Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Legends
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, a look back at the art and cards of Magic: the Gathering through the eyes of a casual fan. Today we are looking at the expansion Legends.
Legends was released in June of 1994, although it was being worked on even before Unlimited came out. This set introduced both Legendary creatures and multicolored cards to the game. Legendary minions were singular entities which you could only have one of on the field at a time. Many of the Legendary minions in this set were based on characters from the creators’ DnD games, and many of them were pretty terrible. This is going to be longer than usual, because we got a lot of cards to cover. So lets get right into it.
This is the first Kithkin of Magic, Kithkin being Magic’s equivalent to Hobbits or Halflings. Most Kithkin are from the Lorwyn block (Which we wont be getting to for a while). I was surprised to see a Kithkin this early in Magic’s life. To my knowledge this is the only non-Lorwyn Kithkin out there.
Okay, getting a pretty creepy vibe off the Clergy of the Holy Nimbus. Why do none of them have faces? Why are they all covered up like that? This isn’t Silent Hill, come on guys. Get out of here.
Stat wise they are interesting in that they auto-regenerate unless the opponent pays to keep them dead. I imagine that makes them pretty good blockers until an opponent gets tired of getting endlessly chump-blocked (unless they have trample creatures).
This is what you call a “flip the table over” card. White has a lot of cards like this, but none quite as egregious as Divine Intervention. This is literally “I can’t win anymore, even with 8 mana, so I’m gonna make sure you don’t win either in two turns” card. I imagine this card can annoy a lot of people.
Art wise this card is really neat. With its skeletal angels on the road to Heaven, it looks suitably biblical for White.
White: The color of chivalry, nobility, honor, healing, and land taxation (and leprosy. Can’t ever forget the leprosy). If I ever make the fan Disney MTG Set, then White legendaries will include Prince John from Robin Hood for this very reason. Never trust anyone over 30 kids, not even me!
Why yes, that is in fact Albert Einstein on a Magic card. Its weird because later on we get a card that’s literally called Eureka!. You’d think he’d be on that card but he’s on this one. Honestly the idea that Einstein was a planeswalker just amuses me in a way I didn’t think was possible.
I’m not sure how good this card is because enchantments are largely a White thing, but I guess you can always disenchant it if you need to.
This art is done by Justin Hampton, the same guy who did Reverse Polarity in Antiquities. The two pieces are so similar I just kind of assume this is the same battle with two different combatants. Apparently a lot of people went Shirtless in those days.
A note on Rampage: it was a mechanic introduced in this set (I think) where a creature would get a temporary buff if it was blocked by more than one creature. It kind of died off because no one would willingly send in multiple blockers against a creature with rampage, so the effect was pretty much useless.
Here is another creature type we wouldn’t see more of until Lorwyn: Hags. I like her effect in that she seems to put a death curse on whoever kills her, permanently weakening them.
Another thing introduced in this expansion are world enchantments. Apparently these were meant to be enchantments so powerful they transported the players to another world entirely. In this case a field of dreams. But like…. aren’t most enchantments like that anyway?
Oh. Oh dear. Okay, so I’m a kid trying to convince my parents that Magic: the Gathering isn’t an evil game, and one of the cards I have to show them is “Invoke Prejudice” and it has Klansmen on it. How do you think that makes me look? You think this is a good Wizard? There is a reason this card has never been reprinted.
The effect is pretty good, effectively making enemy minions cost double. This is like “Privilege: the Card”, which is why it’s called Invoke Prejudice I guess. I hope there are no more questionable cards in this set.
I love that the Time Elemental is just a dragonfly made out of clocks. Also I had to read it a few times in order to figure out what it does: So it can return a permanent to its owners hand, but not if it’s enchanted, and if it attacks or blocks it explodes I guess and deals damage to you. I don’t get why it would OH IT’S LIKE A TIME BOMB. HA HA WIZARDS YOU GOT ME FUNNY JOKE. Funny joke.
