Faerie

Faerie
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Beeble Scale	3
Statistics	151 cards 4.6% 49% 19.9% 0.7% 7.9% 2% 9.3% 0.7% 1.3% 2.6% 2% 22 Faerie creation cards 4.5% 45.5% 13.6% 4.5% 9.1% 9.1% 4.5% 4.5% 4.5% as of Murders at Karlov Manor
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type:"Faerie"

Faerie is creature type used for cards that depict creatures with human appearance, often small stature, magical powers, and a penchant for trickery. They are referred to by many names within various folklore such as "Fae", “Wee Folk”, “Fair Folk”, “Little People”, and so on. In Magic: The Gathering the term “faerie” is used as an umbrella term for various non-human entities and spirits. Faeries are related to ouphes.

Description

Small winged faeries

The earliest, and most common, faerie in Magic are winged humanoid creatures of diminutive size (sometimes a foot in height or smaller) that are renowned for being great lovers of mischief. These faeries exist through the multiverse, but the most notable faeries are those of Alara (specifically in Esper), Lorwyn, Ulgrotha, and the Dominarian island of Tolaria. These are also sometimes known as fae, pixies or sprites.

The first creature to bear the type was Scryb Sprites from Alpha.

Faeries of Eldraine

Throne of Eldraine introduced larger sized Faeries like Rankle, Master of Pranks, which inhabit the Wilds of Eldraine alongside the smaller winged type. Here, fae is the catch-all term for all these creatures. There are three primary varieties of fae, each opposed to the virtue of the court associated with their color.

Meddling fae

Meddling fae or faerie pathlighters are fickle white-aligned faeries that can't resist meddling in human lives. These fae are about the size of an adult human with long, flowing white garments and an eerie, angelic glow. Their large, white wings become more translucent toward the edges. Motes of magical light drift around their heads, and a faint white aura surrounds their bodies.

The realm views meddling fae as the enemies of loyalty. Occasionally a meddling faerie will actively attempt to undermine knights' loyalty, luring them away from their company with floating lights or magical visions. Unlike other kinds of fae, meddling fae are known to sometimes be truly benevolent, helping unfortunate souls or granting desperate wishes. They often serve as protectors for the lost, the glow of their guiding lanterns leading weary travelers to respite. Still, most humans are wary to put their fates in the hands of a faerie.

Thieving fae

Thieving fae or faerie borrowers are tiny, blue-aligned faeries that steal whatever they can lay their hands on to sow confusion and frustration. These tricksters stand less than six inches tall, with blue or blue-gray skin, blue hair, and sharp, pointed blue wings resembling shards of broken glass. They file stolen keys and needles into swords, fashion buttons into shields, and wear scrap fabric torn from human clothes. Despite their size, thieving fae are cocky and boastful, always leaving behind marks of their crimes. They relish in deceit and trickery. Thieving fae are the most common type of faerie to be found in the Realm, where they enjoy infiltrating human homes and castles to pilfer their possessions.

Prankster fae

Prankster fae or faerie pests are black-aligned faeries that love to cause annoyance, anger, fear, and pain. They have gray skin and otherwise resemble a human toddler, except for their sullen yellow eyes and feathery black wings. They are perhaps the most mercurial of the fae and laugh at the idea of persistence. When engaged in combat, prankster fae wield thought-manipulating magic alongside sharp blades coated in stinging poison. Rankle is famous among the fae for his pranks.

High Fae

The High Fae are separate from other forms of Eldraine's fae. They appear as humanoid beings made of wood with a tall stature, large wings, and elaborate horns. In reality, the glowing motes that inhabit the cavities of their heads are the true hive mind that power and control each High Fae. Ageless and inhuman, High Fae are the oldest creatures in Eldraine, embodying the natural splendor and danger of the wilderness. High Fae have no regard for mortal values of honor and law, but they nonetheless operate under inviolable rules of their own: gifts must always be repaid, promises must be honored, and outright lies must never be spoken — though misdirection and riddles are always welcome. To amuse themselves over the long centuries of their lives, high fae frequently engage in deceptions and other complex games of wits against one another.

Most High Fae remain secluded at Tuinvale deep within the Wilds, and are considered a myth by Eldraine's humans. They often follow their fickle lord's impulses, travelling to the edges of the plane on a whim. They use their innate illusory magic to power and embellish their various weapons, which are often composed of mundane items grown into enchanted weapons.

