Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Meet the Artist: Nils Hamm and Sinister Starfish

In the sprawling landscape of Magic: The Gathering lore and lore-adjacent collector culture, the brushwork behind a card often carries as much weight as its rules text. Sinister Starfish, a common creature from Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC), exemplifies how a single piece of art can elevate a modest two-mana entry into a memorable moment of flavor and mood. The starfish itself is a quiet sentinel of the black mana cosmos—a creature that looks modest on paper but hints at deeper, darker currents beneath the surface. The art, crafted by Nils Hamm, leans into a tactile, coastal darkness that makes you almost taste salt in the air as you tap this creature to surveil 1. 🧙‍♂️🔥

Card snapshot: what Sinister Starfish brings to the table

• Name: Sinister Starfish
• Mana cost: {1}{B}
• Type: Creature — Starfish
• Power/Toughness: 0/3
• Rarity: Common
• Set: Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC)
• Text: {T}: Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
• Flavor text: "Throw that one back. I don't like how it's looking at me." —Netos, Meletian fisherman
• Color identity: B
• Artist: Nils Hamm

At first glance, it’s a two-mana, two-lane creature: a black, surveil-flavored piece that helps you peek and prune your draws. The Surveil ability is a nod to graveyard manipulation—the heart of black’s strategic flexibility in Commander and beyond. While Sinister Starfish may not win the race on raw power, its presence invites deck builders to lean into the gravest of reading rooms: your library’s top cards. It’s not just about drawing; it’s about deciding what you’re willing to see and what you’re prepared to replace with something more useful. The 0/3 resilience makes it a reliable blocker in the early game, especially when your opponent’s board stalls out. And in Commander, where every inch of card advantage counts, Surveil 1 acts as a small yet potent tool to sculpt your late-game engine. ⚔️🎨

Artistic signature: Nils Hamm’s oceanic mood and narrative depth

Nils Hamm’s illustration for Sinister Starfish captures a moment that feels both eerie and intimate. The creature sits at the edge of a shadowy abyss, its starfish form rendered with a painterly mix of soft gradients and crisp line work. Hamm’s style often conveys a sense of quiet menace—creatures that seem almost to whisper rather than shout—paired with an underwater or moonlit glow that makes the frame hum with atmosphere. In Sinister Starfish, the black mana identity isn’t just a color; it’s a mood: a calm, collected danger that invites players to lean into the graveyard as a resource rather than a liability. The color identity and the art harmonize: a vigilant, patient predator that’s happy to help you surveil your way toward a more efficient deck. 🧙‍♂️💎

From card to strategy: how this artwork informs gameplay

Surveil has become one of those mechanics that changes how you plan every turn. Sinister Starfish’s tap ability nudges you to look one card ahead, decide whether to keep it, and decide what to ditch to the graveyard. In black-centered decks, this means you can synergize with sacrifice outlets and graveyard recursion to fuel larger threats or to enable recurring value. Because Sinister Starfish is a common, it’s accessible to casual players who want a stable early drop with a deliberately deceptive trick: you’re not simply filling your hand; you’re shaping your library for what comes next. The card’s low power but sturdy toughness also makes it a decent shield while you set up your graveyard-centric engine, and its Surveil 1 can synergize with other surveil or delve-like effects in multicolor or mono-black builds. The flavor text adds a dash of fisherman’s humor—slightly macabre, perfectly thematic for a card that lurks just beneath the surface of confrontations. 💥

Career highlights and what the future holds for this artist

While Sinister Starfish anchors its impact in a single set, Nils Hamm’s broader body of work has etched a distinctive mark on MTG’s visual language. Hamm’s work often leans toward moody atmospheric settings, where creatures emerge from the gloom with a story to tell beyond their stat blocks. For fans, seeing his name on a card is an assurance of atmosphere—whether it’s a sea-stained creature or a shadowed figure behind a doorway, Hamm’s art contributes to the worldbuilding that makes MTG more than just a game. As new sets continue to explore darker, oceanic, or seashell-bright aesthetics, expect Hamm’s signature to surface again, bringing that same tactile sense of place to both veteran players and new fans diving into Magic’s multiverse. 🌊🎲

For readers craving cross-pun content and fresh perspectives, these five articles from our network offer a variety of angles—from NFT data and Pokémon TCG stats to open-licensing discussions and more NFT dives on Magic Eden. It’s a reminder that the MTG community thrives on conversation as much as on combat. 📚🔥

More from our network

• https://blog.crypto-articles.xyz/blog/post/nft-data-bmb-community-season-1-4231-from-bmb-community-airdrop-season-1-collection-on-magiceden/
• https://wiki.digital-vault.xyz/wiki/post/pokemon-tcg-stats-noivern-ex-card-id-sv02-153/
• https://wiki.digital-vault.xyz/wiki/post/pokemon-tcg-stats-vikavolt-card-id-sm1-52/
• https://donation.digital-vault.xyz/donation/post/support-creative-commons-and-open-licenses-through-your-donation/
• https://blog.crypto-articles.xyz/blog/post/nft-data-wobot-403-from-wobots-collection-on-magiceden/