Wizards of the Coast has announced that Japanese Planeswalker alt-art (alternate art) is on the way to Magic: The Gathering Arena. These alternate cards are, specifically, from the War of the Sparks expansion that just dropped earlier this week.

Magic fans have waited for a long time for Japanese cards to arrive in Arena. Considering it is a digital platform, it’s certainly easier to provide alternative art as opposed to physical stores where they would have to receive the cards in an overseas shipment.

Thankfully, we now know that players will be receiving the Japanese Planeswalker alt-art sometime in the near future. A release date for this alternative art wasn’t given at this time, but it’s reassuring enough to know that it’s on the way.

Wizards of the Coast also posted a poll on which cards that fans would like to see as one of the upcoming Japanese cards on MTG Arena. The top favorites that players are picking are Liliana, Vraska, and Jace. It is worth noting that the alternate art seems to be just for the War of the Sparks Planeswalkers currently.

There are 36 Planeswalkers added to Magic: The Gathering with the launch of War of the Sparks. All 36 of them have Japanese art created just for Japan by renowned Japanese artists like Yoshitaka Amano. Amano is best known for his work creating art for Speed Racer, the Final Fantasy series, and much more.

The best part? Players will be able to collect some of that very same art to use in their decks on MTG Arena.

Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for players as we have some bad news on the horizon.  

It would make sense for the Japanese Planeswalker alt-art to be introduced into the game as alternate cards that players can collect, but that isn’t the case. Instead, Wizards of the Coast is releasing the cards as card sleeves only at this time.

This sucks because it means that you will likely have to spend real-world money in order to get the Japanese cards as card sleeves. For those who don’t know, card sleeves are used as cosmetic items for changing the appearance of a particular card.

This solely changes how a card looks and doesn’t affect how a card works or anything like that. The problem with this, though, is that you have to spend gems in order to get a card sleeve. Gems typically require real-world cash to purchase them.

Currently, the only other way to earn gems is through the limited draft mode. However, if the Japanese Planeswalker alt-art were simply released as standard cards you collect, players could have a chance of getting them without spending any money.

This certainly seems like a shadier way to release the Japanese cards than it should have been. Regardless, it is great that players do have the option to finally collect the awesome Japanese art. Stay tuned for the release date.