Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #703: Trivia – Top 50 Creature Types

Episode Date: January 10, 2020

What are the top 50 creature types in order of how often they show up on Magic cards? In this podcast, I give listeners clues for guessing as I go through the list.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so a while ago I did a podcast that was a trivia-based podcast where I did the top 50 names in magic. And it was very popular, so I'm doing another of my trivia top 50s. So once again, I compiled this list with the help of April King, a.k.a. Cube April. So today's list is the top 50 creature types by how often they show up on cards. And the way it works is you're counted once per card. So on a double-faced card, Werewolf, which would be on both sides, is only counted once. Okay, so I'm going to go through this list of 50

as I did on the previous time I did my trivia podcast. I'm going to talk a little bit about it, give you some tips, see if you can guess what it is. If not, I will then tell you. Okay, the number one creature type with 2,342 creatures. That alone should be enough for you to guess what it is

because the number one defeats the number two by a magnitude of like power three I think number two only has 728 so that is your first clue but a second clue is this creature type did not begin with the beginning of magic in fact it didn't exist until we started doing the race class model that happened, I think, in Mirrodin or 8th edition Mirrodin sometime around then.

But before that time, not that things didn't exist that were this, but it wasn't a creature type. It wasn't a listed creature type. Okay. And the answer is human. Yes, human is by far the number one. So with 2,342. Okay, number two at 738. Sorry, 728. So this is a class, meaning it's something you do. It obviously is the most used class that we have in the game. It goes all the way back to alpha. It is something we've used a long, long time. And it's something that has shown up in large

number in all five colors. I think you most often find it in blue. I think it's in blue more than any other color. But it has clearly been in all five colors. We've had numerous cycles with it. And like I said, it goes all the way back to Alpha. It is the number one class on a Magic card. So at number two with 728, the answer is Wizard. Okay, number three. Okay, so this one has 722.

It is also a class. 722. It is also a class. So the interesting thing is there are multiple words for... In fact, here's the interesting thing. So number 3 is 722. Number 4 is 665. 3 and 4 are both classes that describe the exact same thing. So for example,

you might say that wizard and druid are both magic users. So the class for number three and number four, it's not a magic user. It means something. It's integral to the game. It's why it's so high. There's two different words that we use most of the time, although there are a few other words we use, but there's two we use most of the time. Interestingly, number four used to be, back in the day, number four showed up on white and blue creatures, a little bit on black,

and number three showed up on red and green creatures, a little bit in black. And number three showed up on red and green creatures, a little bit in black. But recently, for some tribal reasons, we've done a lot more of number three and less of number four. Four still shows up plenty, and we do some tribal with number four. But we've done more tribal recently with number three. And so because of that, it started showing up in more colors. If you go back to early magic, like for example in white, number four would show up in white and you wouldn't see much of 3 at all in white. But in recent times, a lot more of 3 has shown up. Okay, what is 3 and what is 4? Number 3

is Warrior. Number 4 is Soldier. Okay, number 5 with 469 cards. This is our first... Well, I mean, I guess humans is a race, but this is not a class. I'm not sure I guess I call it a race, but it is a type of creature. So it is the first one on our list that is something that's not just a normal human. You know, I mean, humans and wizards and warriors and soldiers, not that non-humans can't be wizards and warriors or soldiers, but the vast majority of them tend to be human in magic.

This is something that's not human, although you could argue that some of the time it once was human, but it's not always. Sometimes it's never been human. So this is a creature type. I will say that there was one block where the entire block was about humans fighting this creature type. And there was even a mechanic that had tribal of this creature type baked into it.

This is another, the reason this is as high as it is, is this does show up in all five colors. I think it shows up more often in white and blue and maybe black. But it has shown up in all five colors. What is it? Number five is Spirit. Okay, number six at $4.66. This is a creature type that goes all the way back to Alpha. It even had a lore in Alpha, meaning it had a card that made this creature type better in Alpha.

