History MagicTheGathering / FlavorAndStoryTropesHToO

* MacGuffinTurnedHuman: In ''Saviors of Kamigawa'', [[http://magiccards.info/bok/en/162.html That Which Was Taken]] (the MacGuffin that started the spirit war) takes the form of a girl.

* OurGnomesAreWeirder: [[https://scryfall.com/search?q=t%3Agnome Gnomes]] started out with the red card [[https://scryfall.com/card/leg/162/quarum-trench-gnomes Quarum Trench Gnomes]], but after the inclusion of [[https://scryfall.com/card/me4/191/clockwork-gnomes Clockwork Gnomes]] in ''Homelands'', a trend started of concepting them as {{Clockwork Creature}}s. Realizing that this made no sense at all, Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast eventually put a stop to this practice, and gnomes haven't been seen in the game since. The exception to this is the 2018 joke set ''Unstable'', which included [[https://scryfall.com/card/ust/143/cogmentor one new gnome]] as part of the Order of the Widget, a faction of MadScientist knights themed around absurd clockwork contraptions. They returned in ''The Lost Caverns of Ixalan'' as a major part of Oltec sociality.

** The ''Amonkhet'' expansion, inspired by Myth/EgyptianMythology, also had gods. These ones are somewhat different from the Theros gods: besides each having an animal head, they are simply creatures instead of enchantment creatures, and live among and mingle freely with mortals in the city of Naktamun, unlike the distant gods of Theros. There is also the planes walker Nicol Bolas, worshipped in Amonkhet as the God-Pharaoh, who is believed to have created the plane.

** The Gruul Clans of Ravnica believe in a deity called Illharg, the Raze-Boar, who they believe will come one day to lead them in a plane-wide rampage against civilization. As it turns out, [[https://scryfall.com/card/war/133/ilharg-the-raze-boar he's very much real as well]].

* OurGnomesAreWeirder: [[https://scryfall.com/search?q=t%3Agnome Gnomes]] started out with the red card [[https://scryfall.com/card/leg/162/quarum-trench-gnomes Quarum Trench Gnomes]], but after the inclusion of [[https://scryfall.com/card/me4/191/clockwork-gnomes Clockwork Gnomes]] in ''Homelands'', a trend started of concepting them as {{Clockwork Creature}}s. Realizing that this made no sense at all, Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast eventually put a stop to this practice, and gnomes haven't been seen in the game since. The exception to this is the 2018 joke set ''Unstable'', which included [[https://scryfall.com/card/ust/143/cogmentor one new gnome]] as part of the Order of the Widget, a faction of MadScientist knights themed around absurd clockwork contraptions.

* MesACrowd: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366414 Biovisionary]], who you're expected to play with a bunch of cards that clone creatures.

%%** Memnarch is a relatively rare villainous example.%%How?

%%* MagicallyBindingContract:

%%** Liliana Vess made one with four demons and it's the source of her power and eternal youth. It's represented in the card Demonic Pact.

* [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Negative Planar Wedgie]]: Either the cause of, or caused by, a large amount of the plot.

%* MacheteMayhem: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?name=Trusty%20Machete Trusty Machete]]

%* MagicallyBindingContract:
%** The Guildpact in Ravnica.
%** Liliana Vess made one with four demons and it's the source of her power and eternal youth. It's represented in the card Demonic Pact.

* LightFireJuxtaposition: Red is one of the two enemy colors to White. Red symbolises chaos, emotions, passion, art and the elements of fire and lightning, while White symbolises order, justice, tyranny, civilization and the elements of light and the sun. Curiously both get [[DishingOutDirt earth]] as an element as well.

* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Includes werebears, wererats, and werewolves.

** [[https://scryfall.com/card/me4/177/al-abaras-carpet Al-abara's Carpet]] renders equipped creatures immune to attacks from flyers.

* MacheteMayhem: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?name=Trusty%20Machete Trusty Machete]]

* MagicallyBindingContract: The Guildpact in ''Ravnica'' block.
** Liliana Vess made one with four demons and it's the source of her power and eternal youth. It's represented in the card Demonic Pact.
* MagicCarpet: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2043 Magic Carpet]]. Also seen on [[http://magiccards.info/tsts/en/20.html Flying Men]].

* MagicMeteor: See MacrossMissileMassacre above. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=134740 Also this.]]

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: ''Magic'' at first used fairly fantasy-standard dwarves, but the developers realized that this just meant that they occupied the same space as the already-popular goblins, both being small, mono-Red creatures. For this reason, dwarves didn't show up in ''Magic'' for a very long time until the Kaladesh block, where they were completely reimagined as mono-White creatures, save the the occasional Red-White card, with a strong tie to craftsmanship and vehicles. As a consequence of Kaladesh's own native flavor, they also tend to be lightly inspired by South Asian cultural visuals.

* NatureHero: Various green-aligned characters, but especially [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=40538 Kamahl post-transformation]].

