Photos courtesy of Britt Bender
Formed in 2014, hardcore rock band The Funeral Portrait (TFP) is one whose entire foundation is built on community.
The entirety of the band plays Magic: The Gathering, and, what's more, they all avidly play Commander. A few days ago, at the Montage Music Hall in Rochester, NY, I interviewed TFP's vocalist, Lee Jennings, on what the game of Magic means to him, both in his professional life and as a hobby. Furthermore, we spoke about how the game and his career interweave.
A huge thanks to Lee, the whole of The Funeral Portrait, and Atom Splitter PR for facilitating this interview!
<blockquote>The whole band plays Magic: The Gathering. What is the predominant play style for each of The Funeral Portrait’s band members?
Oh, so we only play Commander. I'm trying to think of what a lot of the guys’ decks are like. I know [drummer] Homer [Umbanhower] has a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Captain America, First Avenger" href="#" target="_blank">Captain America, First Avenger</a> deck, and one of us has <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Wise Mothman" href="#" target="_blank">The Wise Mothman</a> from Fallout. And then one of mine is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls" href="#" target="_blank">Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls</a>. I can never say his name. I've edited it, not even that much, because it's just that the deck is insane. Like, I didn't have to do anything, and I was beating these guys [in the band] who spent over a thousand dollars on decks, and I'm just like, all right, I found it at Walmart. Yeah, that's me with decks. I'm not even joking, I just got lucky, because all of them really wanted that one, right, and I was the only one who found it.</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_177638" style="width: 1290px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-177638" class="wp-image-177638" src="https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic.jpg" alt="The Funeral Portrait playing a game of Commander. Image credit: Brittney Bender" width="1280" height="853" srcset="https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic.jpg 2048w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/TFP-playing-magic-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a>The Funeral Portrait playing a game of Commander.</div>
<blockquote>How often do you get to play Magic when you're on the road, and what are your favorite formats to play?
Commander. Commander, always. I think it's the easiest to play. I think it's the most fun to play, right? Growing up, I got into Magic after I got into the Pokémon TCG, because my cousin was really into Magic, and he has some pretty rare old cards that he has graded. He's just sitting on it now forever. That's your retirement fund, which is sick. I love that now, with nerd culture, we're the rich ones because we kept our old toys and hobbies. 
But I think I try to play once a week. My bandmates literally play, well, they're playing right now. You know, before meet and greets. So they play almost every day. I do all these other things, but I definitely enjoy it, so, yeah, absolutely, I try to play on my phone, too. I love Arena, but it also takes up all the space on my laptop.
Have you gotten the chance to play Magic against members of other bands you've toured with, such as Eric Vanlerberghe from I Prevail, and if so, who are your favorite opponents among them?
We have not played against I Prevail yet, but the reason why is because we're day three into the tour, and everybody's still going crazy. But, we’ve already talked about - oh, my God, I love it - so, The Funeral Portrait, because basically everybody in our camp plays, we’ve talked about doing a tournament. The Funeral Portrait versus I Prevail. It's just one of these things that’s a family happening, and it's so much fun.</blockquote>
<blockquote>If The Funeral Portrait had a Secret Lair drop specifically crafted by the band, what four to five cards would it contain, and why?
So, in the band’s imagery, we have these conceptual characters called Icons, who are characters that represent songs for us. We have the Night Terror, who would be Black, my favorite, yeah. I just like evil decks. [laughs] There’s the Angel, and then you have the Alien, among others. I’d design them to have their own colors, and I know every card game kind of has that, but I think the fundamentals of it are really cool. 
