Thopter

Thopter
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Statistics	18 cards 5.6% 11.1% 83.3% 45 Thopter creation cards 4.4% 37.8% 17.8% 4.4% 11.1% 2.2% 4.4% 15.6% 2.2% as of Murders at Karlov Manor
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type:"Thopter"

Thopter is a creature type used for cards depicting small flying devices. All Thopters are artifact creatures.

The first creature to bear the type was Ornithopter in Antiquities (first printed with the type in Ninth Edition). Other examples include Roterothopter, Thopter Squadron, and Drill-Skimmer.

Storyline

Predator Ornithopter

Dominaria

Thopters were among the first devices worked upon by the brothers Urza and Mishra. They started as Thran devices salvaged by Tocasia's team, then the brothers worked on them to make them more efficient and deadly. They were used as transport frequently in the earliest stages of the Brothers' War straight through to the end.

At the time of the Phyrexian Invasion, ornithopters were employed on the flagship Predator.

Fiora

Ornithopters are a common form of clockwork artifact creature created by the Academy of Paliano. In particular, they are popular with young artificers attempting to grab the attention of Professor Muzzio.

Ixalan

The sole known thopter of Ixalan is a Mechanoquetzacama known as a Thopteryx. Its creator, Huatli, likely based it on Kaladeshi design principles learned from her partner Saheeli.

Kaladesh

Aether-fueled thopters are fabricated and used in large quantities on Kaladesh, the home plane of Chandra Nalaar.

Kamigawa

Butterfly-like electronic thopters have been developed by the Saiba Futurists of Kamigawa and are now common in the skies around Otawara.

Ravnica

As head of the Azorius Senate, the planeswalker Dovin Baan introduced thopters for surveillance in Ravnica. After New Phyrexia's invasion of the plane, they filtered down into use by the Ravnican Agency of Magicological Investigations.

Zendikar

The kor of Zendikar are known to manufacture kite-based thopters known as Pilgrim's Eyes to scout the plane's unstable terrain.

Notable thopters

Dominaria

• Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter

Kaladesh

• Hope of Ghirapur

Inspiration

Magic's ornithopters are based on real-world devices of the same name.

Etymology

The word "ornithopter" comes from the French "ornithoptère", itself constructed with the ancient Greek words "ornithos" (meaning "bird") and "pteron" (meaning "wing"). "Thopter" is shorthand for the same word, and it has the same etymology.

Originally, artifact creatures didn't have creature types; later, designers used it as a root word to graft epithet to. Only two fake words were created using the "thopter" basis (Roterothopter and Telethopter), before card names started referring to Thopters directly: Thopter Squadron was the first to solidify Thopter as the generic name for these devices.

Word	Origin	Etymology	Literal translation
Ornithopter	Greek	Ornithos + pteron	Bird wing
Roterothopter	Latin	Rotarius (lat.) + (orni)tho + pter	Wheel-like bird wing
Telethopter	Greek	Tele + (orni)tho + pter	Long-distance bird wing

Tokens

Tokens marked with are created by Acorn cards.

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Thopter	Blue	Artifact Creature — Thopter	1/1	Flying	Breya, Etherium Shaper Sharding Sphinx Thopter Foundry
	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Thopter	0/0	Flying	Intrude on the Mind
	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Thopter	1/1	Flying	Access Denied Aspiring Aeronaut Aviation Pioneer Barbed Spike Breya's Apprentice Deploy Dovin, Grand Arbiter Efficient Construction Etherium Spinner Experimental Aviator Fairgrounds Patrol Filigree Crawler Foundry of the Consuls Gadget Technician Ghirapur Gearcrafter Hangarback Walker Harried Dronesmith Inspired Sphinx Invasion of Kaladesh Launch Mishap Loyal Apprentice Maverick Thopterist Pia and Kiran Nalaar Pia Nalaar Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival Retrofitter Foundry A-Saheeli, Filigree Master Saheeli, Filigree Master Sai, Master Thopterist Sweep the Skies Tezzeret, Artifice Master Thopter Assembly Thopter Engineer Thopter Mechanic Thopter Pie Network Thopter Shop Thopter Spy Network Thopter Squadron Whirler Rogue Whirler Virtuoso Whirlermaker
Ornithopter	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Thopter	0/2	Flying	Yotia Declares War

Gallery

• 

  Thopter concepts by Anthony Scott Waters.

• 

  Thopter concepts by Anthony Scott Waters.