Typal may be relatively new terminology within the MTG world, but themed decks are nothing new. Since the earliest days of Magic, players have been building Countless themed decks for myriad formats. Between Cats and Dogs in Commander and Vampires in Pioneer, there’s no end to what Typal-decks can achieve.
Due to their popularity and strength, there’s unsurprisingly a lot of demand for Typal support cards. Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast is well aware of this demand and frequently prints new lords and Commander options. Most recently, the new Voja, Jaws of the Conclave has caused a massive resurgence to Wolf Typal decks.
As fun as it was, Murders at Karlov Manor is no longer the latest MTG set. Thanks to MTG’s relentless release calendar, the Fallout Commander decks now hold that title. Like many Universes Beyond releases before it, this set includes oodles of Typal support. Much of this support is for new or underused creature types such as Mutants, Synths, and Robots.
Alongside these newly established archetypes, the Fallout Commander decks also gave MTG its very first Sloth. As if that wasn’t enough, a recent errata has given MTG a whole lot more!
A Surprise Sloth, but a Welcome One
Fallout 76 may have had a rather rough launch, but the game is hardly all bad. Thanks to continued updates, this once-struggling multiplayer game now offers a genuinely compelling experience. Even before this happened, the game always had plenty of Fallout’s apocalyptically grim yet jaunty charm.
On top of all the Vaults, Mothmen, and bizarre goings-on, Fallout 76 included Megasloths. As the name suggests, these irritated creatures are essentially just Sloths but big and surprisingly deadly. While not as iconic as Fallout’s Deathclaws or The Master, Megasloths still made the cut for the Fallout Commander decks.
In the new Mutant Menace deck Commander players can enjoy Lumbering Megasloth. Sadly, on its own, this card isn’t all too amazing, as it’s aptly rather slow. Even if you can reduce its cost and play it early, it still comes into play tapped. While this certainly hurts this card’s playability, Lumbering Megasloth should still be able to find a home within some decks.
While Lumbering Megasloth may not be the best card ever, it does have a trick up its sleeves. As we mentioned at the start of this article, Lumbering Megasloth is the very first Sloth in MTG. While this is literally true, MTG has technically had a sloth since 2021 thanks to Strixhaven: School of Mages.
Despite its name, Strixhaven’s Relic Sloth isn’t actually a Sloth. Instead, when it was printed, this card was a Beast which seemed like an obvious misstep. Thankfully, this mistake is one that Wizards of the Coast has been rather keen on fixing recently. Following a change in philosophy, Wizards has been making more unique creature types rather than just lumping everything together under “Beasts.”
As a result of this change, we now have Raccoons, Capybara, and Sloths in MTG!
One Errata Isn’t Enough
Beyond just releasing Lumbering Megasloth and creating a new creature type, the Fallout Commander decks have also caused an errata. Going back to correct past wrongs, Wizards have given all suitable beasts the Sloth creature type. In total, three cards have been errata-ed, bringing the grand total of Sloths up to four.
Alongside Relic Sloth, the other two newly errata-ed cards are Arboreal Grazer and Complaints Clerk. While it’s somewhat understandable the former didn’t facilitate a change, Complaints Clerk seemed like the perfect opportunity. Thanks to the boundary-pushing nature of Un-sets, creating a new creature type would have hardly been the biggest surprise.
Ultimately, it’s probably for the better that Unfinity didn’t cause a Sloth-based errata to keep them from feeling too wacky. Unfortunately, while this errata has finally happened, we’re still a long way from Sloth-Typal MTG decks existing. Currently, this hypothetical deck only has four creatures, none of which could helm the deck as its Commander.
Sadly, due to their rarity, it seems Sloth-fans will have to wait for their dream deck to become reality. Thankfully, the same isn’t the case for fans of Detectives as this newfangled archetype already has 74 cards. Between Doctor Who and Murders at Karlov Manor, this archetype has no end of fantastic cards to choose between. Unfortunately, one obvious card is still missing from this collection.
First released in New Capenna Commander, Dogged Detective surprisingly doesn’t live up to their name. Despite three sets containing Detectives being released, this MTG card is still yet to receive an errata. While this hardly makes a Detective-Typal deck redundant, unsurprisingly many MTG players nonetheless want this Detective to actually be a Detective.
More Sloths Soon?
Sadly, while the errata on Dogged Detective may not happen for some time, there’s a good chance we’ll get more Sloths in MTG soon. This is thanks to the upcoming release of Bloomburrow, which is jam-packed with adorable anthropomorphic animals. While nothing has been confirmed yet if any set was to contain more Sloths, Bloomburrow would be it.
Unfortunately, while Bloomburrow has a lot of potential for amazing creature types and Commanders, the set isn’t here yet. Not only is it five months away, but Outlaws of Thunder Junction is releasing in the meantime. While this wait for 2024’s most anticipated set is a long one, hopefully, it shouldn’t feel as long as it is.
Read More: MTG Players Want More Unique Adorable Creature Types