The High Fae are ruled by Talion. High Fae nobles regard themselves as the natural and obvious superiors of all in Eldraine, and many have been given dominion over a small aspect of the natural world; there are dukes and duchesses for each of the seasons, and noble archivists track every promise made and broken within the borders of Eldraine. Many High Fae nobles use their innate illusion magic to adorn themselves with auras that dazzle others, while uttering mocking phrases that magically stun and ridicule their opponents. High Fae nobles will spend countless years in complicated games of political calculus, their alliances ever-shifting as they jockey for favors and status in the Kindly Lord's court.

High Fae are some of the most powerful magic users on Eldraine. Especially adept High Fae master the art of dealmaking, magically negotiating themselves advantages in battle. Like many High Fae, these mages draw power from the latent energy found throughout the wilds of Eldraine. However, they can also form strong bonds with the elemental powers of Eldraine, allowing them to call on forces like the eastern wind or the fiery hearth.

Some High Fae delight in disguising themselves with magic to vex other creatures. When a high fae impostor takes on the identity of another creature, the impostor magically gains access to a small portion of that creature's mind — any information that the creature might share with a casual acquaintance.

Other High Fae spend centuries perfecting their martial prowess, achieving the rank of kindguard. The most trusted High Fae kindguards are in direct service to Talion. These High Fae swear a binding oath 81 times to protect the Kindly Lord, each time pricking their hand on a hawthorn branch to seal the promise.

Fey

The planeswalker Oko is called a fey. This may just be an alternate spelling of "fae," which would mean that Oko would be a faerie. However, Oko doesn't appear to have wings. His son is called Kellan, the Fae-Blooded, but Kaya Cassir equates fey with faeries.

Note that the spelling "fey" is also used in the Dungeons & Dragons cross-over set Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (Fey Steed, Feywild Trickster).

Storyline

Alara

Before the Conflux, faeries were most common on Esper, where they were Etherium-infused like all other lifeforms. The Esperite faeries had metallic wings and hand-like feet that made them valuable as mechanists.

Capenna

Faeries of Capenna have a penchant for pranking like their counterparts from other planes, except they have metallic wings (Faerie Vandal).

Dominaria

Fire sprites are faeries who can cast fire spells and are perpetually surrounded by a flaming aura. They were summoned by the Kieryn elves while fighting against the Calthyn elves in the White Woods of Corondor.

During the Ice Age, faeries were among the few creatures to become even more powerful.

Flittersprites collect unusually valuable things: coins of fallen empires, baby teeth, and memories of treasured names.

Eldraine

Eldraine has some beneficial fairies, like Ulgrotha. However, most of the fae of the Wilds are antagonists of the five knightly courts. They are divided among at least three types::

• Meddling fae (white) are classified as "enemies of loyalty" and both help and punish people as they see fit. These human-sized faeries with diaphanous wings are often clothed in long, flowing white garments and radiate an eerie, angelic glow. Many are fickle and tend to lure people to their deaths with their lights. Though they are physically incapable of lying, they are known to speak in riddles and omit truth. Some are truly and unconditionally benevolent but seem to undermine efforts towards loyalty regardless. Hence, humans are not very trusting of them.
• Thieving fae (blue) are small-sized winged faeries that steal objects. These cocky and spiteful creatures, no taller than an apple and with sharp teeth, are the most common type.
• Prankster fae (black) are malicious gray-skinned, bat-winged fae with yellow eyes. They are about the size of a human child.

Ikoria

The only known species of faerie (or dragon, for that matter) native to Ikoria is the dragon-fae hybrid known as the Sprite Dragon.

Lorwyn & Shadowmoor

No race on Lorwyn is more ubiquitous or mysterious than its faeries. The fae lead short, flitting lives in pursuit of gossip, diversions, and amusing intrigues. Petty and vain, faeries are like petulant children at play. They love to have fun, revel in Lorwyn's eternal midsummer, and follow their whims. But faeries can also be carelessly cruel, capricious, and vindictive.

Faeries travel in small groups of three to six called cliques. They are led by Oona, the enigmatic Queen of the Fae, and a sort of ur-faerie herself. Oona is a flower-like being composed of thousands of petals, constantly budding tiny insect-like faerie children.

