MTG's Missing Race
General forum
Posted on Feb. 3, 2019, 2:39 p.m. by JANKYARD_DOG
Being a fan of the fantasy genre I have read many series, played many rpg's and there is one 'some may say' controversial race missing from this game. So I must ask... why are there no Half-Elves in this game?
Half-Elves are usually key characters in the stories they are involved in, as they are few and far between. Mostly because relationships between races is considered taboo, and in 99.9% of cases it's a result of an elven maiden having been abused via raiding/mercenary party. Whatever the case may be, they gain notice, usually negative until they attain hero status somehow (or the rare case of infamy). Considering almost every Plane has some version of humans and elves how has there never been a Half-Elven character printed? With the release of the latest set you can't use the "too many creature types" excuse... Case in point: Elf Lizard Wizard. You could have a Human Elf Warrior/Wizard/Rogue... possibly a Legendary even.
Has anyone else noticed this, or have anything to add regarding their absence?
JANKYARD_DOG says... #3
shadow63: I was not thinking of having all the races get in on this, just that this particular mix of human and elf is a part of most fantasy worlds in some small way. Story-wise it could be on any world with humans and elves, new or old... just introduce a new character that ties into the world/current plot.
February 3, 2019 10:17 p.m.
I'm not saying they cant or shouldn't do this I just dont think they will
February 3, 2019 10:53 p.m.
And magic has been know to ignore fantasy tropes in favor of doing their own thing
February 3, 2019 10:54 p.m.
Honestly we've had human merfolk (looking at you, Vorel of the Hull Clade ) but in terms of races, how are half elves functionally different than humans or elves? Think about trying to translate that into a card. With characters on a page or in a story as a stand alone bit it's one thing, in terms of a story which is supposed to fit (and thematically have it's most important character represented on said cards) it's another.
February 3, 2019 11:51 p.m.
Glissa, the Traitor is a zombie elf, but that is hardly what you want. The closest I could find was Razorfin Hunter and its art is a good case against having such things in magic.
February 4, 2019 7:10 a.m.
Boza thank you for showing that art, it's definitely going to haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.
shadow63 says... #2
It would just get messy. You would have elf humans, vedealken humans, elf vedalken, merfolk human ect. It doesn't try serve the story. Especially with how wotcs been handling the story lately. I think the only time in recent history when there was any type of obvisous relationship between to characters was Chandras parents. And the reason why some cards in this set have a ton of creature types is its Simics way of doing things. They're bioengineers they blend two creatures together to make one
February 3, 2019 6:56 p.m.