Mark Poole

Mark Poole is an illustrator for Magic: The Gathering. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts and Design). He has also done work for other gaming companies including White Wolf Studios, Warcraft, Sony Online Entertainment (Legends of Norrath), Upper Deck and Ziggurat Games. His Dungeons & Dragons credits include the Magic Item Compendium and Magic of Incarnum.

Magic the Gathering Artwork
Mark Poole was one of the original illustrators for the first set of Magic: The Gathering. He painted 26 cards for the Alpha set including 3 different Island pictures.

List of Alpha cards painted by Mark Poole
 * Ancestral Recall
 * Balance
 * Birds of Paradise
 * Burrowing
 * Counterspell
 * Crusade
 * Farmstead
 * Fastbond
 * Fear
 * Howl from Beyond
 * Howling Mine
 * Island (3 types)
 * Island Sanctuary
 * Jump
 * Kudzu
 * Natural Selection
 * Phantasmal Forces
 * Simulacrum
 * Sleight of Mind
 * Stream of Life
 * Thoughtlace
 * Wild Growth

Ancestral Recall
Mark Poole's most recognized artwork for Magic: The Gathering is Ancestral Recall due to it being part of the Power Nine. The Power Nine are nine cards from the original Magic Alpha set that were long considered to be the most powerful cards in the game.

Poole also created an alternate artwork Ancestral Recall as a prize for the winner of the Gen Con 2005 Vintage Tournament. For the Time Spiral expansion Poole created another homage to Ancestral Recall, the artwork for Ancestral Vision.

Tropical Island Alpha
In the Alpha version of the card named Tropical Island there was an error. Mark Poole did not paint the image on the card. This error was improved in the Beta version of the card

Music
For the past 15 years, Poole has been a professional bass player with the band Albion.