And there are only three cards that did that, so that's a big clue. This card has shown up, this creature type, it's, another clue is, it's not really a race or a class. Sometimes we treat it like a race, sometimes we treat it like a class, and if this thing is not, if this thing is human, we don't write human on it. And if it's something else, we write on it what it

is. But we don't tend to write human on it. What is it? It's one of my favorite creature types. It is, number six is zombie. Okay, number seven is, zombie. Okay, number seven at 437. This is another creature type that we use in all five colors. And it is a catch-all we use to mean a bunch of different things. It is not used, it's seldom used on humanoids, only every once in a while. Normally it's a creature, so I think this is how far back does this go.

Oh yeah, there were four creatures that had this ability in alpha. And the four that were had this creature type in alpha naturally belong to a grouping of four that you might tie with this word. But since that time, we've gotten way more loose on what this word means. What is it? Okay, number seven is at 437, elemental. Okay, number eight. Number eight is it is a real world job.

It is something in the real world people do. In fantasy, it tends to be something that also has some magic. So for example, in the real world, obviously, people don't have magic, and it's just a real-world profession. But in fantasy, it tends to...

People who have this profession often also do magic. For sure, for sure, for sure, they do magic in Dungeon Dragons. It is something you see a lot in Dungeon Dragons. In fact, when I... The first D&D character I ever had was of this class type. And it is something that more often gets put into white and black than it does. I think it showed up in other colors, but most often, the vast majority of the time, this creature keyword shows up in white and black. What is it?

The answer is, at number nine, cleric. Or, I'm sorry, number eight. Number eight, cleric. Number nine. 392 cards. Okay. So this one shows up in alpha. In fact, it showed up on a pretty iconic card from Alpha. It's a card that we have both left Magic for a while and have brought

back. The original card was illustrated by Anson Maddox. And it is a creature type that we've done a lot of tribal stuff with. Thorwin had tribal connected with it. Although we didn't...

We did not do tribal... We did do tribal with it in... Yeah, we did do tribal with it in Lorwyn. We did tribal with it in Onslaught. Anyway, this creature... These creatures don't show up in every world, but they're a pretty common magic creature. So they show up in a lot of worlds. And their base? Green.

Okay, number nine is Elf. Okay, number ten at 389 is another class that uses magic and primarily in the early days showed up in red and green. And it still primarily shows up in red and green.

It is something that is wizards tend to have training and tend to go to school and stuff. These guys, they don't have training I guess, but they don't tend to have training and tend to go to school and stuff. These guys, I mean, they don't have training, I guess, but they don't tend to have formalized school training. So number 10 is Shaman. Okay, number 11 is a catch-all. 384 is a catch-all for the 384 copies.

We put it on all sorts of things. It shows up usually on larger creatures and more in green than any other color although it's shown up in I believe in all the colors so it's a catch all for larger creatures so number 11 is Beast okay number 12 this is a creature type that goes back to Magic

it goes back to Alpha. It's another one that had a Lord in the very first set. It is something that we've done, once again, I think Onslaught and Lorwyn did Tribal with it. It is something that we use quite a bit. it is something that we use quite a bit and it's a creature type, it's a race that we have, it looks very different and one of the races that we do a lot that just looks very, very different in different sets

we love sort of re-envisioning this thing so number 12 is Goblin okay, number 13 is 320 this is a class. It's another class we use to represent fighting. And it shows up primarily in white, probably secondarily in black. We have made cycles of it in all the colors. And we've definitely done tribal with it relatively recently. What is it? Number 13 is night. Okay, number 14. This at

204, no 264. This is a class. It is people up to no good. Centered in black. Probably second in blue. And it is in Morning Tide. It was one of the tribes that we, not only in Morning Tide did we give tribal for it,

but there was a mechanic that specifically interacted with this. So number 14 is rogue, and prowl was the mechanic that interacted with it. Okay, number 15 at 262. Okay, when magic first started, this did not exist. Instead,

we listed each individual type of this thing separately. And so early magic just had a lot of different creature types that listed different kinds of this thing. But eventually we realized it was better if we just consolidated them, named all the things the larger category name, and this is something you would find on Earth. This is an animal you would find on Earth.

