Tribal Vignettes Two

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Lorwyn Tribal Vignettes #2
"Vignette - a brief literary description"

BOGGARTS (Goblins)
This is the second of eight posts in the Tribal Vignette Series. In the first post, we reviewed the Merfolk of Lorwyn. In this post, I hope to furnish the casual Magic Player some insights into Lorwyn's Boggarts which are limited to the colour black, with some red. For beginners, this means that these creatures use primarily black 'mana' or the magical energy resource used to cast spells.

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Here is a brief orientation video on the Boggarts of Lorwyn:

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Here is an excellent description of Boggarts taken from a Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) theme-deck description;

"When playing the "Boggart Feast" deck, you're running a raucous warren of expendable, accident-prone Goblins. Enjoy the sadistic delight of offing your own creatures for fun and profit, since that's what Facevaulter, Tar Pitcher, and Fodder Launch do. But have no fear—there are always more Goblins! Boggart Birth Rite and Warren Pilferers yank your critters back from the grave, and Marsh Flitter and Boggart Mob put Goblin tokens into play. If that's not twisted enough, some of these insane little freaks like to die! When Mudbutton Torchrunner or Hornet Harasser keels over, it can take an enemy creature out with it. And Boggart Shenanigans damages your opponent whenever any of your Goblins gets whacked. With this deck, that can add up in a hurry!"

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In most circumstances, cards in a player's graveyard are tpcially no longer relevant to the game, but the Lorwyn Boggart deck is suited to use or re-use cards in this graveyard, thus making this zone a useful resource for the player. This is the sort of card mechanic or ability that is sometimes referred to as 'recursion', and if a player has all the right cards, the graveyard could be his/her playground.

Some cards such as Boggart Forager, Boggart Loggers, Facevaulter, Knucklebone Witch, Mudbutton Torchrunner, and Tar Pitcher activate abilities when sacrificed or is killed such as increasing or decreasing strength / power, or dealing damage to an opponent. Other Boggarts such as Warren Pilferers, Wort and Boggart Auntie are happy to return the recently deceased back to your hand. Spells such as Boggart Birthrite and Footbottom Feast also provides the same service.

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Tribal Vignettes One

Lorwyn Tribal Vignettes #1
"Vignette - a brief literary description"

MERROW (Merfolk)
Today is the first of several posts we will provide giving a broad overview of each of Lorwyn's Tribes. In this post, I hope to furnish the casual Magic Player some insights into Lorwyn's Merfolk which are limited to the colour blue, with some white. For beginers, this means that these merfolk use primarily blue 'mana' or the magical energy resource used to cast spells.

Merrow or Muirruhgach is the Irish name given to Merfolk. In 'Magic: The Gathering', these water bound creatures may bear down upon otherwise 'land-locked' opponents with the use of aquitect cards such as 'Aquitect's Will' which will flood an opponent's land, or, 'Streambed Aquitect', which may target an opponent's land cause it to become an island until end of turn. The flavour text for 'Aquitect's Will' offers this; "There is nowhere on Lorwyn that the Merrow Lanes cannot go".

Here is a brief slideshow providing a glance at the Lorwyn set Merfolk.


A very good ability among some Merfolk are their power to tap or untap which make available or withhold the use of a card during a turn. Some Merkfolk creatures may be used to tap or untap your own or the opponent's creature while others may be used to do the same to any permanent. A permanent is any object in play and includes land (or mana) cards. This may be used to starve your opponent and deny them the mana they require to play a spell. Some Lorwyn Merfolk would be a decent choice for inclusion in a player's constructed 'Control Deck'. Control decks include cards which attempt to interfere with, prevent, deny, or otherwise cancel the opponent's actions.

In general, individual Lorwyn Merfolk, as with other Merfolk in previous sets, do not deliver heavy blows to an opponent, but when played together, may provide bonuses that increase the power and/or toughness needed to do battle against larger creatures. A smart move may be to also include a larger Elemental creature which may provide some muscle for the tribe. Unfortunately, the card previews for the new Morningtide set show no additional Merfolk with increased power and toughness. There are also no fliers within this tribe, it there may be a need to provide within your deck some Faeries or Changelings which are able to use the same-coloured mana base.

Here is a list of Merfolk within the Lorwyn set.
For card details, visit the official card look-up database at MTG Gatherer.

Lorwyn Tribes

In the last post, we provided a broad introduction of the Lorwyn block. Today, we will follow-up with a more detailed look at what defines and separates the Lorwyn block from the other Magic the Gathering blocks.

From the marketing material . . .
"In Lorwyn, creature type matters more than ever before. Mischievous Boggarts, ruthless Elves, and valiant Kithkin…which tribe will you choose?"

As hinted in the statement above, the defining characteristic of Lorwyn is its eight races; Boggarts (Goblins), Elves, Kithkin, Elementals, Treefolk, Merrow (merfolk), Faeries, and Giants. The Lorwyn block is considered to be a tribal block in that the card set may be organised into tribes by race (read: creature type). The Lorwyn set is a race-based tribal set, whereas the Morningtide set will build upon this and class-based tribal set.

What all this means is that creatures with the same race and / or class are typically complimentary to each other are when played together produces a positive mechanical effect or synergy. By way of example, lets have a look at these six cards.

Elvish Branchbender
Cost: 2G
Type: Creature - Elf Druid
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: T Until end of turn, target Forest becomes an X/X Treefolk creature in addition to its other types, where X is the number of Elves you control.

Harpoon Sniper
Cost: 2W
Type: Creature - Merfolk Archer
Pow/Tgh: 2/2
Rules Text: W, T Harpoon Sniper deals X damage to target attacking or blocking creature, where X is the number of Merfolk you control.

Lys Alana Scarblade
Cost: 2B
Type: Creature - Elf Assassin
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: T, Discard an Elf card: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Elves you control.

Silvergill Douser
Cost: 1U
Type: Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: T Target creature gets -X/-0 until end of turn, where X is the number of Merfolk and/or Faeries you control.

Spellstutter Sprite
Cost: 1U
Type: Creature - Faerie Wizard
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: Flash Flying When Spellstutter Sprite comes into play, counter target spell with converted mana cost X or less, where X is the number of Faeries you control.

Thieving Sprite
Cost: 2B
Type: Creature - Faerie Rogue
Pow/Tgh: 1/1
Rules Text: Flying When Thieving Sprite comes into play, target player reveals X cards from his or her hand, where X is the number of Faeries you control. You choose one of those cards. That player discards that card.

By these examples, we can see that a solid advantage may be realised by building your Lorwyn deck around a tribe.

Finally, a note about Changelings. Technically, these oddities are not a "Tribe". The Changeling keyword ability text reads "This card is every creature type at all times". A player with a Changeling card will now have the opportunity to give his tribe access to a variety of things the tribe may be missing, such as inexpensive creatures, creatures with flying ability, or powerful attackers. Changelings may be used to help an otherwise weak hand. As a changeling is every creature type, it will be affected by any spell or ability that affects a given creature type, regardless of what that creature type is. This may or may not be a good thing depending upon what the spell is.