Creatures of Magic: The Gathering

Akki

Small, mischievous, dimwitted goblin that live in the Sozenkan mountain range of Kamigawa. They are small, long-armed, shelled creatures who take glee in pulling tricks on travelers. Unfortuantely, these tricks generally involve the launching of hanabi, avalanches, Fire traps, or just general savage beatings.

Game Impact

The Akki are fast, efficient creatures and often see play in current Aggro decks.

Atog

Small imp-like creatures that grow by feeding on various things to gain the necessary nutrition to grow. In the game, this ability is symbolized by the sacrifice of a resource to give the creature a temporary boost in power/toughness.

Game Impact

The original Atog was much maligned when first released, due to his ability requiring an artifact being sacrificed. After a few years it's ability as an effective creature was noticed. The blue, turn-eating Chronatog is used as a combo piace in Stasis decks, while the Blue/Black Psychatog (which eats both cards in a player's hand and cards previously played) dominated tournament scenes with its inclusion in slow control decks.

The word 'Atog' is an anagram of 'Goat', and the atog is a parody of a goat's tendancy to eat whatever it comes across.

Aven

Race of Bird-people, Aven are native to the Dominarian continent of Otaria. Majestic and proud, the Aven are also light and strong. Master warriors and tacticians, most Aven lend their services to the Order. Their society is very militaristic in organization, usually with a high position commanding the highest respect in an area. The Aven are currently lead by Commander Eesha of the Northern Order.

Cephalid

Cephalids are beings that live in the depths of the oceans aurrounding the continent of Otaria. They are squid-like creatures, but have a body and tentacles.

Society

Cephalids have a class system, ranging from ruler to mage to even stealthy rogues. They were ruled by the emperor, Aboshan at the beginning of the Odyssey storyline, though after his unfortunate demise, his astranged wife Llawan came to rule. Each Cephalid has a different ability, but in general they are greedy creatures that want nothing more than power and lust. The Cephalids mainly don't have allies; they're self working people and hate most other races (including those that live in the sea), but one race of creatures do sometimes agree with them, the merfolk, though they do see themselves at a higher standing.

Game Impact

The Cephalids generally have abilities which involve the library, hand or creatures without flying. They're generally used as utility creatures. Cephalid Illusionist is a centerpiece in an Extended combo deck currently, while Llawan, Cephalid Empress saw use in blue sideboards as a solution to mirror matches.

Drake

Quick, agile creatures, Drakes are small, relatives of Dragons. They generally live near the coastline, which leads to the idea that they feed on fish and other aquatic creatures. They generally lack forearms, as they have been modified into wings.

Homarid

Homarids are lobster-like bipeds appearing primarily in the Fallen Empires expansion set. Homarids were always blue creatures, but were featured in the artwork of some other cards. Fallen Empires denotes a time of great strife for the traditional social order, and homarids fit this theme by encroaching upon the domain of merfolk.

Game Impact

Homarids have never seen any tournament play and were not well received by players. They haven't returned since their introduction.

Kavu

Enormous lizards, created by Gaea to defend the Yavimaya during the Phyrexian Invasion. The Kavu were efficient and powerful allies to the defenders of Dominaria. They were spread throughout Dominaria by sleeping in the boughs and branchs of the Magnigoth Treefolk as they traveled the world in search of their escaped captive, Rith the Awakener.

Game Impact

A few kavu saw play in tournaments, namely the green Kavu Chameleon and the red Flametongue Kavu. The latter is thought to have cheapened the environment as it could directly kill nearly any creature in the environment at the time.

Leonin

The Leonin are a proud race of Lionfolk that reside in Mirrodin's Razor Fields. Led by a leader, known as a kha, from the ancient den, Taj-Nar, the Leonin are constantly in conflict with the undead nim.

Society

Currently, the Leonin are led by Raksha Golden Cub, a noble warrior. Roles in society are generally separated by gender. Male leonin are generally soldiers, craftsman and priests. Whereas females are generally healers, hunters and the Pteron-riding Skyhunters.

Game Impact

Leonin have seen a fair amount of play, specifically in "White Weenie" decks. Skyhunter Cub, Skyhunter Skirmisher and Leonin Shikari are all tournament calibur cards.

Lhurgoyf

Large monsters that developed during Dominaria's Ice Age, Lhurgoyf are monstrous scavengers. They possess two specialized fangs developed for pulling corpses from the ground. They lay incredibly hard eggs, which are mistaken for gemstones by unfortunate travelers.

Ach, Hans! Run!

The flavor text on the original card is infamous in magic lore, spawning not only a reference on Revenant's flavor text, but also its own card in Magic's second humor expansion, Unhinged

Game Impact

Lhurgoyf get their power and toughnesses are directly proportional to the amount of a certain type of card in each player's graveyard, such as creature cards for the original Lhurgoyf. The original Lhurgoyf saw a fair amount of play in Magic's early days, while more recently the blue flying Cognivore has been seen in a few decks.