And so since then, we've collected it. It is most often seen in white and blue, but it has been in all the colors. Although probably the least in red and green. Least in red, I believe. Okay, so number 15 is bird. Okay, number 16 at 240. So this is a very interesting creature type in that it has both been an iconic creature type

and a characteristic creature type. Meaning it is something we've used as a special rare thing that we do on rare creatures. And it's something we've done, hey, it's the most common creature in the color that represents the essence of the creature. It is something that's really tied into horror, and it is something that goes all the way back to Alpha. In fact, one of the most popular uncommons

in Alpha was of this creature type. So the answer at number 16 is Vampire. Okay, number 17 is another creature that goes back to Alpha, had a lord in Alpha. And it is the Professor's favorite creature type. Okay, that might be too easy a clue if you know who the Professor is. Okay, this is primary blue. It has shown up in other colors. For sure in blue, for sure in white, and I think in black. I'm not sure it's ever shown up in red.

Anyway, number 17 is merfolk. Okay, number 18 at 288 creatures is a catch-all. But it's a catch-all that's primarily black. It goes on mostly larger creatures, mostly black creatures. And when I say it's a catch-all, we use it on a lot of different kind of things, but they're all things that fall under an umbrella of a certain feel to them. Okay, so number 18 is horror. Okay, number 19 is the most popular creature type in polling that we have done.

It is something that shows up more in one color than other colors. In fact, it's iconic in one of the colors, but has shown up in other colors. And in fact, we have cycled it numerous times in numerous sets in all five colors, even though it's the iconic of one color. Okay, number 19 is Dragon at 204. Okay, number 20 at 191. This is another class. It has to do with magic casting, and it is primarily green. It is heavily primarily green.

In fact, I mean, other colors might have done it a little bit, but it's mostly, mostly green. Okay, so number 20 is druid. Okay, number 21, 189. This is a real-world animal. In magic, we use it, though, to talk about a whole bunch of different kinds of animals because the vernacular in English uses it that way to let us do it. And this is a very popular creature type. In fact, we did some tribal on it just a couple years ago and it went over so well

that we've just been doing more and more of this creature type. So at number 21 with 189 cards, it's Cat. Okay, number 22 at 172 cards. This is another real world animal. Now, it's another example, like bird, where the word is the grouping of all of them. In fact, there are many, many, many, many different kinds of this thing in real life on Earth. There's a lot of them. Some crazy number that I don't know how big. And I believe that I think if you take this type of creature

and you add up all of it on Earth that it is in volume more so than humans, I think. I think. Anyway, sorry, that's real world trivia, not magic trivia. It is something we use. It shows up most often in green, but it has shown up in

most other colors. Blue's the one I'm not 100% sure of, although it probably has, because we use it quite a bit. Okay, what is it? At number 20, what is it? At number 20, what is it? 22. So number 22 with 172 creatures.

It is insect. Okay, number 23 at 169. This is a creature that goes back to Alpha. In fact, one of the most popular creatures in Alpha. Maybe the most popular creature in Alpha. In fact, one of the most popular creatures in Alpha. Maybe the most popular creature in Alpha. And I think that was the only copy of this creature in all of Alpha, I believe. It is something we've since... I mean, I guess we treat it like a race. Although one could

argue there's a class element to it, But we treat it more like a race. It's an artificial race. It is something that they're not born. They're made. And they are very popular. They always show up in the top five of the most popular creature types. And it's iconic. So number 23 is Angel. Okay, number 24 at 159. This is something, it's a creature type that goes back to Alpha.

It is something that you see in lots of mythologies. I know it's in Greek mythology, it's in Norse mythology. I think it shows up in a lot of different mythologies. I know it's in Greek mythology, it's in Norse mythology. I think it shows up in a lot of different mythologies. I think it's primarily red, although we've definitely done them in almost every other color, if not every color. And it is something that

usually this is humanoid, but not a normal humanoid in the stretch of the imagination. And it is something that tends to go on larger creatures. Although, in magic, it tends to go on medium to larger creatures. We've done it as small, I think it's 3-3. In fact, the one in alpha was 3-3. Okay, number 24 is giant. Okay, number 25 is 148. This is the most, this is the first artifact creature type to show up on the list. In fact,

I think this only shows up on artifact creatures. And it is not something we used right away, because artifact creatures didn't even have creature types early on. And this is a catch-all we used on artifact creatures. So number 25 at 148 cards is Construct. Number 26 at 141. This is another class. It is something that is a real

world thing. Although it was more a thing back in the olden days than currently. It is something that's primary white, although I think it's secondary I think in green. Okay.