Lorwyn's faeries do not dream, which explains why they spend so much time harvesting the dreams of others. Faeries can distill these stolen dreams into sparkling energy that they carry around with them. They then bring this "dreamstuff" back to their queen, to both nourish and pollinate her.

Faerie magic centers around illusions called glamers. They can use glamers to beautify themselves, entertain one another, or incapacitate foes.

The faeries of Lorwyn were the only tribe to be largely unaffected by the Great Aurora, although Oona's consolidation of power did lead some faeries to embrace more hierarchy and maintenance of the status quo, causing them to branch into white.

Groundlings

Wingless Lorwyn faeries are called groundlings.

Ravnica

Ravnican faeries are known to be mischievous tricksters. The inhabitants have grown used to their pranks, with some having established basic security methods against them. Faeries are known to hunt trolls. The Izzet put the small stature and great agility of the faeries to good use. Ratchet faeries repair and fine-tune many of the mechanical devices the Izzet creates, and they can also serve as messengers.

Ulgrotha

The Faerie Nobles were the leaders of the faeries of the Great Wood on Ulgrotha. The Autumn Willow created one of them in the form of Veldrane of Sengir. The nobles and their faeries took over the River Bridge in the Great Wood and would push anyone the Autumn Willow did not want to cross into the waters.

Notable Faeries

Dominaria

• Ivy

Lorwyn/Shadowmoor

• Maralen
• Nymris
• Oona
• Vendilion Clique
• Wydwen

Ulgrotha

• Devin, Faerie Noble
• Gemma, Willow Priestess

Eldraine

• Alela
• Kellan
• Old Flitterfang
• Rankle
• Talion
• Tegwyll

Unknown plane

• Oko
• Rubinia Soulsinger

Tribal type

Lorwyn block featured five tribal Faerie cards, which could be fetched by Faerie Harbinger:

• Bitterblossom
• Faerie Tauntings
• Faerie Trickery
• Peppersmoke
• Violet Pall

Tokens

Tokens marked with are created by Acorn cards.

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Faerie	Blue	Creature — Faerie	1/1	Flying	Alela, Artful Provocateur Faerie Formation Hunted Troll Improbable Alliance Stolen by the Fae
	Blue	Creature — Faerie	1/1	Flying This creature can block only creatures with flying.	Faerie Slumber Party Into the Fae Court
Faerie Dragon	Blue	Creature — Faerie Dragon	1/1	Flying	Ancient Gold Dragon Elminster Feywild Caretaker Feywild Trickster Feywild Visitor Rasaad, Dragon Monk
Faerie Rogue	Black	Creature — Faerie Rogue	1/1	Flying	Alela, Cunning Conqueror Bitterblossom Notorious Throng Shadow Puppeteers Tegwyll's Scouring Violet Pall
	Blue/​Black	Creature — Faerie Rogue	1/1	Flying	Oona, Queen of the Fae
Faerie Spy	Blue	Creature — Faerie Spy	1/1	Flying, haste Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.	Faerie Aerie
Cloud Sprite	Blue	Creature — Faerie	1/1	Flying Cloud Sprite can only block creatures with flying.	Cloudseeder

Sprite tokens

In the period after the Seventh Edition rules update, Splintering Wind from Alliances made Sprite tokens instead of the original Splinter tokens. This was done to avoid confusion with the card Splinter. It was reverted at the time of Time Spiral.

Manlands

• Faerie Conclave — 2/1 Faerie with flying

Trivia

• In the Grand Creature Type Update the subtypes Noble (Faerie Noble) and Pixie-Queen (Pixie Queen) were incorporated into the Faerie type. For Noble, this was later reversed.
• Faerie Noble and Scion of Oona are Faerie Lords.
• The subtype Ouphe is preferred over Faerie when the creatures aren't little humanoids with wings. It took a while before this distinction became clear. For example Shelkin Brownie used to be a Faerie, while Fyndhorn Brownie used to be a Brownie. Now, both are Ouphes.

Gallery

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  Fire Sprites

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  Alara

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  Eldraine

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  Lorwyn

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  Ravnica

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  Fae of Eldraine concept art.

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  High Fae of Eldraine concepts.