Jeez, Ali Baba is going to charge me overtime to get through that mess.
In what way is that even a wall? It looks like the inside of Jerry Garcia’s steamer trunk. I like how you can swap its stats and attack with it at a moment’s notice. Also note I restrained myself from making an Oasis joke. You’re welcome.
Abomination has always been one of my favorite monsters from early magic. Not only because of how creepy it looks, but because of the flavor. This unclean thing destroys everything good and pure it touches, like a living pestilence. Plus with six health it can take a hit from most White creatures and many Green creatures (Although Green probably has a better chance of downing it since they have big minions, if they are willing to give one up).
I love the art here. He just looks so excited with those chains. It’s like “HEY GUYS CHECK OUT THESE SWEET CHAINS. I CAN CHAIN UP SO MANY TORTURED SOULS WITH THESE BABIES”.
This card is infamous for being one of the more confusing cards in Magic, but I feel like its less confusing than people make it out to be. Basically, you can’t draw more than one card per turn, and if you try than the big guy up there makes you discard a card instead. And if you try to draw extra with no hand the card you would have drawn goes to the graveyard. Simple no?
This is the first creature to officially have the Horror creature type. Which would become the go-to monster type for scary black creatures once the “moral guardians” came down on Wizards of the Coast.
This first Horror has an impressive statline, but you have to keep paying its cost each turn or you lose it and a chunk of your life. So its kind of ehhhh…?
I love the art though, with it being a huge column of eyes and mouths, and the implication this is just part of a much bigger, scarier creature.
The last time I played Magic in real life before I got back into it was in college, when Time Spiral came out. This was one of the cards that got reprinted in that set as a “time shifted” card, and I got a bunch of them and its counterpart, the Evil Eye of Urborg, in a draft. So the only deck I currently own is a mono Black deck with a bunch of these. As you can imagine, I have a soft spot for the evil eyes.
I also love the flavor that they are so creepy none of your non-eye creatures will fight alongside them, and no one wants to block them. I mean, would you want to fight a giant eye?
Fallen Angel is one of those cards which I feel is iconic to Magic. I especially like the clear scars where her wings used to be, which is the first thing you see on this card. Later artwork of her gives her wings back and gives her a more Gothic look, which is nice, but I will always like this art specifically.
I’m putting these two together because they have a similar effect and almost identical artwork. The theme of both of them is corruption and transformation, but doing it in different ways. Touch of Darkness makes a creature Black for a turn (Which is only useful in certain situations) while Transmutation has the relatively more useful ability of swapping a creature’s attack and health. I also like Transmutation’s art and the implication it’s turning a cute little sprite into a horrible bug monster, the opposite of what it was (IE flipping its stats).
Yeah, we’re still making these cards I guess. This is a weaker version of Chaos Orb, and also just as stupid. I mean I guess I admire the ambition, but this card is never going to fly in a serious card game.
This is the first and only Magic set to include the most pitiful of creatures, the Kobolds. There are a few more Kobolds, but I used these three because these are the ones illustrated by Julie Baroh and have the same art theme. I really like the design of the Kobolds here: Red skinned and wizened, looking like they stepped out of a Ralph Bakshi movie.
My favorite has to be Kobolds of Kher Keep. Despite being the most pitiful monster ever (Its like this is the base they start every monster on and they just shipped this one as is), its artwork tells a real story. The implication here is that Kher Keep was destroyed by some calamity, and the Kobolds moved in and dress in the rags left behind by its former inhabitants (Which is why one is wearing a pink dress, presumably left behind by a little girl living at the keep). Also I love the Kobold drill sergeant dressed inexplicably in modern military garb.
This here is an anomaly; The only gnome in all of Magic that isn’t an artifact. Not counting the Un sets, there are eight gnomes in all of Magic, all of whom are artifact creatures except for this one.
