For the past two weeks, I've been going through the history of typal mechanics, which encompass cards that care about creature types, and choosing a card from each year that I thought was the most influential typal design. Today, I'll finish that retrospective, starting with 2013.

2013

Sets: Gatecrash, Dragon's Maze, Magic 2014, and Theros
My Pick: Master of Waves (Theros)

The year 2013 was light on typal themes. Magic 2014 has the highest volume with Slivers. These Slivers were from Shandalar and looked a bit more humanoid (which didn't go over well). My pick for 2013 is Master of Waves from Theros. One of the interesting things to me as I chart the history of typal themes is seeing how flexible those themes have become. They're a valuable tool in our toolbox, and we keep coming up with different ways to use them, Master of Waves being a great example.

For flavor, we wanted the creature to form waves to attack. How does a creature card make waves that can attack? We thought creature tokens would be a good fit. Water Elemental tokens felt right. But there was a problem: we wanted the waves to go away when the Master of Waves went away.

We tried writing that out, but it was wordy and didn't fit. The big breakthrough came when we realized that the tokens could have 0 toughness. What if the thing that kept them around was the Master of Waves? We added "Elementals get +1/+1" to Master of Waves and had it create 1/0 creature tokens. That captured the feeling we wanted and fit on the card. It also ended up making it an Elemental typal card, encouraging you to add more Elementals to your deck.

I also wanted to quickly talk about Hythonia the Cruel. This is another cool piece of typal design. We wanted Hythonia's monstrous ability to kill everyone but herself. The earliest version did that. But we realized we had a chance to make her a Gorgon typal card. What if instead of destroying all other creatures, she destroyed non-Gorgon creatures? It kept her from destroying herself while creating an incentive to put other Gorgons in your deck. This is what we refer to as a "reverse typal" effect, where instead of doing something positive to a specific creature type, it does something bad to every creature but the specific creature type.

2014

Sets: Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx, Conspiracy, Magic 2015, and Khans of Tarkir
My Pick: Chief of the Edge (Khans of Tarkir)

The Innistrad block had draft archetypes built around specific creature types, but the typal theme was a larger component of the block. Khans of Tarkir explored the idea of using typal mechanics as the glue to connect just one of the set's archetypes. White-black needed an identity. It was the enemy-color combination that connected Abzan (white-black-green) with Mardu (red-white-black). What connective tissue was there? Well, the set was all about warring clans, which meant the Warrior creature type was used often. That was enough of a mechanical throughline to create a draft synergy. The idea of connecting one or more two-color draft archetypes with typal mechanics is so useful that it's become a regular tool we now use.

2015

Sets: Fate Reforged, Dragons of Tarkir, Magic Origins, and Battle for Zendikar
My Pick: Sarkhan Unbroken (Dragons of Tarkir)

Fate Reforged continued with the Warrior typal theme. Magic Origins had a black-green Elf typal theme. Battle for Zendikar brought back Ally typal. We even created a new ability word, rally, as part of that theme.

My pick for 2015 is Sarkhan Unbroken from Dragons of Tarkir. The Khans of Tarkir block was designed with a new drafting structure for the block. The first and third sets in the block were large sets and the middle one was a small set. The large sets have their own mechanics. They were designed so that the small set could be drafted with each large set, with the large sets never being drafted together.

For a flavorful explanation of this, we came up with a time travel story. The main character, Sarkhan Vol, went back in time to change something important and shift the timeline, resulting in the altered present of the third set. We asked ourselves what could change that would make for a good set. We made a set called Scourge that we advertised as a Dragon set, but it wasn't really that. We then made a set called Dragon's Maze that we didn't advertise as a Dragon set, because it wasn't, but having "Dragon" in its name created an expectation that the set didn't deliver on. That led us to believe that there was some pent-up desire for a Dragon set. So, that's what we did.

2016

Sets: Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and Kaladesh
My Pick: Diregraf Colossus (Shadows over Innistrad)

Oath of the Gatewatch continued the Ally typal theme. There, we introduced a new ability word, cohort. Cohort goes on activated abilities, requiring you to tap an untapped Ally in addition to the ability's other costs. Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon brought back monster typal. Kaladesh had just a touch of typal, focusing on a bunch of creature types that didn't have a lot of support: Aetherborn, Artificers, Assembly-Workers, Dwarves, Servos, and Thopters.

My pick for 2016 is Diregraf Colossus from Shadows over Innistrad. This is partly a nod to the success of monster typal as a core mechanical component of Innistrad. It also points out that we've really branched out in what zones care about the creature types. Early typal effects were all battlefield-centric, but as we explored more with the design space, we found that the fact that cards have their the creature types in all zones opens up additional design space. It also does a great job of both caring about other Zombies mechanically and supporting Zombie decks through token creation.

2017

Sets: Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, Ixalan, and Unstable
My Pick: Gishath, Sun's Avatar (Ixalan)

Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation had a Zombie typal theme in white-black, but Ixalan had the most typal content for the year. Ixalan had originally been pitched as a two-sided conflict that would utilize a resource that players would fight over, inspired by a mechanic called the edge from the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle trading card game that Richard Garfield had designed many years before. Conspiracy: Take the Crown would end up using that inspiration to make the monarch mechanic. This meant, when Ixalan design started, we needed to find a whole new theme.

