Salamander
| Salamander | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Creature Type | |
| (Subtype for creature/kindred cards) | |
| Introduced | Mirage |
| Last used | Final Fantasy |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
Salamander is a red, black and blue creature type used for several different types of tailed short-nosed small animals with soft scaleless skin.
Description
Mythical Salamanders
Mythical Salamanders are thought to be able to live in fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of regular salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape from the log, lending to the belief that salamanders were created from flames.[1]
The first red creature to reference this type of Salamander was Pyric Salamander in Mirage. While that one lives on Dominaria, others like Flowstone Salamander, Scalding Salamander, and Cinder Crawler used to live on Rath. Each of these variants has some "fire-breathing" or direct damage ability.
Regular Salamanders
Regular salamanders or newts are amphibians like frogs. They are aquatic as a larva and semiterrestrial as an adult. They don't have scales like reptiles. The blue Gudul Lurker and the black Festering Newt come closest to this type of salamander.
Amphin
The amphin are a race of partially aquatic humanoid salamanders on Shandalar.
Storyline
Ravnica
While no natural salamanders have been observed on Ravnica, the Simic have used salamander genetic material for both experiments (Pteramander) and in augmentation (Fin-Clade Fugitives).
Lorwyn
Arbomanders are giant amphibians native to Lorwyn's Wanderwine River. Arbomanders have been known to grow as long as one hundred feet, though tales tell of examples five times that size.[2]
When seen from the riverbank, the huge amphibians resemble floating sand bars encrusted with fungi, but their undersides were a pale sandy color that more or less matches the hazy brightness of the sky from this underwater vantage point. Their thick, paddle-shaped tails are almost twice as long as their bulky trunk, and the arbomanders' hind legs are more like long flippers than walking limbs. Their forelegs are splayed, webbed, and tipped with claws half as tall as a kithkin. All arbomanders spot feathery tendrils of varying length and shape growing from their gills - but the patterns of each arbomander's frill are unique, enabling keen observers to identify individuals. Though arbomanders tend to be lazy and sleepy beasts, they are capable of swallowing a merrow whole, and close encounters with them are best avoided.[3]
Shandalar
The amphin are a race of lanky, shrewd, partially aquatic humanoids on Shandalar who can dwell either in the briny depths or the overgrown shallows. Little is known about their civilization as yet; time will tell whether we see more of this salamander-folk in the future.[4] Much like Saprazzan Merfolk they can live on land. This type debuted with Amphin Cutthroat in Magic 2012, and later with Amphin Pathmage in Magic 2015. The Amphin were revisited in Commander Legends with Amphin Mutineer and Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist.
| “ | The amphin have long built their society in secret. While surface dwellers squabbled over trivial borders, they patiently expanded, building their ammonite temple-caves. Now, amphin priests eye the shore, and amphin hunters gird for war. | ” |
— Gor Muldrak, Cryptohistories[5]
Legend has it that the Amphins have used their mind control powers to erase all knowledge of their existence from the minds of humanity.[6] In reality, the Amphins were an attempt to come up with a race of creatures that could occupy the ”medium-sized nonflying blue creature” slot.[7] The experiment did not work out. In the meantime, the spot is held by various Elementals, Humans, Fish, or Spirits, though no civilization or race has held the spot permanently.
Tokens
| Token name | Color | Type line | P/T | Text box | Source | Printings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salamander Warrior | 
|
Creature — Salamander Warrior | 4/3 | |||
| Alien Salamander | 
|
Creature — Alien Salamander | 2/2 | Islandwalk |
Notable Salamanders
Trivia
- At some point during the set's early design stage, flamekin of Lorwyn were referred to as "salamands" after the belief among medieval alchemists that salamanders were beings of elemental fire.[8]
- The blue Wormfang Newt from Judgment is also a Beast and a Nightmare,
- A "newt" is also an organism grown from harvested flesh stored within the Phyrexian flesh vats.
- Newts are a common ingredient in witches' brews. This is exemplified by the combo of Festering Newt, Bubbling Cauldron and Bogbrew Witch from Magic 2014.
- In appearance, the Amphin are similar to the Surrakar.
References
- ↑ Salamanders as fire elementals.
- ↑ Cory J. Herndon and Scott McGough (2007), "Lorwyn", Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Cory J. Herndon & Scott McGough (2008) - Morningtide, Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Doug Beyer (July 13, 2011). "M12 from the Inside, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.
- ↑ Amphin Cutthroat
- ↑ Ari Zirulnik and Ethan Fleischer (October 30, 2020). "The Legendary Characters of Commander Legends part I". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Doug Beyer (September 26, 2013). "Amphins. Are they doing anything?". A Voice for Vorthos. Tumblr.
- ↑ Terese Nielsen. (February 27, 2008.) Magic Lorwyn Art by Terese Nielsen... who???, Terese Nielsen - Fantasy Artist, Star Wars, MtG, and Angel Art.
