Behind The Art: The Holy Grail

Tony Szczudlo's "Holy Grail" is a beautiful work of art.

The painting depicts two angels on either side of the grail, energizing and illuminating the grail, and the letters beneath the grail (hidden by the game mechanics text box).

Tony delighted fans in the Sorcery: Contested Realm Facebook Group when he challenged them to try to figure out the translation of the letters beneath the grail.

The letters are Ancient Aramaic. Tony knew they would be masked by the game mechanics text box, and intentionally left this 'easter egg' for us fans to discover.

The translation...

J E S U S

In October 2024, Erik's Curiosa released the first true expansion set to Sorcery: Contested Realm, titled "Arthurian Legends." The sample card shown above did not appear in the main set--in fact, a card featuring the Holy Grail did not appear at all, except for the Gilded Holy Grail Curio card by Elvira Shakirova. Tony's painting was instead used as a full-art card, appearing in the Box Topper pack that comes with each booster box. It has yet to be seen whether an effect like the one shown above will ever come to fruition as a game mechanic, but thanks to Tony for providing this special insight into the hidden message of the Grail painting!