Circle of Protection: Black

Circle of Protection: Black was originally printed as part of the Alpha set in 1993, but this specific iteration comes from the 1994 Summer Magic expansion, codenamed Edgar. This set was intended as a corrected reprint of the Revised edition, but due to a series of high-profile printing errors—including shifted colors and incorrect card names—most of the print run was recalled and destroyed by Wizards of the Coast, making any surviving cards exceptionally rare artifacts of a chaotic period in early trading card history.

The artwork for the card was illustrated by Quinton Hoover, a central figure in the early aesthetic of the game. Hoover utilized a distinctive, lush, and painterly style that stood out among the more rigid fantasy art of the era. His depiction of the 'Circle of Protection' focused on the symbolic, ethereal nature of the spell, opting for a softer, more mystical visual language that sought to ground the game's mechanics in a sense of ancient, high-fantasy tradition.