctions, and the folks at ChannelFireball donating oversized cards and running an article.” — Paul Baranay, senior Magic Judge, and the driving force behind the #MagicArtChallenge