How important are thematics and illustrations? | Board Game Designers Forum

Another interesting comment by Philip at BGDF on the role of artwork in games. I'm nervous about this - I feel like art's not terribly critical to my game, and that what I've done is good enough for a fairly abstract card game, but now I'm having second thoughts. The consensus among many in retail seems to be that art is as important (or moreso) than design or gameplay.