Forest

The Forest card, designated as collector number 349, was released in the Ninth Edition core set of Magic: The Gathering in 2005. As a core set, Ninth Edition served as a bridge for players, featuring a curated selection of cards that remained legal for tournament play during that transition period. The landscape of Ninth Edition was notable for being the first core set to feature the modern card frame, which had been introduced two years prior to provide better legibility and a refreshed aesthetic identity for the game.

This specific illustration was created by John Avon, a landscape painter who has become one of the most prolific and celebrated artists in the history of the game. Known for his sweeping vistas and mastery of light, Avon was commissioned to provide a series of basic lands that captured the essence of the game's five colors. His design for this Forest sought to emphasize organic beauty and a sense of depth, and it received significant praise from the player base for its painterly quality, which helped establish a definitive visual language for green-aligned cards in the mid-2000s.