Kindred

Kindred
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Card Type
Subtype	Creature type
Statistics	55 cards 7.3% 16.4% 18.2% 21.8% 12.7% 12.7% 10.9%
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type:"Kindred"

For tribal in a broader sense, see Tribal (theme).

Kindred is a card type first introduced in Future Sight, and expanded upon in the Lorwyn block. Creatures and tribals share the same set of subtypes. Cards referring to specific creature types may also affect tribals.

Kindred has been coupled with Instants, Sorceries, Enchantments and Artifacts.

Retirement

R&D no longer supports the tribal card type. Mark Rosewater announced its death knell, when it wasn't used in Innistrad (which had a strong tribal subtheme). He stated that tribal was problematic everywhere R&D used it because they couldn't go half in, which resulted in a lot of extra words for very little actual use. On the other hand, mechanically caring about creature types is still very much alive.

Kindred was seen last in Rise of the Eldrazi as a relevant mechanic. Kindred made a small reappearance on the test card Form of the Mulldrifter, in the Mystery Booster set. It made another small reappearance on the card Altar of the Goyf, in the Modern Horizons 2 set. Mark Rosewater then stated that special sets that can make use of retired mechanics can also make use of the tribal card type.

Change from Tribal

Wizards of the Coast confirmed during Wilds of Eldraine previews that the company was moving away from the use of "tribal" for cultural reasons. "Typal" is a replacement for internal R&D slang that means “mechanically cares about creature type(s)”. However, the word “typal” will never appear on cards. It’s not a replacement for the card type Tribal. However, Kindred become this replacement.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Kindred

A card type. Whether or not a kindred is a permanent depends on its other card type. See rule 308, “Kindreds.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 308. Kindreds
  • 308.1. Each kindred card has another card type. Casting and resolving a kindred card follows the rules for casting and resolving a card of the other card type.
  • 308.2. Kindred subtypes are usually a single word long and are listed after a long dash: “Kindred Enchantment — Merfolk.” The set of kindred subtypes is the same as the set of creature subtypes; these subtypes are called creature types. Kindreds may have multiple subtypes. See rule 205.3m for the complete list of creature types.
  • 308.3. Some older kindred cards were printed with the “tribal” card type. Cards printed with that type have received errata in the Oracle card reference.

Subtypes

The subtype for tribals is called creature type and shared with creatures.

Rulings

• Kindred is not a permanent type. However, a tribal card can become a permanent if another of its types allows it to do so.
• Many Lorwyn cards refer to specific creature types. These cards may affect tribals, depending on what they say and what they do. For example, using "Goblin" as our creature type:
  • If a card uses "Goblin" as a noun (that is, without following it with a word like "card" or "spell"), it actually means "Goblin permanent." It can affect any Goblin permanent in play, including a Goblin tribal.
  • If a card says just "Goblin creature," it can affect only a Goblin creature in play. It can't affect a tribal.
  • If a card says "Goblin card," it can affect any Goblin card not in play, including a Goblin tribal card.
• If a spell asks whether you control a Goblin, it's asking whether you control a Goblin permanent. It won't count Goblin spells you control (including itself).
• If a card with multiple types has one or more subtypes, each subtype is correlated to its appropriate type.
• When one or more of a permanent's subtypes changes, the new subtype(s) replace any existing subtypes from the appropriate set (creature types, land types, artifact types, enchantment types, spell types, or planeswalker types). It won't affect the subtypes from any other set, and it won't affect the permanent's types.
• If a permanent ceases to be one of its types, the subtypes correlated with that type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a type the permanent currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the permanent's type is removed.
• The Onslaught card Artificial Evolution can change the creature types of a tribal.
• Many older cards have received errata in the Oracle card database to work sensibly with tribals. For example, instant and sorcery cards can't come into play. If an older card was printed with a wording that allowed you to put a Goblin card into play, it now specifies that you can put a Goblin permanent card into play.

Trivia

A considered indicator for Elf tribal

• Kindred was featured as rules card 5 of 5 in the Lorwyn set.
• There are 55 tribal cards, featuring seventeen creature types (Eldrazi, Elemental, Elf, Faerie, Giant, Goblin, Kithkin, Lhurgoyf, Merfolk, Rebel, Rogue, Shaman, Shapeshifter, Soldier, Treefolk, Warrior, and Wizard).
• When tribal was being used regularly, R&D went from saying “Goblin” to “Goblin creature card” for non-tribal effects. After they stopped regularly making tribal cards they switched the template back as it’s less wordy.
• Early on, there was some exploration into other versions of the Kindred card type that used Kindred indicators in the type line of a card.
• Kindred was originally Tribal but changed to align with Wizard's terminology changes.