Clockwork Beast

Clockwork Beast was introduced in the 1993 Alpha set of Magic: The Gathering, the foundational trading card game designed by Richard Garfield. As one of the early artifact creatures, it was conceived to highlight the game's initial mechanical exploration of resource management, where players could choose to expend mana to increase the creature's power and toughness at the risk of it eventually exhausting itself. This version, from the Unlimited Edition, was released in late 1993 as the first core reprint set to address the massive demand for the original limited-run prints.

The card's illustration, credited to Jesper Myrfors, reflects the gritty, high-fantasy aesthetic that defined the game's early identity. Myrfors, who served as the game's first art director, utilized a stark and mechanical visual style for the Clockwork series that contrasted with the more traditional fantasy tropes found elsewhere in the set. While the card is often remembered for its somewhat complex bookkeeping requirements during gameplay, it remains a notable example of the experimental design philosophy that characterized the game’s debut.