Given the decent reception to the dragon appreciation thread, I thought it was time to shine a light on another creature type.
... Plus, I think I said I'd do this sort of thing weekly, but pft yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Nevertheless!

I'll begin the thread with a bit of answered prayers in the form of the itty bitty Segovian Angel, giving all those angel players FINALLY an option to get a one drop. Plus, any nod to Segovia is a-ok in my book.

Similarly, I always been a fan of Angelic Page simply because I'm a sucker for the twin creature types and always have been. To spin off that, with the little bit of the spirits to mention, Luminous Angel's new art has always been exquisite to me, with the light values. Normally, I'm not a fan of a monocolored composition, but it just exudes such a purity to the image.

Oh, a thread that's pretty much enticing me~

I don't know if I am getting this right tho... But recently I have appreciated the subtypes given to them (I wish that it continues on and on even after Zendikar 3 has rotated out and whatnot and Party loses its hold on Standard)... gives them more layers of some kind for me.

Really appreciated the moving away from the S.T.U.P.I.D. inclusion of un-needed silks for battle angels... this has been long my issue with magic art direction. I can tolerate uberly flowy clothing for Angel Wizards and/or Angel Clerics, but for Angel Warriors and/or Rogues? KEEP THAT AWAY FROM THEM PLEATHE....

All of the Amonkhet angels are good by me. Besides being male, they have this wrong aura about them with the gangly limbs and light cracks under the skin.

The valkyries in Kaldheim are also interesting, they have raven wings that allude to the Rayleigh scattering with their bright cyan lights.

That art is so good!

My personal fave for a long time was Serra Avenger. High power/cost ratio, insanely hot art, what's not to like. I also have a weak spot for angels, the Orzhov ones in particular (Angel of Despair, Deathpact Angel, Seraph of the Scales. I mean, just the names...)

Also, alt!Akroma original art? Gog freakin damn.

...but speaking of double types? I think we'd make a big mistake not mentioning the genre-mash extraordinaire: Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. Despite being a pretty Yu-gi-oh design with the melding thing, the art is IMO one of the greatest examples of the whole corrupted Innistrad, already one of my favorite ideas of recent expansions. Taking the already dark setting and showing just how much room for terror and horror there still is in the creepy cellar.

do consistently have this "gold goth" aesthetic which is pleasing, yes.

As for Brisela, yeah. Few fantasy stories have angels being turned into The Thing.

Starlit Angel

Blinding Angel

Requiem Angel

Angel of Finality

Angel artwork has degenerated in recent years to every card showing an angel in the same pose, wings outstretched in mid-flight, from a distance, holding a weapon of some kind, with no particular background. It makes it nearly impossible to recognize a particular card at a glance.

These are examples of exceptions to that, and my favourite angels throughout the years!

Avacyn always stood out to me, never knew how much I liked her until the story where she died and I was nearly crying. Brisela, was also beautiful horrifying.

I like the Amonkhet angels for being a cool twist on angels both in magic and in general. They worked in magic to give off a something is wrong vibe as well as showing what egyptian angel could look like. I kinda wish we seem something like that in Theros but I do like having world that don't always have the iconic or characteristic tribes to give some diversity.

As a Jewish person I always like seeing the eldritch looking angels and hope maybe magic will do that (got close with SoI but I want my eldritch angels "good"). Gimme my four headed winged being or wheels with eyeballs that needs to tell people "be not afraid" before it saves them.