The Worldbuilding team had done a lot of work on the plane of Ixalan. As I looked at what the plane had to offer, I was drawn to two creatures types that the setting focused on: Pirates and Dinosaurs. We'd made Pirates in the past, but never well. Dinosaurs had existed, but we'd removed them in Oracle updates. Vampires also played a major role in the story of the plane, so a typal theme was possible. We ended up adding a fourth creature type, Merfolk, and used the three-three-two-two model that I had designed for Khans of Tarkir. Two of the creature types belong to a three-color faction and two of the creature types belong to a two-color faction.

Gishath, Sun's Avatar is my pick for 2017, as Dinosaurs were the most popular creature type of the Ixalan block. Looking back, the block is a cautionary tale where we leaned into a typal theme but didn't account for the lessons we had learned. The set focused on typal effects and had many of the siloing problems Lorwyn had experienced; drafts were prescriptive and less interactive. To make matters worse, while we recognized the need for "typal glue" (such as how changeling had served in Lorwyn), we didn't find a good answer due to a lot of creative restrictions. In my opinion, Ixalan ended up being the most lackluster typal set we'd ever done.

2018

Sets: Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, Battlebond, Core Set 2019, and Guilds of Ravnica
My Pick: Tendershoot Dryad (Rivals of Ixalan)

Dominaria had a number of typal themes in draft archetypes: white-black Knights, blue-red Wizards, and green-black Saprolings. Battlebond had a Warrior typal theme. And Core Set 2019 had a lot of individual typal designs. My pick for 2018 is Tendershoot Dryad because it shows another interesting use for typal effects.

Rivals of Ixalan introduced a mechanic called ascend. It was a threshold mechanic where the threshold turns on when you have ten or more permanents. Ascend cards need to have before and after effects. You need to get something before you reach ascend and then something after. Ideally, it's an upgrade to what you've already gotten from the card. A creature that created creature tokens was nice because that helps get you ascend. We then had to figure out what upgrade you would get after ascending. A typal effect worked as you can choose to boost specific creature tokens. Tendershoot Dryad initially makes 1/1 tokens, then those become 3/3 tokens after ascending. The nice thing about this type of effect is that the typal nature of it influences deck building. Yes, Tendershoot Dryad is fine by itself, but it gets even better if you have other means to create Saproling creature tokens.

2019

Sets: Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, Modern Horizons, Core Set 2020, and Throne of Eldraine
My Pick: Morophon, the Boundless (Modern Horizons)

War of the Spark introduced amass, which makes an Army token, a brand-new creature type. That allowed the set to make individual cards that cared about Armies. Core Set 2020 had a red-green Elemental typal archetype. Throne of Eldraine had Knight typal cards in white, black, and red. The set also had a reverse typal theme, non-Human, to represent the many creatures of the wilds. My pick for 2019 though is Morophon, the Boundless from Modern Horizons.

Modern Horizons was an advanced, high-complexity set that had access to most Magic mechanics. We wanted to deliver on a lot of the frequent requests we'd gotten from players, many of which were typal themes. We accomplished a lot of this by adding changelings to the set and making a lot of one-off typal designs. We also had a Sliver theme with Slivers gaining famous abilities from Magic's past. One of the challenges of designing Slivers is having enough abilities for them, but Modern Horizons's access to past mechanics made it a perfect fit.

No matter how many typal cards we designed, I knew we weren't going to get to them all, so I decided to make a card that would serve as a commander for any creature type that didn't yet have a commander. I gave Morophon a five-color identity so you could build whatever typal theme you wanted. Then, I added what I felt was the most generic bonus we could give. I needed it to be something any typal deck could use. I chose a +1/+1 boost as all typal themes, by definition, had to have creatures. Then I gave Morophon the ability to make your spells of the chosen type cheaper. The card went on to be a big hit, showing the popularity of typal themes (again).

2020

Sets: Theros Beyond Death, Mystery Booster, Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths, Core Set 2021, Jumpstart, Zendikar Rising, and Commander Legends
My Pick: Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate (Zendikar Rising)

Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths had a Human typal theme, as well as non-Human anti-typal theme (mutate, for example, didn't work on Humans). Core Set 2021 had a smattering of new individual typal designs. Each packet from Jumpstart was built around a different mechanical theme, many of which were typal. My pick for 2020 comes from Zendikar Rising: Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate.

It was our third visit to Zendikar, and we were trying a new approach to the adventure party theme. Rather than focus on Allies, we instead chose to highlight four creature types that aligned with classic role-playing game parties: Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard. Most typal themes that want you to "go deep," meaning you want lots of a given type. Zendikar Rising's party mechanic wanted you to have a number of different creature types. Most party designs scaled on how big your party was, meaning how many of the four creature types you had. Some, like Linvala, care about having all four creature types or a full party. It's a different, refreshing take on typal that came many years into Magic's life.

