Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #794: Trivia – Big Creatures

Episode Date: November 20, 2020

This is a trivia column where I give clues about the biggest creatures in the game's history and you guess who they are.

I'm not pulling out of the driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. A coronavirus edition. Okay, so today is another trivia show. So I call this Large Creatures. So what's going to happen is I'm going to give you trivia about the largest creatures in magic. I'm defining that as being combined power and toughness. I'm defining that as being combined power and toughness. And so what I'll do is I will tell you the combined total of the power and toughness, and then I'll describe them. And the goal is for you to figure out what I'm talking about before I reveal it.

So that's how these trivia ones work. Okay, so we're going to start the largest creature in magic with a combined power and toughness of 198. Now, first off, you should just know that. I should have to give you no other clues, but I will. I'll give you other clues. This card is responsible for inspiring

split cards. This card makes reference in its art to both Ice Age and Mirage and it is

one of the wordier cards to be printed in Magic and I think it has actually I'm always positive I think it has... Actually, I'm always positive of this. It has more colored mana than any other card in Magic. And this is a card that I designed.

I designed this card inspired by talking with people that did layout. Talking with people who were helping me brainstorm to design a card unlike any other card. Okay, so what is this card? Dun dun dun!

BFM, aka the Big Furry Monster from Unglued. It is, so for those who don't know, BFM, it has 15 black mana. It's a 99 99 and it's got two sides. A left side and a right side. Summon the biggest, baddest, nastiest,

scariest creature you ever see. You must play both BFM cards to put BFM into play. Either BFM card leaves the battlefield, sacrifice the other. BFM can be blocked only by three or more creatures. Originally it had Trample. Originally it was 100-100 by the way, and it had Trample.

And Bill had me change it from 100-100 to 99-99 as to not give away three-digit numbers yet. I don't know. And Trample, because the idea was this would be players that might not understand Trample, but they understand BFM. So anyway, that is the first card. Okay, so the second creature

has a combined power and toughness of 40. So this card, sorry, this creature, it's not even a card. This creature is a token. And the card that created it first showed up in Cold Snap. But it was first referenced, the creature was first referenced in Ice Age.

So it got referenced in Ice Age. I think it was in both card name and in flavor text. And the missing, lost third set, Cold Snap, had a card that made this creature. And once again, it's a token creature. But it's combined 40 power and toughness. So what is it? It is Merit Lage, a creature that's involved in the Ice Age story

that's now trapped in the ice that who knows if it'll ever get out. Okay, so next is a 32. It's combined 32 who knows if it'll ever get out. Okay, so next is a 32. It's combined 32. That alone, it's the only creature that has a combined 32.

So, let me see if that alone might be a clue enough, but I will give you more clues. Okay, so this is from the plane of Ravnica. It has a mechanic on it

that is a guild mechanic. And it's combined 32. In fact, its power and toughness are the same number. I guess you can do math. Okay, so it's a 1616 and it is

Impervious Great Worm. Impervious Great Worm. Impervious Great Worm. So that is the biggest black-bordered creature with stats. BFM Silver-bordered, Merital Age is a token. Impervious Great Worm is the largest with stats. Okay, next. Okay, so next we're getting to Combined 30. There's two of these.

So I will do the first one. So the first one is also a creature from Ravnica. It appeared in a Ravnican set. Apparently there's big creatures in Ravnica. And it is a creature that can make three tokens. And the tokens all have an ability on them. So what is this card? This card is

World Spine Worm. So it's 11 mana. It's a 15-15 trample. When it dies, you put three 5-5 green worm creature tokens with trample until the battlefield. And then when it's put into a graveyard from anywhere, you shuffle it into your library.

So this was made to play Populate. In Return to Ravnica, Populate was the Simic mechanic. The Simic mechanic Populate let you copy a token. So a 5-5 worm was a pretty cool thing to copy. So I think that's what inspired this card. By the way, Impervious

Great Worm, which I didn't mention, was 7 green, green, green for 16, 16, but had Convoke, meaning you tap creatures to pay for the mana, and it's indestructible. 16, 16, indestructible creature. Okay, so next is the other...

Where is it? Okay, so this creature is... Okay, so the previous two creatures I mentioned were green. This creature is not green. And in fact is the largest not green creature. This is a legendary creature. I think this is the largest... Well, Merit Lage, I guess, is legendary.

But as far as legendary cards and not tokens, I think this is the largest... The other two were not legendary, I don't believe. And this... There's two different versions of this. The second one we'll probably talk about one of these

days. But... So this legendary creature that appears in two different forms. we'll probably talk about one of these days. But, so this card, a legendary creature that appears in two different forms. But this one appeared in its first appearance, their first appearance, the first time they appeared. And it has four different lines of text. I'm sorry, four different little paragraphs of text on the card.

So what is it? It is Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn. 15 mana, 15 Kallus mana, or not Kallus, but 15 generic mana. 15-15. Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn can't be countered. When you cast Emrakul, take an extra turn

after this one. Flying, protection from colored spells, Annihilator 6. When Emrakul is put into a graveyard from anywhere, the owner shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library. Okay. Okay, next. So now we get to a combined 26.

Okay, first one up was... Okay, so this creature, um, interestingly, um, okay, so this creature interestingly it has some of the time its combined power and toughness is

3 and some of the time its combined power and toughness is 26. And this is this was in Innistrad. In the original Innistrad. And it references

a legendary creature that we just printed in Commander Legends. So what is this card? Any guesses? what is this card? Any guesses? Okay, this card is Ludovic's Test Subject. Oh, wait a minute.

Yeah, Ludovic's Test Subject slash Ludovic's Abomination, which is the backside. The Abomination is technically the 2626. So Ludovic's Test Subject costs one and a blue. It's a 0-3 Lizard Defender. For one and a blue, put a hatchling counter on Lud Ludic's test subject costs one and a blue. It's a 0-3 lizard defender. For one and a blue, put a hatchling counter on Ludic's test subject.

Then if there are five or more hatchling counters on it, remove all of them to transform it. When you transform it, it is a 13-13 trampling creature. Okay. Next up. Okay, next up okay, so this

is also a 1313 these all might be 1313 but this creature this creature is I believe the cheapest creature to cast of all. So there's one, two, three, four, five. Five creatures that have

a combined 26 power toughness. This has the lowest mana cost, I believe, of the five. The word X appears three times in its reminder text. And it's an avatar from Worldwake.

And I think this card was designed by, I think it was designed by Ken Nagel. So you guys know the answer? The card is Death's Shadow. Costs a single black mana for 1313. It's an avatar creature. Death's Shadow gets minus X minus X

where X is your life total. So the idea is it's a one drop and it's a 1313, but it is not really a 1313 in that it's going to be a little smaller than that. But if you somehow are at zero life and have something in play that keeps you from dying, it is a 1313. Okay, so next up. Okay, so next up... Okay, so the next card... has Morph. It is the largest Morph creature.

And it has an upkeep cost. So not only wouldn't you Morph if you have to pay an upkeep cost, but it's a very big creature, and it's the largest Morph creature. It comes from Legions. The card was in Legions. And it is green! It is a green card. So what is this card? Largest morph creature. Answer is Krosin Cloudscraper.

7 green, green, green, 13, 13. It's a beast mutant. It's got morph. 7 green, green, morph. So for 7 green, green, you can flip it up. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Corrosion Cloudscaper unless you pay green green. So it has an upkeep cost.

There's not a lot of morph creatures that have upkeep costs, but that is one of them. Okay, next. Okay, so next is a creature so it's a 26-26 creature combined

that doesn't start as a creature. So it is something that can become a creature and it's a 13-13 when it becomes a creature. So it is something that can become a creature and it's a 1313 when it becomes a creature. And I will note out that not all of these 13s, but a lot of these 13s

well, this is in a set that cares about the number 13. The number 13 was a theme of this block. So it doesn't start as a creature but becomes a 2626. In a set where it had a theme of 13s, because it's't start as a creature, but becomes a 26-26. In a set where it had a theme of 13s, because it's a 13-13, what is it?

So the creature is Withengar Unbound, and Elbrus the Blinding Blade is what you play it as. So it's a double-faced card. It's from Dark Ascension. So for 7, Elbrus the Blinding Blade, it's a legendary artifact and equipment. Equipped creature gets plus 1, plus 0.

When equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, unattach Elbrus the Blinding Blade, then transform it. And then, on the back, it's a 13, 13 Flying Intimidate Trample. Whenever a player loses the game, put 13 plus 1, plus 1 counters on a Winnigar Unbound. It's funny. In Innistrad, we made a few cards that had 13 in them because it was funny because 13's unlucky because it was a gothic horror set.

And then it ended up becoming a theme. So every time we go to Innistrad now, we always throw 13s in. So it's just something we find fun. Okay, next. Okay, next up. Okay, so this card is a 1313. It is legendary.

It appeared in the final set of the block that it was in. And it's the second time we have seen this character. What else can I say about it? It has protection from instance. Can you guess this card? This is Emrakul, the Promised End. So this is the other Emrakul. So, um, the other Emrakul is a little bit bigger than this Emrakul.

Uh, but he was, it does a lot of nasty things. So it's 13 mana, 13 generic mana, 13, 13 Legendary Creature Eldrazi. Emrakul the Promised End costs one less to cast for each card type among cards in your graveyard. So it's matching, there's a theme in the block uh, where things got reduced for card type.

So this wall doesn't technically have a mechanic. Plays very similar to the mechanic. I mean, it makes it one cheaper. When you cast Emrakul, you gain control of target opponent during that player's next turn. After that turn, that player takes an extra turn.

Flying trap will protect you from incidents. Okay. So now, we're going down to things that are 24. Okay. So now, we're going down to things that are 24. Okay. So, uh, this next one, um,

okay, so this was a card that I designed almost as a bet. So what happened was, um, when Alpha first came out, there was Force of Nature, there was an 8-8.

Then in Antiquities, there was Colossus Sardia, there was a 9-9. Then in Ice Age, there was, what was it? Polar Kraken, that was, am I missing one? Oh, the dark had a creature that was 10-10, and then Polar Kraken was was... Am I missing one? Oh, the dark had a creature that was 10-10 and then Polar Kraken was an 11-11.

But a little game we played where we kept one-upping ourselves and I wanted to continue that. So I wanted to make a 12-12 and Bill Rose said to me, well, he didn't want to make a 12-12 just to make a 12-12, but if I made it interesting,

he'd consider it. So I make a 12-12 just to make a 12-12. But if I made it interesting, he'd consider it. So I made a 12-12 that when I showed it to Bill, he said, oh my, yes, that is interesting. We'll do that. And this was one of the cards I did in my very first teaser, my first Morrow teaser in the Duelist. And the teaser was that I was making a 12-12 trampling creature that cost

one mana. So what is this card, guys? You should know this. Phyrexian Dreadnought. So it's one mana for 12-12, generic mana. It's an artifact creature. Trample. When Phyrexian Dreadnought comes into play, sacrifice any number of creatures with total power of 12 or more, or bury Phyrexian Dreadnought comes into play, sacrifice any number of creatures with total power of 12 or more, or

bury Phyrexian Dreadnought. Bury just meant you had to destroy it without, I guess now we just say sacrifice it, but bury meant destroy it without being able to regenerate. So that was Phyrexian Dreadnought. Okay. Next.

Okay, next we have... Okay, so this is a legendary creature. It's a 12-12. It has a mana symbol, in fact two of them, on it that before this expansion had never appeared before. That should be enough. You should be able to get it from that. 12-12, legendary, and it has a mana symbol that had never been seen before this set.

So the answer is Kozilek, the Great Distortion. Eight, Culleth Mana, Culleth Mana. It's a 12-12 legendary creature, Eldrazi. When you cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion, if you have fewer than seven cards in hand, draw cards equal to the distance. Menace.

Discard a card with Converted Mana Cost X. Counter target spell with Converted Mana Cost X. So this was a very cool card. Okay. Next is... Let's see. Where is it? Okay, so there's another 12-12.

This is also legendary. is... Let's see. Where is it? Okay, so there's another 1212. Um, this is also legendary. Um, and uh, I think this card um, uh, okay, this card

um, has the word uh, oh no, that's going to be too easy. That's too easy. Okay. This card was... In the set it premiered in,

was the second... It's a 12-12, and it was the second biggest creature in the set it premiered in. Can you guys get that from that? It's... Cozal, Butcher of Truth. It's the other Kozilek, the first Kozilek, from Rise of the Eldrazi. It's a 12-12 for 10 generic mana,

legendary creature Eldrazi. When you cast the spell, draw four cards, annihilate all four. When Kozilek, Butcher of Truth is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles the graveyard into their library. Okay. Next. Okay. Next. Okay.

So, this card was in a commander set, but it was... Okay, so the card first got mentioned in a normal set, but we didn't make the card. But players were like, how did you not make that card? And so they really wanted

to get made. And so we made it in a commander set. It's a 12-12. One more clue, if you haven't got it yet. The set that it, the world that it appears on is Theros. Can you name the card? Okay, so the answer is

Eryx Mithias, Slumbering Island. So two green-blue for a 12-12 Legendary Creature Kraken. Eryx Mithias, Slumbering Isle, enters the battlefield tap with five Slumber Conners on it. As long as Eryx Mithias has Slumber Conners on it, it's a land, it's not a creature. Whenever you cast a spell, you may remove a Slumber Conner from Eryx Mithias,

and then it has tap add green or blue. I think this creature got mentioned in the Therow story, but we hadn't made a card, and people were like, how did you not make a card? So we did. Okay, next up is oops

oops Oh, wait a second, I'm sorry. One second. Okay, next card Oops. Oh, wait a second. I'm sorry. I got to... One second. Okay, the next card... Okay, so the next card... Why is it not coming up?

Oh, there it is. Okay, so this card is a 12-12. It's an artifact creature. And it is. Okay, so this card is a 12-12. It's an artifact creature. And it is from a commander set. And it has a means to make it cheaper.

So you can cast it for less than its normal mana cost. What is this card? The card is Ancient Stone Idol. So it's for 10 generic mana, 12-12, artifact creature Golem, Flash. The spell costs one less to cast for each attacking creature,

Trample. When Ancient Stone Idol appears, create a 6-12 colorless contract artifact creature token with Trample. So it's a 12-12 that makes a 6-12 when it dies. So, um, and it is, I'm not sure what, I'm not sure what it's, it's referencing something. Hmm, I'm not sure what it's referencing. It was in, it was in Commander 2018.

I'm sure, the last one I knew what it was referencing, one, I'm not 100% sure what it's referencing. But maybe it's a trap, maybe. Maybe it's from Zendikar. Maybe it's from X-Lum. I'm not sure. Okay, next up. Okay, so this is a 12-12. It is from Dominaria. It has Trample.

And it is not green and not colorless. It is another color. In fact, it is blue. It is blue, a 12-12 blue with Trample from Dominaria.

From the world of Dominaria, not the set of Dominaria, the world of Dominaria. What is it? It is Yokel Mortar from Occult Snap. So, four blue, blue, blue, so seven mana total, 12, 12, creature Leviathan, trample, Yokel Mortar comes in play tapped,

Yokel Mortar comes in play tapped, sacrifice, sacrifice five lands, Yokel Mortar doesn't untap during your untap step, and when you play, whenever you play an island, you may untap Yokel Mortar. So, I think we were trying... This was a riff off... We had made the 11-11... Ice Age had the 11-11.

And so we were making the third set. So we wanted to make it bigger than 11-11. So we made a 12-12. The idea being that if this truly had been the lost set, it would have been trying to top the 11-11 from Ice Age. So that's why it's a 12-12. So that was our little joke of if it had existed, it would have

tried to make the 12-12 before Mirage had made the 12-12. That was the joke. Okay. Next, our final 12-12. Okay. So this is a 12-12. It is green as lots of our big creatures. It also has a cost reduction card.

I mean, cost reduction, you can make it cheaper. But normally it has a converted mana of 12. Converted mana cost of 12. It's green, it's big, and I think it was the biggest thing in its set. for a mana cost of 12. It's green. It's big. And I think it was the biggest thing in its set. And it is a creature type that... This was the small set in the block. The set before it was the first set to have this creature type.

And this also had this creature type. Oh, and, and, and... It's an Elder. Can you name this? It is Galta, Primal Hunger from Rivals of Ixalan. 10 green green for a 12-12. Legendary creature, Elder Dinosaur.

This spell costs X less to cast where X is the total power of creatures you control. Trample. Okay, so next up. Okay. Okay. Next up is... Okay, so this is the only creature

whose combined power and toughness equals 23. That alone, if you're good, if you're good, I need to say nothing else, but I will. Other clues. It has three mana symbols of one color, two mana symbols of a second color, and a generic mana symbol of a pretty large number. This creature is from a Ravnica set,

and it is from the Savnica set. And it is from the Selesnya Guild. So what is this? Atathaktan Worm. I think that's how it's pronounced. It's from Ravnica City. The original Ravnica. Ten green, green, green,

white, white. So not a lot of cards. I had six mana symbols on them. Creature, Worm, nine, fourteen, which is a weird combination. Convoke and Trample. So a Flock Time Worm. Okay, so now let's get to the eleven, elevens.

Okay. So first up first up... First up is... Oops. Oh, I misspelled it. Okay, first up

is a card. And it's a card that it has a it has a keyword on it that when the card first was created, that word is the first time we ever used that word. And it wasn't yet a keyword. It was just an English vocabulary word. And like I said, this creature combined power and toughness is 22.

Um, and like I said, this creature combined power and toughness is 22. Um, and, uh, it was a pretty popular card when it came out. What is this card? This card is Darksteel Colossus from Darksteel. 11 generic mana. It's a golem. 11-11. Trample.

Darksteel Colossus is indestructible. Indestructible is what I was talking about. When it first came out, Darksteel premiered indestructible, but it was just a word. It wasn't yet a keyword. We later made it a keyword. Then if Darkseal Colossus will be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Darkseal Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library. We did that because we were super afraid of it being

reanimated. So that is why we did that. Okay. Next. Okay. Okay. Next. Okay. Okay, so this next is an 11-11. Its mana cost is 12. So it's an 11-11 that costs 12, which I know aesthetically is not super beautiful.

That alone should give you, but I'll give you one more clue. It has a name that is a pronoun. What's a pronoun? A, what is, uh a preposition and a verb, I think? Did I get that right? It's got a weird name. It's got a name that's a not normal name. And so it is

It That Portrays from Rise of the Drazi. So it's 12 mana for an 11-11 Drazi with Annihilator 2. And whenever an opponent sacrifices a non-token permanent, put that card onto the battlefield under your control. Okay.

Next. Okay. So, this next creature is an 11-11. It is from the first five years of Magic. It's an early card of Magic. Okay, so the story I'll tell about this card is

that the creative team at the time called Continuity, when they were talking about the... This took place in Dominaria because it's the first five years of Magic. They had said that there was no, that the world of Dominaria didn't have any, didn't have any poles. And, but then they named this card and it was, I remember Arnie making fun of them

that they said it didn't have any poles, but they named this card what they named it. So what is this card? Can you name this card? It is Polar Kraken from Ice Age. Eight blue, blue, blue. So this is one of the earrings on BFM, by the way. 11-11, trample.

Polar Kraken comes in play tapped. Cumulative upkeep, sacrifice a land. Okay. Okay. Okay, so we have two more. We're almost out of time. I'm almost at my thing. We have two more 11-11s.

So next up is... Let's see. Okay, so this card, I designed this card thinking it would be in the third card in the set. I designed it for the third... This was back when we had blocked with three sets. I designed it to be in the third set,

but it got pulled back and printed in the second set. And the reason was there was a thematic story that ran through this whole year, and in the middle set, there was a thematic story that ran through this whole year, and in the middle set, there was a big event, an event so big that it affected

how the pre-release was played, and they decided to pull this back from the third set to the second set because they really wanted to show how dangerous one side of this conflict was. That should be enough. I think you should get it from that. So what is the card I'm talking about?

I'm talking about Blightsteel Colossus from Mirrodin Besieged. So 12 generic mana from 11-11. It's a golem. Trample infect indestructible. If Blightsteel Colossus will be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Blightsteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library. So one of

the things we were trying to do in Scars of Mirrodin block was we had come back to Mirrodin, and what happened was the Phyrexians were there, and they were Phyrexianizing everything. So, the middle set, Mirrodin Besieged, there was a giant war. Half the set was Phyrexian, half the set was Mirrodin. At your

pre-release, you chose whether to play Mirrodin packs or Phyrexian packs. And then, the third set, we didn't tell you the name. We said it was either Mirrodin Pure or New Phyrexia, depending on And then, the third set, we didn't tell you the name. We said it was either Myrden Pure or New Phyrexia, depending on what happened. Depending on who won the war. And not until right before the set got released, we told you it was New Phyrexia

because the Phyrexians won. But anyway, Blade Steel Colossus, I made a version of Dark Steel Colossus that was corrupted by the Phyrexians. And the idea was it gained infect. I think it's... I think it costs one more, but it's the same...

Everything else about it is the same stats, just it's an infect version of Blacksteel Colossus. Now, being that when you take ten poison counters, you die, and it being an 11-11, it was a one-hit-kill creature. It was a very popular creature to reanimate. Oh, no, you couldn't reanimate it because we had the writer on it.

It would have been a popular creature to reanimate. We didn't let you reanimate it. It was still popular. I think it was popular to fetch and stuff. Just because it could kill in one turn, and there's some tricks with it. You could get it out in one turn. I mean, you could get it out and kill them in one turn. But anyway, it was... I was very proud of this design, and it ended up being

quite popular. Okay, so now our final card of the day, our final 11-11, so of our biggest creatures. What can I say about this card? Um, okay, so this card, um, this card started not in a standard legal set. The first time this card got printed was not in a standard legal set. And in fact, when this was first printed, what can I say about it?

When it was first printed, there were symbols on the card that only ever appeared in that product, I think in two or three different products, but never in a premiere set. It had symbols on it that had never appeared in a premiere set that appeared on the card. And what else What else can I say about it? It is eight mana. It's a blue card. It's a blue creature.

Eight mana for an 11-11. It would later get reprinted in... The first time it appeared in a standard legal set was in a core set. And it appeared in 10th edition. So the set that it first... Have you got this card yet? The set it first appeared in 10th edition. So the set that it first... Have you got this card yet? The set it first appeared in was Portal Second Age. 11-11, 8-mana, Denizen of the Deep.

So this is a 6-blue-blue, so 8-mana total. 11-11 Serpent, Creature of Serpent. When Denizen of the Deep comes into play from your hand... I'm reading the actual card, but... When Denizen of the Deep enters the battlefield, return hand, or I'm reading the actual card, but when Denison in the Deep enters the battlefield, return each other creature you control to its owner's hand. So it was an 11-11 for eight, but it bounced everything else you had back to your hand. Okay, guys.

Well, that is our trivia on giant creatures. I hope it was a giant amount of fun. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these. I like doing little trivia stuff, and Big Creatures was kind of fun. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, like doing little trivia stuff, and Big Creatures was kind of fun. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, but I can see that I'm at work. There's my desk. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic.

So guys, I hope you enjoyed this. It's always fun doing the trivia stuff, and I will see you next time. Bye-bye.