(Path of Ancestry| art by Wisnu Tan)

Which Creatures Need More Love from Wizards of the Coast?

Dragons. Elves. Zombies.

Vampires. Dinosaurs. Goblins.

Magic players love playing typal decks, not just in Commander but in tournaments too when a creature type is supported enough in competitive formats.

Goblin and Zombie decks have rocked tournament tables in the not too distant past, and even in recent Standard we've seen Mice and Rabbit decks making waves.

Merfolk have been swimming around in competitive waters since the very early days of Magic! And since Wizards of the Coast (WotC) is in the business of making products that Magic fans want to buy, they've given us a bunch of support for many, many creature type themed decks over the years.

If you go to the top of EDHREC and select Tags/Kindred you get a huge list of the most popular creature types Commander fans are building decks around.

These creature types have gotten a ton of support from WotC over time; some have gotten so many good cards it's shocking when you see so many high quality cards end up cut from your hundred card singleton deck.

There are so many tools you can craft either the most efficient version of the deck, or veer off and include a raft of your favorite spicy choices.

But as you go far down the list of creature types, you start hitting the creature types that are crying out for more support from WotC.

People are still building these decks, but they don't hold a candle to the typal decks further up the list. Sometimes you even need to dip into creatures with changeling to fill the gaps.

While cards like Realmwalker, Bloodline Pretender, Mirror Entity and cards like them are solid inclusions, they often leave an unsatisfying feeling as not true to the creature theme you want to be playing. Today, I'm going to make my case for five creature types that need more love from Wizards of the Coast.

Dwarves

Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Dwarves have been iconic to high fantasy literature and of course Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

As a kid, I was instantly hooked by the gruff, tough, but big-hearted Dwarf characters. Heavily armored and often wielding a battle-axe, they were fierce fighters capable of great martial feats of strength and stamina.

So when Magic was first released, I found it a little bit of a head-scratcher when the two representatives of this icon -- Dwarven Demolition Team and Dwarven Warriors -- were so lackluster.

Over the first several years of Magic releases, there were a few cards released that ostensibly supported the creature type.

Dwarven Lieutenant, Dwarven Recruiter, and Dwarven Bloodboiler weren't terrible, but they weren't exactly powerhouses, and there were not many quality Dwarf cards to round out any sort of deck.

It wasn't until years later and the release of Kaladesh and it's follow up Aether Revolt that Dwarves got a significant boost in support with cards like Depala, Pilot Exemplar and Sram, Senior Edificer. The focus of these Dwarf cards was tied up with Vehicles, an exciting new artifact type.

Veteran Motorist, Renegade Wheelsmith, and Gearshift Ace cemented Dwarf decks to also be Vehicle decks. But as cool as that was, it still left me feeling like the iconic fantasy Dwarf archetype was still being underserved.

Sram, Senior Edificer caring about Equipment was an appreciated nod towards the smithing skills of fantasy Dwarves.

Kaldheim brought us Magda, Brazen Outlaw, which gave a power boost to other Dwarves you control, created Treasures, and let you sacrifice Treasures to search your library for an artifact or Dragon card-- instantly evocative of the Dwarven quest dramatized in The Hobbit.

I would love to see more Dwarf cards that could fill out and power up a Dwarf deck with Magda at the helm. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell from Throne of Eldraine certainly has that iconic flavor, and serves as a "lord" of sorts for your red Dwarf cards.

Bruenor Battlehammer and Reyav, Master Smith are cool Dwarf legends that care about Equipment, like Sram and that's cool.

Giott, King of the Dwarves and The Lady of Otaria offer some benefit to playing a bunch of Dwarf cards, though The Lady not being an actual Dwarf can feel a bit off for leading a typal deck.

I do appreciate that WotC provided us with a bunch of versions of Tolkien's iconic Dwarf Gimli!

In researching this creature type, it made me realize what we need more of: good nonlegendary Dwarf cards that care about other Dwarves.

Think about how many nonlegendary Goblins, or Merfolk, or Zombies there are that get better the more of the same creature type are around them.

Turtles

The recent printing of Ambling Stormshell which mentioned Turtle in its text box made me curious as to whether there were other Turtles that care about Turtles. Guess what-- there isn't! And given there are a fair number of really cool Turtles, that seems like a big oversight.

The Pride of Hull Clade is the right color to cover most of the Turtles you may want to play, and since Turtles often have larger toughness than power -- reflecting its protective, defensive nature -- it could certainly successfully lead a Turtle typal deck, even though it's just as good or better running a non-typal, high-toughness deck.

Taeko, the Patient Avalanche being a Ninja Turtle is cute, but it definitely seems more supportive of Ninja strategies than Turtle strategies.

Fecund Greenshell is a high quality card that supports the high-toughness theme that The Pride suggests, while Kappa Tech-Wrecker is another Ninja Turtle that weirdly doesn't fit into Taeko's color identity.

Yidaro, Wandering Monster and Kogla and Yidaro provide an interesting idea of cycling the card for benefit and then shuffling it back into the library, which might be an interesting "Turtle" ability that future Turtles might share.

