Human
Humans are probably one of the most prevalent species in the multiverse. They are four-limbed bipedal primates of the mammalian class (though these are biological terms which may not make sense outside of a context involving a common ancestor, which may not be the case in Magic's multiverse). They have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning, language, and introspection (though they are hardly the only creature in Magic capable of this). The only natural plane where humans are known not to exist at all is Lorwyn. In the Innistrad block humans are a supported tribe.[1] Human is the characteristic race for the color white.[2]
Types of humans
Though the way humans act in most planes covers a fairly broad range of behaviours, this range itself is roughly the same across most planes. The same is true regarding the physical traits that they have. But there may also be some planes where there are greater differences.
Amonkhet
The humans of Amonkhet are the only race there not associated with one of the five gods. This left them free to either dedicate themselves fully to one of them or find balance between all five virtues espoused in their trials.
Innistrad
On Innistrad, there are no Elves, Dwarves or Goblins. Humans are the main sentient species. They are both the protagonists and the victims, preyed upon by vampires, werewolves and the like.[3][4]
Ixalan
The people of the Sun Empire on Ixalan are said to have been formed from the clay by the loving hands of Kinjalli, the Wakening Sun. They live alongside dinosaurs, without taming or domesticating them, but leading them into battle and harnessing them to heavy loads.[5] The humans of Torrezon live under the rule of aristocratic vampires of the Legion of Dusk, while others have fled to form the Brazen Coalition.
Kaladesh
The humans of Kaladesh are passionate dreamers who strive to achieve the impossible through their inventions. While they are the only race on Kaladesh whose physiology is untouched by the presence of aether, their curiosity and ambition drive innovation, and they excel at synthesizing ideas.[6]
Mirrodin
The humans of Mirrodin adapted to the metal planet, as had all races imported to the plane by growing organic metal pieces on their bodies. Mirrodin tribes consisted of the Auriok of the Razor Fields, the Neurok of the shore of the Quicksilver Sea, the Moriok of the Mephidross, the Vulshok of the Oxidda Chain, and the Sylvok of the Tangle.[7]
All species on Mirrodin have metallic growths and plates that permeate and cover their bodies because of the effects of certain substances on the plane that interacted with organic life. The humans all have such metallic growths, but color, material, coverage, and shape vary from tribe to tribe.
Rabiah
Bird maidens
Bird maidens have their true home in the myriad realms of Rabiah. Their sparse homes are high in the craggy caves and outcroppings of rock created by the constant winds and updrafts of the deserts.
Bird Maidens are a beautiful, all-female tribe of winged humans who procreate with non-winged male humans. Their offspring are always twins of the same gender, and if male, are without wings, while if female, with wings. After they give birth, the bird maidens raise the daughters themselves, but leave their sons in a nearby village under the custody of people living there. Any Rabian village that finds abandoned twin boys will adopt and honour them, due to legends about the strength, luck, and magical talent of bird maidens' sons. Bird maidens hold their birth-sisters extremely dear, although they seldom feel true kinship to their other siblings.
The bird maidens practice an art known as wind sculpting. They place diamond dust in sharply funnelled bone tubes and tie them to rock formations. The wind blows the dust against the stone, causing it to erode faster than usual. Eventually, over the course of several years or decades, a sculpture appears.[8]
Legend has that a bird maiden, by the name of Fyhra, was instrumental in the destruction of the Eater of the Infinite, one of the Serendib Efreets, bent on exterminating all life from Rabiah.[9]
Rath
Two tribes of humans, the nomadic Vec and the settled Dal, inhabited the blasted plains of Rath. Along with the Kor, an allied race of nonhumans, the Rathi tribes were steadfast enemies of the plane's cruel evincars — save for the il, those of their numbers who joined the evincar's evil forces.
For more, see Rathi Tribes.
Ravnica
For unknown reasons, possibly to do with the higher standard of living, the humans of Ravnica have longer lifespans than humans on other planes. They are the only race that has members in large numbers in all of the plane's guilds.
Zendikar
The humans of Zendikar are incredibly resourceful, but their appearance is rather ragged, on account of the ongoing conflict and battle for survival.[10]
Human as a creature type
The creature type "Human" was introduced in Mirrodin as a part of the race/class model.[11] The notion was first brought up in the public by Randy Buehler[12] and was met with negative reactions.[13] After much convincing a poll determined that 53.7% of the readers would accept the addition of humans to Magic at that time.[14] As predicted, players eventually came to fully accept the change.
Later humans made up the bulk of changes in the Grand Creature Type Update. Creature types changed into Human included:
- Ambush-Party (Ambush Party)
- Ancestor (Auspicious Ancestor)
- Aladdin (Aladdin)
- Ali-Baba (Ali Baba)
- Ali-from-Cairo (Ali from Cairo)
- Autocrat, which shortly was a Minion, (Sengir Autocrat)
- Bandit (Scarwood Bandits)
- Being (Enchanted Being)
- Brother (Brothers of Fire)
- Cave-People (Cave People)
- Constable (An-Havva Constable)
- El-Hajjâj (El-Hajjâj)
- Farmer (Shu Farmer)
- Flying-Man (Flying Men)
- Folk of An-Havva (Folk of An-Havva)
- Harlequin (Chaos Harlequin)
- King (King Suleiman)
- Leper (Abu Ja'far)
- Maiden (Bird Maiden)
- Master (Master of the Hunt)
- Miracle-Worker (Miracle Worker)
- Mob (Angry Mob)
- Nekrataal (Nekrataal)
- Peacekeeper (Peacekeeper)
- People-of-the-Woods (People of the Woods)
- Ranger (Kelsinko Ranger)
- Scavenger and Scavenger-Folk (Scavenger Folk)
- Sindbad (Sindbad)
- Sister (Sisters of the Flame)
- Smith (Repentant Blacksmith) (other Smiths became Artificers as well)
- Townsfolk (Anarchist)
- Tracker (Tracker)
- Uncle-Istvan (Uncle Istvan)
Innistrad block even had a 'Human matters' theme.
