Priest of TitaniaPriest of Titania | Art by Rebecca Guay

Rebecca Guay has a special place in the history of Magic. She was an early addition to the ever-growing Magic artist roster, joining in 1996 for five cards in Alliances. Before that, she illustrated comics for both Marvel and DC (and she did work for Magic comics in the '90s as well). Guay did 161 pieces for Magic cards between 1996 and 2016, which puts her up there with some other heavy hitters in the early Magic artist pantheon like Ron Spears, Carl Critchlow, and Marks both Tedin and Poole.

While that prolificness does help build popularity, it really was how her work stood out among other Magic cards that garnered her the most attention and affection from longtime players. Her expertly crafted watercolor works put forth a softer palette and zoomed in on gentler moments than the standard fare at the time. Her art deepened the lore of Magic, the emotional worlds of its characters and settings; while combat has to be a big part of the game, it's not the only reality the characters know. This put a stake in the ground as the game continued to expand in popularity: this will not be exclusively a boys' club, and gratuitously violent and "edgy" art won't be omnipresent in the game.

When I spoke with her at MagicCon Atlanta in 2025 (while I got many of her cards signed, as I am a big fan myself — obviously, hence why this article exists), she emphasized that one of the biggest impacts of her work early on was less so endearing the game to non-male audiences, but more about inviting men to appreciate a style that differed from what they would normally expect (which is to say, and this is me editorializing here, what a male-dominated society says men should like in their art: conquest, violence, and glory).

Since stepping away from regularly producing Magic art, Guay has seen continued success, with galleries and shows displaying her work to eager fans and art collectors. Her style has evolved significantly over time, too: a focus on sensuality, female desire, and a color palette that now mixes bright pops with rich, dark elements can be found in her recent pieces, which are now primarily oil paintings.

In the last few years, she's popped back into the Magic world, contributing a few more pieces via Secret Lairs and special printings like the serialized Bitterbloom Bearer in Lorwyn Eclipsed. These pieces all bear her newer style, emblematic of the way that both she and the game have evolved over the years.

Hey, isn't this a deck tech?

Yes! With that brief retrospective out of the way, let's get to the reason we're here: to build a deck entirely out of cards illustrated by Rebecca Guay. I actually attempted this a few years back, but it failed for a few reasons, each one compounded on by the issue before it:

1. There was not a strong commander graced by her art. Until [REDACTED, you'll see soon], there were only five legendary creatures to choose from, and only one of them had more than a single color to work with: Asmira, Holy AvengerAsmira, Holy Avenger. Given that Asmira's text box reads like it wants to lead a black aristocrats deck, there wasn't much to do. Forget synergy, it was near impossible to have Asmira impact the game whatsoever.
2. The deck was blocked out of one of her most prominent colors: blue. Asmira being in Selesnya (green/white) being the best option, I missed out on a large swath of cards. There wasn't even a legendary creature in blue at all.
3. There weren't many cards to pick from. This is, of course, to be expected when we're limited to one artist's cards, but losing blue removed more than 30 cards from the card pool and made it so I had to run a number of vanilla creatures to make a full deck list.
4. The cards available were pretty weak on their own. Magic, back in the artist's heyday Guayday, was a wildly different animal than it is now, and the power level of all but the outliers was much, much lower. I had to lean into interactions that were middling and rare to happen in practice given the lack of consistency: when one of the strongest things you can do is play Haru-OnnaHaru-Onna and hope to draw one of three other Spirits or the one Arcane spell you have access to, just to draw an extra card for four mana...that's not ideal.

Now, though? Things have changed. And of all sets to make that change happen, turns out it's The Hobbit that has us here today. Enter: Galadriel, Light of ValinorGaladriel, Light of Valinor from The Hobbit's box-toppers, complete with jaw-dropping art from Guay (and which I'm henceforth going to be referring to as Guayladriel unless my editor crushes both my dreams and sense of whimsy). Ed. note - Guayladriel all day, every day.

