Ink & Antiquities #4, Brett Attmore

Ink & Antiquities

    Welcome back to another Ink & Antiquities. This time we are with a long standing OS member and collector of many cool original artist alters, Brett Attmore. A little magic history on Brett; After starting like many of you in the summer of 94, Brett played mostly type 1 and vintage through 2005 where he sold his collection. He returned to Magic in late 2013 with a goal of getting back into vintage. While buying back, he discovered "The Blog" and quickly became enamored by 93/94. He particularly loved the format's tradition of deck photos from figures like Kalle Nord, Magnus De Laval, and the rest of the Swedish scene. 

    Brett began picking up cards at laughably low prices compared to now. He mentions how lucky he was on his timing of entry. He entered his first OS event in the Fall of 2015, Jaco's own Eternal Weekend II. Perhaps like a contact virus, Brett discovered his appreciation of original artist alters. Seeing Sebastien Dube's collection was his "altersexual awakening." At this point, he considers original artist alter collecting a big subsection of what he enjoys about Magic. That said, Brett's collection is incredibly personal representing tons and tons of hours spent in lines, meeting artists, and traveling. Lets take a look! 

No cards more earned than prize cards!

    

    One of the only photos without a single original artist alter, and my personal favorite classification of card. Those earned by doing battle to the highest degree, a prize card. Brett has had moderate success in at least making top 16s and top 8s over the years, he is still hunting that big win. 

Look at those round corners!

    The majority of Brett's collection are alters he himself acquired standing in lines and meeting artists. These Alpha Icy's are some of his favorites! Crazy to think this picture represents around 0.45 percent of the print run. 

Seasonal sets are always in style.

    Brett play's a variety of decks, including everyone's least favorite, Keeper! These look like fantastic inclusions that might take the sting out of losing your wood elemental. My particular favorite is the snowy Moat, although it looks considerably less effective when frozen over. 

    

Bringing something meaningful into Dominia!

    Brett recalls a hike he went on as a child that he still walks to this day. The tower here is Hublein Tower in Simsbury, CT. These alters were made personal by including a relevant landmark in Brett's own life. 

My fucking God. 

    This pic is sort of the crème de la crème for close to fully OG altered decks. You will see a lot of these cards in later pictures so I wanted to share what I would consider the "master work" or what it all comes together to first. Its hard to quantify the hours and effort spent on this through a few quick sentences. 

Hot and cold sideboard tech.

    A collection of Richard Thomas clearly made to live together. All featuring the little doll from black vise and friends. Its good to see him getting some screen time while not tied to some horrible contraption. 

The nongameiteers

    Only missing Mind Twist for this set of "cards that make you groan on turn 1." A somewhat starry night Evoking Library, a sneaky Starwars Ancestral, and a.. uhm, is it a Harvey Birdman reference?

Bottle Gnome's are only the second best bottle dwelling guys around.

     Why yes that is a complete playset of Arabian Dibs altered by Anson himself, why do you ask? A fantastic OS community artist by the name of Slum once told me "I think they should have a bigger emphasis on the lamp." in regards to the various lamp dwelling Arn dudes. These would be after his own heart! Its also great to see the Cyclopean tomb guy got out of his Amigara fault hole mostly intact. 

    

Frazier fantasy party!

  

    Frazier is pretty well known for those chromatic dragons, and these are no slouches. I would call these some of the more unique ones I have seen due to their second colors in the first 3. He was also generous enough to write most of his name on these! Genies and Dragons and Trolls Oh My! 

KMJ Semi Bipedal musclebound creatures.

    The primary two directions people take alters here living in harmony. "funny" and "classic." I am not even sure if Hoover altered Fellwar stones exist, and this is the best solution I think I have personally seen. 

    

So fucking jealous of those badlands. 

    A gorgeous set of blackborder duals, some sick old signatures (Snoddy doesn't sign his full name anymore and Rob signs everything but not like this.) As far as the Rob duals go having them back is a big win in itself, and Brett rolled HIGH on these badlands and underground seas compared to the common "what the fuck are these pen marks" alters you see on them. 

Getting one Tedin alter is hard, 14 is something else!

    I could write a paragraph about most of these but I love when people bring something personal to them into these alters. We see a ton of Starwars, Juzams, and Dragon alters everywhere. Something unique like bringing in a painting from a favorite piece of media (in this example, The Last Spell of Fistandantilus) it makes it all the more special. I am also pretty blown away by the lighting on the brainstorm. Mark Tedin is the master of creating on sight posca alters that look like they were painted with a brush over hours. 

    

Somehow getting Amy to do this many alters is masterful in itself. 

    Some of the better Amy alters I have seen. particularly the disenchants with their fantastic colors and shatter that go outside of the scope we normally see from her. 

Some meta warping lands.

    Some hot Foglio action. I love the little dudes on the different season factories. These gorgeous sigs make it a bit less biting to have your opponent open "workshop mox mox mox trike" on the play. 


    

Will must be honored to be among all of these OG artists!

    The last one I will leave a comment on, having a set of gorgeous alters from within the OS community is always a plus to go alongside your absurd original artist alters. These ones are particularly sweet. Having sick stuff from good friends always makes it a pleasure to smash some face or have your face smashed in good company. 


    

Stacks of absurdity.

    Here are several of Brett's builds that he plays featuring many of the sick cards he has shared with us above (and many more) so make sure you prolong your toilet reading time to scroll through all of them! Thank you so much for sharing what is clearly years of great taste and effort. Much of this is truly a part of both Magic and Magic artist history, as well as oldschool Magic history. We are lucky you took the time to share it with us Brett!