Knights of Thorn Art Reprint Frequency: A Data Dive

Knights of Thorn Art Reprint Frequency: A Data Dive

In TCG ·

Knights of Thorn card art by Christopher Rush (Masters Edition) showing a noble knight in gleaming armor

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

A Data Dive into Knights of Thorn Art Reprint Frequency

Magic: The Gathering has always thrived on the interplay between new designs and beloved classics 🧙‍♂️. Knights of Thorn, a white creature from the Masters Edition (set code me1), sits at a fascinating intersection of old-school flavor and modern reprint history. This card—a common Human Knight with a deceptively sturdy kit of abilities—shows up in a Masters Edition reprint that preserves the original art and text from an era when banding and protection-from-color were a bigger part of the game's strategic vocabulary. The data surrounding this card invites us to consider not just how it plays, but how its image travels through printing history and collector culture 🔥💎.

At its core, Knights of Thorn is a 3 mana White creature with a respectable 2/2 body: a classic early-Magic stat line that still invites thoughtful board play. Its text—“Protection from red; banding”—is a throwback to mechanics that defined era-appropriate combat math. Banding, in particular, is a mechanic that asks you to think in groups rather than single creatures, a design approach that shaped many battles of the late 1990s. In practice, this means you can form a band with allied creatures to divide damage in ways that can swing a combat step, especially when you’re protecting a smaller musketeer or absorbing a big swing with multiple blockers. The flavor text—embellished with Tivadar of Thorn’s lore—keeps us rooted in the goblin wars and chivalric order that fans remember so fondly 🎨⚔️.

  • Set / Rarity: Masters Edition (me1), Common
  • Mana Cost / Stats: {3}{W} for a 2/2 Creature — Human Knight
  • Abilities: Protection from red; banding
  • Flavor & Lore: Quote ties Knights of Thorn to Tivadar of Thorn and the Goblin Wars
  • Art & Print History: Christopher Rush; high-resolution art retained in a Masters Edition print

So what does the data say about how often this image reappears on cards? The card’s Oracle text is tied to a specific Oracle ID, and Scryfall’s data shows it as a reprint in Masters Edition. This means the same artwork and general design lineage were carried forward into the Masters Edition print run, which is famous for reprinting cherished classics from earlier eras while often preserving their look and feel for collectors. The presence of a dedicated prints search URI in the card data indicates that Knights of Thorn exists in multiple printings across sets sharing the same Oracle ID, rather than a single one-off printing. In short: the art has a life beyond its first appearance, and Masters Edition serves as a bridge that keeps that art accessible to players and collectors alike 🧭💎.

From a gameplay perspective, the card’s white-on-white safeguards and historical flavor are a window into how design priorities have shifted. Today’s sets frequently favor more streamlined abilities and fewer ancient mechanics like banding, but the Masters Edition reprint preserves an authentication of the era. This is part of the “art reprint frequency” conversation: some iconic images are updated or reimagined across sets, while others ride the wave of nostalgia with their original frames and card borders intact. Knights of Thorn exemplifies the latter path, giving players a tangible link to the card’s early-world lore while still functioning within modern formats that allow reprints in things like Pioneer side events or Commander tables where Masters-era cards are celebrated for their historical weight 🧙‍♂️🎲.

Collectors also notice the economics around reprints. Knights of Thorn is listed as a common with foil and nonfoil variants, and its price signals a modest, accessible investment—TIX around 0.04 in the data snapshot—reflecting its status as a widely printed card but not a chase rarity. This dynamic—lower price point married to a beloved art piece—often makes Masters Edition entries like Knights of Thorn a delightful entry point for players who want to own a piece of Classic MTG heritage without breaking the bank. The charm of the card’s protection from red, combined with the strategic peculiarities of banding, continues to appeal to players who enjoy drafting historical mechanics in modern settings 🕹️💡.

For those who appreciate the broader context, the Knights of Thorn study sits alongside a wave of data-driven exploration into card art, reprint patterns, and the cultural footprint of iconic images. The experience is less about raw power and more about the story you tell when you lay down a white knight that confounds red threats and orchestrates a banded assault. The data supports that these images endure because they’re more than lines of text; they’re shared memories across generations of players. And on a desk beside your gaming setup, a Neon Desk Mouse Pad (Customizable 3mm Thick Rubber Base) can be a bright reminder of those classic days—without rattling the balance of your board state 🧙‍♂️🔥🎨.

Neon Desk Mouse Pad - Customizable 3mm Thick Rubber Base

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Knights of Thorn

Knights of Thorn

{3}{W}
Creature — Human Knight

Protection from red; banding (Any creatures with banding, and up to one without, can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If any creatures with banding you control are blocking or being blocked by a creature, you divide that creature's combat damage, not its controller, among any of the creatures it's being blocked by or is blocking.)

"With a great cry, the goblin host broke and ran as the first wave of knights penetrated its ranks." —Tivadar of Thorn, History of the Goblin Wars

ID: 98b76698-e27b-40fa-97fd-9f214f346e31

Oracle ID: 6d8e1a97-67bf-4260-888c-c10c498b98d8

Multiverse IDs: 159149

Colors: W

Color Identity: W

Keywords: Protection, Banding

Rarity: Common

Released: 2007-09-10

Artist: Christopher Rush

Frame: 1997

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 23605

Penny Rank: 16230

Set: Masters Edition (me1)

Collector #: 19

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — not_legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — legal

Prices

  • TIX: 0.04
Last updated: 2025-11-15