Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block and Color: Merfolk, Goblins, and Kithkin

And finally, I get to talk about the Little People: Merfolk, Goblins, and Kithkin. (Well, Merfolk might not be all that small, but I tend to think of them as small. They certainly don't have many 5/5s, at least.) These are the tribes that have changed the most over the course of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor. Each race gained a previously untouched (or very, very lightly touched) color in Lorwyn, then a second color in Shadowmoor, and a third in Eventide. Basically.

First, the Merfolk. Before Lorwyn, there were 54 blue Merfolk, plus four multicolored Merfolk from Invasion block that were blue/red, blue/green, blue/black, and blue/white. So every Merfolk printed before Lorwyn was blue, though a few brushed other colors very slightly. In Lorwyn block, there are 23 blue Merfolk, 6 white Merfolk, and the white/blue Sygg. Six isn't a very big number, but as I've said over and over again in these articles, it's still something new. So, Merfolk begin splashing white in Lorwyn.

In Shadowmoor (the set, not the block), there are 6 blue, 1 black, 7 blue-black, and 1 white-blue Merfolk. That's eight new Merfolk that can be played in mono-black decks. Again, a change. Then in Eventide, there are 5 blue, 1 black, and 3 green-blue Merfolk (the Selkies). Again, 3 isn't a big number, but it's the first time that the possibility of playing Merfolk in a mono-green deck (changelings aside) has been possible. So Merfolk have progressed from mono-blue to splashing white to splashing black to splashing green. Four color natures, as I mentioned previously.

Goblins follow much the same pattern (though of course with different colors). Before Lorwyn, there were 156 red Goblins, 2 black Goblins, an artifact Goblin, and 7 multicolor Goblins that were red plus one other color. They were decidedly red.

In Lorwyn, there are 14 red Goblins, 24 black Goblins, and a black/red Goblin Legend. TWENTY-FOUR BLACK GOBLINS. Not only is that a massive increased in Magic history's amount of black Goblins, but there are more black than red in Lorwyn! This situation can only be described as crazy-wack. Goblins had hardly even seen black before, and now they're drenched in it, like a Vermont farmboy falling into a puddle of oil. Okay, that may not be the most accurate or useful analogy, but it gets the point across.

Then in Shadowmoor, there are 6 red Goblins, 1 green Goblin, 1 black-red Goblin, and 10 red-green Goblins. That's 11 green Goblins - Spiderman's worst nightmare. And Peter Parker does in fact play Magic (scroll down to Monday, May 13). First black, now green - it's like some sort of crazy man has taken over Magic design! Oh wait, that's Mark Rosewater.

Now in Eventide, there are 2 red, 1 green, 2 red-white, and 1 blue-red Goblin. Ravnica had Boros Recruit (a hybrid red-white Goblin), the first Goblin playable in a mono-white deck (besides the artifact one), but now there are two more. PLUS, the first Goblin playable in a mono-blue deck. And to make matters worse, the green Goblin in Eventide has a green-blue activated ability. This is madness!

Madness? THIS IS EVENTIDE! Now I don't know how much of the decision to let Goblins run rampant down Rainbow Road was directly in the control of Mark Rosewater, but I don't doubt that he was heavily involved. He loves doing that stuff. He's like the Joker, teaming up with the Green Goblin, and...all right, my metaphors and analogies are getting a little out of hand. But anyway, Goblins have shifted from almost entirely red to heavily splashing black to modestly splashing green to splashing God-knows-what. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if Shards of Alara had orange/purple Goblins.

To tone down the drama a bit, let's take a look at the Kithkin. Their splashing is a bit less violent (their feet are smaller, you see), but it can still be felt by nearby color-frogs and color-fish. If this doesn't make sense, then that's good - you're still sane.

Before Lorwyn, there were hardly any Kithkin at all. There were only five, all of which were mono-white. In Lorwyn, there are 28 Kithkin, plus two green and a green/white Legend. It would be a stretch to say that Lorwyn has changed the face of the deeply entrenched Kithkin mythos, since there isn't a deeply entrenched Kithkin mythos. So although technically the Kithkin have gone from mono-white to white splashing green, their nature as mono-white was founded on a mere five cards, only one of which was even printed before Time Spiral.

In Shadowmoor, there are 8 white, 2 blue, and 7 white-blue Kithkin. Now this is slightly more surprising or significant or whatever you want to call it, because "previous Magic history" now includes Lorwyn, which DOES have a lot of Kithkin, solidly founding them as a white tribe splashing the tiniest bit of green. With nine new blue Kithkin, Shadowmoor is clearly changing the established norm, even if that norm had only been established recently.

Then in Eventide, we get 5 more white Kithkin and one solitary red-white guy: the first red Kithkin. However, there are two other red-white spells in Eventide which, while not Kithkin spells, depict Kithkin in their art. So it's safe to say that Kithkin have become just a tad angrier in Eventide, and are splashing into red, although more lightly even than Lorwyn's green.

So the Kithkin, with their tiny feet and flattened features, have progressed from mono-white to splashing a little green to splashing a lot of blue to splashing a little red. As a relatively young tribe (aside from old granddaddy Amrou Kithkin), and a rather small one (card-wise, at least), the Kithkin don't have much of a precedent to defy. But they still change over the course of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block, enough so that I included them in the same article as Merfolk and Goblins.

Finally, I have reached the end of this increasingly tedious analysis of color and creature type in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block. Once again, I will remind you that I don't know what the significance of my "study" really is. It might mean that Mark Rosewater is off his rocker, or that Magic is opening up its design space, or just that Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block is weird. Or it could be meaningless and trite. (Again, I invite comments.) But I wanted to see what the patterns were, and I at least had fun relating them and trying to see how they fit together.

But now I can get back to talking about things that might be interesting: Eventide! I recently got Magic Workstation, and have since fiddled around with making Eventide sealed decks (from 5 Eventide boosters) and playing them against a (much more experienced) friend. So far, I'm liking what I'm seeing, and I hope to experiment more in the coming days. Eventide has been added to the Gatherer, and I expect the full Visual Spoiler will be up on Monday, which is very convenient, as well as totally awesome. So hopefully, in my next few articles about Eventide, I will be better informed. Already I'm learning new things, such as the power of Retrace (as my friend beat me down with Oona's Grace and Monstrify after I cut them both from my own deck like an idiot), so I look forward to being able to write articles where I almost - just maybe - might have some idea of what the hell I am talking about.