Unsurprisingly, since MTG has been around since 1993, Wizards of the Coast has made an awful lot of creatures and creature types. To date, over 14,000 have been released, and that number keeps on growing. In 2023, a staggering 1,190 creatures were created, many of which were just boring ol’ Humans.
Thankfully, while Humans are a very familiar face in MTG, Wizards have created plenty of variety. Over the years Wizards have devised over 280 creature types, a good deal of which receive steady support. In 2023, Wizards of the Coast even created a brand new and surprisingly unique creature type: Capybara.
Appearing in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Basking Capybara may be meh, but it’s nonetheless beloved by fans. Following on from this, it seems that many MTG players want to have even more adorable and unique creature types in MTG. Luckily, it seems there’s a good chase players may get exactly what they want in the future!
The MTG Menagerie
Compared to 2023, which featured a grand total of zero new planes, 2024 is encouragingly unique. Looking at the release calendar, three brand-new planes have been confirmed which gives Wizards endless opportunities. Within this short list, one of the new sets seems like the perfect opportunity to print more unique creatures.
Releasing on August 2nd, this set is full to the brim with anthropomorphic animals and furry planeswalkers. According to MTG’s Lead Designer, in the set, each color pair will have its own Typal creature-type focused archetype. While these cards will surely make up the majority of the set, we’d be surprised if there weren’t unique extras too.
Hoping for the same thing, u/harbear6 recently shared their desire for Penguins to appear in Bloomburrow. Technically, one Penguin does already exist in MTG, however, sadly Curse of the Fire Penguin is not eternal legal. Unfortunately, while there is always the chance Harbear6’s dream will come true, even they’re doubting the possibility now.
“When Bloomburrow was announced I was hopeful there may be a snowy part of the plane and we’d finally get Penguins in magic. I suppose there still could be but with how autumnal and forest-y the whole plane feels I doubt we’ll get penguins now. They’re my favorite animal and I’m disappointed Wotc has kept them relegated purely to Un-sets. Justice for Penguins.”
u/harbear6
Beyond the hope for Penguins to finally get their black border debut, u/AporiaParadox wants to see a lot more variety. Hoping to inspire this, AporiaParadox recently made a Reddit post discussing all the missing major creatures. Within their comprehensive list, AporiaParadox highlighted how Pandas, Penguins, Flamingos, Ostriches, Giraffes, Beavers, Kangaroos, Koalas, Platypus, Lobsters, Donkeys, and Llamas are all missing.
As if 12 missing potential creature types weren’t enough, other MTG players highlighted even more missed opportunities. Between Opossums, Tardigrades, Walrus’, Seals, Hedgehogs, and Red Pandas, there’s no end to the absolutely adorable opportunities. We just have to hope that Wizards of the Coast will actually print some of them.
Reprints to the Rescue
Looking ahead, there’s a very real chance that some of these dreams could be realized. Given the set’s Wild-West theming, Outlaws of Thunder Junction could feature a fair few of the desired creature types. Out of these, Opossums feel like a genuine possibility, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Kangaroo too.
Unfortunately, while the possibilities are exciting, there’s no guarantee that any unique creature types will appear. For better or worse, it’s likely the hypothetical creature types would be saved until they really fit. Beyond this, if nothing is in the works now, it’d take at least two years for them to start trickling in.
Thankfully, a two-year wait isn’t ideal, there’s a chance that some of these creature types could arrive sooner. Technically, as many players pointed out, many of the desired creature types do already exist in MTG. For example, Donkeys, Lobsters, Clams, and even Kangaroos have all been printed in Un-sets.
Currently, the majority of cards from Un-sets are not eternal legal and subsequently can’t be played in Commander. Thanks to Unfinity, it’s been proven that many Un-Set cards could feasibly work as black-bordered fully playable cards. Once this precedent was set, there have been countless requests for old silver-bordered cards to be reprinted as black-bordered cards.
Unfortunately, much like Universes Within cards, the demand for these reprints may be too low to demand printing. That being said, MTG’s Lead designer, Mark Rosewater, appears to be receptive to the idea. Recently, Rosewater has been discussing cards like Clambassadors on their blog which “could easily be Eternal legal.”
While this all sounds very positive, sadly, we do feel it’s unlikely these reprints would happen. If there’s not enough demand to make a new Un-Set, black-bordered reprints seem almost out of the question.
Unique Creatures Coming Soon
While we may not have a crystal ball to predict the future, MTG players should have some of their wishes come true. Not only is this thanks to the upcoming sets, but also a recent design change. Back in January of this year, Mark Rosewater revealed that Wizards is moving away from batching animals together.
Rather than lumping everything together under the category of “Beast,” now Wizards is making more Cannoons, Capybara, and Moles. Since this trend should continue in the future, it should only be a matter of time before players get what they want.
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