❘ issued: 2023-10-02T16:19:02
❘ Has been updated: 2023-10-02T16:19:33
Witch is a non-starter, but will Druid and Shaman be on the chopping block for Wizards of the Coast soon?
MTG has long drawn inspiration from real-world lore and design, from history to mythology. However, according to a recent blog post by MTG lead designer Mark Rosewater, the game may move away from some of its long-standing creature types in the future.
Recent discussions on Rosewater’s blog The refusal to use Witch as a creature type reveals that WOTC is potentially considering retiring some of the older creature types like Druid and Shaman.
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MTG Creature Type Descriptions
Creature types in Magic: The Gathering are drawn from a variety of inspirations and are intended as general categories that fit similar creatures found across multiple worlds. For example, one world may have small creatures with a completely different culture and design than another, but both groups fit into the “halfling” category.
Many of these creature types use existing terminology from fiction, while some use terms related to the real world. As recently discussed on the Rosewater blog, “druids” and “shamans” are the most relevant here.
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MTG using druid and shaman as creatures
On this topic, Rosewater responded to a comment asking why “Witches” were excluded from MTG due to their ties to real-world religions, if “Shamans” and “Druids” exist as creature types. It happened because of what I did. Rosewater responded: “We are currently looking into exactly that topic.” A subsequent reply expanded further, confirming that the MTG team is considering phasing out the use of Druids and Shamans.
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Although the term is used regularly in MTG, druid is perhaps more synonymous with DND these days. Some of the game’s most common pop culture tropes are at the forefront of the class, including Critical Role, Honor between Thieves, and Baldur’s Gate 3. If Wizards is considering moving away from Druids in future releases, it would be strange to only do so in MTG.
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While the topic of druids has been brought up within Wizards, overall changes may remain unnecessary. In response to a subsequent post calling for druids not to be phased out, Rosewater responded, “Druids are not as much of a problem as shamans.” This suggests that Wizards may be looking to make some changes due to cultural considerations, but those changes won’t be applied all at once, and if they are applied at all, it’s likely that are doing.
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Wizards has already considered and reconsidered some of their long-standing language usage recently, such as MTG’s Tribal being internally redefined as Typal. Time will tell if these changes will be felt across the board, and if Wizards will seriously start rebranding one of its most iconic archetypes.
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