So what happened to the gnomes? Were they killed in the Brothers War? Exterminated by zealots during the dark age? Died off during the ice age? Were artifact gnomes built to honor the memory of this fallen race? Or do they still lurk deep under Dominaria? Maybe one day gnomes will return to the world of Magic: the Gathering. After all, in every wish and dream and happy home, you WILL find the kingdom of the gnomes.
Also, I love the flavor of their ability, with their power to dig through plains so much it dilutes the mana they produce.
Okay, what is this? Just what the Hell is that thing? Is it a bug? Is it a reptile? Did HR Giger make it? Why does it have butts for eyes? The creature type doesn’t tell me anything; what is a “villain” in this context? (Also it was renamed Beast when they updated creature types, which is so generic to be meaningless). I guess it’s just a good old fashioned monster.
Alright, for this one we’re springing for some water bottles for Ali Baba. I mean he’s getting a raw deal with the walls on this one.
As a person of Irish descent, Leprechauns are very near and dear to my heart. I also love the flavor of this one that… he makes things green. That’s it. Pretty useless ability, but still pretty amusing.
When I was a kid I watched Yu-Gi-Oh. One of my favorite bits was when Yugi fought Weevil Underwood and he broke out a caterpillar that he turned into a giant moth with a cocoon card. Of course, it looks like Magic beat them to it with their own version.
Sadly while I like the flavor of having any creature pupate into a bigger flying version of itself, it’s pretty impractical to leave a creature helpless on the board for three turns just for +1/+1 and flying.
I just love the art here. The little sprite thing just looks so bewildered, like even she doesn’t know what’s happening. This is also a real power move card for Green, since Green is pretty much guaranteed to have better cards than their opponent to play with it. Just fill the board with big beasties and go.
Yes. YES. YEEEEEEES.
This is what Magic is all about people. Bee’s with shields and swords and spears. I mean, how do you make killer bees worse? Give them weapons. Even the flavor text talks about how unexpected this is.
After some soul searching, I am not covering the Pradesh… you know. Moving on.
Hey! Rabid Wombat! That’s always fun. That’s a nice card that I can talk about. Just throw some auras on it and you got a veritable killing machine.
You ever see a creature on a card and think “Yep? That’s me. That’s my avatar right there.” That’s what I get from the Shelkin Brownie. That’s basically me as a Magic card. And of course he has the unstoppable ability of removing banding. GO HOME CAMEL, YOU WILL FIND NO PURCHASE HERE.
Now I know it looks like Wood Elemental is in a tight spot, but don’t worry. Those guys are just a band of freelance dentists here to give him his annual teeth cleaning. Because dental hygiene is important when you are a giant tree.
This is widely considered the very worst creature in all of Magic, and it’s not hard to see why. I mean, sacrificing land is bad enough, but you have to sacrifice untapped land. I imagine there have been countless people who didn’t read the card close enough, tried to play this thing on curve, and then had to be escorted out of the tournament for having an epic rage meltdown. This guy was only ever reprinted once and it’s easy to see why he doesn’t get any love.
Alright, here is where we get to the real meat and potatoes of this set: The Legendaries. Now some of these guys are dual color, so in addition to my usual spot-on critique, I am going to include a guild rating to see how well they fit in, flavor or mechanically, with their respective Ravnica Guild (Also there are no opposition color combos in this set, so no Orzhov, Boros, Simic, Golgari or Izzet cards, sorry).
There are some who would call him…. Tim? I got to say for this one we at least have a pretty good effect, where he can basically casts Holy Day whenever you want. You can pretty much grind combat to a halt until you get a favorable position.
Here we got a pretty impressive giant, although he’s horribly understated for his cost, and his effect is rather minor comparatively speaking. Still, dealing damage is a Rakdos thing. Guild rating: 7/10 (Needs more chains and spikes).
Again, over-costed both in cost and ability for the stats, but I’m cutting him some slack because he has the best name of any Magic creature ever. The worst thing about this card is that Boris Devilboon never became a major player in the MTG story (Also I just noticed he’s standing in front of Barbed wire. So they have barbed wire on Dominaria). He’s also a zombie, so he fits the Rakdos theme in pretty much every way. Guild rating: 10/10.