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=mistform%20ultimus Mistform Ultimus]] which has every creature type, such as Ninja, Pirate, Zombie, Construct, [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Mutant, Ninja, and Turtle]]. Years later, ''Lorwyn'' block introduced ''nineteen'' more creatures like this, as well as several non-creature cards.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: There are roughly a bajillion different ''known'' sapient species in the Multiverse. Aside from Humans there are Aetherborn, Ainok, Amphin, Angels, Archons, Aven, Beebles, Bird-Maidens, Centaurs, antelope Centaurs, deer Centaurs, Cephalids, Changelings, Cyclopes, Dauthi, Demons, Devils, Djinn, Dragons, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]], Dryads, Efreet, sentient Elementals, Elves, Eumidians, Faeries, Flamekin, Giants, Goblins, sapient Golems, Gorgons, sapient Gorillas, Hags, Homarids, Iquati, Kami and other sentient Spirit races, Khenra, Kithkin, Kitsune, Kor, Krakens, Kraul, Lamias, Lammasu, [[CatFolk Leonin]], Liches, Loxodon, fishtailed Merfolk, Merfolk with legs, [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere flying Elf-Merfolk]], Metathran, Minotaurs, Mistfolk, Mycoids, Myr, Nagas, Nantuko, Nezumi, Nightstalkers, Noggles, Ogres, Orcs, Orochi, Ouphes, [[TheVirus Phyrexians]], Puca, Rhox, Sangrazuls, Satyrs, Scarecrows, Selkies, Serpent people, Slivers, Soltari, Soratami, Sphinxes, [[FishPeople Surrakar]], Thalakos, Thrulls, [[WhenTreesAttack Treefolk]], [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]], Vampires, Vedalken, [[LizardFolk Viashino]], Weirds, Werewolves, Wolfir, the talking Wolves of Tel-Jilad...\\

** The ''Tarkir'' block has the first (''Khans of Tarkir'') and third (''Dragons of Tarkir'') sets form the [[AlternateUniverse alternative versions]] of the plane's present, with the second set (''Fate Reforged'') taking place 1,200 years in the past. The differences between ''Khans'' and ''Dragons'' are '''far more pronounced''' than the differences between either and ''Fate Reforged'', to the point that most of the clans even dress the same. This may be a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation, as the art of cards is meant to include the mechanical colors involved, so (for example) the block's red/white/blue clan will always be dressed primarily in red, white, and blue.
*** But that ''still'' doesn't excuse why the clothing styles remained so static: even if colors are fixed, clothes could still vary in terms of, say, shapes, proportions, materials, etc.
*** The fact that the five clans have persisted for more than a millennium is also rather jarring. Look back at human history, and the vast majority of empires didn't last more than 500 years. Millennium-spanning empires did exist (e.g., the Roman Empire) but were an absolute minority, and tended to go through cycles of collapse and reconstitution. One of the clans has persisted for 1,200 years? That's... okay. All five persisted for 1,200 years? That's a little bit less believable.
** ''Aaaand then'' there is Dominaria. Apparently according to the latest ''Dominaria'' set, it is a plane full of histories and stories. For some reason, historic periods and objects on this plane can easily last thousands of years without any significant change. Just... look at the architectural styles, clothing, etc., Dominaria is still ''far'' more static than our world. E.g., compare modern buildings with buildings of Ancient Egyptians, and the latter were just 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Are we ''really'' supposed to think of Dominaria as a plane full of historic intrigues?

** And there is an actual card called ''Mirror Universe'', which allows you to swap HitPoint totals with your opponent.

** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1442 A Black creature]] from the Legends expansion set.
** Not to mention the much more recent [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=153037 Stillmoon Cavalier]].

* InCaseOfXBreakGlass: FlavorText for Boros Cluestone: "In case of fire, treachery, citywide riot, political upheaval, or worldwide societal collapse, break glass."

** Earlier, in another example, [[spoiler:Jace's, Chandra's and Sarkhan's shenanigans some time prior weakens the rest of the locks keeping the Eldrazi imprisoned, just as [[BigBad Nicol Bolas]] wanted.]]

** Ral was meaning to warn Jace about Vraska, who was an Ravinican assassin planeswalker, had gone to the void, but Lilliana intervened to force Jace about Tezzeret being in Kaladesh. What makes it bad was that [[spoiler:Vraska was in talks with Nicol Bolas.]]

** Though not dragons or drakes, the "[[PteroSoarer pterosaurs]]" of Ixalan resemble feathered wyverns or really ugly birds.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Old generation planeswalkers are generally immortal; Urza, as an example, lived for at least 5000 years, while Nicol Bolas is even older. That's before counting some people who live long despite being otherwise mortal: Jodah aged slowly because he fell into a fountain of youth in his [[IncrediblyLamePun youth]]; Jhoira, unlike her planeswalker boyfriend Teferi, used slow-aging potions; Liliana Vess made a contract with demons (in her case, despite being a planeswalker, she is not normally immortal due to the Mending) and so on.

[[/folder]]

** Memnarch also counts as a relatively rare villainous example.

* {{Meta Guy}}: Commodore Guff. [[{{The Scrappy}} Didn't work out]].