Vanilla creatures have been nearly extinct in MTG for a very long time. Outside of MTG Foundations, the last time we saw a vanilla creature was Yargle and Multani in March of the Machine. Before that, we’re winding the clocks all the way back to 2021 with Strixhaven School of Mages.
Given that vanilla creatures are arguably boring since they don’t have any abilities, this wait might not be too terrible. That being said, MTG players absolutely love vanilla creatures thanks to their endless charm and nostalgic flare. This love is so strong, in fact, that upon being teased, MTG players were enamored by the idea of a new cycle of vanilla creatures in Aetherdrift.
At long last, some of those vanilla creatures have started to appear in the latest round of Aetherdrift spoilers.
Lackluster Legendaries
Recently revealed by Loading Ready Run, we’ve seen three of the presumed five legendary vanilla creatures from Aetherdrift so far. Each of these cards boasts some seriously impressive stats and literally nothing else, since they’re vanilla creatures, obviously. Sadly, while their stats are impressive, it’s pretty unlikely that these cards will see play anywhere.
On the surface, Kalakscion, Hunger Tyrant and Tyrox, Saurid Tyrant look like absolutely insane early bombs. Dropping Kalakscion on turn three theoretically puts your opponent on a three turn clock, after all. While this is technically true, keeping Kalakscion around for long is where things get difficult.
Thanks to their weak toughness, both Kalascion and Tyrox are incredibly susceptible to removal. The same is also true of Terrian, World Tyrant since anything like a bog standard Fell will get them off the board. This can make any of these legendary creatures an incredibly dubious investment since they’re not immediately impactful.
As novel as they are, vanilla creatures have a monumental uphill battle to become genuinely useful. The lack of anything like Haste, Trample, or Deathtouch makes each of these creatures an easily solvable problem. Despite this, these creatures are bound to see play, just not in any competitive format.
Thanks to the format’s casual focus and cards like Jasmine Boreal of the Seven, these vanilla creatures will surely see play in Commander. That being said, this archetype is still a niche fan favorite rather than anything remotely competitive. It’s also lacking a versatile five-color Commander, as Jasmine Boreal is easily the best option. This is bad news for Kalascion and Tyrox, as well as whatever the blue vanilla legendary is.
Flavor First
Despite these vanilla legendary creatures being pretty naff, they all do have one redeeming quality: flavor. Each of these three legendary creatures hails from Muraganda, which is largely unexplored up until this point. Having a cycle of cards dedicated to nothing but their flavor text, in that case, is a welcome treat.
Even though we’ve only seen part of the cycle so far, each of these cards paints a vivid picture of Muraganda. This expands upon what we’ve been directly told through the Planeswalker’s Guide to Aetherdrift. Getting to actually see this world in earnest has been a long time coming, and these cards deliver exactly that.
For better or worse, these cards are also likely the exact reason we’ll never go to Muraganda in its own premier set. As novel as the concept of a “Vanilla Matters” world is, these creatures are bad by modern MTG standards. The only real draw of such a set is getting more cards like Jasmine Boreal which could buff up these otherwise ineffectual creatures.
Thankfully, there’s a non-zero chance we could be getting such support in the future. If we are going back to Ikoria as Mark Rosewater partially teased, we could be getting more ability counters soon. If this happens, Vanilla Matters Commander decks could get the tools needed to make these creatures actually have an impact.
Until then, we can’t help but be disappointed that Muraganda didn’t get its own Commander deck in Aetherdrift. Both Avishkar and Amonkhet got fantastic flavorful showings in their decks, but Muraganda was neglected entirely. Annoyingly, this would have been the perfect place for Wizards to print a five-color Vanilla Matters Commander at long last.
Some Slight Support?
Thankfully, the cycle of legendary vanilla creatures isn’t all we’re getting in Aetherdrift. Already, we’ve seen Fang-Druid Summoner, which supports vanilla creatures by tutoring them. Hopefully, there will be a few more Muraganda-themed cards to help bolster this beloved but otherwise ineffectual archetype.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what the rest of Aetherdrift gives us. Considering we’ve seen Affinity make a wild reappearance, there’s a chance Vanilla Matters is also just a small sub-theme. At the end of the day, any new support is better than nothing at all. It’s just nice that Wizards has somewhat sated player demand for this beloved yet terrible MTG mechanic.