If humans do it, it's white. If elves do it, it's white. If elves do it, it's green. And humans and elves are the most often ones to have this class. Okay, at number 26, it's Scout. Okay, number 27, at 138, the most famous one of this creature type, the most famous ones show up on colorless cards, but they also show up on colored cards.

I think people think of them as being colorless cards, although there are colored versions. And there are even some that require colored mana, but are not colored. What creature type? And once again, these can get on pretty big creatures. So the answer is number 27, Eldrazi. Number 28.

Okay, so there's 132. This is a creature type that goes all the way back to Alpha. It is one of only two creature types to have rules baggage originally in the game. We later changed it so it didn't. But for a while, in early Magic, if you gave a creature this creature type, it forced it.

There was rules baggage that came with it. If you gave the creature type, it meant something. It affected how the creature could function. Now, the other one was Legend, which later became Legendary. But because we changed it to Legendary, it's not high on this list. Okay, what is it? Number 28? By the way, it's still something we use in all five colors. Yeah, all five colors use it. Number 28 is Wall.

Number 29, 122. Okay, this is a, uh, a class. Shows up primarily in blue, um, and it has a relationship with a particular card type. Um, that's enough clues. You should get it from that. I don't think I need to give you more clues. I don't know how far back but it goes back decently far. I don't know if it goes all the way back to Alpha.

But it goes back to early Magic, if not Alpha. Okay, number 29 is Artificer. Okay, number 30, so there's 114 of this one. Okay, so this is another artifact creature type. I will say it goes back to Alpha in that there is a creature in Alpha that with Arada has this creature type. There were no creature types on artifact creatures originally, so it didn't originally have it. But it retroactively has it, and it's in its name.

And it's clearly, clearly this creature type. This is another creature type. Contra is a catch-all. This is a particular kind of creature. It comes from Jewish mythology. So number 30 is Gollum. Okay, number 31. There's 112 of this creature type. I believe that every creature that is of this creature type has this creature type in its name. There are

112. It is a parasitic mechanic. Meaning the creature type has a mechanical identity that's a parasitic identity. Meaning all the creatures that are this creature type work similarly in one way. And that is a parasitic element. And these were originally designed by Mike Elliott.

Number 31 is Sliver. Okay, number 32 at 110. This is a creature that is almost exclusively in black. In fact, I can't even think of a non-black version of this. It tends to go on larger creatures. It tends to go on higher rarity. And it tends to be intelligent. It's clearly, clearly an intelligent creature.

Large creature, intelligent, usually humanoid-ish. But not always. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's not quite humanoid. Usually it's humanoid-ish. but not always. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's not quite humanoid. Usually it's humanoid-ish. Goes on large creatures. Goes on usually rare mythic creatures. The reason for that is because it's iconic. The answer for number 32 is

demon. Okay, number 33 at 97. It's something that we did a little bit... Magic did... Every once in a while, Magic would do one,

but then not refer to it by the name that people would expect us to refer to it by. So it wasn't a creature type for a long time. And then we finally made a set where we're like, you know what? People would like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to make a set with this creature type.

And then we went back and changed the old, there weren't a lot of old ones, but there were a handful. There were low tens, I think, of them. And this creature is probably primary in green, secondary in red or blue.

Although the first time you saw them, they were red, green, and white. What is it? It is at number 33, Dinosaur. Okay, number 34. This goes all the way back to Alpha. I think the first time it was, I think this word, Well, there were clearly two cards in Alpha that retroactively have this creature type. I'm not sure they... I think at least one of them didn't have this creature type in Alpha. The other one, I'm not sure.

It is something that's primary blue that represents... I think it is more race than class. I think it's more race. It's a race. Yeah, it's race. It is a race that can do something specific. It has the ability to do something. And it's... Well, we've had...

