Dark Banishing

Dark Banishing was introduced as a staple common in the 1995 Magic: The Gathering expansion set, Ice Age. Designed as a functional successor to earlier black removal spells, the card was created to provide players with a reliable, efficient way to handle non-black creatures, reflecting the set's thematic shift toward longer, more tactical games within a frozen, post-apocalyptic narrative backdrop.

The evocative artwork for the original Ice Age release was illustrated by Quinton Hoover. Hoover, known for his distinct, fluid style and expressive use of color, captured a sense of magical dissolution that perfectly matched the card's function of exiling a creature from play. The card was well-received by the player community for its versatility and became a fixture in limited formats throughout the mid-nineties.