FanArt_ink.Crooked

MTGinktober pods about Day 8, "Crooked," starring Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran; Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician; Isamaru, Hound of Konda; Odric, Master Tactician; and Pianna, Nomad Captain!

It might not be super apparent, but this is actually a heavy reference to the Crooked Media core crew of podcasters. So we have a gang of three tactical minds (and a potentially noisy dooga) podcasting with a special guest strategist/activist. I chose Agrus Kos for Tommy Vietor since he's kinda a vet, in that he worked in a military-ish capacity in national security; Ib for Jon Lovett since he's the "jokester" of the group; and Odric for Jon Favreau since he's kinda the fearless leader type. Isamaru is obviously Pundit, who is known to bark at inopportune moments. Special note, Isamaru is yawning, a play on his growling depiction in his card, but it's up to the viewer to decide if he's making any sound, just depends on what you think of Pundit. I wanted to include Dan Pfeiffer but knew I couldn't fit all four in plus a guest in a 24-hour piece. I'll make it up to him later, though.

Fun Facts: I had already cast Pianna as the "guest" since she (I found out she was a she in research--after all these years! I've always loved how cool this art by D. Alexander Gregory is [which should have been a tip off, come to think of it, since he usually just got female commissions] but I never could tell exactly what was going on in the art--and there's no bigger image available so I still had to guess on a lot of the details here, like how the helmet[?] works!) seemed like she'd be a great person to have on a podcast where they interview leaders about what they're doing in the field. As a nomad captain, she'd be in a leadership position and be out and about in the field, too, so that lined up great. I wanted to have Yahenni, Undying Partisan as either Jon Lovett or as the guest in a punny reference to how they always say (particularly Jon Favreau) how they're just a bunch of partisans, which I appreciate since so many media personalities won't just come out and say so, but nominally dance around impartiality. Based on Ib's and Odric's epithets, I briefly considered making all the podcasters some tactician, but didn't feel there were good enough candidates.

Also, my favorite part of this is that the mic-like devices are not actually plugged into anything or look to be recording at all, so how do they work? Magic!

Easter Eggs: A lot of fun little references in this one, aside from the casting described earlier. First, the composition comes from the Pod Save America interview with Hillary Clinton LAW '73, the background is from their new and recently unveiled studio, and the posters are references to their shows Pod Save the People (Beeble) with DeRay, Pod Save America (Amonkhet), and Pod Save the World (Multiverse). You can even find the familiar head of George Washington replaced with that of the canonically decapitated Urza.

I know this particular piece is only going to work with a super thin slice of people who both know Magic and Crooked Media well, but man, no ragrets, this was a good time.

Not normal,

Reuxben