Licid

Symbiotic creatures found in Rath, Licids may be natural creatures or twisted versions of a Dominarian species, they've changed too much to be sure. Like some species of beetle, the Licids are capable of snapping their bodies to jump several times their own bodylength to land on a host organism. When latched on, the Licid's legs dissolve into the host and the two creatures bond together. While the Licid is latched on to a host, the host either gains attributes of the Licid or is hindered by it. When Licids leave their host they leap off, leaving no physical trace.

Game Impact

Licids are among the most confusing types of cards, rules wise. This is due to the fact that to symbolize their symbiotic nature, they become Enchant creature cards. Licids have not seen significant Tournament play.

Loxodon

Elephant-folk that live in the Razor Fields of Mirrodin. Not too much is known about them. Stalwart and strong, according to the flavor text of Loxodon Stalwart, the Auriok tribe once tried peace with the Loxodon, while the Leonin once tried war. Neither succeeded.

Game Impact

Loxodon are large creatures with combat oriented abilities. They were seldom played in tournaments due to there being cheaper, more efficient creatures to use in the environment.

Myr

Myr are the artificial constructs built by Memnarch that he used to observe the surroundings and inhabitants of Mirrodin. While most are bird like in appearance, they are not restricted to this form.

Game Impact

Myr have an assortment of abilities spread among them. Various myr serve different purposes, the mana producing myr were al used during Mirrodin Block Constructed, while Myr Enforcer was a key card in Affinity decks

Nantuko

The Nantuko race are mantis-like druids native to the Krosan forest on the Dominarian continent of Otaria. They are lead by the primus, Thriss, who was said to of planted the first seeds of the forest after the Phyrexian Invasion had been ended. Wise and reserved, they're seldom seen by forest outsiders.

Game Impact

Nantuko filled the mana production abilities made with the absence of Elves in Odyssey block, as well as the support abilities others provided, such as giving temporary boosts to creatures.

Nezumi-bito

Ratfolk that dwell in the Takenuma swamp of Kamigawa, the Nezumi are greedy, treacherous thieves, mercenaries and bandits. Often involved with the Soratami. A few Nezumi are also talented shamans, their magics learned from scrolls stolen from the Minamo school.

Society

Nezumi are generally split in to various gangs, some more powerful than others. By assassinating the head of a clan, one can claim leadership. One legendary Nezumi, known as Marrow-Gnawer, assassinated the leaders of three gangs in one night, thus becoming leader of them all. One gang of note is the Okiba gang, a clan of treacherous ninja. Nezumi females give birth to multiple offspring, leading to each Nezumi having around five or more siblings.

Game Impact

For their evasive abilities, Nezumi such as Nezumi Cutthroat are used in conjunction with the various Rat ninjas, such as Throat Slitter, and shamans such as Nezumi Shortfang to make a rather successful rat-based deck.

Nim

Quick, "natural" undead found in the Mephidross Swamp of Mirrodin. The Toxic Necrogen mists have a zombification effect on living creatures, most specifically the Moriok tribe of Humans. The Nim have cranial plating covering their faces as the necrogen causes metal build up and loss of eyes. They also vent their own necrogen from vents that erupt from their rotting skin. They are controlled by the warlord, Geth and are constantly in conflict with the Auriok and Leonin of the Razor Plains as the Mephidross expands.

Game Impact

While only a few nim have seen consistant play, the equipment based on the Cranial Plating they have is one of the better cards in Mirrodin Block.

Saproling

Carnivorous fungal creatures that look similar in appearance to worms. It is portrayed that they are capable of reproducing by Spontaneous Generation, though a few treefolk and thallid have the ability to create them as well..

Game Impact

Saprolings are known for the fact that they don't actually have any physical cards, but are portrayed through Tokens created by cards such as Saproling Symbiosis and Death Mutation. Saproling Burst was a tournament calibur card, as it allowed it's controller to temporarily make large saproling tokens.

Slith

The Slith are mysterious creatures from Mirrodin. They are born within Kuldotha, the Great Furnace, and only emerge when one of Mirrodin's suns are aligned overhead. As they emerge, the slith's attributes change according to whatever sun was overhead. Afterwards they continually follow the motion of their aligned sun.

Game Impact

Slith Firewalker and Slith Bloodletter have each seen tournament play. The other four slith, however, haven't.

Sliver

Metamorphs that live in huge hive colonies. Slivers first appeared in the artificial plane of Rath, with a hive colony below Volrath's Stronghold. Whether these creatures were a creation of Volrath or were a natural species brought to Rath like so many others is unknown. It is known that Volrath exerts some control over the colony, he has constructed mechanical slivers which have been accepted into the hive. Slivers are unique in that they share adaptations. For instance, if a Sliver with wings, comes within a certain distance of another, the other sliver will suddenly sprout wings. Vicinity is very important as they can't share these abilities over long distances. During the Rathi overlay of Dominaria, the Sliver Colony was planeshifted into the heart of a volcano, destroying the Sliver Queen and any slivers within the hive.

