Historic Announcement

In an announcement made on Tuesday, Wizards of the Coast has unveiled historic changes for Legendary Creature cards (which are used as “Commanders” in the EDH format) printed in the upcoming Bloomburrow set and onward. 

“Starting with Bloomburrow, Legendary Creatures will be printed with signifiers indicating their gender identity and sexual orientation,” said Wizard of the Coast’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Xandra Tomassen in the livestream announcement. “The primary complaint we hear from Commander players is that their Commanders are frequently misgendered or oriented incorrectly in works of fanfiction, and we have been taking steps to address this problem since 2018.”

Reactions

The change does seem reasonable, and Pokemon cards have been doing this for several years. While it has no effect on gameplay and the gender/sexuality indicator is rather discreet, some Magic: the Gathering players voiced their objections in our user poll and survey.

“This is another f***** psy-op. Look up COINTELPRO on Google. This is the same s***.” wrote anDREWtate403 in response to the ⅛-inch round graphic that will one day appear on his cards. 

“My mom is a lesbian.” wrote JaceTheMineSchulker, providing no other context but responding “strongly dislike” in our poll.

In the livestream, WotC revealed the first card ever printed with this new signifier: Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, a Mono-Green Commander that identifies as gay and uses he/him pronouns.