The Gathering’s Trouble In Pairs Artist Accused Of Plagiarism

Magic: the Gathering artist Fay Dalton has been accused of plagiarising art for the card Trouble in Pairs. Dalton is accused of stealing from a piece of Cyberpunk 2020 art created by Donato Giancola, who has also produced art for Magic: the Gathering.

Upon noticing the similarities, Giancola shared his findings publicly on social media. He calls Dalton out directly and says that he’s prepared to take legal action, as one of the figures in Dalton’s art appears to be very similar to a character drawn by Giancola.

“Hey Fay Dalton, do you mind not stealing my work on highly paid, public commercial commissions in the genre which I make my living and hold my reputation dear?” writes Giancola, in a post on his Facebook page. “This is criminal and theft. What other works have you stolen…”

He continues: “Nearly speechless, but not speechless enough not to contact a lawyer. Criminal copyright infringement. What were you thinking Fay Dalton?”

Dalton has not responded to the allegations at the time of writing. Magic: the Gathering is yet to comment on the matter, but has previously taken action against artists accused of plagiarism.

Dalton has created art for a few MTG cards, including, Serene Sleuth and Knowledge Is Power. Giancola has too, with numerous cards to his name. If this is indeed plagiarised, then it’s no wonder how it came up on Giancola’s radar.

This is far from the first time that an MTG artist has been accused of plagiarising for the work they created for Wizards of the Coast. Last year, David Sondered was accused of stealing art from fellow artist Lorenzo Lanfranconi for the Wayfarer’s Bauble card. In response, Wizards of the Coast suspended its ongoing work with Sondered “until further notice”. At the time, WotC provided the following statement:

Such misuse of art is expressly prohibited by our artist guidelines and does not reflect the values of Wizards of the Coast.

Following another case of art theft in 2021, WotC stated, “These actions do not reflect the values of Wizards”.

It’s not clear if WotC is aware of these fresh allegations of art theft or not. In any case, we will update this report with any developments from either side.