Wow, this Angel has a really creepy stare. It’s kind of weirding me out. I’m not even going to bring up the overpriced for stats thing, but this guy does get a nice selection of useful abilities it can get each turn. Also, the Selesnya Conclave does have Angels in it, needs more Convoke though. Guild rating: 7/10.
Well, frosted flakes my be grrreeaaaat! but you sure aren’t Jedit. Once again, 7 mana for a vanilla 5/5 is unacceptable, even back then. He’s also a terrible Azorious card because he doesn’t fit their defense-oriented play style. Guild rating 2/10. Go back to Green kitty (Which, ironically, he would do in Plane Shift, and be better for it).
In addition to the “normal” legendaries, we also get the Elder Dragons, the first among equals, the big guys, the leaders of the shard legendary families.
Here we have Nicol Bolas, who would go on to become one of Magic’s most dangerous and enduring villains. It’s kind of easy to see why; he’s got strong stats and an amazing ability, and a relatively minor drawback.
I love the art here too. It looks like he’s studying to get his Planeswalker license. Just think, in 25 years this guy will be trying to kill all the other Planeswalkers with an army of blue zombies from Egypt land.
And right back to the garbage heap. For seven Mana a creature better have either amazing stats, a powerful ability, or both. In this case the stats are suitably impressive, but… a seven mana mana dork? Really? This is an acceptable ability for seven mana. I mean, the whole point of a Mana dork is that you play them early game so you can cheat out big minions.
That being said, the character of a scheming corrupt noble who uses political violence against his enemies is the most Dimir thing ever, so at least he’s spot on with flavor. Guild rating: 7/10.
And here we have the king of all Kobolds. Is he worth building a kobold deck around? Probably not. Does he fit in with Rakdos? Well they do have Goblins in Rakdos, so maybe? Guild rating 5/10.
Now this guy I like. Getting two 3/4’s for six mana is a good deal (even if they die together). Plus I like his name (I say it with emphasis on the T, like STAAAANG! Sounds like clang). Unfortunately, a pair of knights isn’t exactly in keeping with the Gruul clans and their whole wild barbarian thing, so the guild rating on this one will be pretty low. 1/10 (But 9/10 in my heart).
I love how the art here is just a Ukyo E painting. Very flavorful. Apparently this guy is a descendant of someone from Kamigawa. Being able to destroy creatures for four mana is pretty strong, even if you need three different mana to do it.
Nothing really special about this card. I just really like the art and the character of a beautiful fancy bug lady. She’s very pretty. Plus card draw is always nice.
Okay, we need to have a frank discussion of what is and is not a horse. This looks like what you would get if you let GWAR design a horse. I mean, where do you even sit? Barbie can’t ride this in the horse racing contest. This can’t teach your kids about the magic of friendship. Come on Wizards!
A rather famous card as I understand it, this baby was the basis of a lot of combo decks. Which is why it has barely been reprinted and copies can cost over 300 dollars. Also I love the flavor that its a parallel universe contained in a mirror. I guess you are swapping places with your mirror self, and since its reflected and opposite it switches who is winning and who is losing.
I believe this is the card that introduced the concept of poison counters to the game, an on-and-off mechanic where you can kill opponents with 10 poison counters instead of depleting 20 life. I like it because it reminds me of one of those play-doh dispenser things, except it’s making snakes (Admit it, you’d pretend the play-doh coming out was a snake).
And of course we need to end out with lands. This one will represent all the lands of this set, in that it’s part of a cycle of lands that give Legendaries of a chosen color banding. Yeah, need I say more? I don’t think so
And with that we wrap up our look at Legends, probably my longest Magical Thinking yet. If you got through it with me, you are a trooper. Next time, we look at a personal favorite set of mine: The Dark. Till then, stay magical. Oh and Boris Devilboon for Planeswalker 2020!