Blossoming Tortoise and Kappa Cannoneer are both high-quality Turtles that sadly don't care about other Turtles and don't even have a higher toughness, though the Cannoneer has a powerful ward ability that gives it that defensive flavor you like on a Turtle.

These Turtles do have that higher toughness, with Ancient Adamantoise having an eye-catching 20 toughness, though damage it takes doesn't get removed during cleanup steps so it will eventually perish from damage unless you can reset it somehow -- something you might be already encouraged to do in a Turtle deck alongside Ambling Stormshell. Dragon Turtle and Quandrix Cultivator are also Turtles that benefit from a blink effect.

Colossal Skyturtle is another Turtle that can be "cycled" of sorts for benefit. Bedrock Tortoise is a boost to any creature with toughness greater than its power, while also being awesome for protecting your creatures on your turn so you can modify them at your leisure.

Hopefully, Ambling Stormshell is a harbinger of more Turtles Matter Turtles coming soon to juice up Turtle typal decks for Turtle fans!

Barbarians

Between Conan the Barbarian and Dungeons & Dragons, the Barbarian is a fantasy-flavor home run, and as a typal strategy it's fun to build a deck around a "profession" rather than a species.

It always seemed weird that Balthor the Stout (as originally printed) and Lovisa Coldeyes cared about Barbarians without being Barbarian themselves, though Balthor has since become a Barbarian with oracle text modified to boost other Barbarians.

By modern Commander design, both of these cards are quite mild in power level, and "mild" isn't an adjective that should come to mild when thinking about a Barbarian commander!

There are some cool legendary Barbarians out there. Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, Karlach, Fury of Avernus, and Jurin, Leading the Charge don't care about Barbarians, but they do care about attacking, which is clearly very Barbarian-like.

Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients having the enrage mechanic is a very cool callback to the D&D Barbarian's rage ability, and I'd love to see more Barbarians with enrage abilities.

Godo, Bandit Warlord provides an extra attack step for itself and all Samurai you control, rather than Barbarians.

Zalto, Fire Giant Duke is a nice call back to D&D with its venture into the dungeon mechanic, though its toughness is so small compared to its toughness it's a bit tricky to get it damaged without it dying.

There aren't all that many quality Barbarian cards out there to populate a potential Barbarian Commander deck, though Caves of Chaos Adventurer is another D&D flavor win with the initiative mechanic letting you venture into The Underdark.

Dragonspeaker Shaman cares about Dragons rather than other Barbarians, but caring about Dragons might be an interesting element of future Barbarian typal synergies!

I thought Savage Beating and Fury of the Horde provide flavorful templates for what might be fun for future Barbarian designs. Extra combats and double strike makes your combats fierce, which is what it's like to face down a Barbarian horde.

I also think Final Fortune is an interesting spin on a Barbarian's rage or berserk ability from early D&D that keep your Barbarian fighting even after it's taken lethal damage... only to collapse and die once the fight is finished. This effect might be an interesting exhaust ability on a legendary Barbarian lord!

Saprolings

Saprolings are an interesting creature type that, for most of Magic's history, were only found on token creatures generated by other cards. Often it's on creatures like Thallid Devourer, Elvish Farmer and Verdant Force.

You can also make them with sorceries like Saproling Symbiosis and Spontaneous Generation, or enchantments like Night Soil.

WotC has provided some potential Saproling commanders with cards like The Mycotyrant and Thelon of Havenwood that helped facilitate the creation of Saprolings.

There was also Treefolk like Nemata, Primeval Warden, Nemata, Grove Guardian, and Verdeloth the Ancient that make and care about Saprolings.

But thankfully WotC finally gave us an actual Saproling Magic card with Shroofus Sproutsire, which is an incredibly powerful card to lead your Saproling army!

While it is pretty easy for Shroofus to create his own Saproling army to lead, we could sure use a bunch more actual Saproling cards to round out the 99.

What might be fun is take some of the creatures in the past that care about Saprolings, and have them merge with Saprolings!

How about a Fungus Saproling and an Elf Saproling?

Or a Dryad Saproling and a Badge Saproling?

Gorgons

Hythonia the Cruel suggests a Gorgon typal deck, but there's not really all that many mono-black Gorgons to round out your deck.

Sisters of Stone Death and Vraska, the Silencer are cool Golgari Gorgons but they don't care about other Gorgons.

Aphelia, Viper Whisperer is another Golgari Gorgon that actually cares about Gorgons, and Snakes too. Scourge of the Undercity is a solid low curve Gorgon with some life gain upside.

The number of quality Gorgons to round out a Commander deck dries up pretty quickly in the current card pool, so there is a ton of room for future Gorgons-matter designs.

Deathtouch and other effects that capture the flavor of the Gorgon's stone gaze would be welcome, as well as synergies with Snakes.

What About You?

What do you think about my choices here? What creature types do you think are cool but need more typal support from WotC?

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