Esteban Vicente

Steve Valladolid got his face on this Dark Future card as a reward for winning the World Championships at GenCon 2001. I think the picture looks more like Zev than Steve, but judge for yourself.

Jan Zverici

Jan Malina, longtime leader in SWS points, earned this card image in Red Wedding by winning the World Championships at GenCon 2002. Jan wasn't too pleased with the card's abilities, but at least the likeness is reasonable :)

Sir Gawain

Gavin Edwards earned his place in art history in Seven Masters by winning the World Championships at GenCon 2003. This is a pretty good likeness as well.

Close Call

Yes, that is our very own beloved Z-Man, Zev Shlasinger.

Hermes / Malachi

Long-time player Andrew Davidson appears on these cards courtesy of his long-time friendship with artist Lissanne Lake. You can read more about the somewhat odd history of these cards, if you like.

Military Commandant

...and almost any other card by Mike Kimble that features a male character, stars Mike himself as that character (yes, even Shi Zi Hui, if you look past the crazed expression :)

Mike also appears in several cards by longtime neighbor and mentor Dan Frazier, most notably on "Trust Me, I've Got a Plan" (Mike is the one holding the gun)

Let's Book

Kaja Foglio painted her husband Phil and two other friends as the would-be victims in this piece. Phil is the larger one on the left :)

Assassin Bug

Featuring Paul Gerardi, long-time Z-Man graphics and production guy, as the unfortunate victim. Well, his arm, anyway.

David Maxwell, Mask of the Nemesis

David Eber, member of the design team from Netherworld 2 through Two Fisted Tales, is the secret identity of David Maxwell, who is in turn the secret identity of The Nemesis. It's a wheels within wheels kind of thing.

Yosef Halevi

Joshua Kronengold earned his spot by winning the World Championships at GenCon 2005.

Two-Headed Horror

That's Braz King on the left, and Gavin Edwards on the right. Braz says it's because they were both National Champions in 2005 (since the championships were scheduled at two different conventions that year...).

Morse Code Poet

Dan Frazier puts Mike Kimble in his cards, Mike puts Dan in his. Here we see Dan starring as the slightly crazed Morse Code Poet. The morse code in the tag line says "Publish or Perish".

The Seven

From left to right: Eric Lui, Erik Berg, Joe Ganis, Jan Malina, Steve Valladolid, John Castellucci, Max Hufnagel -- all long-time players from the San Francisco Bay area. I'm not sure how they arranged it, one of these days I'll ask John...

malloc()

Brian Smith-Sweeney's win at GenCon 2006 got him on this card in the Critical Shift expansion.

The Hegemeister

Allen Hege is the smiling face of the Buro battletank in Critical Shift.

Jade Willow

Willow Palecek's win at GenCon 2007 put her on this card in the Empire of Evil expansion.

Preserving Chi

Clint Oldridge appears in the Empire of Evil expansion because of his wins at the 3 and 4 player UK championships in 2008, among others.