Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Hired Hexblade and the Rise of Borderless and Showcase Treatments
In the vivid rabbit hole of Magic: The Gathering lore and strategy, Hired Hexblade stands as a compact beacon of how a two-mana creature can weave into a Treasure-rich universe with style. Drawn by Irina Nordsol for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (AFR), this 2/2 Elves-and-Warclock hybrid invites a quick, tempo-forward cadence: you pay with mana that might include Treasure and, on entering the battlefield, draw you a card while life ticks away. It’s the kind of card that reminds us why the borderless and showcase variants exist in the first place—collectors chasing unique aesthetics, players chasing synergy, and Wizards chasing new ways to tell a story on the battlefield 🧙♂️🔥💎.
What borderless and showcase variants are—and why they matter
Borderless and Showcase variants are two different ways Wizards of the Coast has experimented with art and framing to give cards a distinct personality. Borderless prints typically push the art closer to the edges, sometimes with a larger, more immersive image that feels like it leaps off the card. They’re the kind of prints that make a collector grin when you slide the card into a sleeve and the artwork barely contains the scene you imagined while drafting with friends. Showcase variants, on the other hand, celebrate the set’s theme with a stylized frame or alternate artwork—often paired with a unique border treatment—creating a visual nod to a narrative vibe rather than raw, border-proximate breadth of art. In recent years, these treatments have become a regular feature in limited print runs, special sets, and promo drops, turning a single card into a small work of collectible art 🎨🎲.
The evolution isn’t just about pretty pictures; it’s a meeting of gameplay, collectability, and community chatter. For many players, Showcases evoke a memory of a particular set’s mood—the drake-slick glints of Ikoria or the gothic flourish of Innistrad—while Borderless variants speak to the “art-on-edges” dream of a full-bleed scene you can admire without peeking at the text box. Hired Hexblade itself ships in AFR with a classic frame, but the broader conversation around this card is inseparable from how borderless and showcase versions have shaped what “rare” and “special” feel like in the card market today 🧙♂️⚔️.
As a mechanic, Hired Hexblade’s primary draw is not its art but its interaction with Treasure tokens. The enter-the-battlefield trigger—“When this creature enters, if mana from a Treasure was spent to cast it, you draw a card and you lose 1 life”—is emblematic of the AFR era’s treasure-oriented flavor. The card’s simple two-mana cost and 2/2 body keep it accessible in aggressive black decks, while the Treasure-dedicated synergy nudges players toward a wider Treasure economy you’ll see in sets that celebrate loot, expeditions, and quick ramp tricks. This is the heart of why variant treatments matter: they become the visual promises that a card might also pair with a broader design space—Treasure-focused build-arounds, anyone? 🧙♂️💎.
The evolution in practice: from standard frames to collectible variations
Across the MTG landscape, borderless and Showcase variants have become a language of their own. They signal moments when a card’s personality deserves a different stage: a border that breathes with the art’s intensity, or a frame that echoes a set’s thematic heartbeat. In AFR, Hired Hexblade sits as a humble common, but its presence in this lineage is part of a bigger story: players chase the thrill of a card that looks as sharp as it plays, and collectors chase the thrill of a rare print that shouts “this is the moment we remember this set by.” The broader ecosystem rewards variants with added tactile joy—foil finishes, etched foils, and the shimmering inventory of alternate art prints—each a small celebration of the craft and the culture around it 🧙♂️🔥💎.
For builders, this means more than just “is it legal in my commander deck?” It means considering how a card’s aesthetic treatment interacts with the deck’s vibe and the table’s emotions. A borderless Hired Hexblade, in practice, would feel like a quiet, edge-to-edge statement piece on the battlefield; a Showcase-variant HEX might project a darker, more thematic aura that matches the AFR’s Forgotten Realms mood. The truth is simpler and more exciting: variant art and frames are another layer of storytelling at the table, and they can inspire new deck ideas, even if the game rules stay unchanged 🍀🎨.
Practical notes for players and collectors
- Print type matters for collectability: this card exists in foil and non-foil forms, with a current USD price hovering around a few pennies for non-foil copies and a touch more for foils. In euro terms, values run similarly modest, reflecting common rarity but collectible appeal. The allure isn’t just price—it’s the moment you flip the card and feel the art come alive ✨.
- Set context: AFR’s edition places Hired Hexblade in a Treasure-friendly world. The card’s flavor text—“I’ll take care of it. You just be sure to hold up your end of the deal.”—ties neatly to the satire and shrewdness of a market-savvy warlock who loves both bargains and battle.
- Gameplay considerations: as a two-mana 2/2 with a conditional draw-back, it’s a tempo play that rewards careful timing. If you can ensure the Treasure-mana condition is satisfied on entry, you get extra fuel for your next turns, at the cost of a life point or two. It’s a quintessentially AFR black-mana cradle-to-grave moment with a twist 🧙♂️💔.
- Variant-chasing sensibly: borderless and Showcase variants are thrilling but expensive paths to collectability. Decide whether you’re in it for the aesthetics, the potential for a higher resale tier, or the pure joy of a card that feels special when you draw it in a draft or a Commander game.
“Art is the first language of the battlefield; frames and borders merely give the speech a little extra swagger.” 🧭🖼️
If you’re building a Treasure-centric black deck or simply savoring AFR’s legacy, Hired Hexblade is a compact piece of that larger mosaic. Its enduring charm lies in the way a humble common card becomes a doorway into a broader conversation about how Magic markets storytelling through variant art, and how collectors weigh the thrill of a borderless edge against the romance of a Showcase frame. The card’s practical use on the table remains unchanged, but the imagination it inspires—about borders, frames, and the art that defines a set—gives it additional weight in the modern MTG ecosystem 🧙♂️🔥.
For fans who want a little real-world glue tying together the hobby and everyday life, the right accessory can be a delightful companion to your sleeves and playmat. If you’re looking to protect your everyday carry, the phone case with card holder and MagSafe polycarbonate from this retailer is a neat match for a weekend game night—a small reminder that the Magic multiverse isn’t just on the table; it travels with you as you roll dice, trade stories, and chase those perfect foils 🧙♂️🎲.
- EDHREC rank: 21659
- Penny Rank: 13832
- Legal in: Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, etc.
Ready to peek behind the curtain of the Borderless and Showcase world? If you’re curious to see more variants and how they’ve shaped modern collectability, keep an eye on future MTG releases and the evolving conversations around frame design, print runs, and the stories we tell at the table 🧙♂️⚔️.