Creature class

This page is about subset of creature types. For the enchantment type, see Class.

Creature class, often shortened to just Class, is an R&D term for a subset of the characteristic "creature type".

Description

Most humanoid creatures have at least two creature types: a race and a class. Whereas race (such as Human, Elf, or Goblin) is a matter of the creature's origin, their class (such as Soldier, Wizard, or Rogue) represents their function, occupation, career or calling in life.

There is no distinction in the Comprehensive Rules between race and class. All creature types are treated equally within the game rules. The use of the race/class model is to allow for more consistent, flavorful worldbuilding and more design space among creatures.

Tokens can have a class without a race.

As of Jumpstart 2022 the most common class is Wizard (1000), followed by Warrior (969) and then Soldier (818).

History

Creature classes like Cleric, Knight and Wizard have been a part of Magic's creature types since Limited Edition Alpha. During the early years of the game, creature types were considered to be an extension of the flavor and world-building, rather than as mechanically important. This had two consequences — creatures had only a single creature type and that creature type was the most flavourfully relevant one.

Creature classes were a major part of R&D's shift away from creature-types-as-flavour to creature-types-as-mechanics. This philosophy change arose from development of the tribal-themed Onslaught block, when three major issues with the current design scheme were identified:

• Creatures having only one type meant someone had to choose which type was more important when a creature, like Goblin Wizard, wanted to be multiple types.
• With only one creature type, card names were being used to tell the whole story about a card. This limited the name space for creatures.
• Creatures with only one type would only work in one type of tribal deck. This limited flexability and interactivity for players.

In response to the success of Onslaught block, the race/class model was adopted for creatures from Mirrodin onwards. The Grand Creature Type Update consolidated the race/class model by reducing the number of creature types and issuing errata to older cards to bring them in line with the new philosophy.

In 2022 Wizards of the Coast retired the silver border, replacing it with the acorn stamp. This allowed Un-sets to contain both acorn cards and eternal legal cards. The release of Unfinity saw Child and Gamer become eternal legal creature classes.

List of creature classes

The folowing table lists all eternal legal creature classes.

Class	Description	Scryfall
Advisor	Tacticians, courtiers, ministers, and others who are known for their wisdom.	type:"Advisor"
Ally	Creatures that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose.	type:"Ally"
Archer	Combatants who specialize in fighting with bow and arrows.	type:"Archer"
Army	A unit that is part of some military service	oracle:"Amass"
Artificer	Those who specialize in working with artifacts.	type:"Artificer"
Assassin	Specialists in targeted killing.	type:"Assassin"
Barbarian	Unorganized fighters, usually from primitive and/or uncivilized cultures.	type:"Barbarian"
Bard	Entertainers who improve the qualities of creatures through music.	type:"Bard"
Berserker	Combatants who enter a frenzy in battle, gaining great speed and battle prowess.	type:"Berserker"
Child	A young version of a creature which has yet to assume another role in society	type:"Child"
Citizen	Inhabitants of a city or town, usually in a non-fighting capacity.	type:"Citizen"
Cleric	Spellcasters who channel the power of their faith in a cause or higher being into potent magic.	type:"Cleric"
Clown	Comic entertainers who wear traditionally comical costumes and exaggerated make-up.	type:"Clown"
Coward	Creatures who lack courage in facing danger, difficulty, opposition or pain.	type:"Coward"
Deserter	Creatures who have left, or run away from, their service or duty with the intention of never returning.	type:"Deserter"
Drone	Simple, immature, or artificial lifeforms that perform tedious and menial work.	type:"Drone"
Druid	Masters of magic powered by faith, and strongly tied to plants, animals, fertility, the element of earth, and the land about them.	type:"Druid"
Egg	Used for the incubation stage of a creature.	type:"Egg"
Elder	Used on venerable creatures to denote their importance.	type:"Elder"
Employee	Creatures employed for wages or salary, especially at a non-executive level.	type:"Employee"
Flagbearer	Soldiers or civilians who bear a standard or flag, which is used as a formal, visual symbol of a military unit on the battlefield.	type:"Flagbearer"
Gamer	Individuals who play games causally or professionally.	type:"Gamer"
Guest	A creature who is invited to visit someone's home, business or attend a particular social occasion.	type:"Guest"
Inquisitor	A creature who inquires or investigates professionaly, especially one seen to be excessively harsh or using extereme methods.	type:"Inquisitor"
Knight	Highly-trained combatants who are usually part of a formal army or cavalry, usually specializing in fighting on horseback with a sword or lance.	type:"Knight"
Mercenary	Individuals who sell their services in combat for money.	type:"Mercenary"
Minion	Those who work the will of overtly evil forces or organizations.	type:"Minion"
Monger	Dealers in commodities who sell their wares and services to all comers.	type:"Monger"
Monk	Individuals who have devoted their lives to quiet introspection and meditation, though many monks are skilled at magic, martial arts, or both.	type:"Monk"
Mystic	Creatures adept at channeling mana with their faith, learned through careful meditation.	type:"Mystic"
Ninja	Masters of both stealth and armed combat who may find employment as spies, warriors, mercenaries, and assassins.	type:"Ninja"
Noble	Members of aristocracy.	type:"Noble"
Nomad	Members from uncivilized tribes who wander open spaces in closely-knit groups.	type:"Nomad"
Peasant	Humble creatures from the countryside.	type:"Peasant"
Performer	Entertainers who put on shows for the enjoyment and fun of others.	type:"Performer"
Pilot	Persons who fly a skyship, air balloon, or other vehicle.	type:"Pilot"
Pirate	Motley fighters and scoundrels who sail the sea and skies to loot and plunder the unexpecting.	type:"Pirate"
Praetor	Leaders of dark forces.	type:"Praetor"
Processor	Eldritch spellcasters that pull things from the void back into the world.	type:"Processor"
Ranger	Warriors who are in tune with nature.	type:"Ranger"
Rebel	Individuals who fight against an established authority.	type:"Rebel"
Rigger	Creatures that specialize in the lifting and moving of extremely large or heavy objects.	type:"Rigger"
Rogue	Those who live by their wits, using stealth and cunning to make their way in life.	type:"Rogue"
Samurai	Warriors who have sworn their service and their lives to a single authority figure, usually a feudal lord.	type:"Samurai"
Scion	Descendant of a force or being that aim to help their originator.	type:"Scion"
Scout	Individuals who are adept at getting along in the wild, often sharing the benefits of their prowess with others.	type:"Scout"
Serf	Creatures of a peasant status in feudalistic systems.	type:"Serf"
Shaman	Protectors and spiritual leaders among the more primitive races. Their magic comes from rituals, lore, and years of practice.	type:"Shaman"
Soldier	Trained combatants who are part of a formal army. They are adept at fighting in concert and overwhelming the enemy.	type:"Soldier"
Spawn	The offspring of an entity, being, stock, idea or place.	type:"Spawn"
Spellshaper	Spellcasters who devote themselves to perfecting a single spell or selection of spells.	type:"Spellshaper"
Survivor	Creatures who remained alive after a chatastrophic event in which others perished.	type:"Survivor"
Tentacle	Flexible, semi-intelligent limbs or appendages of large creatures or entities.	type:"Tentacle"
Warlock	Spellcasters who derive their powers from evil forces.	type:"Warlock"
Warrior	Combatants who fight alone or in loose hordes.	type:"Warrior"
Wizard	Masters of channeling mana into powerful spells.	type:"Wizard"

