Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block and Color: Elves and Giants

Last time, I talked about Treefolk and Faeries, races which exhibit two color natures each: a pre-Lorwyn one, and a Lorwyn-Shadowmoor one. To explain, I'll use an example: Treefolk. The color nature of Treefolk before Lorwyn was green. Yes, there was one green/black one, but Treefolk were predominantly green. As of Eventide, the color nature of Treefolk is green splashing white and black. The splashing of white and black came about with Lorwyn block, and remained fairly consistent throughout Lorwyn and Shadowmoor. Thus, they had two color natures.

Today I'll be talking about two races which exhibit three color natures: Elves and Giants. The division here is pre-Lorwyn/Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. (Later I'll be talking about Merfolk, Goblins, and Kithkin, which each have four natures.) Taking a look at the numbers (once again), we find that prior to Lorwyn, there were 130 mono-green elves, and 21 elves that were not mono-green. Of those, 5 were non-green. Elves have made their way into all five colors, with (by my previous system) 7.5 white, 4 black, 4.5 blue, 2 red, and 1 artifact. (There have never been mono-blue or mono-red elves.) With such small numbers, calling Elves "diverse" would be much like calling a private college "diverse": hilarious.

In Lorwyn, Elves are green and black. The black doesn't represent anything really sinister, though - just pride, a fairly mild sin. In any case, Lorwyn block has 27.5 green Elves and 9.5 black Elves. With only 4 other black Elves in Magic's history (only 1 of which was mono-black), Lorwyn's 9 mono-black Elves certainly stand out. Of course, there are plenty of green elves (and many more green than black), but it's still a lot of black compared to what they've had before. So far, this discussion sounds a lot like the one about Treefolk.

But then there's Shadowmoor block. Shadowmoor block has 9, green, 2 white, and 10 green-white Elves. Since I count hybrids fully in both colors, that's 12 white Elves. This isn't as big a contrast as black - there have been 3 mono-white Elves printed before Lorwyn, and Shadowmoor only has 2 - but it's still a change, and certainly a change from Lorwyn. A quick note that will become more relevant in my next article: Eventide only has 4 Elves, and they are all mono-green.

So Elves have three color natures: heavily green, heavily green splashing black, and heavily green splashing white. The splashes are fairly small - like the Treefolk's - but they are noticeable. The difference between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor is explained by flavor - the Elves are now the "good guys" - but from a purely color perspective, it's still something rather new. And now on to Giants.

Before Lorwyn, there were 31 red Giants, 10.5 white Giants, 8 black Giants, and 5.5 green Giants (including multicolored cards). Giants have never touched blue (they are stupid). Giants are invested most heavily in red, but there are practically as many Giants of other colors as there are red ones. They're much more diverse than Elves, Treefolk, and even Faeries. Still, it's clear that they prefer red, and this theme carries over into Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block.

In Lorwyn block, there are 15.5 red Giants and 8.5 white Giants. This is not a huge difference compared to previous Magic history: a ratio of about 2:1 red:white, where previously it had been 3:1. Even so, that is a large number of Giants to add to the pool (24). Lorwyn block increases the total Magic Giant count by almost 50%. Now the thing is, when I started writing this article, I thought there were fewer non-red Giants, and when I went to do the research just now, I saw a lot more than I expected. So my initial statement about three natures is not quite accurate for Giants. And by not quite accurate I mean totally wrong. Read on.

In Shadowmoor block, there are 7 red and 1 white Giant, but also 2 green and 3 red-green ones. Now, five isn't a huge number (see my discussion of Treefolk previously), but...no, it's just not a big number. I was wrong. Damn.

So although Giants change between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, they don't change completely (there's still a white one in Shadowmoor, even though he's a Spirit), and their changes are not particularly significant in light of previous Magic history. Nevertheless, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block added a ton of Giants into the mix, giving them a tribal unity that was previously lacking.

Well, that's it for now. I guess I was somewhat off on my intuitions today; there were more off-color Elves and Giants that I had expected. But I have already done my research for the next article, and I assure you, it is infinitely more shocking.