We've had fans make us cards, right, but they've included us. I would love to see them make our Icons. That would be really cool. I think the Angel would definitely be - oh man, could I just make her a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sliver Hivelord" href="#" target="_blank">Sliver</a>? Especially for [bassist] Rob [Weston]'s deck, that's what he does. The Alien's difficult, because what are they? It's really across the board. The Alien could probably be blue. And then we have the Guide, which we would make green. Then the Twins red. Also, the Blood Mother. We also have the Priest - he’s new. We've barely ever used him, but he was in “Holy Water”. White, probably. It makes sense; he's more human, and so there you go.</blockquote>
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Funeral Portrait - Dark Thoughts (Official Music Video)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a8DP5vhiDTk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<blockquote>Magic or otherwise, what kind of visual arts most inspire the aesthetics of your music videos?
I'm really into larger-than-life things; I grew up doing theater and stuff, but I also grew up in nerd culture. I have a massive Pokémon collection, as I said, and we all play Magic and stuff like that. I want to include fandom in everything, and I think that all of that is based around fandom. A lot of companies, like Wizards of the Coast, think about fandoms first. I know Magic's had a little bit of issue with that lately, I've heard, but they just release so much.
We went to Millennium [Games] earlier; it's probably my favorite card shop in the U.S., and we've been to a million of them. That's something big for us. We’ll all go together, we'll Uber, we'll drive there, we'll walk somewhere. I think a huge part of our band is community, right, so I love that Magic is really built around community. With video games, it’s a little bit like that, with games like Warcraft or even Diablo; you have to have a community to play them. But I think the best part about Magic, etc., is you have to physically be with someone. Yeah, you can play on Arena, but it's not the same as holding the cardboard in your hand.
You recently used Magic-inspired imagery to promote this tour. In fact, that is how I a) found out you play Magic, and b) found out you were swinging by Rochester. So what prompted this decision? Was it Magic's popularity, your personal interest in the game, or something else?
A little bit of everything, I think. For us, the game has exploded. About the time that we really all got into it, it was like the summer of 2024. I think that's really around the time it really, really became massive for us, so it's because we play. And a lot of our fans know that; a lot of fans bring us cards, or they bring us booster packs, or even bring us very expensive cards. So, you know, we're like, “okay, well, they found out what our decks are.”
We’ve played Magic with people, and we've even done contests before where we pick one winner to play with us. We literally taught a radio contest winner how to play Magic, and it was an older lady and her son. It was for charity, so the highest bidder got to do it, and so she did it for him, and it was really cool. It was for the Trevor Project, which we've worked with a million times, and for us, it was cool to have that opportunity. It's not a big deal for us to sit down and teach them how to play, so it was fun.
What is the biggest takeaway for your professional life that you have gleaned from the game of Magic?
To just have fun.
I think that's it, right? I think that's a big thing. Yes, there's World Championships, and all those things for every trading card game now, right, but at the end of the day, the idea of it is community and fun, and I think that is very important to us as a game. As we get up on stage, we have a lot of fun, and guess what, that means the audience has a good time, they have fun, so that's the biggest thing. I used to play Pokémon semi-professionally back in the old days. That was a very big thing for me growing up, and, you know, I got into Magic, I even got into like HeroClix, and I even tried Warhammer once, and I was like, 'this is too expensive.' I keep telling everybody, I said, 'When I retire, at the age of like 80, probably, I'm getting so into Warhammer,' so that's what I want in my dungeon.
I think it's peaceful, you know, and I think Magic is too; it's something big for us, as I said, it's because we go to shops, and there's something about a local shop. And GameStop, I know, started carrying them and stuff, whatever. It's way more about being in the local community. And we've even played in some tournaments. One day off, we just found a draft. I think it was for Duskmourn: House of Horror. It’s so much fun to do stuff like that, because you just meet people. It's so cool. We just have fun.</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_177639" style="width: 1290px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-177639" class="wp-image-177639" src="https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured.jpg" alt="Lee Jennings, passionate as ever, performing onstage a few hours after our interview. Image credit: Brittney Bender" width="1280" height="853" srcset="https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured.jpg 2048w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lee-Jennings-featured-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a>Lee Jennings, passionate as ever, performing onstage a few hours after our interview.</div>
Sure enough, as we exited the band's green room post-interview, the rest of the band (save for Cody Weissinger, who had yet to arrive at the Montage) were locked in a three-player game of Commander. Robert was running <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zhulodok, Void Gorger" href="#" target="_blank">Zhulodok, Void Gorger</a>, while Homer was playing his <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glarb, Calamity&#039;s Augur" href="#" target="_blank">Glarb, Calamity&#039;s Augur</a> deck. Gareth Calk, the newest member of The Funeral Portrait, was playing his <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vorel of the Hull Clade" href="#" target="_blank">Vorel of the Hull Clade</a> deck. Making the Eldrazi proud, or at least as proud as unfathomable eldritch horrors can be, Robert out-valued his bandmates and took the win soon thereafter.