Notes

^† This type can be considered a creature "status type" that can be used as either a race or a class, depending on the context.

Acorn Classes

Acorn sets use creature types which are not included in Magic's comprehensive rules, but are part of acorn games. Because these creature types are not compiled into an authoritative list by Wizards of the Coast, the following table may be incomplete. Which of the acorn creature types are considered classes is based on intuition rather than offical comment.

Class	Description	Scryfall
Brainiac	Super villains with enlarged brains.	type:"Brainiac"
Bureaucrat	Members of an organization tasked with ensuring regulations are followed and paperwork is filed.	type:"Bureaucrat"
Designer	Individuals well suited for the task of creating or maintaining complicated systems.	type:"Designer"
Fighter	Adventurers that are masters of combat.	Dungeon Master
Grandchild	Similar to Child, a young version of a creature which has yet to assume another role in society; but it is noted as the second generation decendant.	type:"Grandchild"
Hatificer	A specialist in making, mending, destroying, or otherwise manipulating hats.	type:"Hatificer"
Head	The head of a creature acting independently from its other heads or its body.	type:"Head"
Hero	An individual with special abilities which seeks to make society better through extra-ordinary action.	type:"Hero"
Lady of Proper Etiquette	A woman who has learned and adheres to the rules of her society's upper gentry.	type:"Lady of proper etiquette"
Lord	Creatures with an occupation of high class or power within a structure or organization.	type:"Lord"
Mime	A type of entertainer, similar to a Clown, except their acts tend to be silent.	type:"Mime"
Paratrooper	Creatures that are trained to attack or land in combat areas by parachuting from great hights.	type:"Paratrooper"
Scientist	Scholars dedicated to pursuing empirical knowledge through controlled experimentation.	type:"Scientist"
Spy	Similar to Rogues, spies live and die by their wits and eclectic skill set; unlike rogues, spies always act as part of a larger organization.	type:"Spy"
Townsfolk	Members of a sapient race without a specific occupation who live in towns.	type:"Townsfolk"
Villain	An individual with special abilities which seeks to make society worse overall through extra-ordinary action, often for their direct or indirect benefit.	type:"Villain"
Waiter	An employee at a restuarant, typically tasked with taking customer orders and serving customers their food and drink.	type:"Waiter"
Wrestler	A type of entertainer which create naratives for their audience through simulated contests of strength.	type:"Wrestler"

Retired Classes

During the Grand Creature Type Update, a number of classes were 'retired'. They were removed from the comprehensive rules list of types and the cards that previously bore them were issued with errata that replaced those types.

Since the update, some of the classes that were originally retired have be brought back into use. This table only lists creature types that have been retired and not brought back.

Class	Description	Replaced by
Alchemist	Creatures who practice alchemy, a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy.	Cleric
Bodyguard	Creatures employed to guard an individual, often a high official or VIP, from bodily harm.	None. Creatures with the Bodyguard class were given a race instead.
Bureaucrat	Creatures who run a government and do everything according to the rules.	Advisor
Guardian	Creatures which guard, protect, or preserve.	None. Creatures with the Guardian class were primarily given a race instead.
Hero	Characters who, in the face of danger, display courage and the will for self-sacrifice for some greater good.	Soldier and Warrior
Lord	Creatures with an occupation of high class or power within a structure or organization.	None
Mage	A magician or learned person.	Wizard
Tactician	Creatures who are good at making plans in order to achieve particular goals.	Advisor
Townsfolk	Humans without a specific occupation.	None
Witch	Creatures proficient in curses.	Wizard