Very interesting quote from the article (definitely worth a read, link in Jolly Ruby's post above) but I'm not sure the Alt cover is the cover best aimed at new players:
"That the mind flayer’s profile has been so greatly raised by its inclusion in Stranger Things and Baldur’s Gate 3 certainly didn’t hurt either. And while the team may not have specifically chosen to put an illithid front-and-center because of Larian’s acclaimed CRPG, it was definitely on their minds.
This made the Monster Manual alt cover art a way to entice gamers who are new to D&D.
“If you said 12 months ago ‘Have you heard of a mind flayer?’ I don’t think everybody would have, but now I think a lot of people do,” Herman said. “We wanted to put that out there as a ‘this is also the same game as Baldur’s Gate 3’ to help create that extra connection with fans that this is sort of the same thing.”"