Where have all the Minotaurs gone?

[The Magic Jackal]

Is it just me, or have many of Magic's creatures been dissapearing. Minotuars, cat warriors, even elves are on the decline(how many elves are in the MM block compared to urza'a block).

What has happened to all of them? What happened to Wurms? they were replaced by crappy Wumpuses. Don't tell me that the storyline has changed places, because the rath cycle had lots of cool creatures, and look what Nemesis (takes place in rath) bought us- some big lava guys and merfolk. Big Whoop. I'd take my Minotaurs anyday. The day they print a MInotaur legend (Tangarth) is the day I become magic's #1 fan.

When will minotaurs and craw wurms frolik in the meadows with forces of nature and elder dragon legends?

 

[asadoine]

what about the thrulls ??

Merfolk are big loosers too ..

I guess a good way to create new cards will be to make them the same as before but change the name, art and creature type ..

wait aren't they doing that already ??

berto

 

[Ura]

Unfortunatly its all because of WotC insisting on all the sets and cards in them going with the story line. Hence alot of great critter types got the shaft. I would love to see cool dwarves that were worth using or orcs that don't suck, or even kobolds that aren't skull-a-pult bait. I thought some of the classic fantasy races were some of the most fun, the only one thats been maintained and is powerful is goblins
And while they're good, I don't like goblins! I want dwarves and minotaurs and maybe even a townsfolk or two like the ones from Fallen Empires.
They made great fun for theme decks.

 

[theorgg]

I read somwhere that they are trying to "tidy up" the creature types. This means that several things that would once be "summon squid" are now "creature-Beast".

I agree. Thrulls, Thallads, Merfolk, Homarids, Minotaurs, ofs, thes, woods, et cetera(note obsquer ruling joke) are definatly getting put out to stud in favor of "streamlined" creature types...

 

[Spiderman]

They were tidying up creature types, but I also thought it was due to storyline stuff. Only a couple sets really had creature races as themes (Fallen Empires and Homelands). After that, they throw in a couple cards for the major races (Goblins and Elves usually) but minor ones like minotaurs get left behind. On the other hand, new ones come in (Flowstone dudes? the Viashino?)

 

[The Magic Jackal]

I definately agree with you Ura, fallen empires was a cool set. I started playing around that time and all of the cool creature types really impressed me. When you played the game you actually got a magical felling! Now you yawn as your opponent takes his 15 minute turn with his bargain deck and watch him cry after you shock him in response to him playing renounce.

I am also really mad that most abbilities only see two years of play. What happened to all of the cool abbilities (shadow, flanking, phasing, banding, etc.). No one actually knows how banding works and that makes it all the more fun! Soon echo and the like will be gone.

 

[Ura]

I believe I read somewhere once that WotC makes the new creature and card abilities (eg; flanking, shadow, phasing) indiginous to the sets they first appear in. SO flanking and phasing are only in the mirage block and shadow only in the tempest block. I think it would be cool to see some of these abilities carried over into new sets but from what I understand they don't like doing that.
banding on the other hand was done away with because almost no one could understand it, (I could though ) and it was just a pain for officials to deal with. The one I want to know about is Rampage, whatever happened to it? It wasn't to confusing I thought and it was kinda cool.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

And whats up with no buyback or shadow stuff in 6th!? Its not confusing cuz the print the abilitie on the card!

 

[Chaos Turtle]

For shadow to work, there has to be a lot of it, or else a shadow creatures just run away with the show.
Buyback...I wish, but anyhow both of these abilities are not eligible for basic set inclusion until 7th (Shock and perish are noteable exceptions to the rule, as WotC felt that these needed to remain in Standard even after Rath block rotated out).
In any case, don't count on seeing these abilities again, unless R&D changes their thinking about the "standalone" abilites making it into the basic set.

I'd like to see an "advanced" basic set addendum which does include the more successful standalone abilities printed every now and again, perhaps in the off-years between basic set reprints.

On topic...
I understand why some types were dropped (Squid, etc) but I too would like to see a greter diversity among creature types. Perhaps we will see Minotaurs again, because we are still waiting for the inevitable "Creature -- Minotaur Legend" card (Tahngarth).
Dwarves would be cool, but I'm not sure they fit in with red's current "flavor." I don't see any really god reason not to reintroduce them, though.
Thrulls are still popping up here and there, kind of like the rats which have become almost de rigeur.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

Sorry bout that off topic post guys! lol. I think that more creauture types give the game more detail and options. Its fun trying to collect all the dwarves from a block. Also, its fun to make theme decks, and only like, 6 creature types is not ver diverse. I vote for more creture types. Sorry again for that off topic posting.

 

[Duel]

*MY MERFOLK SMACK ASADOINE INCESSENTLY FOR HIS STATEMENT!!!*

Yes! Finally, someone else has noticed that they've taken away my wurm deck! They've taken away my Merfolk deck (which, despite asadoine's comments, does not suck), and they're working on taking out my elves!
And here's the weirdest thing: they're replacing traditional swarm colors (red, green, blue) with white/black mercenaries/rebels. But the mercenaries and rebels are only good in theme swarm decks!!!

 

[Gryphonclaw]

I for one have always loved the creature themes in magic. I especially liked the racial interactions, although they were mostly limited to FE. Orcs and Dwarves hated each other, Elves tried (unsuccessfully) to control thallids. The merfold didn't like any of the air-breathers.

And lately the interaction between the goblins and the viashino was cool.

Unfortunately there is much more focus on game dynamics these days, and strictly speaking, creature types don't have that much of an effect in that area. They do have some impact with a few cards, but in these cases the less different creature types, the better.

 

[Apollo]

I, for one, would like to see orcs return. A couple years ago, two of my friends and I just happened to get hooked on certain creature types. One of them liked Merfolk. The other liked goblins. I fell in love with orcs. Guess who's deck never wins a game any more. I can't use it because new sets help everyone else's deck, and mine gets worse and worse by comparison unless I just toss out the theme. I too liked the interaction of the races, and the summon wording that made it seem like you were summoning a creature to fight for you, instead of one showing up out of nowhere and deciding he likes you.

Aside on previous off-topic post: as I believe was mentioned, abilities and mechanics that were introduced in a stand-alone set will not leave that set's block. This decree was handed down by their almighty lordships, Wizards of the Coast, who like to make arbitrary decisions to infuriate people on sites like this one.
So we will not be seeing shadow, buyback, phasing, cycling, etc. ever again. Unless Wizards changes their minds, which is a possibility that one can never rule out.

Apollo

 

[theorgg]

Does anyone notice the trend of taking a "not really vanilla" creature and giving it a popular creature type?(I.E. rootwater hunter/Tim merfolk)

what transformations would ya'll like?

I'd like to see a fungus/saporling card A-La Mogg raider (sack a _______[green critter], target creature gets +1/+1 untill eot)