God

God
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Beeble Scale	5
Statistics	67 cards 11.9% 13.4% 13.4% 10.4% 11.9% 4.5% 4.5% 3% 4.5% 1.5% 3% 3% 1.5% 3% 3% 7.5% 2 God creation cards 50% 50% as of Murders at Karlov Manor
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type:"God"

God

 

Storyline

 

Although gods and deities have been part of Magic for a long time, a special God creature type had to be introduced for the Greek-inspired Theros block as the Greek pantheon was the very center of their mythology. The gods were complemented by monsters and heroes. The word "god" is used gender neutrally, meaning it can signify a male or female.

Gameplay

Almost all Gods have a mechanic that either makes them difficult to destroy or allows them to recur (except the Gods from Kaldheim). Some are very cheaply costed for their power level but have mechanics that restrict their use as a creature unless a certain condition is met.

Theros block

Gods debuted in Theros and returned in Theros Beyond Death. The gods of Theros are indestructible legendary enchantment creatures (living enchantments). For this reason, all enchantments on this plane are thought to be gifts from the gods, a unique form of magic enabled by divinities. The gods grant their favors to those whose devotion is great enough. Gamewise, they don't manifest as creatures on the battlefield until a player's devotion to their color is high enough. If a God enters the battlefield while the player's devotion to its color is less than the required number, abilities that trigger when a creature enters the battlefield won't trigger. If a God on the battlefield is a creature and the player's devotion to its color drops below the required number, it immediately stops being a creature. A God can't attack the turn it enters the battlefield unless it has haste, even if it wasn't a creature as it entered the battlefield. They are all legendary enchantments and their abilities work whether they're creatures or not.

The five major gods of the pantheon are monocolored. Ten two-colored enchantment creatures serve as the minor gods. The colors give each god a unique identity. The five major gods are featured in Theros, while the ten minor gods are featured in Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx.

Amonkhet block

Gods returned in Amonkhet block. They are animal-headed and are not enchantment creatures. They each have two keyword abilities, one of which is indestructible. They have a condition they need to meet to be able to attack and block and then they have an activated ability that helps them reach that condition.

With Hour of Devastation, three corrupted gods were introduced. These forsake previous conventions of indestructible and conditional attacking or blocking for returning to the hand mechanics and lack of special conditions, having instead more direct activated abilities. They also have higher mana costs.

War of the Spark

Ilharg, a primordial deity of Ravnica, is represented by its own card. It can be returned to its owner's library upon death or exile.

The monocolored gods from Amonkhet, except Hazoret, return as zombie deities. They share the same return mechanics as Ilharg, who replaces Hazoret as the red god in the cycle.

Kaldheim

Gods in Kaldheim are neither indestructible nor do they have return mechanics, in line with the fact the Gods of the Norse pantheon can be killed. Instead, they are modal double-faced cards with permanents, such as equipment, other creatures, and planeswalkers.

March of the Machine

New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse brought together many planes into one set, including new iterations of Hazoret, Heliod, Ephara, and Esika. None of these use the usual combat restriction, though Ephara being on the back of Invasion of Theros does follow the concept so in a different way.

Lost Caverns of Ixalan

The Deep Gods of Ixalan are shapeshifters based on Mesoamerican deities. Some Mesoamerican religions speak of endless cycles, which is represented in-game with transforming Double-faced cards. Upon dying, each return transformed as a tapped land with an ability that transforms it back. One deity, The Ancient One, does not reincarnate as the others do; however, it has a restriction like other God designs.

Murders at Karlov Manor

Anzrag, another Ravnican deity worshiped by the Gruul, is a god of planting and growth. Unlike Ilharg from before, he cannot return after death or exile.

Trivia

• Mark Rosewater has stated that the Myojin-cycle can be seen as the precursor to the Theros Gods. If they had been designed under the current design vision, the cards would have been creature-type God, likely Spirit God or God Spirit. The Patron Kami were also referred to as "gods" during the development of Betrayers of Kamigawa.
• The creature type "God" is used for both male and female gods, both because a word longer than "God" wouldn't have fit on the card's type line after "Legendary Enchantment Creature" and because R&D didn't want to have to refer to "God or Goddess" on cards that interacted with them. However, the creature type "Demigod" later appeared in Theros Beyond Death; they solved the issue of the words not fitting on the type line by making the text smaller.

Tokens

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
The Atropal	Black	Legendary Creature — God Horror	4/4	Deathtouch	Tomb of Annihilation
Vecna	Black	Legendary Creature — Zombie God	8/8	Indestructible	The Book of Vile Darkness