In fact, we have an iconic cycle. Not all in one set. It was a cycle that was done over time, meaning different ones appeared in different sets that I believe is this creature type. So all the colors have had it. But it is way, way primarily blue. The vast majority of the 96 that have done I'm sure are blue. So number 34 is Shapeshifter. Okay, number 35 at 95.

Most of this creature type took place in the block where they first appeared and then on the return to that block. The vast majority of the... So, I mean, I think this has shown up a few other places, but it's a small, small, small number. But I would say of the 95 that are this thing,

I would say the vast majority, vast, vast majority showed up on one world, and it's a world we visited twice. the vast majority, vast, vast majority showed up on one world. And it's a world we visited twice. And mostly humanoid, but not all humanoid. So number 35 is Ally. Okay, number 36 at 94.

This is something that is a pretty staple creature of fantasy. Alpha had them. Probably the quirkiest thing about them is we do not spell the creature keyword the same. It is most often spelled a different way. But we spell it the more fantasy-ish way, I guess. But when you see it spelled, and even when you see it spelled in the fantasy meaning, it is usually not spelled this way.

We spell it differently. It is something that is primarily blue, secondarily black, tertiary white, I believe. Okay, so at number 36, with 94 creatures, is Fairy. Number 37, there's 93 of this. It is primarily red. Might have shown up in black a couple times, but primarily red.

It is a, so it goes back to alpha, and it is a dumb creature type. One of the things we tend to play up with it is just, it's dumb. It's strong. one of the things we tend to play up with it is just it's dumb. It's strong. It tends to show up on 2-2s, 3-3s, maybe occasional 4-4 maybe. But it is red and it is dumb. So at number 30, what is that, 37, is Ogre.

Number 38 at 92. So this first showed up on a couple cards in, I think, Arcadian Masks, in blue. On a couple cards in blue. I'm not sure whether it was a vertical cycle, but it showed up on a couple cards in blue. We later made a big deal out of it in multiple colors,

in three colors, in a set in which it had a strong tribal theme. So it showed up in early Magic and existed on a few cards. The creature type existed. But we didn't really make a giant tribal thing out of it until we brought it back, in which we really blew it out and put it into three colors. Those three colors were blue and black and red.

So number 38 is Pirate. Okay, number 39 is a creature type I've already named, but missing something. So it is a fantasy creature that is another fantasy creature, just missing something that the other fantasy creature has.

And it is something that goes back to alpha. In fact, this is primarily green and there was a pretty famous green common, a very popular green common, that had this. And the very first deck I ever built, because I opened this card in Alpha,

I built a deck in mono green. So the creature type is Worm. Okay, at number 40 with 88 copies. This creature type is primarily blue. Always on flyers. Always flies. And tends to be 2-2-3-3 is where we tend to do it. Probably 2-2 is the most common place we'll do it. It's a smaller flyer you see a lot in blue.

Not a bird, you know, usually bigger than a bird, but smaller than other flying things. And in English, it is also a word that means a male, it's a male bird. So the answer is at 40, Drake. 41, 87 copies of this. This is another thing that's primary blue. It is more a type of magic than it is a race or class.

It's more race than class, I guess. But technically speaking, it is a kind of magic. And it's primarily in blue. Um, the, there is a mechanic that we often put with it, but not always. Uh, and the mechanic originally started in black, uh, on a different creature type. And then we moved it to this creature type in blue. So number 41 is Illusion. Okay, number 42.

This is another race. Yeah, another race. It is something that, it's a real world thing. It is primarily white. The funny thing is, in magic and in, I don't know, literature, in pop culture, these things supposedly can fight really well. Even though, in the real world, their job has nothing to do with fighting. Somehow, in the archetype in pop culture is that they're good fighters.

Like I said, they're primary white. So number 42, but they have another complete function, by the way. Number 42 is monk. Number 43 at 85. This is a real world creature. Shows up primarily green. I get yelled at all the time because we, there is a fantasy creature that we could have labeled this, that we didn't, that we labeled with

a new name, and since this thing has tribal stuff attached to it, and that new word doesn't work with the tribal attached to this one, people complain all the time that we made that creature type. And that fantasy creature type is western in nature, I'm sorry, it's eastern in nature. It is not, it's something more from eastern mythology. And the answer at number 43 is snake. So number 44 is, there is 80 of these. It goes back to Alpha.

