Frequently Asked Questions

This was a tough decision, but I ultimately decided to use full cards because:

  • The card frame is most likely considered in WotC's art direction.
  • Full cards are more recognizable and thus gives this app more general appeal.

Having just art crops is an equally valid design choice, but to me just did not feel right.

Card Art Voter uses an Elo rating system, similar to what's used in chess rankings. When you vote between two cards:

  • The winning card's rating increases
  • The losing card's rating decreases
  • How much the ratings change depends on the current ratings of both cards

The more you vote, the more accurate my rankings become!

Artist and set rankings use a Bayesian average that considers:

  • The average rating of the artist's or set's cards
  • The number of cards by that artist or in that set
  • A baseline rating that ensures artists/sets with very few cards aren't unfairly advantaged

This provides a fair comparison between artists and sets with different numbers of cards in my database.

All card images are sourced from Scryfall, a comprehensive Magic: The Gathering card database. I use their API to fetch:

  • Card art crops for thumbnails
  • Full card images for the detailed view
  • Card metadata including artist information and set information

I greatly appreciate Scryfall's resources which make this site possible, and I follow their guidlines for using their API in a considerate way.

Yes! The best way to contribute is simply by voting on more cards. The more votes my system has, the more accurate the rankings become.

If you're interested in contributing to the code or reporting issues, please check out my GitHub repository and follow the contribution guidelines there.

The cards from the the Universes Beyond sets are not included since voters' bias against these sets were skewing the results. Voters could not separate their dislike of the sets from the art itself.