Calling all Planeswalkers, deck builders, and dedicated Magic the Gathering collectors! Are you tired of the same generic creature tokens cluttering your battlefield? Do you want to inject your unique personality and high-quality craftsmanship into every match? Welcome to the Deadlance: Signature Series MTG Token of the Month Club, where custom, hand-illustrated art meets limited-edition collectibility. This is not just about having tokens; it’s about making your presence felt. In this definitive guide, we will dive deep into everything you need to know about the club, the creative process, the different tiers, and how this unique subscription can redefine your Magic: The Gathering experience.
What is the Deadlance: Signature Series?
To understand the club, you have to understand the artist. John LeVan, better known by his pseudonym Deadlance, is a professional traditional illustrator and independent comic creator based in Oklahoma. Deadlance’s signature style is a powerful callback to the high-energy, detailed comic art of the 1990s, drawing heavily from legends like Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and Marc Silvestri. Each token in the Signature Series is a window into a high-fantasy, often post-apocalyptic, world, reflecting the detailed inks and alcohol markers that define his traditional work.
The Deadlance: Signature Series is a monthly MTG token subscription program that is more than just a delivery service. It’s a community-driven, dynamic experience. It blends the best of limited-edition collectibles with direct artist engagement, allowing you, the player, to play a crucial role in bringing new art to life.
Here is the fundamental idea: It is a monthly service where members vote on concepts, and the final results are manufactured into stunning, limited-edition, laminated tokens for distribution. Think of it as a “Secret Lair” style program for the everyday token, but with far more direct input from the community and a commitment to scalability and minimal overhead. This isn’t just about collecting; it’s about investing in a creative ecosystem that is built by and for the players.
Inside the Creative Process: Art, Inks, and Traditional Craft
What makes a Deadlance token unique? It’s not just the illustration; it’s the physical process. While much of the modern Magic: The Gathering world relies on digital art, Deadlance is a firm believer in the tangible. The process for each token begins not with a tablet, but with traditional materials:
- Concept & Thumbnails: The very first step is often guided by you! As a member, you help decide which creature or effect needs the next Signature Series treatment. The initial ideas are often translated into small, dynamic thumbnail sketches, focusing on composition and energy.
- Penciling & Inking: Once a concept is chosen, Deadlance gets to work on a physical board—typically high-quality smooth Bristol board. He starts with pencils to lay the foundation and then begins the painstaking, high-energy process of inking with archival-quality pens. The heavy use of cross-hatching and deep shadows is a hallmark of the 1990s comic influence, a style that translates beautifully to the smaller canvas of a token.
- Coloring: Here is where the specific medium is crucial. As many fans of his work know, Deadlance primarily uses alcohol-based markers (like Copics) and acrylic paint markers to apply color. The markers allow for smooth gradients and vibrant, translucent layers, while the acrylics add depth and opacity, giving the tokens a physical, hand-painted texture that digital printing can’t replicate.
Every piece of art you get in the club starts as a unique physical creation. The final physical piece is then scanned at a high resolution, digitally prepped for printing, and transformed into the finished product.
Tiers and Rewards: Finding the Perfect Level for Your Collection
The Deadlance: Signature Series is designed to be accessible to a wide range of collectors and players, with a clear focus on value and limited-edition prestige. The club features a simple yet effective multi-tier reward system, where each level adds more exclusive items and increases the limited-edition nature of your collection. All manufactured tokens are laminated for durability, printed on heavy photo paper, and feature a QR code that takes you directly to the artist’s website. They are all hand-signed on the back.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the three key tiers:
Tier 1: The Essential Collector (Starting at a Low Monthly Cost)
This is the entry point for anyone who wants to start their Signature Series journey. It’s designed to give you a strong foundation with the absolute essentials.
- Reward: You receive two copies of the final manufactured monthly token.
- Best For: Competitive players who need multiple tokens for a specific deck (e.g., a Goblins or Zombie deck) or new collectors who want to test the water. This is the baseline, guaranteeing you get limited, high-quality tokens without breaking the bank.
