MTG’s 2025 Pro Tour promos bring back “illegible” style 

Three promo cards with unique styles have been revealed for MTG’s 2025 Pro Tour 2, with one card featuring a similar style to a Secret Lair that caused players a headache on release. 

For those competing in the MTG Pro Tour, these promo cards are unique mementos that cannot be found in regular MTG sets – from homages to classic film posters, to styles invoking mysticism and psychedelia.

Different promo cards will be handed out depending on attendees’ rankings in the Regional Championships, from qualifiers to full tournament participants.  

Regional Championship Qualifiers Participant: Sleight of Hand 

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Sleight of Hand starts the promos off with a truly stand-out design, making it all the better that these cards are handed out to all Pro Tour 2 qualifier participants, rather than being reserved for high-ranking players.

The scry-and-draw effect makes for an ever-useful cantrip, but it’s artist Helvetica Blanc that really sets this design apart. 

MTG has turned heads recently with a tarot-inspired Secret Lair, and this variant of Sleight of Hand brings a similar mystical design that doesn’t get in the way of the clear, understandable rules text. 

Regional Championship Qualifiers Top Finishes: Supreme Verdict 

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This Kaiju-inspired art piece from Stephen Andrade reinvents the classic Ravnican 4-mana board wipe. While the giant Creature-filled design might seem incongruous for a card primarily focusing on blue and white mana rather than red and green, it makes much more sense when considering its card effect and inspiration. 

Supreme Verdict will destroy all Creatures on the field when it’s cast, and this pro tour promo version is an intentional homage to the famous Godzilla movie Destroy All Monsters. 

MTG and Titanic Creatures have always gone together hand in hand, this this Supreme Verdict variant is the latest proof. Now if only we could see a return on Magic’s Kaiju-starring plane of Ikoria… 

Regional Championship Participant: Nexus of Fate 

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While each of these tournament promos brings a unique style that contenders would be happy to receive, it’s Nexus of Fate that is dominating the conversation – and not in a positive way.  

This promo features a similar style to the Deceptive Divination Secret Lair that stirred up some ire in the community through being difficult to interpret. That being said, Nexus of Fate has been designed by a wholly different artist to that Secret Lair.

While the art is undoubtedly stylish, the difficulty in parsing these cards’ art and important features like stats and abilities at a glance turned off a subset of the MTG fan base. 

This criticism has returned in full force with the Nexus of Fate promo, with comments on Reddit surrounding the reveal ranging from “Nexus of Fate’s identity is being illegible” to “What is the deal with this trend of making cards as illegible as humanly possible?”.

In defense of Nexus of Fate’s design, this card makes much more sense as a promo than as part of a regular MTG set. While MTG cards should always playable and legible, it’s hard to argue that promos like this – and often Secret Lairs – are designed more with display and collection in mind than playability.  

To that end, Hollington’s design for Nexus of Fate is a worthy championship promo, with its eye-catching art standing out from the vast majority of MTG’s regular art styles.