Skeleton

Skeleton
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Statistics	74 cards 2.7% 74.3% 2.7% 1.4% 5.4% 5.4% 1.4% 6.8% 14 Skeleton creation cards 14.3% 57.1% 14.3% 7.1% 7.1% as of Murders at Karlov Manor
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type:"Skeleton"

A Skeleton comprises a creature's bones. In Magic, the creature type is used for cards that depict the magically animated bones of deceased creatures.

Description

Skeletons are, with a few exceptions, a mono-Black aligned "race". All multicolored Skeletons are also partially black, though Deathless Knight can be cast for all-green. Skeletons were intertwined with the mechanical ability to keep coming back, originally closely associated with the ability Regeneration until its deprecation - now R&D tends to give them some kind of limited self reanimation.

Most often Skeletons are of Human origin, but that subtype is never added. This is shared with Zombie, Spirit, and Illusion as being both a race and a class. Known Skeletons include Dragons, Dinosaurs, Crocodiles, Snakes, Trolls, Wurms and Walls.

Alara

Anywhere on Grixis, you can find the animated skeletons of the dead. The skeleton is the common foot soldier of the necromancer's army and personal retinue, but unbound skeletons can also be found. When necromancers die or finally lose their grip on sanity, their skeleton minions are freed from service and roam Grixis, motivated only by an intrinsic hatred for life. Most skeletons are human in origin, the puppeteered remains of ancient Vithians or their present-day descendants, but skeletons also exist that were once other species, such as rats, bats, wolves, viashino, ogres, minotaurs, and rarely, more massive creatures such as baloths, hellions, and dragons. Large, durable skeletons are prized on Grixis, as most skeletons on the plane do not self-reassemble, but rather continue to sustain damage until they are unable to move, rejoining the heaps of scrap corpses that litter the plane.

Eldraine

Undead human knights are known to patrol the outer Wilds far from the Realm. Known as deathless riders, lich-knights, or fell horsemen, they ride skeletal warhorses or nightmares. They are said to serve the Shadow Queen, who rules from the castle Dynnistad.

In stark contrast to the knights of Eldraine, the deathless riders lack all virtue. They are few in number, but when mortal knights meet them in the Wilds, the encounter rarely ends well for the living. The deathless riders fight with superhuman strength, heedless of wounds and relentless in their assault. While they understand the languages they spoke while alive, they are no longer able to sleep.

Altered Chinese art

English and Chinese Seventh Edition Drudge Skeletons

The People's Republic of China frowns on the public display of human or humanoid skeletons and Magic cards are no exception. For this reason, the artwork of many Chinese-language cards depicting skeletons, though not necessarily of the skeleton type, had to be altered to make it possible to sell the product. This practice was abandoned for Shards of Alara. While skeletons are still not exactly "polite," they have turned more into an unlucky symbol that the older generation reacts much more strongly to than the younger, games-playing population.

Notable Skeletons

Dominaria

• Bladewing, Deathless Tyrant, a skeletal dragon of the Bladewing brood.
• The Skeleton Ship, apparently reanimated by Lim-Dûl during the Ice Age
• Tinybones

Ixalan

• The Grim Captain
• Uchbenbak

New Phyrexia

• Skithiryx, a skeletal dragon

Theros

• Deathless soldiers called phylaskia guard the borders of The Underworld.

Trivia

• In the Sixth Edition the creature type Dead (Kjeldoran Dead) was obsoleted, and changed to Skeleton.
• Grafted Exoskeleton, Endoskeleton and Skeleton Shard are artifacts, not Skeletons.
• The manland Spawning Pool can become a 1/1 black Skeleton creature with ": Regenerate this creature" until end of turn.
• The horror Innistrad block was especially suited for the use of skeletons.

Tokens

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Skeleton	Black	Creature — Skeleton	1/1		Death-Priest of Myrkul A-Death-Priest of Myrkul Dungeon of the Mad Mage Hag of Death's Legion Skeletal Swarming
	Black	Creature — Skeleton	1/1	: Regenerate this creature.	Drudge Spell Skeletonize
	Black	Creature — Skeleton	2/1		Case of the Stashed Skeleton
	Black	Creature — Skeleton	4/1	Menace	Bone Offering Gut, True Soul Zealot Rasaad, Shadow Monk Undercity
Skeleton Pirate	Black	Creature — Skeleton Pirate	2/2		Corpses of the Lost Skeleton Crew

Heroes of the Realm

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Skeleton	Black	Creature — Skeleton	1/1	When this creature dies, each opponent gains 2 life.	Dungeon Master

Test cards

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Reassembling Skeleton	Black	Creature — Skeleton Warrior	1/1	(This is a token card which doesn't cease to exist in a zone other than the battlefield and has a mana cost.) : Return Reassembling Skeleton from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.	Bone Rattler