Rare Cards in Packs: Where the Story Starts to Grow
A rare card should look rare before anyone reads the label. That was the starting point for the Rare cards in Packs, where rarity is drawn into the scene itself: more story, more detail, more characters, a busier frame.
Packs is ICONIC21’s collectible card-themed virtual instant game, launched in September 2026. Each round opens with a pack, and the cards inside belong to groups with their own characteristics, rarity and payout potential. The artwork comes from 2D artist Marta Khomiakova, and the Rare tier is where her approach first becomes easy to see.
Where Rare sits among the four tiers
Packs cards come in four tiers: Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. Rare is the second step. It is the point where a card moves beyond a simple scene and starts to hint at a bigger story.
Marta sets out what drives the difference between tiers:
“The rarity is reflected through several visual elements: the complexity of the story, the number of objects and details in the scene, the composition, and the characters involved.”
Those four levers rise together. “As the rarity increases, the scenes become richer and more elaborate,” she says, “with more elements contributing to the overall story.” A Rare card has more of each than an Uncommon card, and leaves room for Epic and Legendary to go further.
Ordinary things, seen differently
The Rare cards in Packs grow out of everyday life. Marta drew on video games, familiar objects and the small things that make people happy or make life a little easier. Her aim was to show how much more interesting ordinary things become once imagination gets involved.
That gives each Rare card a familiar anchor. Players recognise the object first, then notice what the scene has done with it.
A shared story behind every card
No card in Packs stands entirely on its own. Small visual references link one scene to another, so the collection adds up to a world rather than a stack of pictures. Holding it together is an evil wizard who travels between worlds.
“He dreams of becoming the most evil wizard in the world, but somehow, everything he does ends up bringing about something good.”
The Rare tier gives that story more room than the tier below. With extra characters and objects in frame, there are more clues to pick up and more of his failed schemes to spot.
Planned in detail, then brought to life
The Packs illustrations changed very little from first concept to final card. Marta planned the main ideas and compositions in detail before the final artwork began. The last stage was about refining those plans, not reworking them.
Her hardest card shows how much goes into a single scene. It features a chicken that has laid a golden egg. Marta wanted a mysterious mood, a chicken with “an almost aristocratic personality”, and a real sense of movement and energy. The golden cave behind it had to feel rich and immersive as well.
Curiosity and wonder
Across the collection, Marta wanted players to feel how fascinating the world can be. Her goal was curiosity: a reason to look closer and find something new in each scene. A day inside Packs, she says, would mean bright, completely different worlds and unexpected twists, each with its own atmosphere and characters.
She can even picture the video game version. It would be a fantasy role-playing game, with the evil wizard travelling alongside you through different worlds and failing at evil all the way.
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