Lamma Wut

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today, we are writing up a bit of a creature spot-light focused on the mysterious Lammasu.  There have only been two cards ever printed with this creature subtype, and while we have Venerable Lammasu from Khans of Tarkir, we need to order Hunted Lammasu printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds from MTG Mint Card just so we can complete our Lammasu nature preserve.

Anywhoos, in 'the real world', the lamassu is a celestial being from Mesopotamian mythology. Human above the waist and a bull below the waist, it also has the horns and the ears of a bull. It appears frequently in Mesopotamian art, sometimes with wings. The lamassu and shedu were household protective spirits of the common Babylonian people, becoming associated later as royal protectors, were placed as sentinels at the entrances.

As for the world of RPG, the lammasu was introduced into Dungeons & Dragons in 1975 and appears in the first edition Monster Manual.  A type of celestial, half-dragon lammasu known as a golden protector is also described in the Monster Manual. They are the offspring of a celestial lammasu and a gold dragon and live in the material plane where they combat evil. Their draconic heritage lets them breathe fire.

In Magic: the Gathering, the lammasu is an odd hybrid-looking creature type with the bodies of cows, a bird's wings and a human face with horns, based on the mesopotamian creatures of the same name similar in appearence. To date, only two lammasu have been printed and both have been associated with white mana.

In Ravnica, lammasu are said to have once ruled the open grasslands of the plane before the arrival of the urban sprawl that is Ravnica. Only a few remain alive today, flying in its skies while being hunted by an unknown rival race. Since these are only represented by the Ravnica: City of Guilds card Hunted Lammasu, and do not feature in Return to Ravnica, it is most likely that they are completely extinct.

In Tarkir, the lammasu are enigmatic nomads, soaring high above the land across all seasons. None know of their true purpose, but they arrive frequently in turning points of history.

Suggested reading - pop on over to Doug Beyer's 'A Voice for Vorthos' over here.
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