Recently, one of my best friends and I had a go at making Commander decks for each other. My friend asked to build him something that branched out from his regular commander. He quickly discovered some powerful angel creatures, and this deck then quickly devolved into an angel deck, chock-full of cards to keep him from ever losing the game.
As we continue to build decks for each other, I’ve come across something unexpected. My friend almost always asks to build creature types that have few cards and little to no support. This started when he built a deck for me that was purely elvish warriors and escalated when he asked me to build him a dwarf deck.
For such an iconic creature in most Tolkien-inspired fantasy games, Dwarves are, well, dwarfed by other creature types in MtG. With less than 150 cards to their name in over 30 years of this card game, dwarves have only recently seen a revitalization. However, dwarves are not the only creatures that have suffered from a lack of attention. So today, let’s give some attention to some of the less-loved creatures in Magic: the Gathering.
Digging Deep
In the spirit of dwarves, after having a hard time building a dwarf deck, I decided to dig a little deeper. With an advanced search on scryfall I discovered that over half of the dwarves that have ever been printed in Magic: the Gathering have been printed in the past decade. Before their return in Kaladesh back in 2016, the most recent dwarf card released was in 2008. This means dwarves were absent in Magic sets for almost a full decade!
Luckily, a multitude of sets in recent years have allowed dwarves to become more prominent. With Kaladesh, Wizards of the Coast established a solid niche for dwarves. They cared about artifacts (naturally), but dwarfs on Kaladesh cared about vehicles, which were new at the time.
Mechanical identity is important for creature types as it gives them a way to fit into other decks. The use of dwarves in Kaladesh was a great sign for the creature type.
However, not all is well for dwarves. The new Aetherdrift set is returning to Kaladesh, now known as Avishkar, however, there are no new dwarves in this set. This is especially disappointing, considering this was the plane that led to the reemergence of dwarves.
I hope to see more fun and interesting dwarves come along soon. This whole ordeal started with attempting to build a deck around “The Lady of Otaria,” an avatar of the dwarves, but there are very few green dwarves at all. Without green dwarves to support this commander and a solid mechanical identity to give them a niche in green mana, this deck may never see the light of day.
Stealing Rogue’s Groove
One great example of a creature type that hasn’t gotten enough love is Mercenaries. There are only 71 cards to their name and almost a third of them were released in the past year.
Most of the old mercenary cards focused on summoning other mercenaries. This could be quite good… if there were better mercenaries to summon. This year, however, Wizards of the Coast made a bid to give them a stronger mechanical identity. The outlaw mechanic, released in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, groups mercenaries with more creature types and gives them all advantages.
This same strategy has been used before to great effect. The best example I can think of is Sea Monsters, classified as Krakens, Leviathan, Serpents, and Octopi. These sea monsters usually get grouped together in various cards. Due to the cards that care about sea monsters, each creature type gets a boost, allowing them to flourish and preform better.
Outlaw is a promising mechanic and a way to give Mercenaries more support. I’ve even used the outlaw mechanic as a way to make complicated decks work. Grouping mercenaries with already well-established creatures, like rogues with 530 cards, gives them a way to be added to more decks.
I love the outlaw mechanic, and I look forward to seeing more of it in the future. It may become my favorite way to play dastardly creatures in Magic. Still, I can’t help but feel a little sad. The outlaw mechanic makes it harder for mercenaries to stand on their own feet in the same way that assassins, rogues, or pirates do.
It’s especially telling that pirates have a strong mechanical identity. Pirates have 163 cards. However, over 120 of those cards have been released since 2018. Pirates are popular, and Wizards have spent a lot of time making compelling legendary pirates and building mechanics around them. This only seems to confirm what should be obvious: Wizards of the Coast plays favorites, and some creature types get left by the wayside.
Creepy Crawlies
One thing I’ve found true about Magic: the Gathering players is that, as a community, we have a lot of love for some gross creature types. From frogs to insects to spiders, there are plenty of creepy crawlies that people love and want to build commander decks around.
I remember how exciting it was when spiders and frogs finally got their first legendary cards back in the Shadows over Innistrad block. “Ishkanah, Grafwidow” and “The Gitrog Monster” both became fan favorites. The Gitrog Monster has even appeared in multiple sets afterward. Players love it when their favorite creature type finally gets a legendary card. It finally gives them a commander for their favorite deck!
There are plenty of smaller creature types that plenty of players want to see more of. I have a friend who plays a bunny deck with “Cadira, Caller of the Small” at the helm. This year, the Bloomburrow set was a great way for her to get more new killer bunnies to torment me with.
There is love for all sorts of critters in MtG. I hope they continue to print even more of them. Every creature is somebody’s favorite.
My Favorite Weirdos
Like most players, I have my own favorite card types that are criminally underrepresented. For most of these creatures, I might never be able to build a proper deck, but I can still admire them and celebrate when they get new cards.
Lammasu
There are four cards with the creature type Lammasu. These creatures appear in old religions and stories, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh.
I’ve been fascinated with Lammasu for a long time, in part because “Venerable Lammasu” caught my attention during my first draft with friends. When Magic returns to Tarkir, I hope to see more of this creature type.
Snails
I said before that creepy crawly critters are actually quite popular among the MtG fan base. A lot of players have at least one creature type that is considered gross in real life that they love in MtG. I am no different.
“Wick, the Whorled Mind” has captured a part of my soul and refuses to let it go. Wick is a warlock obsessed with snails and the card captures this perfectly. The more rats you play (the bigger your cult grows), the stronger your snail god grows. There’s just one problem. There is only ONE snail in Magic: the Gathering! It’s not even legendary!
I don’t want more snails in Magic: the Gathering; I need them. One day I would love to make a deck around Wick where I play some rats and a few legendary snails for them to worship. For now, Wick remains without a proper snail master to serve, and I remain sad about it.
Spellshapers
Spellshapers are weird, and I love it. These creatures function by discarding a card to produce some kind of magical effect. This idea of shaping existing spells into something new is fascinating to me. I’ve even tried to convert this idea to D&D, but without much success for now.
I remember first sitting down to play at a friend’s drafting table and being enamored with “Jaya Ballard, Task Mage.” Her ability to use discarding to shape spells into multiple different forms. It was even later that I discovered that Jaya was actually a planeswalker, which made me even more excited about this card.
Unfortunately, most spellshapers are very old and not very good. The creature type doesn’t see much love from Wizards of the Coast anymore. It’s easy to understand why. Nowadays, creature types like druid, shaman, or wizard are much more common. Even though spellshapers have a strong mechanical identity, discarding cards to achieve other effects can just as easily be shifted to other creature types.
Our Fight Continues
My friend and I will likely never stop falling in love with weird creature types. That’s okay. Magic is always expanding and ever-growing. One day, if my favorite creatures get more cards or even a commander, it will be a joyous occasion.
For now, my friend and I have started building a different deck. After realizing that he liked more esoteric creatures that could range in representation scales, I suggested a warrior’s deck. He happily agreed. We’ve selected “Najella, the Blade-Blossom” as his commander. That, however, is a can of worms for another day.