2021

Sets: Kaldheim, Strixhaven: School of Mages, Modern Horizons 2, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, and Innistrad: Crimson Vow
My Pick: Tiamat (Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms)

Kaldheim is a plane with ten realms. Each realm has a creature type that was the focus for that realm. This led to a lot of individual typal cards. Strixhaven: School of Mages used creature classes to separate the students into their different schools, although it didn't lead to a lot of typal designs. Modern Horizons 2 had a black-green Squirrel typal archetype. Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms used typal themes to play into popular Dungeons & Dragons creatures. Both Innistrad sets brought back the expected monster typal themes.

My pick for 2021 is Tiamat from Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. While not technically a Universes Beyond card, it does demonstrate the power of bringing Magic mechanics to another beloved property. Tiamat is a five-headed dragon, with each head being a different color. So making her a five-color Dragon that tutors for five Dragons felt too cool of a design not to do.

2022

Sets: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Streets of New Capenna, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, Dominaria United, The Brothers' War, Transformers, Warhammer 40,000, Unfinity, and Jumpstart 2022
My Pick: Giada, Font of Hope (Streets of New Capenna)

For Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, we wanted to highlight creature types introduced in Kamigawa, like Ninja and Samurai, but both didn't have a lot of cards, so the typal themes were expanded to include a related class. Ninja was paired with Rogue, and Samurai was paired with Warrior. The former was the blue-black draft archetype, and the latter the red-white one. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate leaned into a Dragon typal theme in blue, red, and green. It also made use of the party mechanic. Dominaria United had a cycle of monocolor typal lords. Unfinity had a red-white Clown typal draft archetype. The Brothers' War had a white-blue Soldier typal draft archetype. Jumpstart 2022 introduced more half-decks, a number of which were typal decks.

My pick for 2022 is Giada, Font of Hope from Streets of New Capenna. Angels played a big role in the story for Streets of New Capenna, and we wanted to make a cool commander for them. Larger creatures, like Dragons and Angels, are tricky to make typal cards for because you usually don't get a lot of them onto the battlefield at once. I like how Giada comes out early, helps you cast your Angels, and then gives you a reward that will stay on even if Giada leaves the battlefield.

2023

Sets: Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machine, March of the Machine: The Aftermath, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™, Commander Masters Commander decks, Wilds of Eldraine, Magic: The Gathering® – Doctor Who™, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and the Jurassic World™ Collection
My Pick: Roaming Throne (The Lost Caverns of Ixalan)

0258_MTGLCI_Main: Roaming Throne

March of the Machine showcased most of the planes that Magic has visited, so it had a lot of typal cards but more one-off designs. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth had a number of typal themes, with black-red Orcs and Goblins and green-blue Elves being draft archetypes, with a lot of other creature types getting one-off designs. Wilds of Eldraine had a blue-black Faerie typal theme and a black-red Rat typal theme. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan revisited all four typal themes from original Ixalan block, with Dinosaurs getting extra attention.

My pick for 2023 is Roaming Throne from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Because the set had so many typal themes, we did the time-tested staple of a card that lets you pick which creature type you want to care about. This particular design takes a popular theme we'd done a lot, copying triggers, and brings it to a typal deck.

2024

Sets: Murders at Karlov Manor, Ravnica: Clue Edition, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Magic: The Gathering® – Fallout®, Modern Horizons 3, Magic: The Gathering® – Assassin's Creed®, Bloomburrow, Duskmourn: House of Horror, Magic: The Gathering Foundations, and Foundations Jumpstart
My Pick: Valley Floodcaller (Bloomburrow)

0079_MTGBLB_Main: Valley Floodcaller

Murders at Karlov Manor introduced Detective typal. Outlaws of Thunder Junction created a new batch, outlaws, that connects five different creature types (Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks). Modern Horizons 3 had an Eldrazi typal theme. Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed had an Assassin typal theme. Foundations had a smattering of one-off typal designs, and Foundations Jumpstart had a bunch of typal half-decks. But the most typal content of the year was in Bloomburrow, where all ten two-color pairs were built around animal creature types. The actual typal as-fan was lower than it had been for past typal sets, but each animal was given a mechanical theme that played into the flavor of the animal.

My pick for 2024 is Valley Floodcaller. It is one of a cycle of cards that calls out each of the four creature types related to that color. It's not exactly a batch, as each collection only appears once and isn't named, but it was a cool way to create synergies between different creature types. It is the kind of design that I expect to see more of in the future. One of the big lessons of Bloomburrow is that typal themes don't have to have a high as-fan for the set to still have a typal feel. It expands on a lesson we'd learned way back in the Innistrad block: a big part of making you play the same creature type is having those creatures work together on a mechanical level. I expect that this lesson will greatly shape future typal sets.

I Know the Typal

It took three weeks, but we made it all the way through the history of typal design. I hope you've enjoyed the journey. As always, I'm eager for any feedback on today's article and any thoughts on typal cards or themes. You can email me or contact me through social media accounts (X, Tumblr, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok).

Join me next week for "My Words: Blue."

Until then, may your typal themes be fresh and fun.