A huge thank-you once again to The Funeral Portrait. This was an awesome glimpse into their professional and hobbyist lives!
&nbsp;

An Interview with Lee Jennings of The Funeral Portrait

<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Alrund, God of the Cosmos" href="#" target="_blank">Alrund, God of the Cosmos</a> | <a href="https://www.kieranyanner.com/">Kieran Yanner</a>
Planeswalker is a band that has been on the metal circuit since 2019. Their work primarily focuses on key points in Magic: The Gathering's extensive storylines and lore. We interviewed Jason Ashcraft, songwriter and guitarist for the band, to get his perspective on music, Magic, and the overall state of the game!
<h2 dir="ltr">Jason Ashcraft, on Planeswalker's Origins</h2>
Tell us about the origin of Planeswalker: How did the band begin, and how does Magic: The Gathering factor into the band’s origin story? 
Sozos Michael (the vocalist) and I played together in my band Helion Prime. He was the singer for our second album. Sozos is from Cyprus, and I live in the United States. For a band of our level, it got very complicated to do the things we wanted with his location being so far. Artist visas are no joke. They sucked back then and are horrible now. I always loved his voice and working with him, and I knew that someday I wanted to do something else together. Around this time, I got into Magic: The Gathering with some buddies at work, and I really got into the rich lore the game provided and all the different possibilities you could write about. So I wanted to start a new project that was focused on Magic: The Gathering lore. I asked Sozos if he would sing for it, and then our debut album, Tales of Magic, was born!
What is it about Magic that inspires you?
As I kind of touched on above, the rich floor in worldbuilding within Magic: The Gathering was something I found really inspiring. I loved how they intertwined all these different genres of fantasy. This made it feel like it worked together in a natural way. I wouldn’t say I feel that way lately, especially with how they’ve been treating the lore, but there's still 30 years of material to work with. It almost gives me Stephen King's The Dark Tower vibes. Bringing so many genres together under one roof was always fun for me.
What’s your musical background? How did you get into metal music?
I am mostly self-taught with everything, namely guitar playing and songwriting. I do continue to try and learn and improve myself along the way as much as I can, and when I can. Believe it or not, I grew up a country boy and really love <a href="https://www.garthbrooks.com/">Garth Brooks</a> and <a href="https://www.reba.com/">Reba McEntire</a>. Then one day, I was going through my father‘s cassette tapes and started listening to <a href="https://www.acdc.com/tour">AC/DC</a> and <a href="https://www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/">Lynyrd Skynyrd</a>. I feel like a lot of kids played <a href="https://www.metallica.com/">Metallica</a>’s Black Album, and once you hear "Enter Sandman" for the first time as an 11-year-old, that changes you. That started my journey, and then a friend of mine introduced me to bands like Blind Guardian, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Iron Maiden|SLD|2185" href="#" target="_blank">Iron Maiden</a>, <a href="https://ronniejamesdio.com/">Ronnie James Dio</a>, and <a href="http://icedearth.com/">Iced Earth</a>, which really sent me on the path to the musician I wanted to become.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Iron Maiden|SLD|2185"></div></div>
<h2 dir="ltr">On Planeswalker's Engagement With the Hobby</h2>
What do interactions with fans look like? Do you find that many of your followers are Magic fans first, who found the band that way, or did they find the music first, then explore Magic that way?
