Open the Gates

Open the Gates was released in 2019 as part of the Ravnica Allegiance expansion for Magic: The Gathering. The card represents the plane of Ravnica, a world defined by its sprawling, city-wide landscape and the ten powerful guilds that vie for control. As a common sorcery, it was designed to provide players with a functional, low-cost utility tool for searching their library for basic land cards, helping to stabilize deck mana in the diverse multi-colored environment of the set.

The artwork was commissioned from illustrator John Thacker, who captured the scale and architectural grandeur of the Ravnica cityscape. The visual direction focuses on the transition between the dense urban environment and the rare pockets of wild growth, emphasizing the setting's aesthetic of decaying masonry reclaimed by nature. It was received as a reliable and efficient card for Limited play formats, where its ability to smooth out mana bases made it a staple inclusion for many players drafting the Ravnica Allegiance environment.