Resurrection

Around 100 years after the Phyrexian Invasion had ended a body of a sliver was found near a volcano within Urborg. The Riptide project, created by Empress Llawan of the Cephalid race, a program designed to resurrect species driven to extinction during the Phyrexian invasion suceeded in creating a living sliver. Unfortuantely, the Slivers grew unruly and escaped captivity, infesting the island the Riptide project was formed on and slaughtering many of the researchers working there. Though most of the slivers were destroyed when the false-goddess, Karona, was destroyed. It is unknown whether any slivers still survive.

The story of the Riptide project was not told through the books, instead, the story was told through the flavour text of the cards. The re-appearance of slivers in the Legions expansion was hinted at in the Onslaught card "Riptide Replicator" which showed the Cephalid's in the process of cloning a sliver.

Game Impact

Slivers are among one of the most popular creature types. Their return in the Legions expansion brought rejoice from many fans. Sliver decks have seen a fair amount of tournament play in Extended in the past. The true power of sliver decks comes from the fact that all slivers have effects that benefit other slivers in addition to themselves. In a best case senerio a player can command an army where every troop gives the others power.

Soratami, or Moonfolk

Cloud-dwelling race of Kamigawa, the Soratami have constructed magnificient palaces in the sky. Until the years of the Kami War, the Soratami maintained almost absolute isolationism. During the Kami War, they have ambassadors sent to the Minamo school and Eiganjo Castle to help with the defense against the rampaging spirits. Not much is known about Soratami society, though there appears to be very little unsightly matters. Soratami mages use mirrors often to perform their spells.

Game Impact

Moonfolk cards all fly and all have abilities requiring the return of a number of their controller's lands to their hand in exchange for an effect. One moonfolk in particular, Meloku the Clouded Mirror sees a fair amount of tournament play.

Spike

Worm like creatures that were brought to the plane of Rath, Spike are parasite. They are capable of leeching nutrients from other creatures in a manner similar to leeches.

Game Impact

Spikes have the distinction of being creatures with 0 for both stats, but come into play with a number of +1/+1 counters on them which can be moved to other creatures. The Spike Weaver and Spike Feeder cards have both seen a decent amount of tournament play.

Thallid

Sentient fungal creatures created by the elves of Sarpadia, Thallids were to be used as a food source. They were kept in check for a while before eventually the population increased dramatically, and they began overrunning the elves. Supposedly, the elven nation of Havenwood is no more, destroyed by the thallids.

Game Impact

Thallids were feature specifically in the Fallen Empires expansion. Like most cards from the set, there were very few tournament worthy cards, none in the Thallids' case, as their abilities needed to "charge" for around three turns before they could be used once before three more turns.

Thrull

Like the Thallids, thrulls were bred on Sarpadia. The Order of the Ebon Hand created them as something they could use for sacrifice and slave labor. They were fairly successful with this, their Thrull Breeders came up with more and more different thrulls. This, however, turned out to be a downfall as intelligent Thrulls were created. The intelligent thrulls led their brethren, who drastically outnumbered the Order of the Ebon Hand, in a revolt against their masters.

Game Impact

While relegated mainly to the Fallen Empires expansion, a few thrulls have shown up in subsequent sets. No thrulls have shown much Tournament play.

Vedalken

Of the creatures brought to Mirrodin by Memnarch, the Vedalken have evolved the more than any other. Blue aligned creatures, they are devoted to knowledge and controling things. The Neurok people who live along the shore of the Quicksilver Sea are blatantly controlled and oppressed by the Vedalken from Lumengrid, colossal solidified quicksilver spires, home to the Vedalken society. The Vedalken have direct contact with Memnarch and believe him to be a god.

Game Impact

Like most cards from the Mirrodin block expansions, Vedalken deal almost exclusively with Artifacts. Only the Vedalken Engineer has seen any sort of real tournament play.

Viashino

Lizard-Folk native to the deserts of Jamuraa and Shiv, the Viashino are descendants of the dragons. Quick, agile, and skilled with metalworking they rule the sands. They are constantly skirmishing with the Goblins also native to Shiv, the Ghitu tribe of humans, and even the great Shivan Dragons themselves. They live in clan communities, each led by a bey.

Game Impact

The Viashino haven't seen too much play in tournaments due to the availability of faster goblins and similar creatures.

Viscerid

Crabfolk supposedly descended from the Homarids that appeared during the period after the Ice Age. They flooded a lot of the southern region of Terisiare.

Game Impact

As with the Homarid, Viscerid were also poorly received.

Wurm

Gigantic, limbless, ground-dwelling creatures, Wurms are related to dragons. Supposedly the ancestors of the wurm rebelled against their fellow dragons. After losing, they were thrown to the ground, beaten and stripped of their wings. They generally dwell in forests, convenient for satisfying their mammoth appetites.