Sinkhole

Sinkhole was released in 1993 as part of the Limited Edition Alpha set, the foundational print run for the Magic: The Gathering trading card game created by Richard Garfield. As a common sorcery, it was designed to provide black mana players with a potent disruption tool, effectively destroying a target land for a low mana cost. This efficiency made it a hallmark card of the game's early landscape, representative of the raw, often punishing mechanics that defined the original set's play environment.

The artwork for this specific card was commissioned from illustrator Sandra Everingham, who contributed several pieces to the early game. Her depiction of a crumbling landscape captured the dark, visceral tone the developers sought for the black mana color identity. While the card became a subject of debate among players due to its disruptive power, Everingham's art remains an iconic piece of the game's initial visual aesthetic, grounded in the era's hand-painted fantasy style.