It’s definitely a mixed bag, but I think the majority were music fans first. I’ve been doing music much longer than playing Magic, and of course, a lot already knew both of us from Helion Prime. Of course, with Sozos now in Gloryhammer, it has brought in a bigger audience. It’s been really cool, though. I’ll get a lot of the fans of the music in my Magic streams, and they’ll have no idea what’s going on, but still have a good time. It’s also cool to get to share my music with Magic fans as well. I like bringing the two worlds together.
What other artists do you recommend to fans of your work?
<a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Gloryhammer/3540361647">Gloryhammer</a> for sure.
My other bands (who I've got to plug!) are <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Helion_Prime/3540407788">Helion Prime</a> and <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Of_Romulus/3540523502">Of Romulus</a>.
Some of the bands that have inspired me throughout my career and growing up were <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Blind_Guardian/3">Blind Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Trivium/6795">Trivium</a>, and <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Symphony_X/172">Symphony X</a>. Overall, there are so many to name.
Have you ever signed any cards for fans? Any particular cards?
I have signed a couple of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nicol Bolas" href="#" target="_blank">Nicol Bolas</a> cards, as he is probably my favorite Magic character, so that’s been really cool to get to do.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker"></div></div>
What does your engagement with Magic look like right now? What formats do you play?
I stream every Wednesday and Sunday on my <a href="http://twitch.tv/jasonashcraft">Twitch</a> channel, where we play some chaotic Commander games, and it’s a lot of fun. This year, I have been putting myself out there a bit more within the Magic community, and it’s honestly been great to meet so many people. There are a lot of awesome human beings within the community. There are a lot of decisions that Hasbro and Wizards have been making that aren’t really my cup of tea, but I’ve definitely been staying for the gathering and the people I meet. Ultimately, it’s a game that got me through some hard times. Magic let me meet some wonderful people; if it can do that for others as well, then that’s really all that matters.
What are some of your favorite cards, decks, or strategies?
So, I’m definitely a Timmy player at heart. My favorite deck is my Dinosaur deck whose Commander is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wayta, Trainer Prodigy" href="#" target="_blank">Wayta, Trainer Prodigy</a>. My favorite strategy is working out how I can cheat out the biggest spells and stomp some face before I get stomped!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wayta, Trainer Prodigy"></div></div>
And my favorite card is very much on theme for this, and it is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lurking Predators" href="#" target="_blank">Lurking Predators</a>! Whenever an opponent casts a spell, I can look at the top part of my library. If it’s a creature, I can put it on the battlefield. Otherwise, I can choose to put it on the bottom. It really gets things out of hand.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lurking Predators"></div></div>
<h2 dir="ltr">On the Band's Future</h2>
What is next for Planeswalker? Do you have any concerts or events coming up?
Concerts and performing are very tough, given the logistics and location. But that’s okay; that was always sort of the idea from day one, and I would love to do performances and tours if the possibilities ever allowed it. But I think what’s next for us is a second album. I have definitely been the holdup on that, though. For the entire last year, music sort of took a backseat for me due to some personal things in my life, but I have been slowly getting myself back into it. The second album is definitely top priority for me right now.
<h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2>
A huge thank-you to Jason Ashcraft of Planeswalker for allowing us the opportunity to interview him! You can listen to the band's latest single, "Compleated", on Spotify, and can also watch the music video on YouTube below.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Planeswalker - Compleated (Official Video)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wsc98nhKJ88?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
And now, I'd like to open the floor to you, dear readers! Are there any other musicians you know of who play Magic? Do any of them integrate the hobby into their work the way Planeswalker does? And are you a fan of that work? Sound off in the comments below!

rock

An Interview with Lee Jennings of The Funeral Portrait

An Interview With the Metal Band Planeswalker

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