Galadriel has been an A-Tier commander since its release in the Lord of the Rings scene boxes in 2023. It's no surprise it's knocking at the top 100 commanders with more than 15,000 decks logged on EDHREC, as it supports a variety of strategies, from Elf Typal and Counters to Tokens and Blink/Bounce decks. A high power floor — it's one of those commanders that effectively says "just play the game and you'll be rewarded" — means it can slot into many different frameworks. Perfect for the very specific use case I have: only including cards that bear Guay's art.

I'll still have some of the issues listed above in my first attempt, but each one is less damning thanks to Guayladriel: adding blue and a commander that doesn't need much beyond a steady stream of creatures to create a threatening game plan is an enormous step in the right direction.

How the deck will work

There are three main axes Guayladriel will work on: Elves, Enchantments, and Lands. The first is pretty straightforward, though the other two are a little less so.

Rebecca Guay has drawn a good number of Elves throughout the years — thirteen, to be exact. While that's not as high a number as most typal decks would use of their main focus, it's enough that I am happily sleeving up Priest of TitaniaPriest of Titania and Bloodline ShamanBloodline Shaman without it being too embarrassing. Some of the Elves are pretty good on their own, too: Elvish PiperElvish Piper, Wood ElvesWood Elves, and GreenseekerGreenseeker are all solid in their own right, and Taunting ElfTaunting Elf is actually looking viable when Guayladriel is dumping counters on the board.

This is the primary strategy for the deck, and as said, it's straightforward. Play creatures that draw cards with Guayladriel, and then when you have a solid board, start choosing the +1/+1 counters option. These Elves help us pull lands out of our deck and find more creatures. There are good creatures to be found outside of the Elves package — Aven MindcensorAven Mindcensor and WonderWonder come to mind — though I am running a few less than stellar creatures like Diplomatic EscortDiplomatic Escort and LynxLynx to ensure the deck has a dense creature count, especially low on the mana curve. Remember, we're working with a very limited subset of cards here!

The second pillar of the deck strategy is Enchantments. And though the original Enchantress's PresenceEnchantress's Presence is a Guay card, I'm not including it. The deck will only have eleven enchantments, and though there are some strong ones in there like Carpet of FlowersCarpet of Flowers and Defense of the HeartDefense of the Heart, playing them isn't core to the strategy. Rather, the deck wants to be blowing enchantments up, and preferably not its own.

Enchanted EveningEnchanted Evening does a lot of work in a deck with several ways to mass blow up enchantments. Calming VerseCalming Verse becomes a one-sided WorldslayerWorldslayer effect that should win the game handily. Cleansing NovaCleansing Nova will do the same, though you'd need to be sure to prep for that turn — perhaps by kicking the also new Guayladriel-art card Galadriel's DismissalGaladriel's Dismissal before firing off the Nova?

Aura FractureAura Fracture then becomes a dangerous instrument, as with Enchanted EveningEnchanted Evening out it becomes a repeatable, instant-speed VindicateVindicate for the low cost of one land. With Wood ElvesWood Elves and the like keeping the lands flowing, this cost is very palatable. (And thanks to the cycle of basics Guay did for Commander 2016, those lands too will be stunning!)

Aura Fracture also leads us to the last aspect of the Guayladriel deck, the Lands portion. It's a small package, and we don't care so much about playing lands as we do them going away...that's right, we're talking Titania, Protector of ArgothTitania, Protector of Argoth! Rebecca Guay long ago gave us a stunning portrait of Titania on an old Vanguard card, and it was used on a proper Titania printing in Mystery Booster 2.

With Aura Fracture and Titania out, you can start mowing down the opposition while building an army to close out the game. Dispersing OrbDispersing Orb is a backup way to get lands from the 'field to the 'yard, and can disrupt opposing combos or aggression or just let the controller rebuy something neat.

The Guayladriel Decklist

And that's that! I'm so glad there's finally an all-Rebecca Guay deck out there that won't be a bad time to play, because getting to look at all her gorgeous art all game means you get to win, even when you lose.

Sound off in the comments below: who are your favorite Magic artists, both from now and yesterday, and what artists could we reasonably build a similar deck with?

I've been Brandon Amico, here to remind you that true artists measure twice, cut once, then call a professional woodworker because that table just does not look right.

Till next time.