Tier 2: The Artist Enthusiast (Our Most Popular Option)
For the serious collector and the player who wants a true, one-of-a-kind art piece, Tier 2 is the sweet spot. It bridges the gap between affordable collectibles and unique, hand-crafted art.
- Reward: You receive four copies of the final manufactured monthly token (a full playset). In addition, you get one separate, individually hand-illustrated original token. This is a small, unique drawing—like a quick sketch or an original design—executed directly on a token.
- Best For: Dedicated collectors who want a unique piece of art they can point to that no one else in the world has. It’s a guaranteed way to own original art, in addition to having a full playset of the monthly limited edition. This tier is where you really start to feel the “Signature Series” difference.
Tier 3: The Ultimate Physical Collection (Strictly Limited Tiers)
Tier 3 is the top of the pyramid, designed for the ultimate fan of traditional illustration. It’s built for those who not only want to own the tokens but also want to own the specific, physical art that created them. This tier is strictly limited to control the overhead of handling original artwork.
- Reward: You receive four copies of the final manufactured monthly token (a full playset). Plus, you get the distinct privilege of receiving the original physical art piece used to create that month’s token! This means you will own the inked, alcohol-marker-colored, and acrylic-marker-worked original illustration, mounted and ready for framing.
- Best For: Serious art collectors who appreciate the value and beauty of traditional physical media. It’s a very limited opportunity and is ideal for anyone looking to build a specific gallery of dynamic, custom-crafted Magic art. This is the definitive “Deadlance” experience.
Scalability and Future-Proofing
The club is designed for high scalability and low overhead. This ensures that as the community grows, the quality of the tokens and the access to the artist can remain paramount. The tiers are structured in a way that provides value for everyone, from a player who just wants a cool Zombie token to a collector who wants to own the very beginning of the creative chain. This allows the Deadlance: Signature Series to maintain a “Secret Lair” style of prestige and limited monthly drops, while still being a sustainable and accessible platform for the community.
Community, Voting, and Direct Influence
One of the most powerful and unique aspects of the Deadlance: Signature Series is your role in the creative process. This isn’t a passive subscription where a company tells you what you want. It’s a community where you help build the road ahead.
As a member of the club, you have a direct voice through monthly concept voting. The ideas generated by the community are crucial in determining which creature, planeswalker, or effect is next up for the Deadlance treatment. Whether it’s a terrifying new Demon, a beautiful and powerful Angel, or even a bizarre, custom-designed Beast token, your vote is what decides. This level of interaction is practically unheard of in traditional collectibles and ensures that the club is always creating items that the community truly wants to play with and collect.
It transforms the experience from just “getting a token” to “helping to create a token.” When you lay that limited-edition card down on the battlefield, you can do so with the pride of knowing that you, as part of the community, helped make it happen.
Join the Deadlance: Signature Series Today
You have seen the process, the art, and the tiers. You have heard the story of traditional inks and markers being used to build a new high-fantasy world, one laminated token at a time. This is more than just a club; it’s an invitation to be part of a creative ecosystem that values artistry, community, and the ultimate, limited-edition Magic: The Gathering experience.
It’s time to elevate your battlefield. Don’t settle for generic tokens when you can make a statement with every single play.
Your Action Step:
Ready to jump into the action? We have an exciting lineup of monthly tokens and concepts ready for the community. Here is your definitive call to action:
- Head to Deadlance: Signature Series on Patreon. This is the definitive home of the Signature Series and all of Deadlance’s custom illustration work.
- Explore the “Deadlance: Signature Series” page. Dive deep into the specific details, the current monthly drop, and more detailed descriptions of each tier.
- Choose Your Tier. Whether you are starting with Tier 1 or going all-in for Tier 3, pick the level that best fits your collection and your passion for custom art.
- Subscribe and Get Voting! The second you join, you become an active member of our community. Check your email for details on how to vote for upcoming concepts and when to expect your very first limited-edition drop.
The “Long Dark” of generic tokens is over. A new era of high-fantasy, hand-crafted collectibles has arrived. Join the Deadlance: Signature Series MTG Token of the Month Club and make every match a unique work of art. We can’t wait to see what the community creates next. Join us today and play with prestige!
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