Zombies
The default race for zombies is human, which is usually never mentioned in the type line.[15]
Human tokens
The default for tokens is that they have just one creature type for simplicity, often excluding Human. R&D breaks that rule usually when it mechanically matters as it did in Innistrad[16], or flavorly matters as it did in Amonkhet.
Token Name | Color | Type Line | P/T | Text Box | Source | Printings |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Human | White | Creature — Human | 1/1 |
|
||
White | Creature — Human | 1/1 | Doctor spells you cast cost less to cast. | |||
White | Creature — Human | 1/1 | Ward | |||
Red | Creature — Human | 1/1 | ||||
Red | Creature — Human | 1/1 | Haste | |||
Human Cleric | White/Black | Creature — Human Cleric | 1/1 | |||
Red/White | Creature — Human Cleric | 2/1 | Lifelink, haste | |||
Human Knight | White | Creature — Human Knight | 2/2 | This creature gets +2/+2 as long as an artifact entered the battlefield under your control this turn | ||
Red | Creature — Human Knight | 2/2 | Trample, haste | |||
Human Monk | Green | Creature — Human Monk | 1/1 | , Add | ||
Human Noble | White | Creature — Human Noble | 1/1 | Vanishing 3 Prevent all damage that would be dealt to this creature. |
||
Human Rogue | White | Creature — Human Rogue | 1/1 | |||
Red/White | Creature — Human Rogue | 1/2 | Haste When this creature enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to any target. |
|||
Human Soldier | White | Creature — Human Soldier | 1/1 |
|
||
Green/White | Creature — Human Soldier | 1/1 | Training | |||
Human Warrior | White | Creature — Human Warrior | 1/1 | |||
Red/White | Creature — Human Warrior | 3/1 | Trample, haste | |||
Stangg Twin | Red/Green | Legendary Creature — Human Warrior | 3/4 | |||
Human Wizard | Blue | Creature — Human Wizard | 1/1 | |||
Anointer Priest | White | Creature — Zombie Human Cleric | 1/3 | Whenever a creature token enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life. | ||
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun | White | Legendary Creature — Zombie Human Cleric | 2/2 | At the beginning of combat on your turn, target creature token you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn and can't be blocked this turn. | ||
Trueheart Duelist | White | Creature — Zombie Human Warrior | 2/2 | Trueheart Duelist can block an additional creature each combat. | ||
Unwavering Initiate | White | Creature — Zombie Human Warrior | 3/2 | Vigilance | ||
Dreamstealer | Black | Creature — Zombie Human Wizard | 4/4 | Menace When Dreamstealer deals combat damage to a player, that player discards that many cards. |
||
Proven Combatant | Black | Creature — Zombie Human Warrior | 4/4 | |||
Steadfast Sentinel | Black | Creature — Zombie Human Cleric | 4/4 | Vigilance | ||
Sunscourge Champion | Black | Creature — Zombie Human Wizard | 4/4 | When Sunscourge Champion enters the battlefield, you gain life equal to its power. | ||
Timeless Witness | Black | Creature — Zombie Human Shaman | 4/4 | When Timeless Witness enters the battlefield, return target card from your graveyard to your hand. | ||
Wyrm's Crossing Patrol | White | Creature — Human Soldier | 1/1 | |||
Wizards of Thay | Blue | Creature — Human Wizard | 3/3 | Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost less to cast. You may cast sorcery spells as though they had flash. |
||
Gary Clone | White | Creature — Human Citizen | 1/3 | Whenever Gary Clone attacks, each creature you control named Gary Clone gets +1/+0 until end of turn. | ||
Zephyrim | White | Creature — Human Warrior | 3/3 | Flying, vigilance | ||
Sicarian Infiltrator | Blue | Artifact Creature — Human Soldier | 1/2 | When Sicarian Infiltrator enters the battlefield, draw a card. | ||
Arco-Flagellant | Black | Creature — Human | 3/1 | Arco-Flagellant can't block Pay 3 life: Arco-Flagellant gains indestructible until end of turn. |
||
Wasteland Raider | Black | Creature — Human Mercenary | 4/3 | When Wasteland Raider enters the battlefield, each player sacrifices a creature. | ||
Powder Ganger | Red | Creature — Human Rogue | 2/2 | When Powder Ganger enters the battlefield, destroy up to one target artifact. | ||
Thrill-Kill Disciple | Red | Creature — Human Mercenary | 3/2 | When Thrill-Kill Disciple dies, create a Junk token. | ||
Osgood, Operation Double | Blue | Creature — Human Alien Shapeshifter | 2/2 | : Add . Spend this mana only to cast an artifact spell or activate an ability of an artifact. Paradox — Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, investigate. (This token’s mana cost is .) |
References
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (March 15, 2015). "". Tumblr.
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Explore the Planes: Ixalan
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Encyclopedia Dominia - Bird Maiden (archived)
- ↑ Encyclopedia Dominia - Eater of the Infinite (archived)
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Template:NewRef
- ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (September 12, 2015). "". Tumblr.
- ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (April 13, 2017). "". Tumblr.