Since their debut in 1998, Un-sets have provided a wide open field for Magic: The Gathering’s designers to run wild in. Ideas that were too complex, or just too unbalanced, for the main game were printed here with no drawbacks. Aesthetic boundaries were pushed too, with plenty of concepts too silly for mainline Magic being explored. On top of that, a number of Un-set exclusive MTG creature types were also created.
These creature types, while initially restricted to silver-bordered expansions, have started to make their way into real sets. It’s a real sign of the times; a testament to just how far Magic has expanded its horizons in recent years. According to a post from Head Designer Mark Rosewater, we may well see more of this in the future, too. For fans of bizarre, niche creature types, this is fantastic news.
The Future Of MTG Un-Set Creature Types
Rosewater’s statement on Un-set creature types in MTG came via a Blogatog post on Sunday. Responding to a question from onewordshy about the Clown creature type, he gave a vague but hopeful answer.
“onewordshy: Duskmourn introduced the Toy creature type and brought back the Clown creature type from Unfinity- I loved their flavor and mechanics, will we be seeing more of them in the future? I imagine the chances are low since “toy” and “clown” are such niche design spaces, but the fact that they got official creature types makes me hopeful.
Mark Rosewater: I think we’ll see more of both.”
Via Blogatog
While this doesn’t immediately seem like an endorsement of future Un-set types in mainline sets, reading between the lines does support such a take. Both Toy and Clown are very unconventional as Magic creature types go. Even just a few years ago, them showing up in a real set would’ve been unthinkable. Thanks to Duskmourn’s strong ’80s aesthetic, however, they made perfect sense within the set.
Clown, as onewordshy notes, made its debut in Unfinity. In keeping with the set’s ‘outer space amusement park’ theme, 10 creatures with the Clown type were featured, the majority of which were also Robots. At the time it seemed like just another ultra-niche Un-set creature type, but Duskmourn presented the perfect opportunity to bring it over just a few years later. We only saw three Clowns in Duskmourn, but the fact that such a type made the jump at all is noteworthy.
Toy is interesting in its own right. Though not an Un-set type originally, it certainly has the same vibe as one. It’s incredibly specific, especially since it’s a creature type and not an artifact type. Duskmourn featured 14 Toy creatures in total, so it has a lot more representation than Clown currently.
Rosewater doesn’t confirm anything in his response here, but usually his answers like this do end up panning out. Expect more Clowns and Toys in the future, in other words. Magic as a game is more aesthetically broad than it’s ever been, leaving plenty of room for obscure types like this to flourish.
The Story So Far
Clown isn’t the only entry in the ‘Un-set creature types that have made it into mainline MTG products’ category. We’ve actually seen this happen a few times now, across a number of releases.
Robot is perhaps the most prolific example. This type was introduced in 2022’s Unfinity, then immediately put to work in a number of mainline products. The Brothers’ War Transformers cards were first, which admittedly stretches the definition of ‘mainline’ Magic a bit. Over the next few years, however, Robot would continue making appearances. Both the Doctor Who and Fallout Commander decks had good Robot representation. Earlier this year, the type even showed up in a Standard set with Aetherdrift. Though not quite as out-there as Clown, this is probably the biggest Un-set to main set success story.
Alien followed a very similar trajectory. It started out in Unfinity, then absolutely exploded in use with the Doctor Who Commander decks. Given the subject matter, this move makes a ton of sense. We haven’t seen any Aliens in Standard as of yet, but with Edge of Eternities right around the corner that could very well change soon.
The last Un-set type to make the jump is a bit lesser-known, but no less important. In 2017’s Unstable, Squirrel Dealer marked the first Raccoon in Magic. Fast forward five years to Streets of New Capenna, and the type would return on a couple of Cabaretti-aligned cards. Since then, we’ve seen Raccoon in four different Standard sets and one Commander product, so it’s a real contender to Robot’s throne.
These examples highlight Wizards’ willingness to port over Un-set creature types to the main game where appropriate. If Rosewater is happy to hint at more Clowns and Toys in future sets, it’s likely that we’ll see more obscure types making the jump.
More To Come?
Which Un-set creature types are we likely to see in future mainline MTG sets? There are a number of possibilities. While a lot of the really out there types, Clamfolk, Waiter, etc. were removed from the game during the Grand Creature Type Update in 2007, we’ve seen some of these, like Dinosaur, return. This, combined with Rosewater’s statement above, means pretty much anything is fair game at this point.
Some Un-set creature types fall into the ‘too modern for traditional Magic’ category that Clown and Robot did. Types like Cyborg and Performer from Unfinity are firmly in this camp. While these would’ve been out of the question not too long ago, seeing them in a Standard set now wouldn’t raise many eyebrows. Performer would’ve made total sense in Streets of New Capenna, for example.
Cyborg, too, would’ve been ideal in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, had this more liberal attitude to Un-set types been present in the game back then. In any case, it seems like a slam-dunk inclusion somewhere in Edge of Eternities. Cyborgs are a staple of the sci-fi genre, and they wouldn’t be unreasonable at all in a set about space travel. Given its theming, Edge of Eternities is actually incredibly well-placed for creature type diversity in general. We could easily see Robots, Aliens, and all manner of other types in here.
More niche types aside, Un-sets are also full of more generic creature types. The likes of Donkey, Penguin, and Child were all silly by the standards of older Magic, but with how wacky a lot of the main sets are now would be relatively tame additions to today’s game. Keep your eyes peeled: I expect we’ll see a lot more of these types in mainline sets going forward.