In fact, this creature type, a creature, the creature with this creature type in Alpha, was adopted by Wizards of the Coast as their mascot for early magic. So I have a jean jacket and a t-shirt that were like Wizards only products and this a picture of this creature, a famous version from Alpha. It was a very nice picture. Anson Maddox drew it. I believe Anson Maddox did it. Anyways, a really, really nice picture from Alpha. The card kind of sucked.

But people, at least people in Wizards, really liked the creature. Turns out that the real world, while they liked the picture, didn't like the creature that much because it wasn't that good a creature. Anyway, we have done tribal stuff with them. Pharos being the big one. So, can you guess which one? Yes. 44 is Minotaur.

45 at 79. Um, this is something that has shown up in all the colors. Uh, we've done cycles with this thing. Uh, it shows up more in white than it shows up in other colors. Um,

and it represents, um, I guess it's more of a race than a class. Um, yeah, it's more, oh, did I misuse, I realized early on I was saying race when I meant class, sorry, I think with monk I said race when I meant class. Oop, sorry. Okay, I made monk very hard to figure out. I apologize for that. Um, okay, so this one is, yeah, more race and class. It is something... Usually it is tied... Usually it is a creation of magic,

I believe. We sometimes use it that way in magic, but not always. And it is... There is a famous... One of the highest grossing movies of all time has this name. And a very popular animated series has this name. So number 45 is Avatar. Okay, number 46.

This is a class. It is seen most often in white and I think sometimes seen white and green and I think red sometimes. Well, white and green I think do it most often. Yeah, white and green do it the most often. It is something that if you did it in the real world,

you could do it as part of combat or you could do it for sport. Nowadays you do it as part of combat, or you could do it for sport. Nowadays, you do it for sport, but back in the day, it was a weapon of choice, especially in medieval times and stuff. So number 46 at 78 creatures is Archer. Okay, number 47 with 78. Oh, so it was tied.

I guess tied with Archer, so it was tied. Okay, I guess tied with archer. So this is tied for 46. This is another class that talks about fighting. But this tends to be almost primarily red. In fact, I'm not even sure if we've made one of these that isn't red. It talks about fighting, but it also talks about emotion, which is why it's red. So number 47 is Berserker. Number 49 at 76,

48. Number 48 at 76 is a creature type that I've not liked and I've fought to change for so long and have so far not been successful. But it is a real world creature type. It's an animal. I just think the name we use for it is dumb because it refers to a sub-site of the animal and not the animal as a whole. Hopefully you've gotten that by now. Number 48 is Hound. Number 49 at 71 was an Alpha. It was an Alpha because Richard really likes Tolkien.

This is a creature that, I don't know if it premiered in Tolkien. I don't know if Tolkien made them up first. But Tolkien's what made them famous. Lord of the Rings is what made them famous. And anyway, they tend to be in green and they tend to be on larger creatures. They tend to have toughness higher than power. And the answer is number 49. They were an alpha, by the way.

Treefolk. Okay, number 50 with 67. So this is my final one, then I'm going to end for the day. So number 67. This is a iconic... I'm using the word iconic not in the magic sense, by the way, in this particular one. This is a very, very famous fantasy creature type. A race in fantasy. It shocks me that this is 50th. This really

shouldn't be 50th. The fact that there's only 67 of these is to me one of the great tragedies of magic that we haven't done more with this creature type. Like I said, it's a staple. It's a staple of fantasy. I don't know why we've done more it's primary red, we've done some of it in white what is it guys? it is dwarf okay, so number 50 is dwarf

so anyway, I hope you guys have enjoyed that this was fun so I've talked with April and you guys seem to like the trivia thing so I'm going to work with April to get more lists of 50 to do more of these. I hope you guys enjoyed today's. Once again, I'm sorry I mixed up racing class that one time.

Anyway, I'm now at work. So we all know what that means. This is the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye.