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** The original ''Innistrad'' set featured a creature named [[https://scryfall.com/card/ddq/4/champion-of-the-parish Champion of the Parish]], who grows stronger for every Human you put into play. Come ''Innistrad: Midnight Hunt'', it appears he has died in the decade since then, since he comes back as [[https://scryfall.com/card/mid/91/champion-of-the-perished Champion of the]] [[{{Pun}} Perished]], who gets stronger for every Zombie you play instead.
--->"I stand for every cobbler, tanner, and fool in this town — and they stand for me."
---->-- Champion of the Parish
--->He rose from the graf for every cobbler, tanner, and fool who’d been slaughtered in the parish — and they rose and shambled after him.
---->-- Champion of the Perished
--->"I stand for every cobbler, tanner, and fool in this town — and they stand for me."
---->-- Champion of the Parish
--->He rose from the graf for every cobbler, tanner, and fool who’d been slaughtered in the parish — and they rose and shambled after him.
---->-- Champion of the Perished
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* ElementalPersonalities: Red {{Mana}} is associated with both the element of fire and with strong emotions. Regardless of whether the emotion of the moment is anger, hilarity, love or grief, Red characters feel it strongly, vividly and suddenly, but will be quick to shift to another as the situation changes.
** Chandra Nalaar, a prominent Red planeswalker, is particularly gifted at fire magic, and is a very powerful pyromancer. She's also impulsive and very openly emotive, and has a decidedly short temper.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/bbd/174/earth-elemental Earth elementals]], in a break from how Red creatures normally operate, are beings of immense patience and endurance, who prefer to analyze things from the long view and scorn the haste and impetuousness of mortals.
** Chandra Nalaar, a prominent Red planeswalker, is particularly gifted at fire magic, and is a very powerful pyromancer. She's also impulsive and very openly emotive, and has a decidedly short temper.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/bbd/174/earth-elemental Earth elementals]], in a break from how Red creatures normally operate, are beings of immense patience and endurance, who prefer to analyze things from the long view and scorn the haste and impetuousness of mortals.
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* EnchantedForest: Usually one fifth of every set, as the basic Green land is forests, which, coupled with Green's love of giant monsters and the untamed wilderness, regularly leads to this trope.
** Dominaria has had a long list of such forests, most of them ancient, vast, [[IntelligentForest possibly sapient in their own right]] and home to elves, druids and {{tre|ants}}efolk. As a rule, their inhabitants are very reclusive and rarely welcoming of outsiders.
*** Argoth was the earliest one to appear in the lore, located on an isolated island and home to treefolk, fairies, an order of druids, and Titania, a demigod who watched over them all. Argoth was ravaged during the Brothers' War when Urza and Mishra clear-cut most of it for resources and then destroyed when Urza detonated a FantasticNuke there, destroying the island entirely. The survivors fled to the elf-ruled Fyndhorn on the nearby continent, which remained an important forest haven throughout the Ice Age until it was flooded by the rising waters of the Thaw. The surviving elves and druids then migrated to Yavimaya, another forest that was already home to talking apes, more treefolk, and another forest demigod, but which always remained wild even beyond the humanoids' own comfort.
*** Other major forests include Llanowar, so thick that the elves that live there can spend their whole lives in its canopy without seeing either the sun or the soil, and Krosa, a forest notable for ''not'' being home to any elves and instead housing a reclusive order of human druids, centaur tribes, and a lot of wild monsters.
** Lorwyn and Shadowmoor took place in the same woodsy fairytale land, the first being enchanted and the second being cursed.
** In Innistrad, there are the forests of the Kessig province, especially the vast and trackless Ulvenwald, home to vast packs of SavageWolves and [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] alike and primordial forest spirits. There is also the Somberwald in the mountains of Stensia, home to an enormous variety of wild beasts driven out of Kessig by hunters and werewolves.
** Dominaria has had a long list of such forests, most of them ancient, vast, [[IntelligentForest possibly sapient in their own right]] and home to elves, druids and {{tre|ants}}efolk. As a rule, their inhabitants are very reclusive and rarely welcoming of outsiders.
*** Argoth was the earliest one to appear in the lore, located on an isolated island and home to treefolk, fairies, an order of druids, and Titania, a demigod who watched over them all. Argoth was ravaged during the Brothers' War when Urza and Mishra clear-cut most of it for resources and then destroyed when Urza detonated a FantasticNuke there, destroying the island entirely. The survivors fled to the elf-ruled Fyndhorn on the nearby continent, which remained an important forest haven throughout the Ice Age until it was flooded by the rising waters of the Thaw. The surviving elves and druids then migrated to Yavimaya, another forest that was already home to talking apes, more treefolk, and another forest demigod, but which always remained wild even beyond the humanoids' own comfort.
*** Other major forests include Llanowar, so thick that the elves that live there can spend their whole lives in its canopy without seeing either the sun or the soil, and Krosa, a forest notable for ''not'' being home to any elves and instead housing a reclusive order of human druids, centaur tribes, and a lot of wild monsters.
** Lorwyn and Shadowmoor took place in the same woodsy fairytale land, the first being enchanted and the second being cursed.
** In Innistrad, there are the forests of the Kessig province, especially the vast and trackless Ulvenwald, home to vast packs of SavageWolves and [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] alike and primordial forest spirits. There is also the Somberwald in the mountains of Stensia, home to an enormous variety of wild beasts driven out of Kessig by hunters and werewolves.
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** In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with ''Theros'' and ''Strixhaven'' sourcebooks, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with the ''Adventures in the Forgotten Realms'' card set.
to:
** In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with ''Theros'' the ''Mythic Odysseys of Theros'' and ''Strixhaven'' ''Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos'' sourcebooks, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with the ''Adventures in the Forgotten Realms'' card set.set.
** Prior to the official sourcebooks, Wizards also put out [[https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift Plane Shift]], a collection of unofficial but free supplements that helped players make character who could fit into the settings of Innistrad, Zendikar, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, Ixalan, and Dominaria.
** Prior to the official sourcebooks, Wizards also put out [[https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift Plane Shift]], a collection of unofficial but free supplements that helped players make character who could fit into the settings of Innistrad, Zendikar, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, Ixalan, and Dominaria.
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** In 2021, Wizards announced ''Universes Beyond'', a subline dedicated to crossover sets. Announced franchises include ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead'',[[note]]which debuted in 2020 before ''Universes Beyond'', but is retroactively counted as a ''UB'' set through the GrandfatherClause[[/note]] ''Series/StrangerThings'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'', ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
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** In 2021, Wizards announced ''Universes Beyond'', a subline dedicated to crossover sets. Announced franchises include ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead'',[[note]]which ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead''[[note]]which debuted in 2020 before ''Universes Beyond'', but is retroactively counted as a ''UB'' set through the GrandfatherClause[[/note]] GrandfatherClause[[/note]], ''Series/StrangerThings'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'', ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
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** Kamigawa is [[{{Wutai}} feudal Japan]].
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** Kamigawa is was originally [[{{Wutai}} feudal Japan]]. Japan]], but is now an advanced world with tropes ripped straight out of anime, manga and {{Tokusatsu}} media.
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** The Ice Age block is [[HornyVikings Vikings]].
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** The Ice Age block is and Kaldheim are [[HornyVikings Vikings]]. Kaldheim takes it further by featuring expies of actual Norse mythological figures.
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** Innistrad is [[{{Uberwald}} Renaissance Germany and Eastern Europe]].
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** Innistrad is [[{{Uberwald}} Renaissance Germany and Eastern Europe]]. Europe]], as well as a parody/love letter to all sorts of horror tropes and cliches.
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** New Cappena is essentially 20's/30's UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} if it had crime families ruled by demons and vampires.
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* {{Diary}}: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215079 Venser has one.]]
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** A number of characters from the ''Legends'' set show up in both of the ''Magic Legends'' cycles, which are set hundreds of years apart, with no explanation. One very problematic example concerns the characters Tor Wauki and Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the first ''Magic Legends Cycle'', Tor Wauki is an archer aboard the ship of pirate Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the second ''Magic Legends Cycle'', set hundreds of years later, Tor Wauki meets Halfdane in the guise of [=DePietro=] and has no idea who the pirate is. [[spoiler: Halfdane later reveals he killed [=DePietro=] two years ago.]] The Multiverse in Review blog [[http://multiverseinreview.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-circulair-continuity-of-legends-i.html has taken a swing at this]], but ultimately concludes that there is no other way out than to assume that there are multiple characters with the same name in canon, which was obviously not the original intent.
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** A number of characters from the ''Legends'' set show up in both of the ''Magic Legends'' cycles, which are set hundreds of years apart, with no explanation. One very problematic example concerns the characters Tor Wauki and Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the first ''Magic Legends Cycle'', Tor Wauki is an archer aboard the ship of pirate Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the second ''Magic Legends Cycle'', set hundreds of years later, Tor Wauki meets the shapeshifter Halfdane in the guise of [=DePietro=] and has no idea who the pirate is. [[spoiler: Halfdane later reveals he killed [=DePietro=] two years ago.]] The Multiverse in Review blog [[http://multiverseinreview.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-circulair-continuity-of-legends-i.html has taken a swing at this]], but ultimately concludes that there is no other way out than to assume that there are multiple characters with the same name in canon, which was obviously not the original intent.
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Adding Continuity Snarl
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* ContinuitySnarl: The publication history of ''Magic''’s storyline has been such a jumble of novels, comics, articles and other supplementary material that there are major and minor contradictions all over the place, but a few of the bigger ones are:
** The state of the island of Lat-Nam. Early sources state the island was rendered poisonous and uninhabitable for thousand of years after the College of Lat-Nam was destroyed during the Brothers’ War. Later sources never mention this, and have the School of the Unseen located there during the centuries that the island was supposedly poisoned. This is covered in greater detail on the [[http://multiverseinreview.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-lat-nam-kerfuffle.html Multiverse in Review blog]].
** The Ice Age comics were later replaced with the novel ''[[IceAgeCycle The Eternal Ice]]''. The problem is that while the novel invalidates some aspects of the comics, it does refer the other events from the comics that are not directly shown in the novel, meaning that part of the comic is in continuity and part of the comic is out of continuity.
** A number of characters from the ''Legends'' set show up in both of the ''Magic Legends'' cycles, which are set hundreds of years apart, with no explanation. One very problematic example concerns the characters Tor Wauki and Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the first ''Magic Legends Cycle'', Tor Wauki is an archer aboard the ship of pirate Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the second ''Magic Legends Cycle'', set hundreds of years later, Tor Wauki meets Halfdane in the guise of [=DePietro=] and has no idea who the pirate is. [[spoiler: Halfdane later reveals he killed [=DePietro=] two years ago.]] The Multiverse in Review blog [[http://multiverseinreview.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-circulair-continuity-of-legends-i.html has taken a swing at this]], but ultimately concludes that there is no other way out than to assume that there are multiple characters with the same name in canon, which was obviously not the original intent.
** The state of the island of Lat-Nam. Early sources state the island was rendered poisonous and uninhabitable for thousand of years after the College of Lat-Nam was destroyed during the Brothers’ War. Later sources never mention this, and have the School of the Unseen located there during the centuries that the island was supposedly poisoned. This is covered in greater detail on the [[http://multiverseinreview.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-lat-nam-kerfuffle.html Multiverse in Review blog]].
** The Ice Age comics were later replaced with the novel ''[[IceAgeCycle The Eternal Ice]]''. The problem is that while the novel invalidates some aspects of the comics, it does refer the other events from the comics that are not directly shown in the novel, meaning that part of the comic is in continuity and part of the comic is out of continuity.
** A number of characters from the ''Legends'' set show up in both of the ''Magic Legends'' cycles, which are set hundreds of years apart, with no explanation. One very problematic example concerns the characters Tor Wauki and Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the first ''Magic Legends Cycle'', Tor Wauki is an archer aboard the ship of pirate Ramirez [=DePietro=]. In the second ''Magic Legends Cycle'', set hundreds of years later, Tor Wauki meets Halfdane in the guise of [=DePietro=] and has no idea who the pirate is. [[spoiler: Halfdane later reveals he killed [=DePietro=] two years ago.]] The Multiverse in Review blog [[http://multiverseinreview.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-circulair-continuity-of-legends-i.html has taken a swing at this]], but ultimately concludes that there is no other way out than to assume that there are multiple characters with the same name in canon, which was obviously not the original intent.
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YMMV
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* AllTrollsAreDifferent: A historically somewhat varied creature type, but often hexproof -- that is, unable to be targeted by opponents' spells -- and capable of regenerating health. The hexproof part is so iconic (though primarily through the efforts of [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/146/troll-ascetic Troll Ascetic]]) that before it was known officially as "hexproof", the ability "cannot be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control" was often known by the FanNickname "troll shroud" (after the keyword "shroud" for "cannot be the target of spells or abilities [controlled by anyone]"). In terms of flavor, modern trolls have settled fairly consistently into being big, Green, primitive and ogreish humanoids. Notable breaks from this pattern do occur from time to time, however.
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* AllTrollsAreDifferent: A historically somewhat varied creature type, but often hexproof -- that is, unable to be targeted by opponents' spells -- and capable of regenerating health. The hexproof part is so an iconic part of trolls (though primarily through the efforts of [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/146/troll-ascetic Troll Ascetic]]) that before it was known officially as "hexproof", the ability "cannot be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control" was often known by the FanNickname "troll shroud" (after the keyword "shroud" for "cannot be the target of spells or abilities [controlled by anyone]").Ascetic]]). In terms of flavor, modern trolls have settled fairly consistently into being big, Green, primitive and ogreish humanoids. Notable breaks from this pattern do occur from time to time, however.
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** The Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty block ends with [[Tamiyo getting compleated.]]
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** The Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty block ends with [[Tamiyo [[spoiler:Tamiyo getting compleated.]]
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** The Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty block ends with [[Tamiyo getting compleated.]]
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** In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with ''Theros'' and ''Strixhaven'' sourcebooks, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with ''D&D'' card sets.
to:
** In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with ''Theros'' and ''Strixhaven'' sourcebooks, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with ''D&D'' the ''Adventures in the Forgotten Realms'' card sets.set.
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removed as Bald Woman has been disambiged
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* BaldWomen:
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=32224 Cabal Surgeon]] card features this trope.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc]] represents an evil, insanely creepy one.
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=32224 Cabal Surgeon]] card features this trope.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc]] represents an evil, insanely creepy one.
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* DragonVarietyPack: There's a small number of dragon-like creatures in the game, all classified as distinct in-game creature types.
** True dragons are of the Western kind -- four-legged, two-winged and fire-breathing. Some also have additional wings, or feathered ones. When Asian dragons appear, they are part of this type.
** Drakes are smaller, animalistic and have only two wings and two legs, and are much smaller than dragons. When wyverns appear, they are part of this type.
** Wurms are immense, bestial creatures that lack limbs of any sort, usually resembling either giant snakes with dragon heads or colossal {{Sandworm}}s.
** True dragons are of the Western kind -- four-legged, two-winged and fire-breathing. Some also have additional wings, or feathered ones. When Asian dragons appear, they are part of this type.
** Drakes are smaller, animalistic and have only two wings and two legs, and are much smaller than dragons. When wyverns appear, they are part of this type.
** Wurms are immense, bestial creatures that lack limbs of any sort, usually resembling either giant snakes with dragon heads or colossal {{Sandworm}}s.
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** [[https://scryfall.com/card/hou/63 Dreamstealer]]. The name is not for nothing.
* DressedToPlunder: [[http://magiccards.info/lg/en/291.html Ramirez DePietro]] has the standard eyepatch.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368964 Goblin Test Pilot]] swerves around so arbitrarily that ''something'' is going to get hit, it's just that nobody knows ''what''.
* DressedToPlunder: [[http://magiccards.info/lg/en/291.html Ramirez DePietro]] has the standard eyepatch.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368964 Goblin Test Pilot]] swerves around so arbitrarily that ''something'' is going to get hit, it's just that nobody knows ''what''.
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** [[https://scryfall.com/card/hou/63 Dreamstealer]]. The name is not for nothing.
Dreamstealer]] depicts a wizard who can steal information from the minds of others, depicted by forcing opposing players to discard cards.
* DressedToPlunder:[[http://magiccards.info/lg/en/291.html [[https://scryfall.com/card/me3/168/ramirez-depietro Ramirez DePietro]] has the standard eyepatch.
eyepatch and ornate greatcoat.
* DrivesLikeCrazy:[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368964 [[https://scryfall.com/card/dgm/74/goblin-test-pilot Goblin Test Pilot]] swerves around so arbitrarily that ''something'' is going to get hit, it's just that nobody knows ''what''.
* DressedToPlunder:
* DrivesLikeCrazy:
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* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=9856 Barrin]] knows how to leave an [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23098 impression]].
* DurableDeathtrap: Zendikar being the [[PlanetOfHats adventure world]], there's tons of this.
* DurableDeathtrap: Zendikar being the [[PlanetOfHats adventure world]], there's tons of this.
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Crosswicking.
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* DeliberatelyDifferentDescription: Unlike modern cards' FlavorText, several cards from older Core Sets had flavor text from actual, real-life literature, completely free of both the context of the card and the original quote. For example, [[https://scryfall.com/card/8ed/123/dark-banishing Dark Banishing]] (a card about obliterating one's life force) gets flavor text from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'':
--> "Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death,' For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death."
--> "Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death,' For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death."
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* AnotherDimension: The multiverse is ''full'' of them.
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* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Incarnations are a rare creature type representing the living, physical embodiments of specific concepts and emotions. They are distinct from Elementals, which are living manifestations of natural forces and substances instead of philosophical concepts, and Gods, which are generally much more powerful and hold much broader purviews. They are also all named after the specific thing they embody, such as [[https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/37/purity Purity]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/bbd/215/vigor Vigor]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/afc/113/anger Anger]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/107/dread Dread]], or [[https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/67/subtlety Subtlety]].
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** Jodah was created for Jeff Grubb's novelizations of ''The Dark'' and ''Ice Age'' cycles. He'd eventually return for ''Literature/TimeSpiral'' block and get [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=124482 his own Avenger]]. Now that the game's returned to Dominaria, he's gotten [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=443086 a proper card.]]
to:
** Jodah was created for Jeff Grubb's novelizations of ''The Dark'' and ''Ice Age'' cycles. He'd eventually return for ''Literature/TimeSpiral'' ''Time Spiral'' block and get [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=124482 his own Avenger]]. Now that the game's returned to Dominaria, he's gotten [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=443086 a proper card.]]
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** The ''Ravnica'' and ''Theros'' sourcebooks for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gave ''D&D'' alignments to characters from those planes.
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** The ''Ravnica'' and ''Theros'' Crossover sourcebooks for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gave ''D&D'' alignments to characters from those planes.the planes they feature.
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* {{Crossover}}:
** Of a sorts. In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with a ''Theros'' sourcebook, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with a ''D&D'' card set.
** The ''Ikoria'' set, tying into its "monster" theme, included cards of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and other monsters from that franchise.
** Of a sorts. In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with a ''Theros'' sourcebook, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with a ''D&D'' card set.
** The ''Ikoria'' set, tying into its "monster" theme, included cards of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and other monsters from that franchise.
to:
* {{Crossover}}:
{{Crossover}}: ''Magic'' has started to really embrace crossovers with other franchises as of the late 2010s:
**Of a sorts. In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with a ''Theros'' sourcebook, and ''Strixhaven'' sourcebooks, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with a ''D&D'' card set.
sets.
** The 2020 ''Ikoria'' set, tying into its "monster" theme, included cards of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and other monsters from thatfranchise.franchise; and 2021's ''Innistrad: Crimson Vow'' did the same for Literature/{{Dracula}}. In game mechanics, these are just "alternate skins" for other cards in the set (for instance, "Godzilla, Primeval Champion" is a Titanoth Rex card).
** In 2021, Wizards announced ''Universes Beyond'', a subline dedicated to crossover sets. Announced franchises include ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead'',[[note]]which debuted in 2020 before ''Universes Beyond'', but is retroactively counted as a ''UB'' set through the GrandfatherClause[[/note]] ''Series/StrangerThings'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'', ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
**
** The 2020 ''Ikoria'' set, tying into its "monster" theme, included cards of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and other monsters from that
** In 2021, Wizards announced ''Universes Beyond'', a subline dedicated to crossover sets. Announced franchises include ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead'',[[note]]which debuted in 2020 before ''Universes Beyond'', but is retroactively counted as a ''UB'' set through the GrandfatherClause[[/note]] ''Series/StrangerThings'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'', ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
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** In the trailer for ''[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Duels Of The Planeswalkers 2012]]'', Gideon Jura exposits that he picked a fight with Nicol Bolas... the ''planeswalker'' Nicol Bolas. He gets summarily crushed.
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** In the trailer for ''[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Duels ''Duels Of The Planeswalkers 2012]]'', 2012'', Gideon Jura exposits that he picked a fight with Nicol Bolas... the ''planeswalker'' Nicol Bolas. He gets summarily crushed.
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* CerebroElectro: Keranos is the god of lightning and knowledge in the game's Theros set. He sends lightning storms as tests for explorers, inventors, and mathematicians who seek to understand the mysteries of the world. His symbol, a simple lightning bolt, is both a reminder of his ability to electrocute men in the blink of an eye as well as his ability to provide sudden flashes of inspiration.
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* FullConversionCyborg: The ''Unstable'' joke set introduces the Order of the Widget, a group of well-intentioned but rather insane artificers who replace body parts to function better. Many consist of little more than a head and a limb or two mounted on a clockwork or steampunk mechanical body; their leader, [[https://scryfall.com/card/ust/131/the-grand-calcutron the Grand Calcutron]], is enhanced to the point of being completely immobile and no longer actually counting as even an Artifact Creature in game terms, but just an Artifact.
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* GodOfLight: Solar deities are strongly associated with White mana, the color of magic linked with light, daytime, law, order and civilization. They range from patrons of civilization and morality to {{Knight Templar}}s and arrogant tyrants.
** Tal was a solar deity worshipped by the humans of Terisiare during the Dark, an age of crumbling civilizations in the leadup to a GlacialApocalypse. He does not make any in-person appearances in the story, but his church was a fanatical AntiMagicalFaction determined to hold the remnants of civilization together but willing to go to extreme and bloody lengths to do this.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/ths/17/heliod-god-of-the-sun Heliod]] is Theros' god of the sun, the chief of the gods, the lord of light and the king of creation. He is also an arrogant tyrant who sees all others as beneath him. He is bitter enemies with Erebos, the GodOfTheDead, who came into being from Heliod's shadow when he tore it from himself and cast it into the Underworld.
** The Threefold Sun is the primary deity of the humans of the Sun Empire of Ixalan. He makes no in-person appearances, but the Ixalani consider him the patron and protector of their civilization and worship him in three aspects -- the creative aspect of Kinjalli, the Wakening Sun, which baked the first humans from clay and is associated with order and structure; the sustaining aspect of Ixalli, the Verdant Sun, which fosters growth and is associated with fertility and growth; and the consuming aspect of Tilonalli, the Burning Sun, which is associated with ferocity, fire, passionate emotions and war. It is bitter foes with Aclazatoz, the bat-god of the night and creator of vampirism.
** Tal was a solar deity worshipped by the humans of Terisiare during the Dark, an age of crumbling civilizations in the leadup to a GlacialApocalypse. He does not make any in-person appearances in the story, but his church was a fanatical AntiMagicalFaction determined to hold the remnants of civilization together but willing to go to extreme and bloody lengths to do this.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/ths/17/heliod-god-of-the-sun Heliod]] is Theros' god of the sun, the chief of the gods, the lord of light and the king of creation. He is also an arrogant tyrant who sees all others as beneath him. He is bitter enemies with Erebos, the GodOfTheDead, who came into being from Heliod's shadow when he tore it from himself and cast it into the Underworld.
** The Threefold Sun is the primary deity of the humans of the Sun Empire of Ixalan. He makes no in-person appearances, but the Ixalani consider him the patron and protector of their civilization and worship him in three aspects -- the creative aspect of Kinjalli, the Wakening Sun, which baked the first humans from clay and is associated with order and structure; the sustaining aspect of Ixalli, the Verdant Sun, which fosters growth and is associated with fertility and growth; and the consuming aspect of Tilonalli, the Burning Sun, which is associated with ferocity, fire, passionate emotions and war. It is bitter foes with Aclazatoz, the bat-god of the night and creator of vampirism.
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* DeaderThanDead:
** The exile zone often serves this function. Sometimes this is depicted as a dead creature being vaporized, other times as something alive being utterly obliterated.
** This trope is invoked by name as a card in ''Theros Beyond Death'', as a card that sends a living creature straight to oblivion.
** The exile zone often serves this function. Sometimes this is depicted as a dead creature being vaporized, other times as something alive being utterly obliterated.
** This trope is invoked by name as a card in ''Theros Beyond Death'', as a card that sends a living creature straight to oblivion.
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* FinalDeath:
** The exile zone often serves this function. Sometimes this is depicted as a dead creature being vaporized, other times as something alive being utterly obliterated.
** This trope is invoked by name as a card in ''Theros Beyond Death'', as a card that sends a living creature straight to oblivion.
** The exile zone often serves this function. Sometimes this is depicted as a dead creature being vaporized, other times as something alive being utterly obliterated.
** This trope is invoked by name as a card in ''Theros Beyond Death'', as a card that sends a living creature straight to oblivion.
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** With ''Zendikar Rising'', we have perhaps the giantest enemy crab yet: [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=491677 Charix, the Raging Isle]], an island sized beast with a whopping *17 toughness*.
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** With ''Zendikar Rising'', we have perhaps the giantest enemy crab yet: [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=491677 Charix, the Raging Isle]], an island sized beast with a whopping *17 toughness*.''17 toughness''.
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updated the crab registry
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**With ''Zendikar Rising'', we have perhaps the giantest enemy crab yet: [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=491677 Charix, the Raging Isle]], an island sized beast with a whopping *17 toughness*.
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* DeathOfAChild: During the Shadows over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon storyline. There are references to children dying to werewolf maulings, angel attacks, and being ''burned alive'' by the Church of Avacyn in an attempt to purify them, [[spoiler:though this is actually the work of the demon-worshiping Skirsdag cult in an attempt to sow disorder and distrust in the church.]]
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* BigDamnHeroes: A few examples throughout the series. Notably Chandra in Oath of the Gatewatch. The card Impeccable Timing seems to represent this happening too.
** War of the Spark has a cycle of cards calling back to the Defeat cycle from Amonkhet. The Defeats illustrated Bolas stomping the Gatewatch. War of the Spark's version are Triumphs, showing the same five Planeswalkers rallying against and ultimately defeating Bolas' army of Eternals.
** War of the Spark has a cycle of cards calling back to the Defeat cycle from Amonkhet. The Defeats illustrated Bolas stomping the Gatewatch. War of the Spark's version are Triumphs, showing the same five Planeswalkers rallying against and ultimately defeating Bolas' army of Eternals.
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* BigDamnHeroes: A few examples throughout the series. Notably Chandra in Oath ''War of the Gatewatch. The card Impeccable Timing seems to represent this happening too.
** War of the SparkSpark'' has a cycle of cards calling back to the Defeat cycle from Amonkhet.''Amonkhet''. The Defeats illustrated Bolas stomping the Gatewatch. War of the Spark's version are Triumphs, showing the same five Planeswalkers rallying against and ultimately defeating Bolas' army of Eternals.
%%** Chandra in Oath of the Gatewatch. The card Impeccable Timing seems to represent this happening too.
** War of the Spark
%%** Chandra in Oath of the Gatewatch. The card Impeccable Timing seems to represent this happening too.
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Crosswick.
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* CreaturesByManyOtherNames: For multiple card types:
** [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146446 "Boggart Sprite-Chaser"]] are buffed when Faeries are present, so it's implied that "sprite" and "faerie" are synonymous.
** [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=+%5BGeist%5D Geists]] being all [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spirits]], implies they're referring to the same thing.
** [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146446 "Boggart Sprite-Chaser"]] are buffed when Faeries are present, so it's implied that "sprite" and "faerie" are synonymous.
** [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=+%5BGeist%5D Geists]] being all [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spirits]], implies they're referring to the same thing.
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* BigRedDevil: Generally {{Averted}}, as demons are associated with black mana and have colour schemes to match. Played straight with Rakdos and Tibalt, however, as they are associated with both black and red mana.
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* TheEmperor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda of Kamigawa]].
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* ElixirOfLife: [[https://scryfall.com/card/m14/209/elixir-of-immortality Elixir of Immortality]], described in its flavor text as "bottled life", restores some of your life when used and shuffles your discarded cards (representing your spent magic) back into your deck.
%%* TheEmperor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda of Kamigawa]].
%%* TheEmperor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda of Kamigawa]].
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* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Appears to be how every organization in the High City of Paliano works. Small wonder that King Brago arranged to continue his reign as a spirit.
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* DeadlyDecadentCourt: DecadentCourt: Appears to be how every organization in the High City of Paliano works. Small wonder that King Brago arranged to continue his reign as a spirit.
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!![[center:[-'''A to G''' -- [[MagicTheGathering/FlavorAndStoryTropesHToO H to O]] -- [[MagicTheGathering/FlavorAndStoryTropesPToZ P to Z]] -]]]
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A]]
* AbnormalAmmo: [[https://scryfall.com/card/evg/33/akki-coalflinger Akki Coalflinger]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/114/fodder-launch Fodder Launch]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/tmp/298/mogg-cannon Mogg Cannon]]... the examples are endless (and mostly goblin-based). [[https://scryfall.com/card/pls/59/deadapult Deadapult]] is a zombie-based version that's no less hilarious.
* AbortedArc: The pre-revision comics were leading up to the Planeswalker War, but the comic line was canceled before it could be published. Some of the characters involved, like Freyalise, Taysir, and Tevesh Szat have turned up later in modern storylines, but details on what actually went down are extraordinarily vague.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Those in the city-world of Ravnica (they're Ravnica's swamps/black mana sources). They're so vast, they're called the "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=289320 Undercity]]".
* ActuallyADoombot:
** Volrath's Shapeshifter in ''Stronghold'', as represented on the card [[https://scryfall.com/card/sth/14/scapegoat Scapegoat]].
** In ''Literature/TestOfMetal'', after [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=217826 Tezzeret]] [[spoiler:curb-stomps Nicol Bolas]], it's revealed that [[spoiler:it was just a disposable simulacrum of Bolas the whole time]] -- and that [[spoiler:Tezzeret knew that all along. [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow And, possibly, that Bolas knew that Tezzeret knew]]]].
* AfterTheEnd: Several times. There's the downfall of the Thran, the sylex blast that started the Ice Age, the two giant meteor strikes at Madara, the ''Apocalypse'' set, the coming of Karona, and finally, ''Time Spiral'' block, which is the closest to the trope. (Of course, it's ''Time Spiral'', so it's before, after, and three seconds to the left of the end.)
* AIIsACrapshoot: Memnarch, a golem left behind by the creator of Mirrodin to guard the plane, goes insane and tries to become a planeswalker itself. Though this is at least partly due to external influence.
* AlienInvasion: The subject of three separate sets/blocks.
** Phyrexia attempted to invade Dominaria in the aptly named ''Invasion'' block. Phyrexia is another plane rather than another planet, but AlienInvaders is a spot-on description of its role. They even have giant spaceships with laser beams and everything (seen fighting Urza's PoweredArmor on [[https://scryfall.com/card/inv/165/searing-rays Searing Rays]], for example). This attempt would fail, but later sets taking place on Dominaria show that the scars never really healed.
** The Phyrexians would try again in ''Scars of Mirrodin,'' this time striking from the plane's hollow core rather than from another plane. The success of this invasion is best described by the names of the set in the block. In order, they are ''Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, [[TheBadGuyWins New Phyrexia]].''
** Nicol Bolas and his army of Eternal zombies from Amonkhet invading [[CityPlanet Ravnica]] would be the focus of ''War of the Spark.'' [[SealedEvilInACan It didn't go well for Bolas]].
* AlienSky:
** Mirrodin has four (later five) moons -- which shine and thus are also interchangeably called suns. There's no indication that it has any ''normal'' suns, either...
** Also, Dominaria has two moons (although one of them got blown up), and Esper's night sky is covered in a grid, making it appear like a huge star chart.
** Esper gets even screwier when it rejoins the other 4 shards. Many cards from Alara Reborn feature skies with visible boundaries from what was once one plane and what was another.
* AlternateUniverse: ''Planar Chaos'', which shows a hundred alternate Dominarias, such as one where bad guy [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29947 Braids, Cabal Minion]] becomes helpful [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=124316 Braids, Conjurer Adept]]. Some of these cards were genuine "What If?" questions, others were "This card, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=122338 Prodigal Pyromancer]] is functionally identical to this classic of a different color, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=108906 Prodigal Sorcerer]], so serves as a retcon of what the card should have been printed as from the beginning had the design philosophy of the game been consistent from the start." (Eventually some, like the Pyromancer, would be reprinted in the new color. The timeline straightening itself out as it were.)
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: A historically somewhat varied creature type, but often hexproof -- that is, unable to be targeted by opponents' spells -- and capable of regenerating health. The hexproof part is so iconic (though primarily through the efforts of [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/146/troll-ascetic Troll Ascetic]]) that before it was known officially as "hexproof", the ability "cannot be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control" was often known by the FanNickname "troll shroud" (after the keyword "shroud" for "cannot be the target of spells or abilities [controlled by anyone]"). In terms of flavor, modern trolls have settled fairly consistently into being big, Green, primitive and ogreish humanoids. Notable breaks from this pattern do occur from time to time, however.
** Ravnica's trolls are lanky, horned and often reduced to living on the fringes of society.
** Mirrodin's trolls are green-skinned, entirely noseless and have sheets of copper growing from their bodies (which is admittedly part for the course for living things on Mirrodin). They're native to the bio-metallic forest of the Tangle, and were already near extinct by the rise of New Phyrexia -- [[https://scryfall.com/card/mb1/1358/thrun-the-last-trollonly one troll was left in the whole plane]].
** The trolls in the dark fairytale plane of Shadowmoor are short, spiny, long-nosed beings and referred to as "trow" -- an old folkloric name for trolls.
** Eldraine, being inspired by the Arthurian mythos and the tales of the Brothers Grimm, features [[https://scryfall.com/card/eld/84/clackbridge-troll two]] [[https://scryfall.com/card/eld/327/gluttonous-troll trolls]] directly derived from the troll-under-the-bridge archetype.
* AlternativeCalendar: Dominaria has one -- denoted as AR, for "Agrivian Reckoning," with year 1 being the birth of Urza and Mishra.
* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The universe represented in ''Theros'' is based on Greek mythology and history, filled with hydras, gorgons, and centaurs. With that in mind, players might be forgiven for thinking that Vulpine Goliath ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an enormous fox]]) was an AssPull, but [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teumessian_fox it's not]].
** ''Amonkhet'' has the [[https://scryfall.com/card/akh/180/prowling-serpopard Prowling Serpopard]], a "Cat Snake" which looks and sounds like something out of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', but is an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpopard actual Egyptian mythological animal]].
* AlwaysNight: The plane of Shadowmoor is always night, while its foil Lorwyn is always noon. Granted, they're actually the same world, just on different sides of a reeeeeeallllllly long day-night cycle, but the change also warps the inhabitants' personalities and the environment, so they're counted as separate areas.
** The Alara shard of [[DeathWorld Grixis]], with its lack of white mana, is also like this.
* AmbiguouslyGay:
** Ertai and the Prodigal Sorcerer got a ''lot'' of this joke in ''[=InQuest Gamer=]''.
** The way that Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane interact give a lot of fans a Korrasami vibe, taken to an even further extreme during ''War of the Spark''.
* AmericanGothicCouple: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4558 Orcish Settlers]]
* AnachronismStew: Various minor examples. Any given expansion encompasses some length of time, so sometimes you have cards in the same set representing notably distant points in the timeline.
* AncientGrome: ''Almost'' averted in ''Theros'', where the set's designers consciously decided to focus on Greek rather than Roman influences. A single Roman influence slipped through, however, i.e. [[https://scryfall.com/card/bng/135/raised-by-wolves Raised by Wolves]].
* AndManGrewProud: In the ''Zendikar'' expansion, the Eldrazi once terrorized the plane, but were [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] long ago. Now, they're remembered only in scraps of legends, and their true nature has been forgotten. Many believe them to be ancient gods who created the plane. Of course, in ''Rise of the Eldrazi'', they get unsealed...
* AnimalBattleAura: ''Rise of the Eldrazi'''s [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=o%3A%22totem+armor%22+e%3Arise&v=scan&s=cname Totem Armor auras.]]
* AnimatingArtifact: Karn is a silver golem who was created by Urza and Barrin as a sentient being capable of feel emotions and decide on his own destiny. He also has the power to animate other artifacts like him (he's considerated a Legendary Artifact Creature in-game), as seen in "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=karn%2C+silver+golem Karn, Silver Golem]]" card, that allows the player to convert its artifacts into artifact creatures until the end of the turn.
* AnotherDimension: The multiverse is ''full'' of them.
* AntiHero: Urza dug up more than one ArtifactOfDoom, fought a war with his own brother that ended in a FantasticNuke destroying an entire continent, personally destroyed an entire plane (which, to be fair, was already ruined by a PyrricVictory against Phyrexians), and had about one healthy interpersonal relationship in his entire life. And he is ''unquestionably'' the good guy in his conflict against Yawgmoth.
* AntiVillain: Apparently, the Red Phyrexians of ''New Phyrexia''. They are hardly good or kind people, but the influence of red mana remains strong, rendering them capable of independent thought, creativity, and even mercy and compassion. They even seem opposed to what they see as cruelty, which would include a lot of the actions other New Phyrexian factions have taken.
* AppropriatedAppellation: Tezzeret was never given a name by his father. Growing up in the slums, his peers gave him the nickname "Tezzeret", meaning "a concealed, improvised weapon" after he won a fight with a bully by shivving him. The name stuck.
* ApocalypseHow:
** Spirit patrons raging over the kidnapping of one of their own? [[spoiler:Kamigawa.]]
** A reconverting of five mini-planes into one singular plane? [[spoiler:Shards of Alara.]]
** An unraveling of the strands of time? [[spoiler:Time Spiral.]]
** How about the world changing every fifty or so years to a "dark" version? [[spoiler:Lorwyn turns into Shadowmoor.]]
** {{Eldritch Abomination}}s emerge from their prisons into a living world that hates their alien magic? [[spoiler:Zendikar.]]
** A relentless evil that is essentially [[TheCorruption The Corruption]] personified and has been growing and festering in the core of the Plane ever since its creation finally amasses enough military power to launch a full-scale invasion headed by the twisted, corrupted husks of the Plane's own legendary heroes from ages past [[spoiler:up to ''and including'' the Plane's creator himself]]? [[spoiler:Scars of Mirrodin.]]
** Humans being exterminated en masse by zombies, werewolves, vampires, demons, possessed trees, and other unspeakable horrors of the night? [[spoiler:Innistrad.]]
** Ten Guilds being forced to run a a maze in an attempt to either bring peace or destroy them all? [[spoiler:Return to Ravnica.]]
** An EldritchAbomination too powerful for even the world's greatest heroes only spares the world because the stars are not yet right? [[spoiler:Shadows over Innistrad.]]
** An interdimensional invader setting off a plan put into motion decades before, almost completely annihilating a culture and bringing about a zombie apocalypse? [[spoiler:Amonkhet.]]
** Artificially-created planes are often inherently unstable, usually due to their mana being unbalanced in favor of their planeswalker's creators alignment, and tend to collapse.
* ArabianNightsDays: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The very first expansion was called "Arabian Nights"]], and focused on themes and creatures drawn from Middle Eastern history and mythology such as djinn, Ali Baba and Sinbad's travels -- and a lot of desert.
* ArcWelding: No matter how isolated a particular storyline may seem... it ''will'' be tied into all the rest.
* ArcWords: Each time a Planeswalker joins the Gatewatch, they get a card called "Oath of ..." to commemorate it. The flavor text of each Oath includes the phrase, "I will keep watch."
** "I will keep watch," is also [[spoiler: Gideon Jura's epitaph]].
* ArrowsOnFire: Occasionally seen in artwork, e.g. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=151149 Fire at Will]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386481 Arrow Storm]].
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83471 Braids takes up petty extortion as a hobby.]]
* TheArtifact: If you can believe it, the ''spells'' in a game called ''Magic.'' In the early days of the game, all Enchantments, Sorceries, Instants and Interrupts represented magical spells that the player as a Planeswalker would unleash in battle against their opponent, even the more esoteric ones like [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2373 Wrath of God]]. However as time went on and in particular as the game became more story-focused (especially around about the time of ''Weatherlight'' and the start of the original Rath arc), spells started to include things that were more like story events or personal actions by the characters, such as [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4573 Debt of Loyalty]] or [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4750 Broken Fall]]. As this became more common, the actual "magical" part of your spells became somewhat of an afterthought.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212635 Mirari]], an artifact of vast power that warps and mutates reality around itself and drives the wielder to insanity.
** Even worse is the Chained Veil, an artifact Liliana Vess picked up on behalf of one of her demon shareholders. The veil elevates her power to incredible levels. Not quite that of an Oldwalker, but certainly enough to mop the floor with her demons. Unfortunately, it takes a large toll on the wielder, and tries to corrupt them.
* ArtificialHuman:
** The Metathran. Most were basically [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15157 emotionless]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=19096 loyal soldiers]], but their commanders, Thaddeus and Agnate, were granted sentience to make them more effective planners and leaders.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129803 Phyrexian Newts]] [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse as spies]].
** The gods of Theros fashioned the artificial human Calix to pursue Elspeth Tirel after she escaped from the underworld. When she attempted to Planeswalk away, Calix followed, [[AchievementsInIgnorance even though created beings can't develope a Planeswalker Spark]] in official canon.
* ArtificialLimbs: Commonly seen in both Esper and Phyrexia. Notably, the planeswalker [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=174912 Tezzeret]]'s right arm.
%%* ArtInitiatesLife: They don't call [[httphttps://scryfall.com/card/ons/89/ixidor-reality-sculptor Ixidor]] "Reality ''Sculptor''" for nothing.
* AscendedFanboy: When we first met Sarkhan, he was a dragon fanboy looking for a dragon who deserved his adorations (and who got a severe case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor when he met Nicol Bolas). Nowadays he's free from Bolas, mastered draconic magic to the point he can freely shapeshift into one of them, found a new dragon to be loyal to in Ugin, [[spoiler:saving Ugin's life from Bolas by altering the past, and doing so he saved the dragons of his own world from extinction and made them its rulers instead]].
-->'''Sarkhan Vol:''' Now I fly with ''dragons!''
* AscendedMeme:
** The legend of a player who shredded their (now-expensive, but then worth maybe a dollar) [[https://scryfall.com/card/2ed/236/chaos-orb Chaos Orb]] card to win a game (it destroys any card it touches when dropped onto the field) eventually got acknowledged in the [[BizarroEpisode Unglued]] set as [[https://scryfall.com/card/ugl/72/chaos-confetti Chaos Confetti]], which instructs the player to shred the card for the same effect.
** The art and flavor text on [[https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/54/totally-lost Totally Lost]] depicts a tiny, frightened homunculus named Fblthp. The community took such a shining to him that he got [[http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ur/236 his own short story]] and has appeared in the background of two other cards, [[https://scryfall.com/card/m15/79/statute-of-denial Statute of Denial]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/389/unquestioned-authority Unquestioned Authority]] (he's still lost). Her received his own card in ''War of the Spark'': [[https://scryfall.com/card/war/50/fblthp-the-lost Fblthp, the Lost]].
** A more storyline related one: In ''Oath of the Gatewatch'''s storyline, the finishing blow in the Eldrazi came when Nissa (a Green mage) casts a spell that helps her channel a massive amount of mana from her own lifeforce and from Zendikar itself into Chandra (a Red mage), who then casts a powerful fire spell. Any old-time fan will recognize this as the oldest combo in the history of ''Magic'' -- [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=144 Channel]] + [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197 Fireball]].
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Planeswalkers start off as normal people, and some traumatic or life-changing event causes their Planeswalker spark to ignite and immediately whoosh them away.
* {{Atlantis}}: The original Merfolk lord was [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106642 Lord of Atlantis]]. Later, "Atlantis" was {{Retcon}}ned to be a human corruption of the proper Merfolk name, "[[http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Etlan_Shiis Etlan Shiis]]".
* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: Rather frequently used. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=97207]]
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Common result of green pump spells, e.g. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=8822 Might of Oaks]]'s giant squirrel.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:B]]
* BackFromTheBrink: Humanity in Innistrad was on the verge of extinction after years of Avacyn's absence, with towns being destroyed by undead, werewolf packs, and worse, with humanity desperately struggling against the dark. Once Avacyn was released from the Helvault, she joins them in a war to take back what was lost. [[spoiler:However, with the introduction of ''Shadows over Innistrad'', the humans now have to contend with [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/gaze-blank-and-pitiless-2016-03-09 Avacyn]] ''herself'']].
* BackFromTheDead: The Planeswalker Elspeth was betrayed by Theros' sun god, Heliod, and consigned to the plane's underworld. She refused to accept this fate, and fought her way out; the Saga card ''Elspeth Conquers Death'' depicts her struggle. Fittingly, her title changes from ''Elspeth, Sun's Champion,'' to ''Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis,'' as a result of Heliod's betrayal.
* BackToBackBadasses:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=153301 Thistledown Duo]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=153963 Safehold Duo]] from ''Shadowmoor''.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205110 Palace Guard]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=97208 Tibor and Lumia]]
** Brothers Yamazaki ([[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78968 left]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=85106 right]]). Also a gameplay example since two copies are allowed on the battlefield simultaneously despite being legendary creatures and each supports the other.
* BadassCrew: The crew of the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26480 Skyship Weatherlight]].
* BadassFamily:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=80256 Seshiro the Annointed]] from Kamigawa and his legendary family, among which are the shaman [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=80254 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro]] and the warrior [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78989 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro]].
** Also, the aforementioned Umezawas, Toshiro and his descendant, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201234 Tetsuo Umezawa]], one of the only, if not the only, person to defeat Magic's resident BigBad [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=178020 Nicol Bolas]] one on one. Then again, Bolas only really became a GodModeSue [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=260991 after he returned]] in Time Spiral.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106398 Kamahl]] and his sister [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=36451 Jeska]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=398453 The Nalaar family]] isn't too shabby either -- Pia and Kiran are good at killing things with exploding robots, and their daughter Chandra is one of Magic's burniest planeswalkers.
* BadassNormal: Yawgmoth started out as one of these.
* BadassPreacher: Most white creatures of the Cleric subtype (black Clerics fall under SinisterMinister). In particular, the priests of Innistrad join the fight against the dark forces.
* TheBadGuyWins:
** The Phyrexian Guys Win in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' block. Mirrodin is now New Phyrexia.
** Nicol Bolas may be driven off, but he may have already completed what he needed to do at the plane. By the time Ajani forced him away from Alara, Bolas had already regained his strength with the Conflux fusing the shards of Alara. Hour of Devastation reveals Bolas as the God-Pharaoh of Amonkhet and has a cycle of cards depicting the defeat of the Gatewatch at his hands.
** After the Gatewatch cast the spell that imprisoned Emrakul in Innistrad's moon, everyone that was directly involved ends up with the uneasy feeling that Emrakul not only allowed it to happen, but [[AllAccordingToPlan that she gotten exactly what she wanted all along]].
* BadMoonRising:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bad%20Moon Bad Moon]] gives a +1/+1 boost to black creatures.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83008 Blood Moon]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2615 Chaos Moon]] screw with everyone's mana.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222933 Moonmist]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=241981 Full Moon's Rise]] from Innistrad. The former transforms all Werewolves while the latter makes them more powerful.
** The main plot point with the set titled [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/announcing-eldritch-moon-2016-02-08 Eldritch Moon]], again based in Innistrad.
* BaldWomen:
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=32224 Cabal Surgeon]] card features this trope.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc]] represents an evil, insanely creepy one.
* BalefulPolymorph: Seen on a variety of cards, typically blue. Examples include [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=157401 Snakeform]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129015 Pongify]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=126212 Ovinize]], and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5822 Fowl Play]], among others. The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=108863 Ovinomancer]] is a wizard that does this to other creatures.
* BarbarianTribe: The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220495 Gathans]] are the result of a super soldier program gone awry upon the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Keldon Barbarian tribes]], resulting in a group of [[AlwaysChaoticEvil batshit barely sentient marauding murder machines]].
* BarrierMaiden:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=141822 Ashling]] in the ''Lorwyn'' storyline was supposed to take this role and help the flamekin transition from Lorwyn to Shadowmoor. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=151137 She didn't go along with it, though]].
** Kyodai, the girl you may know as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74644 That Which Was Taken]], [[spoiler:fused with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=84359 Michiko Konda]], her spirit-sister,]] to become the new protector and embodiment of the barrier between the mortal world and the spirit world.
* BaseOnWheels: The Abzan of Tarkir are [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386480 fans of this trope]].
* BashBrothers:
** The Shadowmoor set had a cycle of [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=e%3Ashadowmoor+duo&v=scan&s=cname five pairs of Bash Brothers]]. There's also [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205110 Palace Guard]], and the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78968 Brothers Yamazaki]] (who are literal brothers as well).
** Also [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=198167 these channelers]], who like the aforementioned Shadowmoor cycle, have two separate class types listed to reflect both participants.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205957 Ajani Goldmane's]] unique brand of magic is the ability to bring out and manifest the best and strongest aspects of another person in physical form. His preferred brother in arms? His elder brother, Jazal Goldmane. Together they were said to be unstoppable.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=179585 Marisi's Twinclaws]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207929 Your choice!]]
* BatmanGambit: In his mission to destroy Phyrexia, Urza deliberately included Tevesh Szat, a TokenEvilTeammate, in his group because he [[BatmanGambit correctly predicted]] that said teammate would betray them. Urza had invented a way to turn a soul into a FantasticNuke, but in order to use it, he would need to destroy the soul of a fellow planeswalker, and Tevesh Szat's inevitable betrayal would give Urza an excuse to kill him and power the bomb.
* BatOutOfHell: The game has a few bats of the huge and monstrous variety under the domain of Black, such as the [[https://scryfall.com/card/gpt/102/blind-hunter Blind Hunter]] and the predatory [[https://scryfall.com/card/dst/45/grimclaw-bats Grimclaw Bats]].
%%* BatteringRam: [[https://scryfall.com/card/5ed/353/battering-ram Battering Ram]].
%%* BattleBoomerang: [[https://scryfall.com/card/wwk/129/razor-boomerang Somewhat underwhelming unfortunately]].
* BattleCry: Used by the Mirrans in ''Mirrodin Besieged''. They have a surprisingly deep variety of battle cries --[[http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/129 Doug Beyer discusses it in great detail in his weekly column]].
%%* BazaarOfTheBizarre:
%%** [[https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/321/high-market Mercadia's famous markets]].
%%** [[https://scryfall.com/card/mir/55/bazaar-of-wonders Bazaar of Wonders]]
%%** [[https://scryfall.com/card/vma/294/bazaar-of-baghdad Bazaar of Baghdad]].
* BeamOWar: Seen in the art of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=179544 Double Negative]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23102 Mages' Contest]].
* TheBeastmaster: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247323 Garruk Wildspeaker]] is the most prominent example, although there are others, usually one-of green rares like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1534 Master of the Wild Hunt]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6142 Keeper of the Beasts]], or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193638 Beastbreaker of Bala Ged]].
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: [[ANaziByAnyOtherName If Lorwyn's elves are to be believed...]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: ''Judgment'''s [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=wish+e%3Ajudgment&v=card&s=cname cycle of Wish cards]], the flavor text of each of which is a variant on the following: "He wished for X, but not for the [RequiredSecondaryPower] to [effectively use] it. ''Future Sight'' adds [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136157 one more]].
* BeeBeeGun: [[https://scryfall.com/card/dde/28/hornet-cannon Hornet Cannon]], a gun that shoots robotic wasps.
* BeePeople:
** Slivers behave like a hive species, led by the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5233 Sliver Queen]].
** The faeries of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block are all born from [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=152063 Oona, Queen of the Fae]].
* BerserkerTears: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21293 Tears of Rage]]. Also, they're on fire.
* {{BFS}}:
** Favored by [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106398 Kamahl]], [[http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/wallpapers/WP_DvDAkroma_2560x1600.jpg Akroma]], and many others.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193517 Ogre's Cleaver]].
* BigBad: There are two big contenders and several others:
** The mechanical demon-god Yawgmoth in pretty much all of the storylines from ''Antiquities'' to the end of the ''Weatherlight'' saga was arguably the most powerful being in TheMultiverse. And even long after his death, his creation, Phyrexia, lives on, and is now infecting Mirrodin.
** Much later, during the ''Alara'' storyline, the elder dragon [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=266154 Nicol Bolas]] (a character from the game's early days) stepped in as the foremost threat to Dominia's stability.
** There have been a few other, smaller Big Bads in between, including the vampire overlord [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159208 Baron Sengir]] in ''Homelands'', the golem wizard [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220532 Memnarch]] in ''Mirrodin'' (himself a victim of the Phyrexian taint), and the corrupt human king [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda]] in ''Kamigawa''.
** It is clear that the EldritchAbomination gods Eldrazi awakened during the Zendikar are actually a menace threatening the entire multiverse. Gideon, Sorin and others gathered allies to bring the fight to them.
* BigBeautifulWoman: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193629 Deathless Angel]] is noticibly chubby, but, being an angel, is still portrayed as quite lovely.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Giant bugs are a staple creature type, especially in green and black.
* BigDamnHeroes: A few examples throughout the series. Notably Chandra in Oath of the Gatewatch. The card Impeccable Timing seems to represent this happening too.
** War of the Spark has a cycle of cards calling back to the Defeat cycle from Amonkhet. The Defeats illustrated Bolas stomping the Gatewatch. War of the Spark's version are Triumphs, showing the same five Planeswalkers rallying against and ultimately defeating Bolas' army of Eternals.
* BigGood: On Innistrad, humans looked to the archangel [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=239961 Avacyn, Angel of Hope]] for deliverance from the horrors of their plane... but she's not the Big Good. That would be her creator.[[spoiler:.. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368535 Sorin]] [[BigWhat Markov?!]]]]
* BioAugmentation:
** The primary goal and identity of the Simic guild of Ravnica is artificially engineering superior life-forms. Their guild mechanic is "Graft", which is flavored as attaching cytoplast modifications to creatures.
** And in the Gatecrash set, Simic's new shtick is the "evolve" mechanic, in which their creatures augment ''themselves,'' ostensibly by mimicking the favorable traits of other creatures they spend enough time around.
** In an odd example, Phyrexia biologically augments non-biological creatures.
** The schtick of the {{Kaiju}} plane of Ikoria is that this happens spontaneously to Ikorian wildlife. This results in mishmashes like Wolf Bears, Dinosaur Hippos, and Bird Serpents. The Mutate mechanic (essentially smashing two creatures into one) is meant to depict this in process.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The ending to the ''Godsend'' novel is a pretty cruel one. Xenagos is slain and order returned to Theros, but Elspeth is killed and winds up in the Underworld, Heliod gets away with everything, and Elspeth's sacrifice turns out to be senseless as it condemns a Returned Daxos to a shadow of life searching endlessly for her.]]
** Likewise the Shadows Over Innistrad block. [[spoiler:Sure, the Gatewatch managed to seal away Emrakul, but at the cost of any protection the plane had with the unmaking of Avacyn, 2/3 of the lesser angels destroyed or fallen, leaving Sigarda as the only Angelic defender truly on the side of humanity...or what's left of them, too, after Emrakul's corruption mutated a large portion into nightmarish beasts. And Emrakul's sealing? Aided by Emrakul herself, leading one to wonder whether it was really a win at all...]]
** There's also the end of the Amonkhet block. [[spoiler:Many people from Naktamun survived Bolas's invasion and have been led to safety by Hazoret and other warriors, but Naktamun is completely destroyed, Bolas got the army of undead warriors he wanted (along with two god-level monsters), Hazoret is crippled, and the survivors have to now survive in an extremely hostile desert environment crawling with undead and other monstrosities.]]
** Finally, the end of the War of the Spark. [[spoiler:Nicol Bolas is finally defeated, being held in the Meditation Realm for all eternity with Ugin watching over him. But many lives were lost and Gideon ultimately sacrificed his own life to save Liliana's. While Liliana was instrumental in Bolas' defeat, the Gatewatch believe she ultimately pulled a HeelFaceTurn too late and are out to kill her for her culpability in leading the Dreadhorde.]]
* BizarroWorld: Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, to each other.
* BlackCloak: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190575 Warlocks]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136205 wraiths]] are no strangers to dramatic cowls, and ''Magic'''s [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=183418 specters]] are literally nothing but black cloaks. And there's lots more.
* TheBlank:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=139692 Changeling magic]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=143388 can accomplish this]].
** [[TheVirus Phyresis]] tends to end in [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=204958 this]].
** If a Zendikar Vampire drains someone completely of blood, they turn into a Null; [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=180415 basically a zombie without eyes or a nose]].
** Any of the brood lineage of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=261321 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre]] will have a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194908 pristine]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193607 white skull-like plate]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193535 over their faces]]. This is different from the other two eldrazi lineages because Ulamog's sires tend to have heads (whereas [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193632 Kozilek's]] lineage have eyes, just elsewhere on the body, and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452 Emrakul's]] lineage all resemble sentient mushrooms).
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373500 Ashiok]] is missing upper half of their face.
* BlindedByTheLight: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205219 Blinding Mage]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83007 Blinding Angel]], etc.
* BlindObedience: The Orzhov Syndicate expects this of its followers. Exemplified in the [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=Blind+Obedience&v=card&s=cname card]] of the same name.
* BloodLust:
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201272 card]] with the same name.
** Vampires, naturally. Also, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=44206 Blood Celebrant]].
%%** The Bloodthirst mechanic.%%What of it?
* BloodMagic:
** A common theme in black, especially among vampires. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=238330 Sorin Markov]], for example, is a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368509 notable user]] of blood magic.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=44206 Blood Celebrant]] uses blood to manipulate mana.
** Others include [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74616 Call for Blood]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190398 Malakir Bloodwitch]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89102 Blood Funnel]].
* BloodsuckingBats: The [[https://scryfall.com/card/a25/80/bloodhunter-bat Bloodhunter Bat]] hunts and retrieves blood for its undead masters, represented by its ability removing life from your opponent and giving it to you.
-->''It returns eager to share the feast of blood and gore with its ghoulish master.''
* BlowYouAway: Wind spells are common in both green and blue.
* BodyHorror:
** What many mage-created Chimeras and Phyrexians endure.
** Some of the card art features really gruesome stuff, particularly on black cards.
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212635 Mirari]] does this to the peoples of the Otarian continent.
* BoldExplorer / WalkingtheEarth: What essentially describes most planeswalkers out there regardless of [[ItsPersonal personal missions]] or [[GreyandGrayMorality motives]]. Its a bit [[http://magic.wizards.com/story/planeswalkers/elspeth-tirel sad]] depending on how you look at it.
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: A stock white spell. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3487 Divine Retribution]] invokes it by name, but there's lots.
* BookEnds: In the Uncharted Realms stories chronicling Sarkhan's adventure in the Khans of Tarkir block, Sarkhan first meets the original Narset when she alights upon a rock in the desert while he's searching for Ugin. The new Narset then first meets Sarkhan when he lands on a rock in the tundra while she's looking for Ugin.
%%* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Certain spell cards do this to creatures.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Used in several card flavors, such as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=226754 Markov Patrician]].
* BreathWeapon:
** Comes in standard [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=226588 Firebreathing]] enchantment as well as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220473 Dragon Breath]]. Naturally many dragons already come stocked with Firebreathing.
** The five broods of Tarkir's dragons have a different one each: Dromoka's laser breath, Ojutai's ice, Silumgar's poison, Kolaghan's lightning and Atarka's fire.
* BrickJoke: [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/homesick-2016-08-29 The first story of the Kaladesh block]] mentions Liliana [[ItAmusedMe messing with Jace]] by putting some of his books in the wrong place. Toward the end of the story, the Gatewatch's vedalken guest mentions seventeen books being on the wrong shelves in the library.
* BrokenAngel:
** Black-aligned angels, frequently -- see [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1437 Fallen Angel]].
** With the coming of [[LightIsNotGood White Phyrexia]], there's more: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=218083 Chancellor of the Annex]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=233059 Shattered Angel]] that are quite literally broken.
** The introduction of the ''Shadows Over Innistrad'' block leaves us with [[spoiler:Avacyn and most of her army of angels becoming corrupted and launching an inquisition to "purify" the world through wreaking havoc and burning and killing the humans they were supposed to protect and serve. It only gets [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=414305 worse]] in Eldritch Moon]].
* BrutishBulls: Many [[https://magiccards.info/query?q=t%3Aox&v=scan&s=cname ox]] creatures are printed with the ability "haste", which causes them to attack the moment they're put into play rather than waiting a turn like most creatures do. Even those that don't tend to have references to fictional bulls' typical bad tempers in their flavor text:
-->''The good news is it's vegetarian. The bad news is it just doesn't like you.'' -- flavor text for " [[https://magiccards.info/po2/en/70.html Ironhoof Ox]]"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:C]]
* CallBack:
** The art of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366353 Thespian's Stage]] depicts a battle between actors portraying [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89101 Agrus Kos]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247390 Szadek]]--they're performing a play about the plot of the original ''Literature/RavnicaCycle''!
** The ''Time Spiral'' expansion is full of throwbacks to older cards: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=382841 Ancestral Recall]] become [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189244 Ancestral Vision]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370419 Blood Moon]] became [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136152 Magus of the Moon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193871 Akroma, Angel of Wrath]] became [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=279712 Akroma's Memorial]] etc.
** Starting with ''Commander 2014,'' most sets that take place outside the current story arc (typically Core Sets, supplemental sets, and Commander products) typically has at least a nod to some character that was previously referenced but never got their own card. These callbacks can go pretty deep. For example, Rebbec was a minor character in 1994's ''Antiquities,'' the third set ever, and got her first Legendary Creature card in 2020's ''Commander Legends''.
* CanisMajor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146095 Hollowborn Barghest]] is a very big dog. That's not dry grass it's standing in -- those are ''trees''.
* CanonImmigrant:
** The [[LizardFolk Viashino]] were originally introduced in the TieInNovel ''The Prodigal Sorcerer'' by Mark Sumner. The designers of the game liked them so much that they worked them into the game.
** Jodah was created for Jeff Grubb's novelizations of ''The Dark'' and ''Ice Age'' cycles. He'd eventually return for ''Literature/TimeSpiral'' block and get [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=124482 his own Avenger]]. Now that the game's returned to Dominaria, he's gotten [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=443086 a proper card.]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=238329 Gideon Jura]] was created for the story ''The Purifying Flame'', and, like the Viashino, was well-liked by the developers enough to make him into a card.
* TheCaptain: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=209157 Gerrard Capashen]]; although [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244665 Sisay]] was the actual skipper of the ''Weatherlight'', Gerrard filled the trope.
* CaptainErsatz:
** The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ddf/46/serrated-biskelion Serrated Biskelion]] is a [[Film/{{Screamers}} Type I Screamer]].
** Relatively common in newer worlds trying to evoke a certain feel. For example, ''Throne of Eldraine'' has a cycle of five Legendary Artifacts meant to reinforce it's Arthurian theme. They correlate to the disparate but decidedly "medieval England" elements of the Round Table, the queen's magic mirror, the Holy Grail, Excalibur, and Stone Henge.
** The set [=BattleBond=] introduces the Azra, who bear more than a little resemblance to [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons the Tieflings]].
* CatFolk: A number of cat races, all typed as regular cats, appear in the game. Most examples, such as the [[https://scryfall.com/card/jou/16/leonin-iconoclast Leonin]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/ddh/4/wild-nacatl Nacatl]], are in Green, White or both and tend to be {{Noble Savage}}s, {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s or some combination of both. The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ktk/193/rakshasa-vizier Rakshasa]] of Tarkir, typed as cat demons, are instead ancient and cunning schemers.
* CatlikeDragons:
** Nekorus are a species of dragons with catlike features (or cats with draconic features) native to the continent of Jamuraa, in the world of Dominaria. The only nekoru to receive a card, [[https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Wasitora Wasitora]], resembles a stout-bodied panther with dragon wings, and is typed as both a Cat and a Dragon. Their name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for "cat" and "dragon".
** In its flavor text, the original [[https://scryfall.com/card/lea/174/shivan-dragon Shivan Dragon]] is described as "often tormenting its victims much like a cat plays with a mouse".
** Even though they don't officially have the Cat creature type, the dragons of the Indian-themed steampunk-inspired plane of Kaladesh, [[https://scryfall.com/card/kld/130/skyship-stalker Skyship Stalker]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/aer/81/freejam-regent Freejam Regent]], have tiger-like facial features, black stripes on orange-red scales and tiger-like claws on the ends of their vaguely feline limbs.
* CavalryOfTheDead: In "Eldritch Moon", the zombie army Liliana raises turns out to be the only effective resistance against the hordes of Eldrazi-twisted horrors; being fundamentally mindless, the zombies NoSell Emrakul's insanity-inducing influence and successfully go all ZombieApocalypse on the horrifyingly transformed "living".
* CelestialBody: The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373524 Gods of Theros]] and their servants.
* CerebusRollercoaster: The tone of each block or even individual expansions in it may vary a lot.
* ChainLightning: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201126 Is a card]].
* ChainmailBikini: Seen in some of the art. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214064 Hero of Bladehold]] is the most recent example.
* CharacterAlignment:[[invoked]]
** The Color Wheel serves as an alignment system, as it helps indicate what characters value and how they tend to relate to characters of other colors. Though mind you, this system doesn't make any ''moral'' judgments; the traits associated with colors can be directed to either good or evil.
** The ''Ravnica'' and ''Theros'' sourcebooks for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gave ''D&D'' alignments to characters from those planes.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136044 Ghostfire]]. Colorless damage basically got the reaction "hmm, interesting..." but it didn't become important until the Zendikar block, where it turned out [[spoiler:Ghostfire was part of the key to the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197881 lock holding in the Eldrazi]].]]
** The same block's [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136151 Steamflogger Boss]] was openly admitted as created solely as a joke -- "assemble" had no in-game meaning and there were no Contraptions. Years later Unstable supplied them. (Possibly subverted, in that Contraptions are all silver-bordered cards and thus not tournament legal anyway.)
** The ''Tarkir'' block is a TimeTravel-heavy block in which the first and third sets are {{Alternate Timeline}}s of each other. Consequently, when ''Khans of Tarkir'' gave us a card of [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=savage%20punch a man punching a bear]], there was immediate expectation that ''Dragons of Tarkir'' would give us the same man punching a dragon, which [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=442159 it did]]. (Players waiting for the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] of a bear punching a ''dragon'' had to wait for a silver-bordered [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=439507 Unstable card]].)
* TheChessmaster:
** Urza. The man spent 5,000 years influencing global politics in anticipation of a demonic invasion. In the end, Yawgmoth did him in, but he managed to save the world anyway.
** Yawgmoth himself was a skillful chessmaster, even managing to OutGambit Urza's original plan.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=260991 Nicol Bolas]] plots to regain the powers he lost in the Mending, causing plane-wide catastrophes in the process.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4849 Starke of Rath]].
** The Dimir of Ravnica.
* CitadelCity: The ''Shadowmoor'' block has Kithkin settlements built like these.
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386649 clan Abzan]] of Tarkir made endurance and defense their modus operandi.
* CityInABottle:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=904 Is a card.]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2906 Feroz's Ban]] is an ''entire world'' in a bottle!
%%* CityPlanet: Ravnica.
* ClassicalCyclops: Cyclopes appear somewhat uncommonly in a number of sets. They're strongly tied to Red, the color of chaos, emotion and aggressiveness, and share an in-universe niche with ogres as violent, man-eating and often barely sapient brutes. In appearance, they vary from just big, one-eyed humans to hulking, one-eyed ogres to barely humanoid colossi with faces dominated by grotesquely enlarged orbs and gaping maws bristling with fangs.
** Dominaria hosts cyclopes in the Ekundu Mountains. They're noted to have a very simple language -- their tongue has only fifty words, [[LanguageEqualsThought ten of which mean "kill"]].
** Ravnica's cyclopes, also called monoclons, are often employed by Red-aligned guilds. Most live among the [[BarbarianTribe Gruul Clans]], but they also serve as fortress guards in the Boros Legion and in the Izzet League as heavy lifters. Some, such as the Gruul leader Borborygmos, have horns.
** In Theros, a plane heavily based off of Myth/ClassicalMythology, cyclopes are animalistic, aggressive brutes who live in the wilderness and attack anyone they come across. They don't feel pain, and are capable of razing villages on their own. [[https://scryfall.com/card/bng/113/thunder-brute Some]] even [[ShockAndAwe wield lightning]].
%%* ClassicalMovieVampire: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159208 Baron Sengir]]. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227061 Bloodline Keeper]] and other vampires of Innistrad.%%ZCE
* ClingyCostume: Some cards, such as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2787 Living Armor]], feature this.
* ClockPunk: Toss in some magic and this Kaladesh. The block features Pia and Chandra Nalaar, red-aligned rebels, fighting against the blue and white Consulate, a governing body imposing order at the cost of individual freedoms.
* LesCollaborateurs: Nicol Bolas's many minions in the Alara block surreptitiously working to spread paranoia and anarchy throughout their worlds -- the xenophobic [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175047 Knights of the Skyward Eye]] from Bant, expansionist Seekers of Carmot from Esper, corrupt merchant [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185811 Gwafa Hazid]], and barbarian shaman [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185810 Rakka Mar]]. As of ''Mirrodin Besieged'', he's got [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214065 Tezzeret]] helping him out in Mirrodin.
** Happens again in ''Guilds of Ravnica'' and ''Ravnica Allegiance.'' Bolas recruited five Planeswalkers (Ravnica natives Ral Zarek, Domri Race, and Vraska, plus outsiders Dovin Baan and Kaya) and manipulated circumstances so that they became the leaders of their Guilds. The idea was that these moles would intentionally destabilize Ravnica in advance of Bolas' AlienInvasion plan, which was the plot of ''War of the Spark''.
* CoolShades: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2070 Sunglasses of Urza]]. Style and utility combined.
* CoolVersusAwesome: The conflict of the plane of Ixalan can roughly be summed up as "the Conquistadors, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent but they're vampires]], vs the Aztecs, [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs but they control and worship giant dinosaurs]]. Oh, and there's also {{Pirate}}s!"
* CorporateDragon: The [[CityPlanet city-plane]] of Ravnica has this trope in the MadScientist dragon Niv-Mizzet, parun and guild-master of the Izzet League. Said guild holds a monopoly on the civic works of the city, including water supply systems, sewers, heating systems, boilers, and roadways.
* CorpseLand: The plane of Grixis is inhabited by dead things, undead things, demons, and the occasional desperate necromancer. Due to a lack of green or white mana, it's incapable of producing new life.
* CorruptChurch:
** The Orzhov guild.
** The [[spoiler:[[http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Church_of_Avacyn Church of Avacyn]]]] as of ''Shadows Over Innistrad''.
* TheCorruption: Phyrexia. This is especially played up in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' storyline.
* CosmicHorrorStory: ''Shadows Over Innistrad'', in contrast to GothicHorror setting of the first ''Innistrad''. In ''Shadows'', we have cultists summoning EldritchAbomination, which eventually [[spoiler:is sealed because it, Emrakul, chooses to seal itself without being defeated]].
* CrackInTheSky:
** In the Time Spiral cycle, the central {{conflict}} revolves around giant time rifts that have appeared all over Dominaria and are sucking the mana out of the land and threatening the total destruction of the space-time continuum.
** In the Ravnica cycle, a dimensional rift above the Utvara region is a main plot point. (It turns out to be related to Dominaria's time rifts, too.)
** The trope appears on a variety of individual cards, such as [[https://scryfall.com/card/inv/227/aether-rift AEther Rift]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/arb/129/wargate Wargate]].
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Kaladesh and ''especially'' Amonkhet.
** Kaladesh is a beautiful, colorful world full of creativity and inventions...ruled by a tyrannical Consulate that quashes any ideas it doesn't approve of.
** Amonkhet is a world where all the necessities of life are handled by an endless number of reanimated mummies, leaving the living populace to focus on the competitive Trials. The Trials, it turns out, are BloodSport that's often played to the death, pushes combatants to unhealthy limits (one of the block's mechanics, "exert" causes attacking creatures to exhaust themselves so thoroughly that they need an extra turn to recover), and is ultimately done in the service of BigBad Nicol Bolas.
* CreativeSterility: Tezzeret, by his own admission, is lousy at coming up with his own plans and inventions. He prefers to adapt and improve on others' designs.
* CreepyCave:
** "The Caves of Koilos" is a land showing the view from the mouth of a craggy desert cave. It drains one life from the player each time it is tapped.
** "Cave of Temptation" shows a cracked, rather yonic rock formation around the entrance to a pitch-black cave.
** "Bloodfell Caves" shows a jagged, unsettling red- and black-toned cave.
* CreepyCrows: [[https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/115/crow-of-dark-tidings Crow of Dark Tidings]], which forces you to discard two of your cards when it enters play and whose art shows it staring balefully at the viewer.
-->"Well, this can't be a good sign."
* CreepyDoll: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220378 Creepy Doll]]. It's creepy. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment And a doll.]]
* {{Crossover}}:
** Of a sorts. In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with a ''Theros'' sourcebook, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with a ''D&D'' card set.
** The ''Ikoria'' set, tying into its "monster" theme, included cards of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and other monsters from that franchise.
* CurbstompBattle:
** In the trailer for ''[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Duels Of The Planeswalkers 2012]]'', Gideon Jura exposits that he picked a fight with Nicol Bolas... the ''planeswalker'' Nicol Bolas. He gets summarily crushed.
** In the story for the Amomkhet block he tried to take Bolas on with a team of other Planeswalkers (the Gatewatch). It went about as well, with a cycle of cards called "x's Defeat" commemorating the event.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:D]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: While Black often tends to produce villains, it has at least a few protagonists under it who don't fit on the worse levels of anti-hero, like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74431 Toshiro Umezawa]] and Xantcha. Some other protagonists are also half Black, half any other colour, like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369011 Teysa Karlov]] (Black/White).
* DarkWorld:
** Lorwyn is based on the idyllic fairy tales of the British Isles. Shadowmoor is its dark reflection, based on the darker and more ominous aspects of folklore.
** Grixis is a world of eternal night full of undead due to its lack of white mana.
* DatingCatwoman: Ashnod and Tawnos are in love, despite being generals on the opposing sides of the Brothers' War.
* DealWithTheDevil: Liliana Vess made a pact with four demons that provide her with power and eternal youth. It's represented on the card Demonic Pact.
** Unfortunately, abuse of this pact forced her to undergo a (temporary) FaceHeelTurn in ''War of the Spark.''
* DeathOfTheOldGods: ''Amonkhet'' finds the Gatewatch on a plane reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, watched over by five gods, with everyone mentioning a "God-Pharoah." ''Hour of Devastation'' has the God-Pharoah, none other than BigBad Nicol Bolas, arrive and murder four of the five gods, then abscond with their zombified corpses.
* DeathWorld:
** Zendikar, even ''before'' {{Eldritch Abomination}}s started coming out of the woodwork.
** Grixis, quite literally, due to the abundance of black mana (and the absence of green and white) making more life impossible, and death (and undeath) the only option.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Appears to be how every organization in the High City of Paliano works. Small wonder that King Brago arranged to continue his reign as a spirit.
* DemonicPossession:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197016 Oni Possession]] is a good straight example.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1036 Artifact Possession]] is a variant where the demon [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin possesses an artifact]] instead of a person.
* DenserAndWackier: Creep and seep related to the game's complexity of both rules and backstory ebb and flow, resulting in a number of sets hitting this trope.
** ''Time Spiral'' block was so dense that it led to a change in philosophy on card design for a decade after.
** ''Unglued,'' ''Unhinged,'' ''Unstable,'' and ''Unsanctioned'' are all joke sets not legal for tournament play. All of them dial up the wacky, but ''Unstable'' and ''Unsanctioned'' deliberately feature cards too complicated for normal sets as well (for example, ''Unstable'' has Rules Lawyer, a card that makes state-based effects stop working. State-based effects cover things as basic as letting lethally damaged creature die).
** Starting with ''Commander 2014,'' most sets that aren't storyline blocks (Core sets, supplemental sets, and preconstructed decks) will feature characters and places from all throughout the Magic canon, even if they were destroyed aeons ago (in-universe or in the real world). For example, 2020's ''Commander Legends'' supplemental set contains depictions of characters like Rebbec, a Thran woman last relevant to the plot in ''Antiquities,'' printed in 1994 and taking place more than 9000 in-universe years before ''Zendikar Rising,'' the most recent regular set at the time of printing.
* {{Diary}}: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215079 Venser has one.]]
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: In the ''Core 2019'' storyline, [[spoiler:Yasova and her grandchildren, armed with Ugin's memories, are able to not only save Ugin's hedron tomb from Nicol Bolas but also trigger enough fears of his brother's tenacity to ''scare Bolas away from Tarkir for good.'']]
* DieOrFly: Severe physical or emotional trauma is the catalyst to a Planeswalker igniting their latent spark.
** Old school, demi-God Planeswalker examples:
*** Nicol Bolas ascended as he fought the other four Elder Dragons, allowing him to win their war and become the last surviving one.
*** Sorin Markov's grandfather Edgar turned him into a vampire (the second one to ever exist in Innistrad with Edgar being the first) with a BloodMagic-fueled demonic pact. The ritual was so traumatizing that it ignited Sorin's spark.
*** Urza Planeswalker, at the climax of the Brothers War, sets off the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1007 Golgothian Sylex]], which sends all of Dominaria into a centuries-long ice age. His latent spark activated, allowing him [[AGodAmI to survive the blast]].
*** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244667 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir]], while studying mind magic at the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=8883 Tolarian Academy]], fell into a bubble of slow time that was filled with fire and [[AndIMustScream got trapped there]]. The intense damage activated his spark half-way, so that he was able to survive until another student could get him out with water from a different slow-time bubble. She became his favorite companion (in the Series/DoctorWho sense) when they found out that, because of the two different slow-time bubbles, she aged at a dramatically slower rate than a normal human, causing her to fall under the rules of ReallySevenHundredYearsOld.
** Post-mending ascensions:
*** [[PlayingWithFire Chandra Nalaar]]: Chandra's family is a smuggler of aether on Kaladesh, and during Chandra's first job as a smuggler, she's caught. Instead of allowing herself be captured, she obliterates a Consul factory, forcing the Nalaars to flee. [[spoiler:While Chandra is away from the village they take residence in, Consul forces arrive looking for her. They set fire to the village, killing her father, blaming it on Chandra's pyromancy and taking her into custody. Just as they are about to behead her,]] her Spark ignites at the last possible second.
*** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=174983 Sarkhan Vol]] was born onto a plane that had been a haven for dragons, which had been hunted to extinction by the local warlords, much to the dismay of the local shamans that worshiped them as the ultimate predators. Drifting back and forth between tribes and armies, searching for a purpose, making a name for himself in the process as a powerful warrior, Sarkhan enters into a trance after slaying an opposing commander, where he encounters the spirit of a dragon. So, inspired by the beast's majesty, he ascends killing his and the opposite army in the process.
*** Tezzeret, after being repeatedly denied entry into the Seekers of Carmot, breaks into their vault to prove his worth by crafting his own [[{{Unobtanium}} Etherium]]. He discovers the vault to be empty and that the Seekers' claims of the ability to craft new Etherium was a lie. Their plane is depleted, and they are merely recycling old Etherium. Caught in the act by the guards, they catch him and beat him half to death. The thought of his entire life's work being for naught was so harrowing that he ascended on the spot.
*** Ajani Goldmane's spark ignited when he discovered his brother Jazal had been murdered.
*** Elspeth Tirel's spark ignited when she was just thirteen under unknown circumstances. [[DeathWorld In a Phyrexian death camp.]]
*** Gideon Jura, known as Kytheon Iora on his home plane of Theros, was chosen by the god Heliod to be his champion. His first task was to kill a titan of Erebos, a task which Kytheon and his Irregulars accomplished flawlessly. However, when Erebos himself appeared to witness his titan's destruction, Kytheon attacked Erebos in a fit of arrogance, and had all his Irregulars killed in retaliation. Wracked with guilt and devastation over his hubris, Kytheon's spark ignited.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: A common trait in Theros, where heroes have to prove how badasses they are. Especially green ones.
* DontThinkFeel: A core principle of red and green philosophy, and the main reason why they both hate blue.
* DownerEnding: More than a few of the sets end on a less-than-happy note.
** The Theros block ends with [[spoiler:Elspeth Tirel being killed by the god Heliod after deciding no champion should know more than her god, in front of her friend Ajani Goldmane, and being sent to the underworld.]]
** The "Scars of Mirrodin" block ends with Mirrodin conquered by Phyrexia and renamed despite the Mirrodin inhabitants valiantly resisting.
** The first Zendikar block ends with Zendikar in the middle of being destroyed by the Eldrazi. The subsequent block resolves this, turning it into a BittersweetEnding as a lot of the damage to Zendikar cannot be undone quickly.
** The Amonkhet block ends with [[spoiler:Nicol Bolas revealing himself as the God-Pharaoh, all the gods of Amonkhet except Hazoret either enslaved or dead, and the Gatewatch defeated.]]
* TheDragon: Gix to Yawgmoth, Greven ''il''-Vec to Volrath and later [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5106 Crovax]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5146 Ertai]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc]] to Crovax, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106427 Phage]] (before [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29943 Cabal Patriarch]] died), Malil to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220532 Memnarch]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247179 Malfegor]] to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=260991 Nicol Bolas]] (literally in the last case).
* DragonHoard: A handful of dragons are based on this trope, including [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15770 Covetous Dragon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205235 Hoarding Dragon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366244 Hellkite Tyrant]], and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215074 Hoard-Smelter Dragon]].
* DragonRider: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193482 Kargan Dragonlord]].
* DragonsVersusKnights: ''[[https://scryfall.com/sets/ddg Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons]]'', one of several premade decks meant to be played by two players and themed around two opposing factions, pits a deck composed primarily of Knights against on centered around Dragons.
* DreamStealer: Lorwyn's Faeries [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=145969 harvest]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=158774 the dreams]] of the plane's other residents on behalf of their [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244668 Queen]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373500 Ashiok]] turns people's dreams and aspirations into their worst nightmares.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/hou/63 Dreamstealer]]. The name is not for nothing.
* DressedToPlunder: [[http://magiccards.info/lg/en/291.html Ramirez DePietro]] has the standard eyepatch.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368964 Goblin Test Pilot]] swerves around so arbitrarily that ''something'' is going to get hit, it's just that nobody knows ''what''.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Poor Ertai. First he was our resident smug snarker, and then the plot for ''Nemesis'' turned him into a more heroic character and even put him into a tragic love story... and then immediately turned him into a horrible bad guy and later killed him off in the most embarrassing way possible. Granted, his original personality did lend itself to a FaceHeelTurn, but the way it came about and the extremes it went to were just weird.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=9856 Barrin]] knows how to leave an [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23098 impression]].
* DurableDeathtrap: Zendikar being the [[PlanetOfHats adventure world]], there's tons of this.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:E]]
* EasterEgg: Many, many different cards, but especially in comedy sets like ''Unglued'' and nostalgia sets like ''Time Spiral''. See also Alternate Universe, above.
* EldritchAbomination
** Yawgmoth is darn close.
** And of course, there's also a card actually named [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Cosmic%20Horror Cosmic Horror]].
** There's also [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=121155 Dark Depths]], which releases [[http://magiccards.info/extra/token/coldsnap/marit-lage.html Marit Lage]] when the ice finally melts. The art is reminiscent of Cthulhu lurking underneath the sea.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=188962 Nemesis of Reason]] fits perfectly.
** The Eldrazi, who are so ancient they predate the whole "colored mana" deal, and destroy your opponents just by moving in their general direction. [[http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/396 This preview]] of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193632 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth]] has the unique distinction of [[InterfaceScrew destroying the web page it appears on]], and the flavor text of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193398 Eldrazi Monument]] reads: "Gods don't die. [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos They merely slumber]]."
* TheEmperor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda of Kamigawa]].
* EmptyPilesOfClothing: Seen on [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=157401 Snakeform]].
* EndlessDaytime: There are several places where this is the case.
** The plane of Mirrodin has five suns. There is night time, but it's brief and exaggerated. Basically the only reason this is worth mentioning is the flavor text on [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194105 Grasp of Darkness.]]
** The plane of Serra is bathed in the light of a perpetual sunrise.
** In Lorwyn "the sun never quite dips below the horizon".
** Amonkhet has, in addition to a more normal sun, a second sun that's associated with a prophecy. That sun descends much slower, and in the living memory of the people of the world, it has never set.
* EndlessWinter: This is used to enforce the curse on Kaldheim's Kannah clan. When Kannah try to venture past the Adelgard, they are followed by bitter winter conditions and constant snowfall that never abate, which quickly make travel impossible and force them to head back into the woods. The site where they believe the were first cursed, the Cursed Tree at the Aldergard's edge, is covered in snow throughout the year.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: A particularly common trope.
** At one point, after several sets revolving around ever-bigger wars and cataclysms, the designers moved the action to Lorwyn, a new, rural-themed setting that scaled down the conflict: tribes battling neighboring tribes over land and prestige. Months later, yup, the whole world was wrecked. As in, the sun stopped shining (and few remember that it ever did!). So much for that.
** The ''Time Spiral'' block's plot was based around the idea that Dominaria had gone through so many apocalypses that the plane's reality itself was falling apart.
* EnemyToAllLivingThings:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106427 Phage the Untouchable]]. And we do mean ''all''. Any organic material she touches instantly rots away, save for silk. She wears only silk clothing and sleeps on a bed of stone.
** The Eldrazi suck the life and mana out of everything they touch, leaving only Wastes behind them.
* EnemyCivilWar: There are some major tensions growing between and even ''within'' the five Phyrexian factions that conquered Mirrodin, and the liberation of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214350 Karn]] might just be the spark needed to ignite a full-out war among the New Phyrexians. [[spoiler:Ultimately took place offscreen. Elesh Norn is now effectively the Mother of Machines.]]
* EnemyMine:
** The ''Invasion'' block centered mechanically on multicolored cards. This was illustrated story wise as all the disparate cultures of Dominaria banding together against the common threat of Phyrexia. The third set, ''Apocalypse'', undermines how desperate the situation has gotten by featuring ''enemy'' colors working together, a sight previously unseen in the game. This represents forces who find each other anathema working together.
** The coming of the Eldrazi has all the races and even the land of Zendikar uniting to fight a common threat.
** Geth joining [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=48386 Glissa]] against Memnarch in the first Mirrodin cycle. They go back to hating each other in New Phyrexia.
** ''War of the Spark'' showed all ten Guilds of Ravnica working together with both each other and the Guildless in order to repel the invading army.
* EnemyWithin:
** Karn and the Phyrexian corruption in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' block. His inner struggles are depicted on [[http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/24.html Distant Memories]].
** The Weaver King is an EnemyWithin for Venser in ''Planar Chaos''.
* EnergyBeing: The malevolent Weaver King in ''Planar Chaos''.
* EngagementChallenge: In ''The Brothers' War'', the Warlord of Kroog, searching for a powerful warrior to wed his daughter, decrees that whoever can move a giant jade statue from one end of the palace courtyard to the other will win the hand of Princess Kayla. [[GadgeteerGenius Urza]] completes the challenge by building an automaton to lift the statue.
* EunuchsAreEvil: The expansion ''Portal: Three Kingdoms'' has a card called Corrupt Eunuchs.
* [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Antiheroism Has Standards]]: One of Urza's first picks for his strike team of Planeswalkers to go to Phyrexia was a Planeswalker named Parcher. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Urza]] [[{{Irony}} rejected him for being insane.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: There are few, including several completely made-up species.
** There are [[http://magiccards.info/cs/en/101.html two]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2581 cards]] featuring Allosaurs, which are sometimes used as mounts.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74235 Old Fogey]]...
** Mirrodin's native lion people train [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45960 Pterodactyls as mounts]].
** Several fictional dinosaurs exist, including the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=130634 Imperiosaur]] and the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5562 Shivan Raptor]]. More fantastic creatures based on dinosaurs include the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45861 Putrid Raptor]],[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=397434 Magmasaur]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=279859 Pygmy Pyrosaur]].
** With the release of ''Ixalan,'' dinosaurs are an entire tribe of creatures.
** Interestingly, the dinosaurs of different planes illustrate the popular perception of dinosaurs at the time they were introduced. Dominarian dinosaurs (created in the late 1990s) look straight out of ''Film/JurassicPark.'' Ixalan dinosaurs (from 2016) are feathered jungle dwellers.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou:
** Jund (from ''Shards of Alara'').
** ''Kamigawa'' is a battle fought between humans and kami, who, due to the nature of Shinto, live in ''everything''.
** And taken UpToEleven in ''Zendikar'', where the "Roil" dramatically changes the landscape every few months, weird gravity wells cause floating islands of grassy plain that can drop at any moment, and the creatures that are not killed by the landscape are as hard as your average video game mid-boss. ''Rise of the Eldrazi'' then kicked that eleven up to twelve, because the usually unpleasant wildlife is being supplanted by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
** In ''Scars of Mirrodin'', the entire plane is being taken over by the Phyrexian Glistening Oil. Metal becomes flesh, flesh becomes metal, and havoc and chaos ensue.
** In ''Innistrad'', humanity is the ''bottom'' of the food chain. Werewolves and vampires see humans as tasty snacks, ghoulcallers and stichers raise the dead for kicks, geists torment humans out of rage (or because they don't know any better), monsters lurk in the woods to snatch up the unwary, and demons and devils lurk in the shadows, corrupting humanity to gain a foothold into their world.
* EvilChancellor: In ''Time Streams'', Radiant's war minister turns out to be a Phyrexian spy, secretly working to subvert and corrupt Serra's Realm.
** The Consulate that rules Kaladesh is pretty much entirely populated by these. Special mention goes to the Planeswalker Dovin Baan, who was willing to work with BigBad Nicol Bolas to export his personal brand of fascism to Ravnica.
* EvilCounterpart:
** All over the place; look at [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?id=274 White Knight]] versus [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=50 Black Knight]], for example. The entire Shadowmoor set, as a dark mirror of the earlier Lorwyn set, features many opposite counterparts to specific cards from the Lorwyn block.
** To go with its theme of Mirrodin vs Phyrexia, Mirrodin Besieged has evil counterparts within the same set ([[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213802 Mirran Crusader]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213724 Phyrexian Crusader]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213781 Peace Strider]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221561 Pierce Strider]]), and also evil counterparts to cards from the last time we went to Mirrodin ([[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191312 Darksteel Colossus]] to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221563 Blightsteel Colossus]]).
** The Northern Paladin and Southern Paladin have the Western Paladin and Eastern Paladin.
** The [[http://magiccards.info/ne/en/135.html Predator]] can be considered this to the [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=weatherlight&v=card&s=cname Weatherlight]].
** One of the terminologies of the game is "Mirrored Pair". These tend to be two cards who are polar opposites of each other. Generally they tend to be this trope (although certain examples, like Hero of the Bladehold and Hero of Oxidda Ridge who are both "good", are exceptions).
* EvilDetectingDog: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=79217 Good dog.]]
* EvilTwin: The card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Evil%20Twin Evil Twin]], naturally. With the explicit ability to kill the good twin.
* EvilSorcerer:
** Lim-Dul, Heidar of Rimewind, Lord Dralnu, Memnarch, the Cabal Patriarch. Zur the Enchanter was definitely ''dangerous'', but only self-absorbed, not outright evil.
** Lesser Evil Sorcs include the Disciple of the Vault, one of the clerics who makes the Ravager Affinity deck into a fast-killing machine.
* ExoticEntree: [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=Feast+of+the+Unicorn&v=card&s=cname Feast of the Unicorn]].
* ExpansionPackWorld:
** Since the story details a different plane almost every block, the addition of new planes could be considered this to Dominia. Then again, in a theoretically infinite multiverse, it's justified.
** Dominaria was also subject to this. While nowadays, the story just focuses on a new plane when a new theme for the setting is needed, as early as ''Fallen Empires'' and as recent as ''Odyssey'' while new continents would just be added to Dominaria to fit this purpose. This leads to Dominaria being so [[FantasyKitchenSink diverse]] -- while most other planes are only themed around a single culture or gimmick, Dominaria has typical MedievalEuropeanFantasy fare in Terisiare, Aerona, and Corondor; Reniassance-era technology in Caliman; wartorn {{Vestigial Empire}}s in Sarpadia; ''[[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian Conan]]''-esque HeroicFantasy in Otaria; a Western Africa analogue in Jamuraa; and a {{Wutai}} in Madara, among others. And that isn't taking into consideration the areas from Rath that were fused with Dominaria in the Overlay.
* ExplosiveStupidity: As with most other kinds of stupidity, a common goblin strategy. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=383257 Goblin Kaboomist]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=229952 Goblin Bangchuckers]] are among the ''least'' moronic goblin ordnance technicians, in that they at least have a 50/50 chance of surviving what they're doing (although with a tribal buff out you can make that 100%).
%%* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Very frequently. [[http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/features/feature86_kozilek.jpg Kozilek]] and his lineage are the kings of this trope.
* EyeScream: The art on [[https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/77/deathmark Deathmark]] shows a person's pupil leaking out of their eye.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F]]
* FaceHeelTurn:
** Garruk Wildspeaker is cursed by Liliana Vess during ''Innistrad,'' changing him from a nature loving beastmaster into a deranged predatory focused hunting other Planeswalkers.
** Liliana gets a taste of this trope herself when some LoopholeAbuse with her DealWithTheDevil led to her working for BigBad Nicol Bolas during ''War of the Spark.''
* TheFairFolk: Lorwyn's Fae are nasty little {{troll}}s who delight in making mischief and playing mean-spirited tricks on the plane's other races and [[DreamStealer harvest their dreams]].
* FairyDragons: Ikoria is home to [[https://scryfall.com/card/iko/211/sprite-dragon sprite dragons]], small creatures with iridescent insect wings that are typed as both Faeries and Dragons. Their flavor text, however, does not imply behavior any more pleasant than their bigger cousins'.
-->''Size of a pixie, rage of a hellkite.''
* FallenHero: Garruk Wildspeaker, the original iconic green Planeswalker. A conflict with [[TokenEvilTeammate Liliana Vess]] saw him cursed by an ArtifactOfDoom called the Chain Veil. This led him to spiral down into madness, becoming more hostile and aggressive. The storyline culminated in the ''Magic 2015'' Core Set, which saw him tracking and murdering other Planeswalkers. The set's prerelease included an oversized Garruk card meant to be played against '''as if it were an entire deck,''' in addition to his black/green card, "Garruk, Apex Predator." M15's catchphrase tied into this storyline: "Hunt bigger game."
** The curse was finally broken in ''Throne of Eldraine,'' turning him back to his old monogreen self.
* {{Fanboy}}: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370600 Young Pyromancer]] has necklace with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205958 Chandra]] on it.
* FantasticNuke:
** The [[http://magiccards.info/aq/en/16.html Golgothian Sylex]] was, functionally, a nuclear weapon. Its detonation ended the Brothers' War, vaporized Argoth, caused the Ice Age, and tore a ''literal'' hole in reality.
*** The Apocalypse Chime is implied to work the same way as the Golgothian Sylex, though primed to destroy Ulgrotha instead of Dominaria. It's flavor text implies that it's never been used, but one of the plane's more nihilistic villains considers ringing it from time to time.
** Yawgmoth repeatedly dropped "stonecharger" bombs on his enemies in ''The Thran'' which not only resembled nuclear weapons in their destruction, but also caused the same sort of horror real nukes inspire in at least one of the characters.
* FantasticVermin: Kaladesh is home to anteater-like {{gr|ipingAboutGremlins}}emlins, who feed on ether and eagerly use their sharp, strong claws and acidic drool to dig through rock and metal to get to it. As Kaladesh's technology is heavily reliant on ether for power, they're thus the most destructive pests on the plane and can cause immense damage to the plane's infrastructure. In a twist, however, the gremlins' feeding plays an important part in recycling ether back into the environment, and the extermination of gremlin colonies is causing real harm to Kaladesh's planer ecosystem.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Plenty, usually separated by Plane.
** Kamigawa is [[{{Wutai}} feudal Japan]].
** Naya (from Shards of Alara) is {{Mayincatec}}.
** The Ice Age block is [[HornyVikings Vikings]].
** Jamuraa (from Dominaria) is Africa.
** Rabiah is [[ArabianNightsDays Arabia]].
** Innistrad is [[{{Uberwald}} Renaissance Germany and Eastern Europe]].
** Theros is UsefulNotes/AncientGreece.
** Ravnica is a culture mishmash with Slavic/Eastern Europe/Renaissance flavor.
*** Orzhov and Selesnya resemble the Catholic Church and the Inquisition, with the Selesnya having a bit of Mayaincatec flavor.
*** Boros and Azorius have crusader and templar flavor with Slavic themed names.
*** Rakdos are cultists mixed with crazy hooligans and wandering gypsies.
*** Dimir has a bit like Transylvanian vampire flavor and classic rogues.
*** Gruul have a mix of different tribal concepts from American Indians to Eastern barbarians.
*** Izzet are modern-day mad scientists and engineers mixed with Renaissance outfits and pomp.
*** Simic are less flashy and more like overachieving scientists with some megalomania.
*** The Golgari are medieval style lower class and serfs, with some Greek and Egyptian undertones (Vraska, and Jarad kind of looks like a pharoah, and they love insects and scarabs and mummification).
** Tarkir is most of Asia, minus China and Japan.
*** The Temur Clans are Siberian natives living in Tibet-like mountains.
*** The Mardu Horde are the Mongol Horde.
*** The Jeskai Way are Tibetan Buddhists.
*** The Sultai Broods are vaguely Vietnamese with a sprinkle of Sumeria. The Sultai have the fewest human members, and so are a bit murky in their ties to real world cultures, although their [[SnakePeople nagas]] and [[CatFolk rakshasas]] suggest ties to India. Some have suggested the Khmer Empire as a cultural inspiration.
*** The Abzan Houses are the tribes and empires of Asia Minor and Persia.
** Kaladesh is a steampunk (well, "aetherpunk" India, with modern rather than mythological sensibilities.
** Amonkhet takes the majority of its inspiration from Ancient Egypt, albeit influenced by the philosophies and aesthetics of Nicol Bolas.
** Ixalan takes inspiration from the Age of Discovery, with the three main civilizations shown off in the block (the Sun Empire, the River Heralds, and the Torrezonians) being inspired by the Aztec Triple Alliance and Incan Empire, the Mayan Empire, and Medieval Spain, respectively.
** Eldraine takes its inspiration from European fairy tales, giving it a very Arthurian England feel. The Planeswalker prince and princess Will and Rowan Kenrith even have Scottish accents in their voice lines on ''Magic Arena.''
* FantasyKitchenSink: With some 11,000 different cards, it's hard to think of any fantasy concepts that aren't represented.
** ''Throne of Eldraine'' in particular reads like a checklist of every Grimm's and Disney fairy tale.
* FeatheredDragons: While most dragons in the game have the typical membranous wings, a few sport birdlike wings instead.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/frf/1/ugin-the-spirit-dragon Ugin]], a spirt dragon planeswalker, has feathered wings to reflect his ethereal, enlightened nature.
** Two of the five draconic broods of Tarkir, which are incidentally born from magical tempests created as a side effect of Ugin's presence there, sport feathered wings.
*** Dragons of the bloodline of [[https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/219/dragonlord-ojutai Ojutai]], which are spawned from magic storms in high, cold mountains and breathe [[AnIcePerson ice]], have great white-and-red birdlike wings, in addition to tufts of feathers on their legs. They're enlightened, monk-like and seemingly the most civilized of the dragons that rule Tarkir, but under the surface they're condescending, racist and arrogant, and just as tyrannical as the rest of Tarkir's draconic rulers.
*** Dragons of the brood of [[https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/218/dragonlord-kolaghan Kolaghan]], which are instead spawned on the windswept steppes and breathe [[ShockAndAwe lightning]], have two sets of narrow birdlike wings. They're masters of the skies, and the fastest and most skilled fliers among Tarkir's dragons.
* FemaleAngelMaleDemon:
** Nearly all of Magic's angels are visibly female. The overwhelming majority of Magic's demons are so freakish looking that the idea of having a gender seems a moot point. Though the gender of either is largely a moot point, as, being magically created avatars of their respective colors, neither reproduce in the traditional manner. This gets averted in Amonkhet, however, which contains wholly masculine angels to help reinforce that it's "different".
** Razia and Serra play this trope straight, although with reason; Serra was a human female Planeswalker who created her own plane, and all Boros Angels were basically clones of Razia herself, who was female.
** Before Amonkhet, there was a grand total of three male angels in Magic: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=3502 Melesse Spirit]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gabriel%20Angelfire Gabriel Angelfire]] had to be retconned to be an Angel rules-wise and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Malach%20of%20the%20Dawn Malach of the Dawn]] only exists in alternate reality.
* AFeteWorseThanDeath: The signature of the Rakdos Cultists of Ravnica, as seen in the FlavorText of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=97073 Slaughterhouse Bouncer]].
* FieryRedhead: [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Multiverse/planeswalkers.aspx?x=mtg/multiverse/planeswalkers/chandra Chandra Nalaar]]. Literally.
* FinalDeath:
** The exile zone often serves this function. Sometimes this is depicted as a dead creature being vaporized, other times as something alive being utterly obliterated.
** This trope is invoked by name as a card in ''Theros Beyond Death'', as a card that sends a living creature straight to oblivion.
* FlamingSword:
** The card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=19613 Flaming Sword]]. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214368 Sword of War and Peace]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370471 Sword of Fire and Ice]] are YinYangBomb variations that are technically only half-flaming, but still pretty cool.
** Legendary creatures who wield flaming swords include [[http://magiccards.info/nph/en/128.html Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer]] and [[http://magiccards.info/pch/en/92.html Razia, Boros Archangel]].
* FloatingPlatforms: Seen in both [[http://magiccards.info/zen/en/213.html Zendikar]] and [[http://magiccards.info/us/en/325.html Serra's Realm]]. There are also floating buildings on Kamigawa and Ravnica.
* FogOfDoom:
** In the ''Apocalypse'' novel, when Yawgmoth himself appears on Dominaria, he takes the form of a giant black cloud that kills anything it touches.
** Yawgmoth has a habit of making killer fog; in ''The Thran'', his stonecharger bombs leave behind clouds of mist that that kill anything they touch.
* ForegoneConclusion: The storyline of ''Coldsnap'', released years after ''Ice Age'' and ''Alliances'' to give that block a "proper" block format (and conclusion). The [[LampshadeHanging press release teaser info explicitly said]], "We know the Ice Age ended... but ''how''?"
* ForgottenFriendNewFoe: Volrath, villain of the ''Tempest'' block, was once Gerrard's adoptive brother before they bitterly parted ways in their youth.
* FormerlySapientSpecies: Long ago, much of the plane of Dominaria was ruled by the Elder Dragons, immensely powerful and intelligent beings who were often skilled magic-users and the rulers of entire humanoid civilizations. They eventually all but wiped themselves out in internecine warfare, with the losers being stripped of their legs and wings to become the wurms, mindless beasts resembling massive snakes. The winners also regressed over time; modern dragons, while still technically sapient, are little more than feral predators with lifestyles limited to hunting, gathering treasure and defending their territories, while some fell still further and became drakes, smaller creatures with no forelimbs and which are now purely animalistic beasts.
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Old-generation planeswalker are also [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]], capable of changing their appearances at will. Most of them generally opt to stay in the form they look like just before their ascension though.
* ForTheEvulz: Nicol Bolas, apparently.
* FrankensteinsMonster:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1734 Frankenstein's Monster]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29944 And this]].
** ''Innistrad'' has the skaab, which are stitched-together zombies.
* FromBadToWorse:
** Zendikar is a DeathWorld in ''Zendikar''. Then it ramps up in ''Worldwake''. By ''Rise of the Eldrazi'', the whole plane is under attack by PlanetEater {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and the world becomes even more violent in its efforts to destroy them.
** Innistrad's GothicHorror setting was scary to begin with; when the guardian angel Avacyn mysteriously disappeared, the monsters got more powerful.
*** And it gets even ''[[UpToEleven worse]]'' in ''Shadows Over Innistrad'' when [[spoiler:Avacyn [[AxeCrazy goes mad]] and turns against humankind.]]
* FromASingleCell: Phyrexia is able to rebuild itself from just a single drop of oil, as seen in the tragic fate of Mirrodin. This is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] with [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=phyrexian+rebirth&v=card&s=cname Phyrexian Rebirth]].
-->As long as [[FromASingleCell one drop]] of [[TheVirus the oil]] exists, [[TheCorruption the joyous work continues.]]
* FungiArePlants: Saprolings are small, weak creatures intended to represent animated scraps of plant matter. In practice, they alternate on being visibly vegetal, clearly fungal, or of indeterminate appearance between sets. They are also strongly associated with the thallids, which are clearly fungus people.
* FunnyAnimal: From the more conventional Nacatl ([[CatFolk cat people]]) and Leonin ([[CatFolk lion people]]) to the somewhat more creative Loxodon (elephant people) and Rhox (rhino people). So, in other words, Magic has them in droves.
* FurBikini:
** One of the [[http://magiccards.info/ai/en/67.html Elvish Ranger]] cards had this on the artwork. The fact that it was also a decent creature card guaranteed it some TournamentPlay.
*** BestKnownForTheFanservice: Elvish Ranger actually [[http://magiccards.info/ai/en/68.html has an alternate art]]. Good luck finding anyone who cares about it.
* FurryConfusion: Ajani (a sentient lion man) gets this is spades when he travels to Bant where the pack animal of choice are Leotau (very large lions with hooves).
* FusionDance:
** In the ''Onslaught'' storyline, Phage and Akroma merge to become Karona the False God, a living embodiment of Dominaria's mana.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4912 Dracoplasm]] fuses multiple creatures together to form a giant dragon.
* FusionDissonance: The Innistrad block drew heavily on Creator/{{Lovecraft}}ian imagery and saw the return of [[EldritchAbomination Emrakul and the Eldrazi]]. The block also introduced the "Meld" mechanic, where if you had certain cards in play, they would fuse into some [[BodyHorror horrific]] abomination of nature. For instance, the angels [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414304&type=card Bruna]] and [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414319&type=card Gisela]] would meld to form [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414305&type=card Brisela]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G]]
* GadgeteerGenius: Magic has had its share of artificers.
** [[http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/ART3/future_sight/jhoira_of_the_ghitu_art_by_kev_walker.jpg Jhoira]], depicted [[http://www.magiccards.info/ul/en/45.html here]] in all her Tinkering glory.
** [[http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/td/td112_venser.jpg Venser]], although best-known now for his teleportation abilities, was originally an artificer, salvaging scrap from the swamps of Urborg and building machines.
** Urza, the {{Chessmaster}} himself, was famous for his gadgets.
** As was his brother, [[http://www.fischart.com/assets/art/artwork/Prints/Mishra.jpg Mishra]].
** Urza's protege, [[http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/images/8/8f/Tawnos.jpg Tawnos]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=51055 Slobad]] is remarkable as he is not merely smart by Goblin standards (which is hardly an accomplishment), but smart. Period.
** Tezzeret's entire shtick. He sympathizes more with machines than people.
** [[http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/cardart/CSP/Arcum_Dagsson.jpg Arcum Dagsson]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=389478 Daretti]]'s failed experiment costed him his legs.
** Most people on Kaladesh would qualify. Creating {{Magitek}} is the only form of magic allowed there.
* GaiasVengeance: Typical green schtick, seen in ''Invasion'', ''Worldwake'', and so on. There's also cards like [[http://magiccards.info/aq/en/63.html Gaea's Avenger]], [[http://magiccards.info/m11/en/174.html Gaea's Revenge]], [[http://magiccards.info/wwk/en/96.html Avenger of Zendikar]], etc.
* GargleBlaster: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189147 No thanks.]]
* GambitPileup: Occurs during the original Ravnica trilogy when it turns out that ''all'' of the guilds are trying to conquer the plane.
* GambitRoulette: Nicol Bolas' ploy to [[SealedEvilInACan free]] the [[EldritchAbomination Eldrazi]] certainly counts. To release the Eldrazi, he required the presence of three different planeswalkers at the Eye of Ugin, as well as having one of them use [[NonElemental Ghostfire]] to trigger the failsafe mechanism. He could only be certain that his own minion (Vol) would be there, but to lure the other two, he combined elements of his own meticulous planning, as well as a simple stroke of luck. He even said so himself!
-->'''Bolas:''' I didn't send you to ensure no one entered the Eye. I sent you to ensure they did. Do you think it a coincidence that two planeswalkers arrived there when they did?\\
'''Vol:''' You sent me to fester? As a helpless proxy? You knew they would come?\\
'''Bolas:''' I knew the girl would come. The other-[[LampshadeHanging I had to play the odds]].
* GeniusLoci: A relatively common concept mechanically are lands that can temporarily turn into creatures, and this is usually how it manifests in story. The best example of the trope is probably Vitu-Ghazi, the guildhall of the Selesnya Conclave. It tends to get animated OnceAnEpisode during Ravnica storylines.
* GentleGiant: Karn, a huge golem made of pure silver who dedicated himself to pacifism. And not [[TechnicalPacifist technical pacifism]], either. Many green creatures can also be considered gentle [[UnstoppableRage unless you offend them or their controllers.]]
* GenreShift: The first two sets of the Zendikar block are about adventure and survival on a Death World. The last set turns it into a CosmicHorrorStory.
* GiantEnemyCrab: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26627 Giant Crab]] (stepping on a boat), [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=234429 Fortress Crab]] (cottage-sized) and especially [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=34927 Wormfang Crab]] (walking over mountains). [[StoneWall They're all defense.]]
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Many sets could be described as this.
** After ''Arabian Nights'', ''Antiquities'' attempted to tell an original story.
** The "pseudo-block" of ''Legends'', ''The Dark'', and ''Fallen Empires''. ''Legends'' was awesome, but neither ''The Dark'' nor ''Fallen Empires'' continued its mechanics, or its storyline, and were instead sequels to ''Antiquities''.
** ''Homelands'' is between ''Ice Age'' and ''Alliances'', both with an Ice Age theme. ''Homelands'', as far as we can tell, is about [[ElvesVsDwarves fairies and paladins vs. vampires]]. ''Homelands'' also didn't have ''Ice Age'''s mechanics, and is generally considered [[TheScrappy the worst set ever]].
** ''Weatherlight'' kicked off a five-year story arc.
** ''Portal: Three Kingdoms'' introduced a lot of new mechanics, [[CallARabbitASmeerp referred to flying as horsemanship]], is incompatible with other ''Portal'' sets, and...was actually enjoyable.
** The Urza's Block, while high in power and storyline, was a prequel, leaving you wondering what happened to the crew of the ''Weatherlight''.
** ''Nemesis'' introduced a new ability out of nowhere (Fading) and focused on Rath. Actually, every ''Masques'' block set focused on a different plane. Mercadia seemed to come out of nowhere too.
** ''Apocalypse'' is the only set in the ''Invasion'' block to focus entirely on ''enemy'' colors (white/black, white/red, blue/red, blue/green, black/green).
* GiantSpider: The ''[[http://magiccards.info/m10/en/175.html smallest]]'' spiders tend to be large enough to win a fight with an average goblin. [[http://magiccards.info/dpa/en/67.html Medium-sized]] spiders can tangle with elephants. [[http://magiccards.info/rav/en/168.html The biggest ones]] can eat dragons for breakfast.
* GlacialApocalypse: The Ice Age was a period of Dominaria's history started in consequence of the Brothers' War, when Urza ignited the Golgothian Sylex, devastating a continent, annihilating Mishra's forces, igniting his own Planeswalker spark, and ushering in a period of plunging global temperatures. The period immediately following the blast, referred to as the Dark, saw four centuries of slowly cooling temperatures, dwindling resources and shrinking civilizations, while zealotry and despots rose to power to lead increasingly lost and frightened people. The Dark culminated in the Ice Age, which lasted over 2000 years and saw the gradual collapse of much of civilization as glaciers covered great swathes of land and primordial monsters such as dragons, mammoths and dinosaurs roamed the world. When the Ice Age eventually ended, however, the ensuing Thaw also proved incredibly destructive -- the rise in warmth and humidity fostered widespread plagues, while floods and rising sea levels spread further devastation and caused the continent of Terisiare to fragment into an archipelago of islands.
* AGodAmI: Several of them. Some are just delusional about their supposed godhood, and some are very much ''not'' delusional about their ''actual'' godhood...and are total jerks about it.
* GodIsDead: A major part of the Planeswalker Samut's backstory was witnessing Nicol Bolas murder all but one of her home plane's gods, then [[AlienInvasion drag their zombified corpses to Ravnica]].
* AGodIsYou: Flavor-wise, the players take the roles of planeswalkers.
* GodOfTheDead:
** Among the gods of Theros, two of the trope's basic archetypes -- the god of ''death'' and the god of ''the dead'' -- are filled by one of the Black-aligned gods.
*** [[https://scryfall.com/card/ths/85/erebos-god-of-the-dead Erebos, God of the Dead]], serves as a Hades analogue and rules over the shades of the departed in the Underworld. A bleak and forbidding figure, Erebos permits nobody to avoid or escape from his realm, and uses his impossibly long whip Mastix to snare reluctant souls and pull them into death.
*** [[https://scryfall.com/card/jou/146/athreos-god-of-passage Athreos, God of Passage]], is derived from Charon and serves as the primary ferryman of Theros's dead, carrying them across the Five Rivers that Ring the World and into the Underworld that lies beyond.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/khm/92/egon-god-of-death-throne-of-death Egon, God of Death]], is Kaldheim's ruler of the dead. He rules Istfell, the realm of the unworthy dead, although his power over the local spirits is limited by their eternal apathy.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The Gods of Theros have strength directly tied to the number of worshipers the god has. In an example of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, the Gods cease to be creatures[[note]]but continue to be indestructible legendary enchantments[[/note]] when their controller does not have enough devotion to that god's color(-s)[[note]]Measured by the amount of colored mana symbols among permanents that player controls.[[/note]]
* GodzillaThreshold: Let's be honest, nearly everyone's threshold involves Nicol Bolas in some way but it was seen no better than in Ravnica during ''War of the Spark''. Keep in mind, Ravnica's entire existence is based off of the 10 guilds essentially being in an endless Cold War with each other, always on the brink of an outright war. Nicol Bolas arriving and kicking off his massive plan had the Ravnica Guilds actually drop everything and outright join forces, something that would've been unheard of in normal circumstances.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: Averted; all five colors of mana have had heroes and villains.
* GothicHorror: Innistrad was a top-down design based around this. Zombies, Werewolves, and Vampires are all vying for control against the last bastions of humanity.
* GotTheWholeWorldInMyHand: [[http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/File:NewPhyrexiaPreview.jpg This artwork]] for ''New Phyrexia'' shows Mirrodin in the clutches of Phyrexia.
* GotVolunteered: PlayedForLaughs when groups of goblins need a volunteer, as seen in the flavor text of [[http://magiccards.info/st/en/103.html Goblin Hero]] and [[http://magiccards.info/evg/en/49.html Skirk Drill Sergeant]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: Yawgmoth is the GreaterScopeVillain to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21328 Volrath's]] BigBad in the Rath saga.
* TheGrimReaper:
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/grn/77/midnight-reaper Midnight Reaper]] is a Zombie Knight who wields a scythe, wears a concealing black hood, rides a black horse, and deals damage to you when a creature dies in exchange for letting you draw a card.
--->''No one welcomes his visit, yet all must grant him tribute.''
** Spectres are usually depicted as hooded and robed figures, often carrying either scythes or staffs or polearms of some kind. [[https://scryfall.com/card/eld/102/reaper-of-night-harvest-fear Reaper of Night]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/74/scythe-specter Scythe Specter]] lean especially hard into this imagery.
[[/folder]]
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A]]
* AbnormalAmmo: [[https://scryfall.com/card/evg/33/akki-coalflinger Akki Coalflinger]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/114/fodder-launch Fodder Launch]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/tmp/298/mogg-cannon Mogg Cannon]]... the examples are endless (and mostly goblin-based). [[https://scryfall.com/card/pls/59/deadapult Deadapult]] is a zombie-based version that's no less hilarious.
* AbortedArc: The pre-revision comics were leading up to the Planeswalker War, but the comic line was canceled before it could be published. Some of the characters involved, like Freyalise, Taysir, and Tevesh Szat have turned up later in modern storylines, but details on what actually went down are extraordinarily vague.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Those in the city-world of Ravnica (they're Ravnica's swamps/black mana sources). They're so vast, they're called the "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=289320 Undercity]]".
* ActuallyADoombot:
** Volrath's Shapeshifter in ''Stronghold'', as represented on the card [[https://scryfall.com/card/sth/14/scapegoat Scapegoat]].
** In ''Literature/TestOfMetal'', after [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=217826 Tezzeret]] [[spoiler:curb-stomps Nicol Bolas]], it's revealed that [[spoiler:it was just a disposable simulacrum of Bolas the whole time]] -- and that [[spoiler:Tezzeret knew that all along. [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow And, possibly, that Bolas knew that Tezzeret knew]]]].
* AfterTheEnd: Several times. There's the downfall of the Thran, the sylex blast that started the Ice Age, the two giant meteor strikes at Madara, the ''Apocalypse'' set, the coming of Karona, and finally, ''Time Spiral'' block, which is the closest to the trope. (Of course, it's ''Time Spiral'', so it's before, after, and three seconds to the left of the end.)
* AIIsACrapshoot: Memnarch, a golem left behind by the creator of Mirrodin to guard the plane, goes insane and tries to become a planeswalker itself. Though this is at least partly due to external influence.
* AlienInvasion: The subject of three separate sets/blocks.
** Phyrexia attempted to invade Dominaria in the aptly named ''Invasion'' block. Phyrexia is another plane rather than another planet, but AlienInvaders is a spot-on description of its role. They even have giant spaceships with laser beams and everything (seen fighting Urza's PoweredArmor on [[https://scryfall.com/card/inv/165/searing-rays Searing Rays]], for example). This attempt would fail, but later sets taking place on Dominaria show that the scars never really healed.
** The Phyrexians would try again in ''Scars of Mirrodin,'' this time striking from the plane's hollow core rather than from another plane. The success of this invasion is best described by the names of the set in the block. In order, they are ''Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, [[TheBadGuyWins New Phyrexia]].''
** Nicol Bolas and his army of Eternal zombies from Amonkhet invading [[CityPlanet Ravnica]] would be the focus of ''War of the Spark.'' [[SealedEvilInACan It didn't go well for Bolas]].
* AlienSky:
** Mirrodin has four (later five) moons -- which shine and thus are also interchangeably called suns. There's no indication that it has any ''normal'' suns, either...
** Also, Dominaria has two moons (although one of them got blown up), and Esper's night sky is covered in a grid, making it appear like a huge star chart.
** Esper gets even screwier when it rejoins the other 4 shards. Many cards from Alara Reborn feature skies with visible boundaries from what was once one plane and what was another.
* AlternateUniverse: ''Planar Chaos'', which shows a hundred alternate Dominarias, such as one where bad guy [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29947 Braids, Cabal Minion]] becomes helpful [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=124316 Braids, Conjurer Adept]]. Some of these cards were genuine "What If?" questions, others were "This card, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=122338 Prodigal Pyromancer]] is functionally identical to this classic of a different color, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=108906 Prodigal Sorcerer]], so serves as a retcon of what the card should have been printed as from the beginning had the design philosophy of the game been consistent from the start." (Eventually some, like the Pyromancer, would be reprinted in the new color. The timeline straightening itself out as it were.)
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: A historically somewhat varied creature type, but often hexproof -- that is, unable to be targeted by opponents' spells -- and capable of regenerating health. The hexproof part is so iconic (though primarily through the efforts of [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/146/troll-ascetic Troll Ascetic]]) that before it was known officially as "hexproof", the ability "cannot be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control" was often known by the FanNickname "troll shroud" (after the keyword "shroud" for "cannot be the target of spells or abilities [controlled by anyone]"). In terms of flavor, modern trolls have settled fairly consistently into being big, Green, primitive and ogreish humanoids. Notable breaks from this pattern do occur from time to time, however.
** Ravnica's trolls are lanky, horned and often reduced to living on the fringes of society.
** Mirrodin's trolls are green-skinned, entirely noseless and have sheets of copper growing from their bodies (which is admittedly part for the course for living things on Mirrodin). They're native to the bio-metallic forest of the Tangle, and were already near extinct by the rise of New Phyrexia -- [[https://scryfall.com/card/mb1/1358/thrun-the-last-trollonly one troll was left in the whole plane]].
** The trolls in the dark fairytale plane of Shadowmoor are short, spiny, long-nosed beings and referred to as "trow" -- an old folkloric name for trolls.
** Eldraine, being inspired by the Arthurian mythos and the tales of the Brothers Grimm, features [[https://scryfall.com/card/eld/84/clackbridge-troll two]] [[https://scryfall.com/card/eld/327/gluttonous-troll trolls]] directly derived from the troll-under-the-bridge archetype.
* AlternativeCalendar: Dominaria has one -- denoted as AR, for "Agrivian Reckoning," with year 1 being the birth of Urza and Mishra.
* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The universe represented in ''Theros'' is based on Greek mythology and history, filled with hydras, gorgons, and centaurs. With that in mind, players might be forgiven for thinking that Vulpine Goliath ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an enormous fox]]) was an AssPull, but [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teumessian_fox it's not]].
** ''Amonkhet'' has the [[https://scryfall.com/card/akh/180/prowling-serpopard Prowling Serpopard]], a "Cat Snake" which looks and sounds like something out of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', but is an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpopard actual Egyptian mythological animal]].
* AlwaysNight: The plane of Shadowmoor is always night, while its foil Lorwyn is always noon. Granted, they're actually the same world, just on different sides of a reeeeeeallllllly long day-night cycle, but the change also warps the inhabitants' personalities and the environment, so they're counted as separate areas.
** The Alara shard of [[DeathWorld Grixis]], with its lack of white mana, is also like this.
* AmbiguouslyGay:
** Ertai and the Prodigal Sorcerer got a ''lot'' of this joke in ''[=InQuest Gamer=]''.
** The way that Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane interact give a lot of fans a Korrasami vibe, taken to an even further extreme during ''War of the Spark''.
* AmericanGothicCouple: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4558 Orcish Settlers]]
* AnachronismStew: Various minor examples. Any given expansion encompasses some length of time, so sometimes you have cards in the same set representing notably distant points in the timeline.
* AncientGrome: ''Almost'' averted in ''Theros'', where the set's designers consciously decided to focus on Greek rather than Roman influences. A single Roman influence slipped through, however, i.e. [[https://scryfall.com/card/bng/135/raised-by-wolves Raised by Wolves]].
* AndManGrewProud: In the ''Zendikar'' expansion, the Eldrazi once terrorized the plane, but were [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] long ago. Now, they're remembered only in scraps of legends, and their true nature has been forgotten. Many believe them to be ancient gods who created the plane. Of course, in ''Rise of the Eldrazi'', they get unsealed...
* AnimalBattleAura: ''Rise of the Eldrazi'''s [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=o%3A%22totem+armor%22+e%3Arise&v=scan&s=cname Totem Armor auras.]]
* AnimatingArtifact: Karn is a silver golem who was created by Urza and Barrin as a sentient being capable of feel emotions and decide on his own destiny. He also has the power to animate other artifacts like him (he's considerated a Legendary Artifact Creature in-game), as seen in "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=karn%2C+silver+golem Karn, Silver Golem]]" card, that allows the player to convert its artifacts into artifact creatures until the end of the turn.
* AnotherDimension: The multiverse is ''full'' of them.
* AntiHero: Urza dug up more than one ArtifactOfDoom, fought a war with his own brother that ended in a FantasticNuke destroying an entire continent, personally destroyed an entire plane (which, to be fair, was already ruined by a PyrricVictory against Phyrexians), and had about one healthy interpersonal relationship in his entire life. And he is ''unquestionably'' the good guy in his conflict against Yawgmoth.
* AntiVillain: Apparently, the Red Phyrexians of ''New Phyrexia''. They are hardly good or kind people, but the influence of red mana remains strong, rendering them capable of independent thought, creativity, and even mercy and compassion. They even seem opposed to what they see as cruelty, which would include a lot of the actions other New Phyrexian factions have taken.
* AppropriatedAppellation: Tezzeret was never given a name by his father. Growing up in the slums, his peers gave him the nickname "Tezzeret", meaning "a concealed, improvised weapon" after he won a fight with a bully by shivving him. The name stuck.
* ApocalypseHow:
** Spirit patrons raging over the kidnapping of one of their own? [[spoiler:Kamigawa.]]
** A reconverting of five mini-planes into one singular plane? [[spoiler:Shards of Alara.]]
** An unraveling of the strands of time? [[spoiler:Time Spiral.]]
** How about the world changing every fifty or so years to a "dark" version? [[spoiler:Lorwyn turns into Shadowmoor.]]
** {{Eldritch Abomination}}s emerge from their prisons into a living world that hates their alien magic? [[spoiler:Zendikar.]]
** A relentless evil that is essentially [[TheCorruption The Corruption]] personified and has been growing and festering in the core of the Plane ever since its creation finally amasses enough military power to launch a full-scale invasion headed by the twisted, corrupted husks of the Plane's own legendary heroes from ages past [[spoiler:up to ''and including'' the Plane's creator himself]]? [[spoiler:Scars of Mirrodin.]]
** Humans being exterminated en masse by zombies, werewolves, vampires, demons, possessed trees, and other unspeakable horrors of the night? [[spoiler:Innistrad.]]
** Ten Guilds being forced to run a a maze in an attempt to either bring peace or destroy them all? [[spoiler:Return to Ravnica.]]
** An EldritchAbomination too powerful for even the world's greatest heroes only spares the world because the stars are not yet right? [[spoiler:Shadows over Innistrad.]]
** An interdimensional invader setting off a plan put into motion decades before, almost completely annihilating a culture and bringing about a zombie apocalypse? [[spoiler:Amonkhet.]]
** Artificially-created planes are often inherently unstable, usually due to their mana being unbalanced in favor of their planeswalker's creators alignment, and tend to collapse.
* ArabianNightsDays: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The very first expansion was called "Arabian Nights"]], and focused on themes and creatures drawn from Middle Eastern history and mythology such as djinn, Ali Baba and Sinbad's travels -- and a lot of desert.
* ArcWelding: No matter how isolated a particular storyline may seem... it ''will'' be tied into all the rest.
* ArcWords: Each time a Planeswalker joins the Gatewatch, they get a card called "Oath of ..." to commemorate it. The flavor text of each Oath includes the phrase, "I will keep watch."
** "I will keep watch," is also [[spoiler: Gideon Jura's epitaph]].
* ArrowsOnFire: Occasionally seen in artwork, e.g. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=151149 Fire at Will]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386481 Arrow Storm]].
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83471 Braids takes up petty extortion as a hobby.]]
* TheArtifact: If you can believe it, the ''spells'' in a game called ''Magic.'' In the early days of the game, all Enchantments, Sorceries, Instants and Interrupts represented magical spells that the player as a Planeswalker would unleash in battle against their opponent, even the more esoteric ones like [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2373 Wrath of God]]. However as time went on and in particular as the game became more story-focused (especially around about the time of ''Weatherlight'' and the start of the original Rath arc), spells started to include things that were more like story events or personal actions by the characters, such as [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4573 Debt of Loyalty]] or [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4750 Broken Fall]]. As this became more common, the actual "magical" part of your spells became somewhat of an afterthought.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212635 Mirari]], an artifact of vast power that warps and mutates reality around itself and drives the wielder to insanity.
** Even worse is the Chained Veil, an artifact Liliana Vess picked up on behalf of one of her demon shareholders. The veil elevates her power to incredible levels. Not quite that of an Oldwalker, but certainly enough to mop the floor with her demons. Unfortunately, it takes a large toll on the wielder, and tries to corrupt them.
* ArtificialHuman:
** The Metathran. Most were basically [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15157 emotionless]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=19096 loyal soldiers]], but their commanders, Thaddeus and Agnate, were granted sentience to make them more effective planners and leaders.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129803 Phyrexian Newts]] [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse as spies]].
** The gods of Theros fashioned the artificial human Calix to pursue Elspeth Tirel after she escaped from the underworld. When she attempted to Planeswalk away, Calix followed, [[AchievementsInIgnorance even though created beings can't develope a Planeswalker Spark]] in official canon.
* ArtificialLimbs: Commonly seen in both Esper and Phyrexia. Notably, the planeswalker [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=174912 Tezzeret]]'s right arm.
%%* ArtInitiatesLife: They don't call [[httphttps://scryfall.com/card/ons/89/ixidor-reality-sculptor Ixidor]] "Reality ''Sculptor''" for nothing.
* AscendedFanboy: When we first met Sarkhan, he was a dragon fanboy looking for a dragon who deserved his adorations (and who got a severe case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor when he met Nicol Bolas). Nowadays he's free from Bolas, mastered draconic magic to the point he can freely shapeshift into one of them, found a new dragon to be loyal to in Ugin, [[spoiler:saving Ugin's life from Bolas by altering the past, and doing so he saved the dragons of his own world from extinction and made them its rulers instead]].
-->'''Sarkhan Vol:''' Now I fly with ''dragons!''
* AscendedMeme:
** The legend of a player who shredded their (now-expensive, but then worth maybe a dollar) [[https://scryfall.com/card/2ed/236/chaos-orb Chaos Orb]] card to win a game (it destroys any card it touches when dropped onto the field) eventually got acknowledged in the [[BizarroEpisode Unglued]] set as [[https://scryfall.com/card/ugl/72/chaos-confetti Chaos Confetti]], which instructs the player to shred the card for the same effect.
** The art and flavor text on [[https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/54/totally-lost Totally Lost]] depicts a tiny, frightened homunculus named Fblthp. The community took such a shining to him that he got [[http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ur/236 his own short story]] and has appeared in the background of two other cards, [[https://scryfall.com/card/m15/79/statute-of-denial Statute of Denial]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/389/unquestioned-authority Unquestioned Authority]] (he's still lost). Her received his own card in ''War of the Spark'': [[https://scryfall.com/card/war/50/fblthp-the-lost Fblthp, the Lost]].
** A more storyline related one: In ''Oath of the Gatewatch'''s storyline, the finishing blow in the Eldrazi came when Nissa (a Green mage) casts a spell that helps her channel a massive amount of mana from her own lifeforce and from Zendikar itself into Chandra (a Red mage), who then casts a powerful fire spell. Any old-time fan will recognize this as the oldest combo in the history of ''Magic'' -- [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=144 Channel]] + [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197 Fireball]].
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Planeswalkers start off as normal people, and some traumatic or life-changing event causes their Planeswalker spark to ignite and immediately whoosh them away.
* {{Atlantis}}: The original Merfolk lord was [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106642 Lord of Atlantis]]. Later, "Atlantis" was {{Retcon}}ned to be a human corruption of the proper Merfolk name, "[[http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Etlan_Shiis Etlan Shiis]]".
* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: Rather frequently used. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=97207]]
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Common result of green pump spells, e.g. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=8822 Might of Oaks]]'s giant squirrel.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:B]]
* BackFromTheBrink: Humanity in Innistrad was on the verge of extinction after years of Avacyn's absence, with towns being destroyed by undead, werewolf packs, and worse, with humanity desperately struggling against the dark. Once Avacyn was released from the Helvault, she joins them in a war to take back what was lost. [[spoiler:However, with the introduction of ''Shadows over Innistrad'', the humans now have to contend with [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/gaze-blank-and-pitiless-2016-03-09 Avacyn]] ''herself'']].
* BackFromTheDead: The Planeswalker Elspeth was betrayed by Theros' sun god, Heliod, and consigned to the plane's underworld. She refused to accept this fate, and fought her way out; the Saga card ''Elspeth Conquers Death'' depicts her struggle. Fittingly, her title changes from ''Elspeth, Sun's Champion,'' to ''Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis,'' as a result of Heliod's betrayal.
* BackToBackBadasses:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=153301 Thistledown Duo]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=153963 Safehold Duo]] from ''Shadowmoor''.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205110 Palace Guard]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=97208 Tibor and Lumia]]
** Brothers Yamazaki ([[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78968 left]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=85106 right]]). Also a gameplay example since two copies are allowed on the battlefield simultaneously despite being legendary creatures and each supports the other.
* BadassCrew: The crew of the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26480 Skyship Weatherlight]].
* BadassFamily:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=80256 Seshiro the Annointed]] from Kamigawa and his legendary family, among which are the shaman [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=80254 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro]] and the warrior [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78989 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro]].
** Also, the aforementioned Umezawas, Toshiro and his descendant, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201234 Tetsuo Umezawa]], one of the only, if not the only, person to defeat Magic's resident BigBad [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=178020 Nicol Bolas]] one on one. Then again, Bolas only really became a GodModeSue [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=260991 after he returned]] in Time Spiral.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106398 Kamahl]] and his sister [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=36451 Jeska]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=398453 The Nalaar family]] isn't too shabby either -- Pia and Kiran are good at killing things with exploding robots, and their daughter Chandra is one of Magic's burniest planeswalkers.
* BadassNormal: Yawgmoth started out as one of these.
* BadassPreacher: Most white creatures of the Cleric subtype (black Clerics fall under SinisterMinister). In particular, the priests of Innistrad join the fight against the dark forces.
* TheBadGuyWins:
** The Phyrexian Guys Win in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' block. Mirrodin is now New Phyrexia.
** Nicol Bolas may be driven off, but he may have already completed what he needed to do at the plane. By the time Ajani forced him away from Alara, Bolas had already regained his strength with the Conflux fusing the shards of Alara. Hour of Devastation reveals Bolas as the God-Pharaoh of Amonkhet and has a cycle of cards depicting the defeat of the Gatewatch at his hands.
** After the Gatewatch cast the spell that imprisoned Emrakul in Innistrad's moon, everyone that was directly involved ends up with the uneasy feeling that Emrakul not only allowed it to happen, but [[AllAccordingToPlan that she gotten exactly what she wanted all along]].
* BadMoonRising:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bad%20Moon Bad Moon]] gives a +1/+1 boost to black creatures.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83008 Blood Moon]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2615 Chaos Moon]] screw with everyone's mana.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222933 Moonmist]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=241981 Full Moon's Rise]] from Innistrad. The former transforms all Werewolves while the latter makes them more powerful.
** The main plot point with the set titled [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/announcing-eldritch-moon-2016-02-08 Eldritch Moon]], again based in Innistrad.
* BaldWomen:
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=32224 Cabal Surgeon]] card features this trope.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc]] represents an evil, insanely creepy one.
* BalefulPolymorph: Seen on a variety of cards, typically blue. Examples include [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=157401 Snakeform]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129015 Pongify]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=126212 Ovinize]], and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5822 Fowl Play]], among others. The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=108863 Ovinomancer]] is a wizard that does this to other creatures.
* BarbarianTribe: The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220495 Gathans]] are the result of a super soldier program gone awry upon the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Keldon Barbarian tribes]], resulting in a group of [[AlwaysChaoticEvil batshit barely sentient marauding murder machines]].
* BarrierMaiden:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=141822 Ashling]] in the ''Lorwyn'' storyline was supposed to take this role and help the flamekin transition from Lorwyn to Shadowmoor. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=151137 She didn't go along with it, though]].
** Kyodai, the girl you may know as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74644 That Which Was Taken]], [[spoiler:fused with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=84359 Michiko Konda]], her spirit-sister,]] to become the new protector and embodiment of the barrier between the mortal world and the spirit world.
* BaseOnWheels: The Abzan of Tarkir are [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386480 fans of this trope]].
* BashBrothers:
** The Shadowmoor set had a cycle of [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=e%3Ashadowmoor+duo&v=scan&s=cname five pairs of Bash Brothers]]. There's also [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205110 Palace Guard]], and the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78968 Brothers Yamazaki]] (who are literal brothers as well).
** Also [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=198167 these channelers]], who like the aforementioned Shadowmoor cycle, have two separate class types listed to reflect both participants.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205957 Ajani Goldmane's]] unique brand of magic is the ability to bring out and manifest the best and strongest aspects of another person in physical form. His preferred brother in arms? His elder brother, Jazal Goldmane. Together they were said to be unstoppable.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=179585 Marisi's Twinclaws]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207929 Your choice!]]
* BatmanGambit: In his mission to destroy Phyrexia, Urza deliberately included Tevesh Szat, a TokenEvilTeammate, in his group because he [[BatmanGambit correctly predicted]] that said teammate would betray them. Urza had invented a way to turn a soul into a FantasticNuke, but in order to use it, he would need to destroy the soul of a fellow planeswalker, and Tevesh Szat's inevitable betrayal would give Urza an excuse to kill him and power the bomb.
* BatOutOfHell: The game has a few bats of the huge and monstrous variety under the domain of Black, such as the [[https://scryfall.com/card/gpt/102/blind-hunter Blind Hunter]] and the predatory [[https://scryfall.com/card/dst/45/grimclaw-bats Grimclaw Bats]].
%%* BatteringRam: [[https://scryfall.com/card/5ed/353/battering-ram Battering Ram]].
%%* BattleBoomerang: [[https://scryfall.com/card/wwk/129/razor-boomerang Somewhat underwhelming unfortunately]].
* BattleCry: Used by the Mirrans in ''Mirrodin Besieged''. They have a surprisingly deep variety of battle cries --[[http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/129 Doug Beyer discusses it in great detail in his weekly column]].
%%* BazaarOfTheBizarre:
%%** [[https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/321/high-market Mercadia's famous markets]].
%%** [[https://scryfall.com/card/mir/55/bazaar-of-wonders Bazaar of Wonders]]
%%** [[https://scryfall.com/card/vma/294/bazaar-of-baghdad Bazaar of Baghdad]].
* BeamOWar: Seen in the art of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=179544 Double Negative]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23102 Mages' Contest]].
* TheBeastmaster: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247323 Garruk Wildspeaker]] is the most prominent example, although there are others, usually one-of green rares like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1534 Master of the Wild Hunt]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6142 Keeper of the Beasts]], or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193638 Beastbreaker of Bala Ged]].
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: [[ANaziByAnyOtherName If Lorwyn's elves are to be believed...]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: ''Judgment'''s [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=wish+e%3Ajudgment&v=card&s=cname cycle of Wish cards]], the flavor text of each of which is a variant on the following: "He wished for X, but not for the [RequiredSecondaryPower] to [effectively use] it. ''Future Sight'' adds [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136157 one more]].
* BeeBeeGun: [[https://scryfall.com/card/dde/28/hornet-cannon Hornet Cannon]], a gun that shoots robotic wasps.
* BeePeople:
** Slivers behave like a hive species, led by the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5233 Sliver Queen]].
** The faeries of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block are all born from [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=152063 Oona, Queen of the Fae]].
* BerserkerTears: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21293 Tears of Rage]]. Also, they're on fire.
* {{BFS}}:
** Favored by [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106398 Kamahl]], [[http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/wallpapers/WP_DvDAkroma_2560x1600.jpg Akroma]], and many others.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193517 Ogre's Cleaver]].
* BigBad: There are two big contenders and several others:
** The mechanical demon-god Yawgmoth in pretty much all of the storylines from ''Antiquities'' to the end of the ''Weatherlight'' saga was arguably the most powerful being in TheMultiverse. And even long after his death, his creation, Phyrexia, lives on, and is now infecting Mirrodin.
** Much later, during the ''Alara'' storyline, the elder dragon [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=266154 Nicol Bolas]] (a character from the game's early days) stepped in as the foremost threat to Dominia's stability.
** There have been a few other, smaller Big Bads in between, including the vampire overlord [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159208 Baron Sengir]] in ''Homelands'', the golem wizard [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220532 Memnarch]] in ''Mirrodin'' (himself a victim of the Phyrexian taint), and the corrupt human king [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda]] in ''Kamigawa''.
** It is clear that the EldritchAbomination gods Eldrazi awakened during the Zendikar are actually a menace threatening the entire multiverse. Gideon, Sorin and others gathered allies to bring the fight to them.
* BigBeautifulWoman: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193629 Deathless Angel]] is noticibly chubby, but, being an angel, is still portrayed as quite lovely.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Giant bugs are a staple creature type, especially in green and black.
* BigDamnHeroes: A few examples throughout the series. Notably Chandra in Oath of the Gatewatch. The card Impeccable Timing seems to represent this happening too.
** War of the Spark has a cycle of cards calling back to the Defeat cycle from Amonkhet. The Defeats illustrated Bolas stomping the Gatewatch. War of the Spark's version are Triumphs, showing the same five Planeswalkers rallying against and ultimately defeating Bolas' army of Eternals.
* BigGood: On Innistrad, humans looked to the archangel [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=239961 Avacyn, Angel of Hope]] for deliverance from the horrors of their plane... but she's not the Big Good. That would be her creator.[[spoiler:.. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368535 Sorin]] [[BigWhat Markov?!]]]]
* BioAugmentation:
** The primary goal and identity of the Simic guild of Ravnica is artificially engineering superior life-forms. Their guild mechanic is "Graft", which is flavored as attaching cytoplast modifications to creatures.
** And in the Gatecrash set, Simic's new shtick is the "evolve" mechanic, in which their creatures augment ''themselves,'' ostensibly by mimicking the favorable traits of other creatures they spend enough time around.
** In an odd example, Phyrexia biologically augments non-biological creatures.
** The schtick of the {{Kaiju}} plane of Ikoria is that this happens spontaneously to Ikorian wildlife. This results in mishmashes like Wolf Bears, Dinosaur Hippos, and Bird Serpents. The Mutate mechanic (essentially smashing two creatures into one) is meant to depict this in process.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The ending to the ''Godsend'' novel is a pretty cruel one. Xenagos is slain and order returned to Theros, but Elspeth is killed and winds up in the Underworld, Heliod gets away with everything, and Elspeth's sacrifice turns out to be senseless as it condemns a Returned Daxos to a shadow of life searching endlessly for her.]]
** Likewise the Shadows Over Innistrad block. [[spoiler:Sure, the Gatewatch managed to seal away Emrakul, but at the cost of any protection the plane had with the unmaking of Avacyn, 2/3 of the lesser angels destroyed or fallen, leaving Sigarda as the only Angelic defender truly on the side of humanity...or what's left of them, too, after Emrakul's corruption mutated a large portion into nightmarish beasts. And Emrakul's sealing? Aided by Emrakul herself, leading one to wonder whether it was really a win at all...]]
** There's also the end of the Amonkhet block. [[spoiler:Many people from Naktamun survived Bolas's invasion and have been led to safety by Hazoret and other warriors, but Naktamun is completely destroyed, Bolas got the army of undead warriors he wanted (along with two god-level monsters), Hazoret is crippled, and the survivors have to now survive in an extremely hostile desert environment crawling with undead and other monstrosities.]]
** Finally, the end of the War of the Spark. [[spoiler:Nicol Bolas is finally defeated, being held in the Meditation Realm for all eternity with Ugin watching over him. But many lives were lost and Gideon ultimately sacrificed his own life to save Liliana's. While Liliana was instrumental in Bolas' defeat, the Gatewatch believe she ultimately pulled a HeelFaceTurn too late and are out to kill her for her culpability in leading the Dreadhorde.]]
* BizarroWorld: Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, to each other.
* BlackCloak: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190575 Warlocks]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136205 wraiths]] are no strangers to dramatic cowls, and ''Magic'''s [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=183418 specters]] are literally nothing but black cloaks. And there's lots more.
* TheBlank:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=139692 Changeling magic]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=143388 can accomplish this]].
** [[TheVirus Phyresis]] tends to end in [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=204958 this]].
** If a Zendikar Vampire drains someone completely of blood, they turn into a Null; [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=180415 basically a zombie without eyes or a nose]].
** Any of the brood lineage of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=261321 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre]] will have a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194908 pristine]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193607 white skull-like plate]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193535 over their faces]]. This is different from the other two eldrazi lineages because Ulamog's sires tend to have heads (whereas [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193632 Kozilek's]] lineage have eyes, just elsewhere on the body, and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452 Emrakul's]] lineage all resemble sentient mushrooms).
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373500 Ashiok]] is missing upper half of their face.
* BlindedByTheLight: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205219 Blinding Mage]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83007 Blinding Angel]], etc.
* BlindObedience: The Orzhov Syndicate expects this of its followers. Exemplified in the [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=Blind+Obedience&v=card&s=cname card]] of the same name.
* BloodLust:
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201272 card]] with the same name.
** Vampires, naturally. Also, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=44206 Blood Celebrant]].
%%** The Bloodthirst mechanic.%%What of it?
* BloodMagic:
** A common theme in black, especially among vampires. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=238330 Sorin Markov]], for example, is a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368509 notable user]] of blood magic.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=44206 Blood Celebrant]] uses blood to manipulate mana.
** Others include [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74616 Call for Blood]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190398 Malakir Bloodwitch]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89102 Blood Funnel]].
* BloodsuckingBats: The [[https://scryfall.com/card/a25/80/bloodhunter-bat Bloodhunter Bat]] hunts and retrieves blood for its undead masters, represented by its ability removing life from your opponent and giving it to you.
-->''It returns eager to share the feast of blood and gore with its ghoulish master.''
* BlowYouAway: Wind spells are common in both green and blue.
* BodyHorror:
** What many mage-created Chimeras and Phyrexians endure.
** Some of the card art features really gruesome stuff, particularly on black cards.
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212635 Mirari]] does this to the peoples of the Otarian continent.
* BoldExplorer / WalkingtheEarth: What essentially describes most planeswalkers out there regardless of [[ItsPersonal personal missions]] or [[GreyandGrayMorality motives]]. Its a bit [[http://magic.wizards.com/story/planeswalkers/elspeth-tirel sad]] depending on how you look at it.
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: A stock white spell. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3487 Divine Retribution]] invokes it by name, but there's lots.
* BookEnds: In the Uncharted Realms stories chronicling Sarkhan's adventure in the Khans of Tarkir block, Sarkhan first meets the original Narset when she alights upon a rock in the desert while he's searching for Ugin. The new Narset then first meets Sarkhan when he lands on a rock in the tundra while she's looking for Ugin.
%%* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Certain spell cards do this to creatures.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Used in several card flavors, such as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=226754 Markov Patrician]].
* BreathWeapon:
** Comes in standard [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=226588 Firebreathing]] enchantment as well as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220473 Dragon Breath]]. Naturally many dragons already come stocked with Firebreathing.
** The five broods of Tarkir's dragons have a different one each: Dromoka's laser breath, Ojutai's ice, Silumgar's poison, Kolaghan's lightning and Atarka's fire.
* BrickJoke: [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/homesick-2016-08-29 The first story of the Kaladesh block]] mentions Liliana [[ItAmusedMe messing with Jace]] by putting some of his books in the wrong place. Toward the end of the story, the Gatewatch's vedalken guest mentions seventeen books being on the wrong shelves in the library.
* BrokenAngel:
** Black-aligned angels, frequently -- see [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1437 Fallen Angel]].
** With the coming of [[LightIsNotGood White Phyrexia]], there's more: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=218083 Chancellor of the Annex]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=233059 Shattered Angel]] that are quite literally broken.
** The introduction of the ''Shadows Over Innistrad'' block leaves us with [[spoiler:Avacyn and most of her army of angels becoming corrupted and launching an inquisition to "purify" the world through wreaking havoc and burning and killing the humans they were supposed to protect and serve. It only gets [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=414305 worse]] in Eldritch Moon]].
* BrutishBulls: Many [[https://magiccards.info/query?q=t%3Aox&v=scan&s=cname ox]] creatures are printed with the ability "haste", which causes them to attack the moment they're put into play rather than waiting a turn like most creatures do. Even those that don't tend to have references to fictional bulls' typical bad tempers in their flavor text:
-->''The good news is it's vegetarian. The bad news is it just doesn't like you.'' -- flavor text for " [[https://magiccards.info/po2/en/70.html Ironhoof Ox]]"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:C]]
* CallBack:
** The art of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366353 Thespian's Stage]] depicts a battle between actors portraying [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89101 Agrus Kos]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247390 Szadek]]--they're performing a play about the plot of the original ''Literature/RavnicaCycle''!
** The ''Time Spiral'' expansion is full of throwbacks to older cards: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=382841 Ancestral Recall]] become [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189244 Ancestral Vision]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370419 Blood Moon]] became [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136152 Magus of the Moon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193871 Akroma, Angel of Wrath]] became [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=279712 Akroma's Memorial]] etc.
** Starting with ''Commander 2014,'' most sets that take place outside the current story arc (typically Core Sets, supplemental sets, and Commander products) typically has at least a nod to some character that was previously referenced but never got their own card. These callbacks can go pretty deep. For example, Rebbec was a minor character in 1994's ''Antiquities,'' the third set ever, and got her first Legendary Creature card in 2020's ''Commander Legends''.
* CanisMajor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146095 Hollowborn Barghest]] is a very big dog. That's not dry grass it's standing in -- those are ''trees''.
* CanonImmigrant:
** The [[LizardFolk Viashino]] were originally introduced in the TieInNovel ''The Prodigal Sorcerer'' by Mark Sumner. The designers of the game liked them so much that they worked them into the game.
** Jodah was created for Jeff Grubb's novelizations of ''The Dark'' and ''Ice Age'' cycles. He'd eventually return for ''Literature/TimeSpiral'' block and get [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=124482 his own Avenger]]. Now that the game's returned to Dominaria, he's gotten [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=443086 a proper card.]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=238329 Gideon Jura]] was created for the story ''The Purifying Flame'', and, like the Viashino, was well-liked by the developers enough to make him into a card.
* TheCaptain: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=209157 Gerrard Capashen]]; although [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244665 Sisay]] was the actual skipper of the ''Weatherlight'', Gerrard filled the trope.
* CaptainErsatz:
** The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ddf/46/serrated-biskelion Serrated Biskelion]] is a [[Film/{{Screamers}} Type I Screamer]].
** Relatively common in newer worlds trying to evoke a certain feel. For example, ''Throne of Eldraine'' has a cycle of five Legendary Artifacts meant to reinforce it's Arthurian theme. They correlate to the disparate but decidedly "medieval England" elements of the Round Table, the queen's magic mirror, the Holy Grail, Excalibur, and Stone Henge.
** The set [=BattleBond=] introduces the Azra, who bear more than a little resemblance to [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons the Tieflings]].
* CatFolk: A number of cat races, all typed as regular cats, appear in the game. Most examples, such as the [[https://scryfall.com/card/jou/16/leonin-iconoclast Leonin]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/ddh/4/wild-nacatl Nacatl]], are in Green, White or both and tend to be {{Noble Savage}}s, {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s or some combination of both. The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ktk/193/rakshasa-vizier Rakshasa]] of Tarkir, typed as cat demons, are instead ancient and cunning schemers.
* CatlikeDragons:
** Nekorus are a species of dragons with catlike features (or cats with draconic features) native to the continent of Jamuraa, in the world of Dominaria. The only nekoru to receive a card, [[https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Wasitora Wasitora]], resembles a stout-bodied panther with dragon wings, and is typed as both a Cat and a Dragon. Their name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for "cat" and "dragon".
** In its flavor text, the original [[https://scryfall.com/card/lea/174/shivan-dragon Shivan Dragon]] is described as "often tormenting its victims much like a cat plays with a mouse".
** Even though they don't officially have the Cat creature type, the dragons of the Indian-themed steampunk-inspired plane of Kaladesh, [[https://scryfall.com/card/kld/130/skyship-stalker Skyship Stalker]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/aer/81/freejam-regent Freejam Regent]], have tiger-like facial features, black stripes on orange-red scales and tiger-like claws on the ends of their vaguely feline limbs.
* CavalryOfTheDead: In "Eldritch Moon", the zombie army Liliana raises turns out to be the only effective resistance against the hordes of Eldrazi-twisted horrors; being fundamentally mindless, the zombies NoSell Emrakul's insanity-inducing influence and successfully go all ZombieApocalypse on the horrifyingly transformed "living".
* CelestialBody: The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373524 Gods of Theros]] and their servants.
* CerebusRollercoaster: The tone of each block or even individual expansions in it may vary a lot.
* ChainLightning: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201126 Is a card]].
* ChainmailBikini: Seen in some of the art. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214064 Hero of Bladehold]] is the most recent example.
* CharacterAlignment:[[invoked]]
** The Color Wheel serves as an alignment system, as it helps indicate what characters value and how they tend to relate to characters of other colors. Though mind you, this system doesn't make any ''moral'' judgments; the traits associated with colors can be directed to either good or evil.
** The ''Ravnica'' and ''Theros'' sourcebooks for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gave ''D&D'' alignments to characters from those planes.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136044 Ghostfire]]. Colorless damage basically got the reaction "hmm, interesting..." but it didn't become important until the Zendikar block, where it turned out [[spoiler:Ghostfire was part of the key to the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197881 lock holding in the Eldrazi]].]]
** The same block's [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136151 Steamflogger Boss]] was openly admitted as created solely as a joke -- "assemble" had no in-game meaning and there were no Contraptions. Years later Unstable supplied them. (Possibly subverted, in that Contraptions are all silver-bordered cards and thus not tournament legal anyway.)
** The ''Tarkir'' block is a TimeTravel-heavy block in which the first and third sets are {{Alternate Timeline}}s of each other. Consequently, when ''Khans of Tarkir'' gave us a card of [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=savage%20punch a man punching a bear]], there was immediate expectation that ''Dragons of Tarkir'' would give us the same man punching a dragon, which [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=442159 it did]]. (Players waiting for the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] of a bear punching a ''dragon'' had to wait for a silver-bordered [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=439507 Unstable card]].)
* TheChessmaster:
** Urza. The man spent 5,000 years influencing global politics in anticipation of a demonic invasion. In the end, Yawgmoth did him in, but he managed to save the world anyway.
** Yawgmoth himself was a skillful chessmaster, even managing to OutGambit Urza's original plan.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=260991 Nicol Bolas]] plots to regain the powers he lost in the Mending, causing plane-wide catastrophes in the process.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4849 Starke of Rath]].
** The Dimir of Ravnica.
* CitadelCity: The ''Shadowmoor'' block has Kithkin settlements built like these.
** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386649 clan Abzan]] of Tarkir made endurance and defense their modus operandi.
* CityInABottle:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=904 Is a card.]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2906 Feroz's Ban]] is an ''entire world'' in a bottle!
%%* CityPlanet: Ravnica.
* ClassicalCyclops: Cyclopes appear somewhat uncommonly in a number of sets. They're strongly tied to Red, the color of chaos, emotion and aggressiveness, and share an in-universe niche with ogres as violent, man-eating and often barely sapient brutes. In appearance, they vary from just big, one-eyed humans to hulking, one-eyed ogres to barely humanoid colossi with faces dominated by grotesquely enlarged orbs and gaping maws bristling with fangs.
** Dominaria hosts cyclopes in the Ekundu Mountains. They're noted to have a very simple language -- their tongue has only fifty words, [[LanguageEqualsThought ten of which mean "kill"]].
** Ravnica's cyclopes, also called monoclons, are often employed by Red-aligned guilds. Most live among the [[BarbarianTribe Gruul Clans]], but they also serve as fortress guards in the Boros Legion and in the Izzet League as heavy lifters. Some, such as the Gruul leader Borborygmos, have horns.
** In Theros, a plane heavily based off of Myth/ClassicalMythology, cyclopes are animalistic, aggressive brutes who live in the wilderness and attack anyone they come across. They don't feel pain, and are capable of razing villages on their own. [[https://scryfall.com/card/bng/113/thunder-brute Some]] even [[ShockAndAwe wield lightning]].
%%* ClassicalMovieVampire: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159208 Baron Sengir]]. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227061 Bloodline Keeper]] and other vampires of Innistrad.%%ZCE
* ClingyCostume: Some cards, such as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2787 Living Armor]], feature this.
* ClockPunk: Toss in some magic and this Kaladesh. The block features Pia and Chandra Nalaar, red-aligned rebels, fighting against the blue and white Consulate, a governing body imposing order at the cost of individual freedoms.
* LesCollaborateurs: Nicol Bolas's many minions in the Alara block surreptitiously working to spread paranoia and anarchy throughout their worlds -- the xenophobic [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175047 Knights of the Skyward Eye]] from Bant, expansionist Seekers of Carmot from Esper, corrupt merchant [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185811 Gwafa Hazid]], and barbarian shaman [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185810 Rakka Mar]]. As of ''Mirrodin Besieged'', he's got [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214065 Tezzeret]] helping him out in Mirrodin.
** Happens again in ''Guilds of Ravnica'' and ''Ravnica Allegiance.'' Bolas recruited five Planeswalkers (Ravnica natives Ral Zarek, Domri Race, and Vraska, plus outsiders Dovin Baan and Kaya) and manipulated circumstances so that they became the leaders of their Guilds. The idea was that these moles would intentionally destabilize Ravnica in advance of Bolas' AlienInvasion plan, which was the plot of ''War of the Spark''.
* CoolShades: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2070 Sunglasses of Urza]]. Style and utility combined.
* CoolVersusAwesome: The conflict of the plane of Ixalan can roughly be summed up as "the Conquistadors, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent but they're vampires]], vs the Aztecs, [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs but they control and worship giant dinosaurs]]. Oh, and there's also {{Pirate}}s!"
* CorporateDragon: The [[CityPlanet city-plane]] of Ravnica has this trope in the MadScientist dragon Niv-Mizzet, parun and guild-master of the Izzet League. Said guild holds a monopoly on the civic works of the city, including water supply systems, sewers, heating systems, boilers, and roadways.
* CorpseLand: The plane of Grixis is inhabited by dead things, undead things, demons, and the occasional desperate necromancer. Due to a lack of green or white mana, it's incapable of producing new life.
* CorruptChurch:
** The Orzhov guild.
** The [[spoiler:[[http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Church_of_Avacyn Church of Avacyn]]]] as of ''Shadows Over Innistrad''.
* TheCorruption: Phyrexia. This is especially played up in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' storyline.
* CosmicHorrorStory: ''Shadows Over Innistrad'', in contrast to GothicHorror setting of the first ''Innistrad''. In ''Shadows'', we have cultists summoning EldritchAbomination, which eventually [[spoiler:is sealed because it, Emrakul, chooses to seal itself without being defeated]].
* CrackInTheSky:
** In the Time Spiral cycle, the central {{conflict}} revolves around giant time rifts that have appeared all over Dominaria and are sucking the mana out of the land and threatening the total destruction of the space-time continuum.
** In the Ravnica cycle, a dimensional rift above the Utvara region is a main plot point. (It turns out to be related to Dominaria's time rifts, too.)
** The trope appears on a variety of individual cards, such as [[https://scryfall.com/card/inv/227/aether-rift AEther Rift]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/arb/129/wargate Wargate]].
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Kaladesh and ''especially'' Amonkhet.
** Kaladesh is a beautiful, colorful world full of creativity and inventions...ruled by a tyrannical Consulate that quashes any ideas it doesn't approve of.
** Amonkhet is a world where all the necessities of life are handled by an endless number of reanimated mummies, leaving the living populace to focus on the competitive Trials. The Trials, it turns out, are BloodSport that's often played to the death, pushes combatants to unhealthy limits (one of the block's mechanics, "exert" causes attacking creatures to exhaust themselves so thoroughly that they need an extra turn to recover), and is ultimately done in the service of BigBad Nicol Bolas.
* CreativeSterility: Tezzeret, by his own admission, is lousy at coming up with his own plans and inventions. He prefers to adapt and improve on others' designs.
* CreepyCave:
** "The Caves of Koilos" is a land showing the view from the mouth of a craggy desert cave. It drains one life from the player each time it is tapped.
** "Cave of Temptation" shows a cracked, rather yonic rock formation around the entrance to a pitch-black cave.
** "Bloodfell Caves" shows a jagged, unsettling red- and black-toned cave.
* CreepyCrows: [[https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/115/crow-of-dark-tidings Crow of Dark Tidings]], which forces you to discard two of your cards when it enters play and whose art shows it staring balefully at the viewer.
-->"Well, this can't be a good sign."
* CreepyDoll: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220378 Creepy Doll]]. It's creepy. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment And a doll.]]
* {{Crossover}}:
** Of a sorts. In 2018, Wizards of the Coast published ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica'', a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons sourcebook for Ravnica as a D&D setting. This marks the first time the multiverses of D&D and MTG connect. They've since continued with a ''Theros'' sourcebook, and ''Magic'' has returned the favor with a ''D&D'' card set.
** The ''Ikoria'' set, tying into its "monster" theme, included cards of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and other monsters from that franchise.
* CurbstompBattle:
** In the trailer for ''[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Duels Of The Planeswalkers 2012]]'', Gideon Jura exposits that he picked a fight with Nicol Bolas... the ''planeswalker'' Nicol Bolas. He gets summarily crushed.
** In the story for the Amomkhet block he tried to take Bolas on with a team of other Planeswalkers (the Gatewatch). It went about as well, with a cycle of cards called "x's Defeat" commemorating the event.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:D]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: While Black often tends to produce villains, it has at least a few protagonists under it who don't fit on the worse levels of anti-hero, like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74431 Toshiro Umezawa]] and Xantcha. Some other protagonists are also half Black, half any other colour, like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369011 Teysa Karlov]] (Black/White).
* DarkWorld:
** Lorwyn is based on the idyllic fairy tales of the British Isles. Shadowmoor is its dark reflection, based on the darker and more ominous aspects of folklore.
** Grixis is a world of eternal night full of undead due to its lack of white mana.
* DatingCatwoman: Ashnod and Tawnos are in love, despite being generals on the opposing sides of the Brothers' War.
* DealWithTheDevil: Liliana Vess made a pact with four demons that provide her with power and eternal youth. It's represented on the card Demonic Pact.
** Unfortunately, abuse of this pact forced her to undergo a (temporary) FaceHeelTurn in ''War of the Spark.''
* DeathOfTheOldGods: ''Amonkhet'' finds the Gatewatch on a plane reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, watched over by five gods, with everyone mentioning a "God-Pharoah." ''Hour of Devastation'' has the God-Pharoah, none other than BigBad Nicol Bolas, arrive and murder four of the five gods, then abscond with their zombified corpses.
* DeathWorld:
** Zendikar, even ''before'' {{Eldritch Abomination}}s started coming out of the woodwork.
** Grixis, quite literally, due to the abundance of black mana (and the absence of green and white) making more life impossible, and death (and undeath) the only option.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Appears to be how every organization in the High City of Paliano works. Small wonder that King Brago arranged to continue his reign as a spirit.
* DemonicPossession:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197016 Oni Possession]] is a good straight example.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1036 Artifact Possession]] is a variant where the demon [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin possesses an artifact]] instead of a person.
* DenserAndWackier: Creep and seep related to the game's complexity of both rules and backstory ebb and flow, resulting in a number of sets hitting this trope.
** ''Time Spiral'' block was so dense that it led to a change in philosophy on card design for a decade after.
** ''Unglued,'' ''Unhinged,'' ''Unstable,'' and ''Unsanctioned'' are all joke sets not legal for tournament play. All of them dial up the wacky, but ''Unstable'' and ''Unsanctioned'' deliberately feature cards too complicated for normal sets as well (for example, ''Unstable'' has Rules Lawyer, a card that makes state-based effects stop working. State-based effects cover things as basic as letting lethally damaged creature die).
** Starting with ''Commander 2014,'' most sets that aren't storyline blocks (Core sets, supplemental sets, and preconstructed decks) will feature characters and places from all throughout the Magic canon, even if they were destroyed aeons ago (in-universe or in the real world). For example, 2020's ''Commander Legends'' supplemental set contains depictions of characters like Rebbec, a Thran woman last relevant to the plot in ''Antiquities,'' printed in 1994 and taking place more than 9000 in-universe years before ''Zendikar Rising,'' the most recent regular set at the time of printing.
* {{Diary}}: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215079 Venser has one.]]
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: In the ''Core 2019'' storyline, [[spoiler:Yasova and her grandchildren, armed with Ugin's memories, are able to not only save Ugin's hedron tomb from Nicol Bolas but also trigger enough fears of his brother's tenacity to ''scare Bolas away from Tarkir for good.'']]
* DieOrFly: Severe physical or emotional trauma is the catalyst to a Planeswalker igniting their latent spark.
** Old school, demi-God Planeswalker examples:
*** Nicol Bolas ascended as he fought the other four Elder Dragons, allowing him to win their war and become the last surviving one.
*** Sorin Markov's grandfather Edgar turned him into a vampire (the second one to ever exist in Innistrad with Edgar being the first) with a BloodMagic-fueled demonic pact. The ritual was so traumatizing that it ignited Sorin's spark.
*** Urza Planeswalker, at the climax of the Brothers War, sets off the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1007 Golgothian Sylex]], which sends all of Dominaria into a centuries-long ice age. His latent spark activated, allowing him [[AGodAmI to survive the blast]].
*** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244667 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir]], while studying mind magic at the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=8883 Tolarian Academy]], fell into a bubble of slow time that was filled with fire and [[AndIMustScream got trapped there]]. The intense damage activated his spark half-way, so that he was able to survive until another student could get him out with water from a different slow-time bubble. She became his favorite companion (in the Series/DoctorWho sense) when they found out that, because of the two different slow-time bubbles, she aged at a dramatically slower rate than a normal human, causing her to fall under the rules of ReallySevenHundredYearsOld.
** Post-mending ascensions:
*** [[PlayingWithFire Chandra Nalaar]]: Chandra's family is a smuggler of aether on Kaladesh, and during Chandra's first job as a smuggler, she's caught. Instead of allowing herself be captured, she obliterates a Consul factory, forcing the Nalaars to flee. [[spoiler:While Chandra is away from the village they take residence in, Consul forces arrive looking for her. They set fire to the village, killing her father, blaming it on Chandra's pyromancy and taking her into custody. Just as they are about to behead her,]] her Spark ignites at the last possible second.
*** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=174983 Sarkhan Vol]] was born onto a plane that had been a haven for dragons, which had been hunted to extinction by the local warlords, much to the dismay of the local shamans that worshiped them as the ultimate predators. Drifting back and forth between tribes and armies, searching for a purpose, making a name for himself in the process as a powerful warrior, Sarkhan enters into a trance after slaying an opposing commander, where he encounters the spirit of a dragon. So, inspired by the beast's majesty, he ascends killing his and the opposite army in the process.
*** Tezzeret, after being repeatedly denied entry into the Seekers of Carmot, breaks into their vault to prove his worth by crafting his own [[{{Unobtanium}} Etherium]]. He discovers the vault to be empty and that the Seekers' claims of the ability to craft new Etherium was a lie. Their plane is depleted, and they are merely recycling old Etherium. Caught in the act by the guards, they catch him and beat him half to death. The thought of his entire life's work being for naught was so harrowing that he ascended on the spot.
*** Ajani Goldmane's spark ignited when he discovered his brother Jazal had been murdered.
*** Elspeth Tirel's spark ignited when she was just thirteen under unknown circumstances. [[DeathWorld In a Phyrexian death camp.]]
*** Gideon Jura, known as Kytheon Iora on his home plane of Theros, was chosen by the god Heliod to be his champion. His first task was to kill a titan of Erebos, a task which Kytheon and his Irregulars accomplished flawlessly. However, when Erebos himself appeared to witness his titan's destruction, Kytheon attacked Erebos in a fit of arrogance, and had all his Irregulars killed in retaliation. Wracked with guilt and devastation over his hubris, Kytheon's spark ignited.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: A common trait in Theros, where heroes have to prove how badasses they are. Especially green ones.
* DontThinkFeel: A core principle of red and green philosophy, and the main reason why they both hate blue.
* DownerEnding: More than a few of the sets end on a less-than-happy note.
** The Theros block ends with [[spoiler:Elspeth Tirel being killed by the god Heliod after deciding no champion should know more than her god, in front of her friend Ajani Goldmane, and being sent to the underworld.]]
** The "Scars of Mirrodin" block ends with Mirrodin conquered by Phyrexia and renamed despite the Mirrodin inhabitants valiantly resisting.
** The first Zendikar block ends with Zendikar in the middle of being destroyed by the Eldrazi. The subsequent block resolves this, turning it into a BittersweetEnding as a lot of the damage to Zendikar cannot be undone quickly.
** The Amonkhet block ends with [[spoiler:Nicol Bolas revealing himself as the God-Pharaoh, all the gods of Amonkhet except Hazoret either enslaved or dead, and the Gatewatch defeated.]]
* TheDragon: Gix to Yawgmoth, Greven ''il''-Vec to Volrath and later [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5106 Crovax]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5146 Ertai]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc]] to Crovax, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106427 Phage]] (before [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29943 Cabal Patriarch]] died), Malil to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220532 Memnarch]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247179 Malfegor]] to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=260991 Nicol Bolas]] (literally in the last case).
* DragonHoard: A handful of dragons are based on this trope, including [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15770 Covetous Dragon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205235 Hoarding Dragon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366244 Hellkite Tyrant]], and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215074 Hoard-Smelter Dragon]].
* DragonRider: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193482 Kargan Dragonlord]].
* DragonsVersusKnights: ''[[https://scryfall.com/sets/ddg Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons]]'', one of several premade decks meant to be played by two players and themed around two opposing factions, pits a deck composed primarily of Knights against on centered around Dragons.
* DreamStealer: Lorwyn's Faeries [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=145969 harvest]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=158774 the dreams]] of the plane's other residents on behalf of their [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244668 Queen]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373500 Ashiok]] turns people's dreams and aspirations into their worst nightmares.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/hou/63 Dreamstealer]]. The name is not for nothing.
* DressedToPlunder: [[http://magiccards.info/lg/en/291.html Ramirez DePietro]] has the standard eyepatch.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368964 Goblin Test Pilot]] swerves around so arbitrarily that ''something'' is going to get hit, it's just that nobody knows ''what''.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Poor Ertai. First he was our resident smug snarker, and then the plot for ''Nemesis'' turned him into a more heroic character and even put him into a tragic love story... and then immediately turned him into a horrible bad guy and later killed him off in the most embarrassing way possible. Granted, his original personality did lend itself to a FaceHeelTurn, but the way it came about and the extremes it went to were just weird.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=9856 Barrin]] knows how to leave an [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23098 impression]].
* DurableDeathtrap: Zendikar being the [[PlanetOfHats adventure world]], there's tons of this.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:E]]
* EasterEgg: Many, many different cards, but especially in comedy sets like ''Unglued'' and nostalgia sets like ''Time Spiral''. See also Alternate Universe, above.
* EldritchAbomination
** Yawgmoth is darn close.
** And of course, there's also a card actually named [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Cosmic%20Horror Cosmic Horror]].
** There's also [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=121155 Dark Depths]], which releases [[http://magiccards.info/extra/token/coldsnap/marit-lage.html Marit Lage]] when the ice finally melts. The art is reminiscent of Cthulhu lurking underneath the sea.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=188962 Nemesis of Reason]] fits perfectly.
** The Eldrazi, who are so ancient they predate the whole "colored mana" deal, and destroy your opponents just by moving in their general direction. [[http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/396 This preview]] of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193632 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth]] has the unique distinction of [[InterfaceScrew destroying the web page it appears on]], and the flavor text of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193398 Eldrazi Monument]] reads: "Gods don't die. [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos They merely slumber]]."
* TheEmperor: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78594 Daimyo Konda of Kamigawa]].
* EmptyPilesOfClothing: Seen on [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=157401 Snakeform]].
* EndlessDaytime: There are several places where this is the case.
** The plane of Mirrodin has five suns. There is night time, but it's brief and exaggerated. Basically the only reason this is worth mentioning is the flavor text on [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194105 Grasp of Darkness.]]
** The plane of Serra is bathed in the light of a perpetual sunrise.
** In Lorwyn "the sun never quite dips below the horizon".
** Amonkhet has, in addition to a more normal sun, a second sun that's associated with a prophecy. That sun descends much slower, and in the living memory of the people of the world, it has never set.
* EndlessWinter: This is used to enforce the curse on Kaldheim's Kannah clan. When Kannah try to venture past the Adelgard, they are followed by bitter winter conditions and constant snowfall that never abate, which quickly make travel impossible and force them to head back into the woods. The site where they believe the were first cursed, the Cursed Tree at the Aldergard's edge, is covered in snow throughout the year.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: A particularly common trope.
** At one point, after several sets revolving around ever-bigger wars and cataclysms, the designers moved the action to Lorwyn, a new, rural-themed setting that scaled down the conflict: tribes battling neighboring tribes over land and prestige. Months later, yup, the whole world was wrecked. As in, the sun stopped shining (and few remember that it ever did!). So much for that.
** The ''Time Spiral'' block's plot was based around the idea that Dominaria had gone through so many apocalypses that the plane's reality itself was falling apart.
* EnemyToAllLivingThings:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106427 Phage the Untouchable]]. And we do mean ''all''. Any organic material she touches instantly rots away, save for silk. She wears only silk clothing and sleeps on a bed of stone.
** The Eldrazi suck the life and mana out of everything they touch, leaving only Wastes behind them.
* EnemyCivilWar: There are some major tensions growing between and even ''within'' the five Phyrexian factions that conquered Mirrodin, and the liberation of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214350 Karn]] might just be the spark needed to ignite a full-out war among the New Phyrexians. [[spoiler:Ultimately took place offscreen. Elesh Norn is now effectively the Mother of Machines.]]
* EnemyMine:
** The ''Invasion'' block centered mechanically on multicolored cards. This was illustrated story wise as all the disparate cultures of Dominaria banding together against the common threat of Phyrexia. The third set, ''Apocalypse'', undermines how desperate the situation has gotten by featuring ''enemy'' colors working together, a sight previously unseen in the game. This represents forces who find each other anathema working together.
** The coming of the Eldrazi has all the races and even the land of Zendikar uniting to fight a common threat.
** Geth joining [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=48386 Glissa]] against Memnarch in the first Mirrodin cycle. They go back to hating each other in New Phyrexia.
** ''War of the Spark'' showed all ten Guilds of Ravnica working together with both each other and the Guildless in order to repel the invading army.
* EnemyWithin:
** Karn and the Phyrexian corruption in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' block. His inner struggles are depicted on [[http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/24.html Distant Memories]].
** The Weaver King is an EnemyWithin for Venser in ''Planar Chaos''.
* EnergyBeing: The malevolent Weaver King in ''Planar Chaos''.
* EngagementChallenge: In ''The Brothers' War'', the Warlord of Kroog, searching for a powerful warrior to wed his daughter, decrees that whoever can move a giant jade statue from one end of the palace courtyard to the other will win the hand of Princess Kayla. [[GadgeteerGenius Urza]] completes the challenge by building an automaton to lift the statue.
* EunuchsAreEvil: The expansion ''Portal: Three Kingdoms'' has a card called Corrupt Eunuchs.
* [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Antiheroism Has Standards]]: One of Urza's first picks for his strike team of Planeswalkers to go to Phyrexia was a Planeswalker named Parcher. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Urza]] [[{{Irony}} rejected him for being insane.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: There are few, including several completely made-up species.
** There are [[http://magiccards.info/cs/en/101.html two]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2581 cards]] featuring Allosaurs, which are sometimes used as mounts.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74235 Old Fogey]]...
** Mirrodin's native lion people train [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45960 Pterodactyls as mounts]].
** Several fictional dinosaurs exist, including the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=130634 Imperiosaur]] and the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5562 Shivan Raptor]]. More fantastic creatures based on dinosaurs include the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45861 Putrid Raptor]],[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=397434 Magmasaur]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=279859 Pygmy Pyrosaur]].
** With the release of ''Ixalan,'' dinosaurs are an entire tribe of creatures.
** Interestingly, the dinosaurs of different planes illustrate the popular perception of dinosaurs at the time they were introduced. Dominarian dinosaurs (created in the late 1990s) look straight out of ''Film/JurassicPark.'' Ixalan dinosaurs (from 2016) are feathered jungle dwellers.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou:
** Jund (from ''Shards of Alara'').
** ''Kamigawa'' is a battle fought between humans and kami, who, due to the nature of Shinto, live in ''everything''.
** And taken UpToEleven in ''Zendikar'', where the "Roil" dramatically changes the landscape every few months, weird gravity wells cause floating islands of grassy plain that can drop at any moment, and the creatures that are not killed by the landscape are as hard as your average video game mid-boss. ''Rise of the Eldrazi'' then kicked that eleven up to twelve, because the usually unpleasant wildlife is being supplanted by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
** In ''Scars of Mirrodin'', the entire plane is being taken over by the Phyrexian Glistening Oil. Metal becomes flesh, flesh becomes metal, and havoc and chaos ensue.
** In ''Innistrad'', humanity is the ''bottom'' of the food chain. Werewolves and vampires see humans as tasty snacks, ghoulcallers and stichers raise the dead for kicks, geists torment humans out of rage (or because they don't know any better), monsters lurk in the woods to snatch up the unwary, and demons and devils lurk in the shadows, corrupting humanity to gain a foothold into their world.
* EvilChancellor: In ''Time Streams'', Radiant's war minister turns out to be a Phyrexian spy, secretly working to subvert and corrupt Serra's Realm.
** The Consulate that rules Kaladesh is pretty much entirely populated by these. Special mention goes to the Planeswalker Dovin Baan, who was willing to work with BigBad Nicol Bolas to export his personal brand of fascism to Ravnica.
* EvilCounterpart:
** All over the place; look at [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?id=274 White Knight]] versus [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=50 Black Knight]], for example. The entire Shadowmoor set, as a dark mirror of the earlier Lorwyn set, features many opposite counterparts to specific cards from the Lorwyn block.
** To go with its theme of Mirrodin vs Phyrexia, Mirrodin Besieged has evil counterparts within the same set ([[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213802 Mirran Crusader]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213724 Phyrexian Crusader]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213781 Peace Strider]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221561 Pierce Strider]]), and also evil counterparts to cards from the last time we went to Mirrodin ([[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191312 Darksteel Colossus]] to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221563 Blightsteel Colossus]]).
** The Northern Paladin and Southern Paladin have the Western Paladin and Eastern Paladin.
** The [[http://magiccards.info/ne/en/135.html Predator]] can be considered this to the [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=weatherlight&v=card&s=cname Weatherlight]].
** One of the terminologies of the game is "Mirrored Pair". These tend to be two cards who are polar opposites of each other. Generally they tend to be this trope (although certain examples, like Hero of the Bladehold and Hero of Oxidda Ridge who are both "good", are exceptions).
* EvilDetectingDog: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=79217 Good dog.]]
* EvilTwin: The card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Evil%20Twin Evil Twin]], naturally. With the explicit ability to kill the good twin.
* EvilSorcerer:
** Lim-Dul, Heidar of Rimewind, Lord Dralnu, Memnarch, the Cabal Patriarch. Zur the Enchanter was definitely ''dangerous'', but only self-absorbed, not outright evil.
** Lesser Evil Sorcs include the Disciple of the Vault, one of the clerics who makes the Ravager Affinity deck into a fast-killing machine.
* ExoticEntree: [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=Feast+of+the+Unicorn&v=card&s=cname Feast of the Unicorn]].
* ExpansionPackWorld:
** Since the story details a different plane almost every block, the addition of new planes could be considered this to Dominia. Then again, in a theoretically infinite multiverse, it's justified.
** Dominaria was also subject to this. While nowadays, the story just focuses on a new plane when a new theme for the setting is needed, as early as ''Fallen Empires'' and as recent as ''Odyssey'' while new continents would just be added to Dominaria to fit this purpose. This leads to Dominaria being so [[FantasyKitchenSink diverse]] -- while most other planes are only themed around a single culture or gimmick, Dominaria has typical MedievalEuropeanFantasy fare in Terisiare, Aerona, and Corondor; Reniassance-era technology in Caliman; wartorn {{Vestigial Empire}}s in Sarpadia; ''[[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian Conan]]''-esque HeroicFantasy in Otaria; a Western Africa analogue in Jamuraa; and a {{Wutai}} in Madara, among others. And that isn't taking into consideration the areas from Rath that were fused with Dominaria in the Overlay.
* ExplosiveStupidity: As with most other kinds of stupidity, a common goblin strategy. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=383257 Goblin Kaboomist]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=229952 Goblin Bangchuckers]] are among the ''least'' moronic goblin ordnance technicians, in that they at least have a 50/50 chance of surviving what they're doing (although with a tribal buff out you can make that 100%).
%%* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Very frequently. [[http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/features/feature86_kozilek.jpg Kozilek]] and his lineage are the kings of this trope.
* EyeScream: The art on [[https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/77/deathmark Deathmark]] shows a person's pupil leaking out of their eye.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F]]
* FaceHeelTurn:
** Garruk Wildspeaker is cursed by Liliana Vess during ''Innistrad,'' changing him from a nature loving beastmaster into a deranged predatory focused hunting other Planeswalkers.
** Liliana gets a taste of this trope herself when some LoopholeAbuse with her DealWithTheDevil led to her working for BigBad Nicol Bolas during ''War of the Spark.''
* TheFairFolk: Lorwyn's Fae are nasty little {{troll}}s who delight in making mischief and playing mean-spirited tricks on the plane's other races and [[DreamStealer harvest their dreams]].
* FairyDragons: Ikoria is home to [[https://scryfall.com/card/iko/211/sprite-dragon sprite dragons]], small creatures with iridescent insect wings that are typed as both Faeries and Dragons. Their flavor text, however, does not imply behavior any more pleasant than their bigger cousins'.
-->''Size of a pixie, rage of a hellkite.''
* FallenHero: Garruk Wildspeaker, the original iconic green Planeswalker. A conflict with [[TokenEvilTeammate Liliana Vess]] saw him cursed by an ArtifactOfDoom called the Chain Veil. This led him to spiral down into madness, becoming more hostile and aggressive. The storyline culminated in the ''Magic 2015'' Core Set, which saw him tracking and murdering other Planeswalkers. The set's prerelease included an oversized Garruk card meant to be played against '''as if it were an entire deck,''' in addition to his black/green card, "Garruk, Apex Predator." M15's catchphrase tied into this storyline: "Hunt bigger game."
** The curse was finally broken in ''Throne of Eldraine,'' turning him back to his old monogreen self.
* {{Fanboy}}: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370600 Young Pyromancer]] has necklace with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205958 Chandra]] on it.
* FantasticNuke:
** The [[http://magiccards.info/aq/en/16.html Golgothian Sylex]] was, functionally, a nuclear weapon. Its detonation ended the Brothers' War, vaporized Argoth, caused the Ice Age, and tore a ''literal'' hole in reality.
*** The Apocalypse Chime is implied to work the same way as the Golgothian Sylex, though primed to destroy Ulgrotha instead of Dominaria. It's flavor text implies that it's never been used, but one of the plane's more nihilistic villains considers ringing it from time to time.
** Yawgmoth repeatedly dropped "stonecharger" bombs on his enemies in ''The Thran'' which not only resembled nuclear weapons in their destruction, but also caused the same sort of horror real nukes inspire in at least one of the characters.
* FantasticVermin: Kaladesh is home to anteater-like {{gr|ipingAboutGremlins}}emlins, who feed on ether and eagerly use their sharp, strong claws and acidic drool to dig through rock and metal to get to it. As Kaladesh's technology is heavily reliant on ether for power, they're thus the most destructive pests on the plane and can cause immense damage to the plane's infrastructure. In a twist, however, the gremlins' feeding plays an important part in recycling ether back into the environment, and the extermination of gremlin colonies is causing real harm to Kaladesh's planer ecosystem.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Plenty, usually separated by Plane.
** Kamigawa is [[{{Wutai}} feudal Japan]].
** Naya (from Shards of Alara) is {{Mayincatec}}.
** The Ice Age block is [[HornyVikings Vikings]].
** Jamuraa (from Dominaria) is Africa.
** Rabiah is [[ArabianNightsDays Arabia]].
** Innistrad is [[{{Uberwald}} Renaissance Germany and Eastern Europe]].
** Theros is UsefulNotes/AncientGreece.
** Ravnica is a culture mishmash with Slavic/Eastern Europe/Renaissance flavor.
*** Orzhov and Selesnya resemble the Catholic Church and the Inquisition, with the Selesnya having a bit of Mayaincatec flavor.
*** Boros and Azorius have crusader and templar flavor with Slavic themed names.
*** Rakdos are cultists mixed with crazy hooligans and wandering gypsies.
*** Dimir has a bit like Transylvanian vampire flavor and classic rogues.
*** Gruul have a mix of different tribal concepts from American Indians to Eastern barbarians.
*** Izzet are modern-day mad scientists and engineers mixed with Renaissance outfits and pomp.
*** Simic are less flashy and more like overachieving scientists with some megalomania.
*** The Golgari are medieval style lower class and serfs, with some Greek and Egyptian undertones (Vraska, and Jarad kind of looks like a pharoah, and they love insects and scarabs and mummification).
** Tarkir is most of Asia, minus China and Japan.
*** The Temur Clans are Siberian natives living in Tibet-like mountains.
*** The Mardu Horde are the Mongol Horde.
*** The Jeskai Way are Tibetan Buddhists.
*** The Sultai Broods are vaguely Vietnamese with a sprinkle of Sumeria. The Sultai have the fewest human members, and so are a bit murky in their ties to real world cultures, although their [[SnakePeople nagas]] and [[CatFolk rakshasas]] suggest ties to India. Some have suggested the Khmer Empire as a cultural inspiration.
*** The Abzan Houses are the tribes and empires of Asia Minor and Persia.
** Kaladesh is a steampunk (well, "aetherpunk" India, with modern rather than mythological sensibilities.
** Amonkhet takes the majority of its inspiration from Ancient Egypt, albeit influenced by the philosophies and aesthetics of Nicol Bolas.
** Ixalan takes inspiration from the Age of Discovery, with the three main civilizations shown off in the block (the Sun Empire, the River Heralds, and the Torrezonians) being inspired by the Aztec Triple Alliance and Incan Empire, the Mayan Empire, and Medieval Spain, respectively.
** Eldraine takes its inspiration from European fairy tales, giving it a very Arthurian England feel. The Planeswalker prince and princess Will and Rowan Kenrith even have Scottish accents in their voice lines on ''Magic Arena.''
* FantasyKitchenSink: With some 11,000 different cards, it's hard to think of any fantasy concepts that aren't represented.
** ''Throne of Eldraine'' in particular reads like a checklist of every Grimm's and Disney fairy tale.
* FeatheredDragons: While most dragons in the game have the typical membranous wings, a few sport birdlike wings instead.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/frf/1/ugin-the-spirit-dragon Ugin]], a spirt dragon planeswalker, has feathered wings to reflect his ethereal, enlightened nature.
** Two of the five draconic broods of Tarkir, which are incidentally born from magical tempests created as a side effect of Ugin's presence there, sport feathered wings.
*** Dragons of the bloodline of [[https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/219/dragonlord-ojutai Ojutai]], which are spawned from magic storms in high, cold mountains and breathe [[AnIcePerson ice]], have great white-and-red birdlike wings, in addition to tufts of feathers on their legs. They're enlightened, monk-like and seemingly the most civilized of the dragons that rule Tarkir, but under the surface they're condescending, racist and arrogant, and just as tyrannical as the rest of Tarkir's draconic rulers.
*** Dragons of the brood of [[https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/218/dragonlord-kolaghan Kolaghan]], which are instead spawned on the windswept steppes and breathe [[ShockAndAwe lightning]], have two sets of narrow birdlike wings. They're masters of the skies, and the fastest and most skilled fliers among Tarkir's dragons.
* FemaleAngelMaleDemon:
** Nearly all of Magic's angels are visibly female. The overwhelming majority of Magic's demons are so freakish looking that the idea of having a gender seems a moot point. Though the gender of either is largely a moot point, as, being magically created avatars of their respective colors, neither reproduce in the traditional manner. This gets averted in Amonkhet, however, which contains wholly masculine angels to help reinforce that it's "different".
** Razia and Serra play this trope straight, although with reason; Serra was a human female Planeswalker who created her own plane, and all Boros Angels were basically clones of Razia herself, who was female.
** Before Amonkhet, there was a grand total of three male angels in Magic: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=3502 Melesse Spirit]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gabriel%20Angelfire Gabriel Angelfire]] had to be retconned to be an Angel rules-wise and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Malach%20of%20the%20Dawn Malach of the Dawn]] only exists in alternate reality.
* AFeteWorseThanDeath: The signature of the Rakdos Cultists of Ravnica, as seen in the FlavorText of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=97073 Slaughterhouse Bouncer]].
* FieryRedhead: [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Multiverse/planeswalkers.aspx?x=mtg/multiverse/planeswalkers/chandra Chandra Nalaar]]. Literally.
* FinalDeath:
** The exile zone often serves this function. Sometimes this is depicted as a dead creature being vaporized, other times as something alive being utterly obliterated.
** This trope is invoked by name as a card in ''Theros Beyond Death'', as a card that sends a living creature straight to oblivion.
* FlamingSword:
** The card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=19613 Flaming Sword]]. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214368 Sword of War and Peace]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370471 Sword of Fire and Ice]] are YinYangBomb variations that are technically only half-flaming, but still pretty cool.
** Legendary creatures who wield flaming swords include [[http://magiccards.info/nph/en/128.html Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer]] and [[http://magiccards.info/pch/en/92.html Razia, Boros Archangel]].
* FloatingPlatforms: Seen in both [[http://magiccards.info/zen/en/213.html Zendikar]] and [[http://magiccards.info/us/en/325.html Serra's Realm]]. There are also floating buildings on Kamigawa and Ravnica.
* FogOfDoom:
** In the ''Apocalypse'' novel, when Yawgmoth himself appears on Dominaria, he takes the form of a giant black cloud that kills anything it touches.
** Yawgmoth has a habit of making killer fog; in ''The Thran'', his stonecharger bombs leave behind clouds of mist that that kill anything they touch.
* ForegoneConclusion: The storyline of ''Coldsnap'', released years after ''Ice Age'' and ''Alliances'' to give that block a "proper" block format (and conclusion). The [[LampshadeHanging press release teaser info explicitly said]], "We know the Ice Age ended... but ''how''?"
* ForgottenFriendNewFoe: Volrath, villain of the ''Tempest'' block, was once Gerrard's adoptive brother before they bitterly parted ways in their youth.
* FormerlySapientSpecies: Long ago, much of the plane of Dominaria was ruled by the Elder Dragons, immensely powerful and intelligent beings who were often skilled magic-users and the rulers of entire humanoid civilizations. They eventually all but wiped themselves out in internecine warfare, with the losers being stripped of their legs and wings to become the wurms, mindless beasts resembling massive snakes. The winners also regressed over time; modern dragons, while still technically sapient, are little more than feral predators with lifestyles limited to hunting, gathering treasure and defending their territories, while some fell still further and became drakes, smaller creatures with no forelimbs and which are now purely animalistic beasts.
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Old-generation planeswalker are also [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]], capable of changing their appearances at will. Most of them generally opt to stay in the form they look like just before their ascension though.
* ForTheEvulz: Nicol Bolas, apparently.
* FrankensteinsMonster:
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1734 Frankenstein's Monster]]
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29944 And this]].
** ''Innistrad'' has the skaab, which are stitched-together zombies.
* FromBadToWorse:
** Zendikar is a DeathWorld in ''Zendikar''. Then it ramps up in ''Worldwake''. By ''Rise of the Eldrazi'', the whole plane is under attack by PlanetEater {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and the world becomes even more violent in its efforts to destroy them.
** Innistrad's GothicHorror setting was scary to begin with; when the guardian angel Avacyn mysteriously disappeared, the monsters got more powerful.
*** And it gets even ''[[UpToEleven worse]]'' in ''Shadows Over Innistrad'' when [[spoiler:Avacyn [[AxeCrazy goes mad]] and turns against humankind.]]
* FromASingleCell: Phyrexia is able to rebuild itself from just a single drop of oil, as seen in the tragic fate of Mirrodin. This is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] with [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=phyrexian+rebirth&v=card&s=cname Phyrexian Rebirth]].
-->As long as [[FromASingleCell one drop]] of [[TheVirus the oil]] exists, [[TheCorruption the joyous work continues.]]
* FungiArePlants: Saprolings are small, weak creatures intended to represent animated scraps of plant matter. In practice, they alternate on being visibly vegetal, clearly fungal, or of indeterminate appearance between sets. They are also strongly associated with the thallids, which are clearly fungus people.
* FunnyAnimal: From the more conventional Nacatl ([[CatFolk cat people]]) and Leonin ([[CatFolk lion people]]) to the somewhat more creative Loxodon (elephant people) and Rhox (rhino people). So, in other words, Magic has them in droves.
* FurBikini:
** One of the [[http://magiccards.info/ai/en/67.html Elvish Ranger]] cards had this on the artwork. The fact that it was also a decent creature card guaranteed it some TournamentPlay.
*** BestKnownForTheFanservice: Elvish Ranger actually [[http://magiccards.info/ai/en/68.html has an alternate art]]. Good luck finding anyone who cares about it.
* FurryConfusion: Ajani (a sentient lion man) gets this is spades when he travels to Bant where the pack animal of choice are Leotau (very large lions with hooves).
* FusionDance:
** In the ''Onslaught'' storyline, Phage and Akroma merge to become Karona the False God, a living embodiment of Dominaria's mana.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4912 Dracoplasm]] fuses multiple creatures together to form a giant dragon.
* FusionDissonance: The Innistrad block drew heavily on Creator/{{Lovecraft}}ian imagery and saw the return of [[EldritchAbomination Emrakul and the Eldrazi]]. The block also introduced the "Meld" mechanic, where if you had certain cards in play, they would fuse into some [[BodyHorror horrific]] abomination of nature. For instance, the angels [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414304&type=card Bruna]] and [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414319&type=card Gisela]] would meld to form [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414305&type=card Brisela]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G]]
* GadgeteerGenius: Magic has had its share of artificers.
** [[http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/ART3/future_sight/jhoira_of_the_ghitu_art_by_kev_walker.jpg Jhoira]], depicted [[http://www.magiccards.info/ul/en/45.html here]] in all her Tinkering glory.
** [[http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/td/td112_venser.jpg Venser]], although best-known now for his teleportation abilities, was originally an artificer, salvaging scrap from the swamps of Urborg and building machines.
** Urza, the {{Chessmaster}} himself, was famous for his gadgets.
** As was his brother, [[http://www.fischart.com/assets/art/artwork/Prints/Mishra.jpg Mishra]].
** Urza's protege, [[http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/images/8/8f/Tawnos.jpg Tawnos]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=51055 Slobad]] is remarkable as he is not merely smart by Goblin standards (which is hardly an accomplishment), but smart. Period.
** Tezzeret's entire shtick. He sympathizes more with machines than people.
** [[http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/cardart/CSP/Arcum_Dagsson.jpg Arcum Dagsson]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=389478 Daretti]]'s failed experiment costed him his legs.
** Most people on Kaladesh would qualify. Creating {{Magitek}} is the only form of magic allowed there.
* GaiasVengeance: Typical green schtick, seen in ''Invasion'', ''Worldwake'', and so on. There's also cards like [[http://magiccards.info/aq/en/63.html Gaea's Avenger]], [[http://magiccards.info/m11/en/174.html Gaea's Revenge]], [[http://magiccards.info/wwk/en/96.html Avenger of Zendikar]], etc.
* GargleBlaster: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189147 No thanks.]]
* GambitPileup: Occurs during the original Ravnica trilogy when it turns out that ''all'' of the guilds are trying to conquer the plane.
* GambitRoulette: Nicol Bolas' ploy to [[SealedEvilInACan free]] the [[EldritchAbomination Eldrazi]] certainly counts. To release the Eldrazi, he required the presence of three different planeswalkers at the Eye of Ugin, as well as having one of them use [[NonElemental Ghostfire]] to trigger the failsafe mechanism. He could only be certain that his own minion (Vol) would be there, but to lure the other two, he combined elements of his own meticulous planning, as well as a simple stroke of luck. He even said so himself!
-->'''Bolas:''' I didn't send you to ensure no one entered the Eye. I sent you to ensure they did. Do you think it a coincidence that two planeswalkers arrived there when they did?\\
'''Vol:''' You sent me to fester? As a helpless proxy? You knew they would come?\\
'''Bolas:''' I knew the girl would come. The other-[[LampshadeHanging I had to play the odds]].
* GeniusLoci: A relatively common concept mechanically are lands that can temporarily turn into creatures, and this is usually how it manifests in story. The best example of the trope is probably Vitu-Ghazi, the guildhall of the Selesnya Conclave. It tends to get animated OnceAnEpisode during Ravnica storylines.
* GentleGiant: Karn, a huge golem made of pure silver who dedicated himself to pacifism. And not [[TechnicalPacifist technical pacifism]], either. Many green creatures can also be considered gentle [[UnstoppableRage unless you offend them or their controllers.]]
* GenreShift: The first two sets of the Zendikar block are about adventure and survival on a Death World. The last set turns it into a CosmicHorrorStory.
* GiantEnemyCrab: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26627 Giant Crab]] (stepping on a boat), [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=234429 Fortress Crab]] (cottage-sized) and especially [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=34927 Wormfang Crab]] (walking over mountains). [[StoneWall They're all defense.]]
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Many sets could be described as this.
** After ''Arabian Nights'', ''Antiquities'' attempted to tell an original story.
** The "pseudo-block" of ''Legends'', ''The Dark'', and ''Fallen Empires''. ''Legends'' was awesome, but neither ''The Dark'' nor ''Fallen Empires'' continued its mechanics, or its storyline, and were instead sequels to ''Antiquities''.
** ''Homelands'' is between ''Ice Age'' and ''Alliances'', both with an Ice Age theme. ''Homelands'', as far as we can tell, is about [[ElvesVsDwarves fairies and paladins vs. vampires]]. ''Homelands'' also didn't have ''Ice Age'''s mechanics, and is generally considered [[TheScrappy the worst set ever]].
** ''Weatherlight'' kicked off a five-year story arc.
** ''Portal: Three Kingdoms'' introduced a lot of new mechanics, [[CallARabbitASmeerp referred to flying as horsemanship]], is incompatible with other ''Portal'' sets, and...was actually enjoyable.
** The Urza's Block, while high in power and storyline, was a prequel, leaving you wondering what happened to the crew of the ''Weatherlight''.
** ''Nemesis'' introduced a new ability out of nowhere (Fading) and focused on Rath. Actually, every ''Masques'' block set focused on a different plane. Mercadia seemed to come out of nowhere too.
** ''Apocalypse'' is the only set in the ''Invasion'' block to focus entirely on ''enemy'' colors (white/black, white/red, blue/red, blue/green, black/green).
* GiantSpider: The ''[[http://magiccards.info/m10/en/175.html smallest]]'' spiders tend to be large enough to win a fight with an average goblin. [[http://magiccards.info/dpa/en/67.html Medium-sized]] spiders can tangle with elephants. [[http://magiccards.info/rav/en/168.html The biggest ones]] can eat dragons for breakfast.
* GlacialApocalypse: The Ice Age was a period of Dominaria's history started in consequence of the Brothers' War, when Urza ignited the Golgothian Sylex, devastating a continent, annihilating Mishra's forces, igniting his own Planeswalker spark, and ushering in a period of plunging global temperatures. The period immediately following the blast, referred to as the Dark, saw four centuries of slowly cooling temperatures, dwindling resources and shrinking civilizations, while zealotry and despots rose to power to lead increasingly lost and frightened people. The Dark culminated in the Ice Age, which lasted over 2000 years and saw the gradual collapse of much of civilization as glaciers covered great swathes of land and primordial monsters such as dragons, mammoths and dinosaurs roamed the world. When the Ice Age eventually ended, however, the ensuing Thaw also proved incredibly destructive -- the rise in warmth and humidity fostered widespread plagues, while floods and rising sea levels spread further devastation and caused the continent of Terisiare to fragment into an archipelago of islands.
* AGodAmI: Several of them. Some are just delusional about their supposed godhood, and some are very much ''not'' delusional about their ''actual'' godhood...and are total jerks about it.
* GodIsDead: A major part of the Planeswalker Samut's backstory was witnessing Nicol Bolas murder all but one of her home plane's gods, then [[AlienInvasion drag their zombified corpses to Ravnica]].
* AGodIsYou: Flavor-wise, the players take the roles of planeswalkers.
* GodOfTheDead:
** Among the gods of Theros, two of the trope's basic archetypes -- the god of ''death'' and the god of ''the dead'' -- are filled by one of the Black-aligned gods.
*** [[https://scryfall.com/card/ths/85/erebos-god-of-the-dead Erebos, God of the Dead]], serves as a Hades analogue and rules over the shades of the departed in the Underworld. A bleak and forbidding figure, Erebos permits nobody to avoid or escape from his realm, and uses his impossibly long whip Mastix to snare reluctant souls and pull them into death.
*** [[https://scryfall.com/card/jou/146/athreos-god-of-passage Athreos, God of Passage]], is derived from Charon and serves as the primary ferryman of Theros's dead, carrying them across the Five Rivers that Ring the World and into the Underworld that lies beyond.
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/khm/92/egon-god-of-death-throne-of-death Egon, God of Death]], is Kaldheim's ruler of the dead. He rules Istfell, the realm of the unworthy dead, although his power over the local spirits is limited by their eternal apathy.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The Gods of Theros have strength directly tied to the number of worshipers the god has. In an example of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, the Gods cease to be creatures[[note]]but continue to be indestructible legendary enchantments[[/note]] when their controller does not have enough devotion to that god's color(-s)[[note]]Measured by the amount of colored mana symbols among permanents that player controls.[[/note]]
* GodzillaThreshold: Let's be honest, nearly everyone's threshold involves Nicol Bolas in some way but it was seen no better than in Ravnica during ''War of the Spark''. Keep in mind, Ravnica's entire existence is based off of the 10 guilds essentially being in an endless Cold War with each other, always on the brink of an outright war. Nicol Bolas arriving and kicking off his massive plan had the Ravnica Guilds actually drop everything and outright join forces, something that would've been unheard of in normal circumstances.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: Averted; all five colors of mana have had heroes and villains.
* GothicHorror: Innistrad was a top-down design based around this. Zombies, Werewolves, and Vampires are all vying for control against the last bastions of humanity.
* GotTheWholeWorldInMyHand: [[http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/File:NewPhyrexiaPreview.jpg This artwork]] for ''New Phyrexia'' shows Mirrodin in the clutches of Phyrexia.
* GotVolunteered: PlayedForLaughs when groups of goblins need a volunteer, as seen in the flavor text of [[http://magiccards.info/st/en/103.html Goblin Hero]] and [[http://magiccards.info/evg/en/49.html Skirk Drill Sergeant]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: Yawgmoth is the GreaterScopeVillain to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21328 Volrath's]] BigBad in the Rath saga.
* TheGrimReaper:
** [[https://scryfall.com/card/grn/77/midnight-reaper Midnight Reaper]] is a Zombie Knight who wields a scythe, wears a concealing black hood, rides a black horse, and deals damage to you when a creature dies in exchange for letting you draw a card.
--->''No one welcomes his visit, yet all must grant him tribute.''
** Spectres are usually depicted as hooded and robed figures, often carrying either scythes or staffs or polearms of some kind. [[https://scryfall.com/card/eld/102/reaper-of-night-harvest-fear Reaper of Night]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/74/scythe-specter Scythe Specter]] lean especially hard into this imagery.
[[/folder]]
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