Before you begin, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Eric for allowing me to share this story on his website. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute and to document an experience that meant a great deal to me.

I would also like to thank Jeff Menges for placing his trust in me and inviting me along on what can only be described as a remarkable adventure. Opportunities like this do not come along often, and I am grateful to have been a small part of a journey centered around friendship, art, history, and a shared passion for Magic: The Gathering.

So this story has a few parts, and what better place to start than the beginning. I’m sitting in Discord in 2022 watching trade chat and I see one of my great friends start posting pics of a sealed box of Legends, a sealed box of The Dark, and the first page of a binder which has an Alpha Mox Ruby signed and a Collector’s Edition Mox Pearl. Then the page flips and I realize this isn’t a CE gold bordered Mox Pearl but actually an Alpha Artist Proof.

I politely send a text message to my friend asking him:

A. Please remove those pictures.

B. Can you get this guy’s phone number?

C. What’s your PayPal information so I can compensate you for your time?

3 days later I fly out to purchase the largest collection I’ve ever seen. While we are closing the deal and about to part ways he shows me a picture of a few of his original Alpha artworks.

“When did you acquire these?”

“Oh, I would say probably 1994.”

I realize I may be the first person other than him that has seen the long lost original Alpha paintings of Black Knight by Jeff Menges and White Knight by Daniel Gelon.

This information sits with me for a little over a year when I find myself sitting in DFB’s backyard the night before Lobstercon 2023 at a table with Jeff Menges and Mitja.

I kind of just blurt out:

“Jeff, I notice you don’t have prints or playmats of Black Knight, why is that?”

He explains how after he submitted the painting to Wizards of the Coast, it might have been the last time he saw it. There were some employees at Wizards HQ that fell in love with some of the original Alpha artwork and purchased them through Jesper from the artists. Some paintings were sold just a bit later through a gallery that had connected Wizards. The Black Knight was one of these paintings, and he couldn’t do a true print because he doesn’t have the painting scanned. In 1993 most houses (even most artists’ houses) just didn’t have that technology.

“So if you were to somehow find the original painting you could scan it and be set up?”

“Pez, I haven’t seen that painting in 30 years, no one has.”

“I know where it is, Jeff.”

Mitja then screams out:

“ROAD TRIP!”

Weeks turn into months, months turn into a few years.

Since then I have given Jeff the owner’s contact information and after a couple brief conversations nothing really happens. Owner has become more public and been approached by the regular millionaire finance bros in our community, but ultimately no deals are closed.

Our man has held on to these paintings for 30 years. He isn’t in a hurry to have some stranger potentially rip him off.

I’m not sure what made me reach back out after a few years of no real contact other than it just didn’t sit well with me that I was the missing piece in having a true legend be able to scan and properly say goodbye to one of his earliest pieces that really helped forge his career.

I love Black Knight. It might be my favorite card of all time.

I remember being 13 years old with my first starter deck given to me and while I was flipping through it I just stopped on the Black Knight.

“The battle doesn’t need a purpose, the battle is its own purpose. You don’t ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don’t ask why I fight.”

That flavor text is still bad ass.

I felt I owed it to Magic, the community, and to Jeff to make this my duty and just handle it, whatever needed to be done.

I reach out to Jeff and ask:

“Would you still be into flying across the country and meeting up with this dude with me so we can get your card scanned? He also has White Knight. I want to get that to Gelon. Can you help me with that too?”

What do I want for compensation?

Nothing.

I’m just trying to do right by the game that has basically been the backbone of my life for 30 years.

Let’s fucking do this.

About 3 months go by and I’m walking through one of the most complicated airports I’ve ever been to and I hear yelling behind me.

“PEZ! PEZ!”

I turn around and see Jeff and kind of start taking it in, that this is currently happening right now.

I am actually putting this together and Jeff is getting his scan.

The meeting, scanning, and countless stories about the old days go on for a few hours and everything went perfect. Jeff was having some minor technical issues with a new scanner he bought just for this occasion, but the 5th time’s the charm and all 3 of us are looking at a perfect scan of the card.

Jeff blows the image up and we are seeing brush strokes and really getting a chance to look at the acrylic paint that still looks flawless after 30 years.

We say our goodbyes after one of the most amazing afternoons I’ve had in my life.

I’m happy, I think we are done, and I’m thinking about asking Jeff what he wants to eat after he gets off the phone.

“Hey Pez, you want to go have lunch with Dan Frazier?”

A question I never imagined would ever be asked to me.

We take a very short drive and I find myself in the doorway shaking the hand of Dan Frazier.

We walk into his studio and I just shut up and let Jeff and Dan catch up while I soak in what I’m looking at.

There’s at least 20 of Dan’s realism paintings. Some donuts that look so delicious I want to eat the paintings.

He has some old Frazetta prints and says he is one of his favorites and then I see the original art of Horn of Blasting.

I’m able to walk right up to it and get a good look at the green/yellow Frazier background he is so famous for.

A beautiful piece and I am so happy to be in this room.

“You guys want a tour of the house and see some of the other artwork?”

I get to see Rembrandts studies up close, some of Dan’s sculptures of dragon fossils. He explains why he loves pencil sketches.

“It’s the most pure form of art, this is the art. The other shit is just polish.”

We walk into his bedroom and see a huge painting above his bed. In the style of an English oil painting with an Indian vibe, there’s a sultan with cool genie pants and giant ass daggers.

He mentions that a very good friend of his that passed away was the model.

In the forefront of the painting, sprawled across a bed, is a very voluptuous woman that he captured every single curve of, with a turban on her head.

And in the center of that turban?

Mox Ruby.

“You guys want to go get some tacos?”

Perhaps the best ending to a life changing weekend.

Dan Frazier, Jeff Menges and me enjoying authentic tacos in an almost empty restaurant where they are telling me tales from the good ol’ days before Alpha.

When they were getting paid 50 bucks to do some paintings for a weird card game that’s about to come out.