Culture Wizards considers removing Shaman and Druid from MTG over real religion comparisons - What, no QAnon Shaman?

https://nichegamer.com/wizards-considers-removing-shaman-and-druid-from-mtg-over-real-religion-comparisons/

https://archive.ph/DZFGD

by Brandon Lyttle on October 5, 2023 at 11:53 AM, EDT



Wizards of the Coast hinted that the Druid and Shaman creature types could be removed from Magic: The Gathering due to real religions which practice druidism and shamanism.

Mark Rosewater, the head designer of Magic: The Gathering since 2003 regularly answers questions about the game on his Tumblr blog. One question about how the Witch creature type was removed due to its association to a real religion led to an answer hinting at more removals in the future.

In reference to the question about using witch as a creature type: if ‘witch’ is excluded bc of its significance as a real world religious identifier, why are ‘shaman’ and ‘druid’ creature types?

We are currently examining that exact topic.

In recent years, Wizards of the Coast has been carefully removing content and language from their products to avoid accusations of racism and other forms of intolerance.

While druidism and shamanism are still practiced today, at least one user pointed out that the faiths’ representation in Magic: The Gathering counterbalances the Christian symbolism present at the game.

Please don’t phase out druids, I’ve always enjoyed seeing local Celtic culture/history represented and unlike witches they’re not a sinister depiction. If Magic can handle exaggerated fantasy clerics, angels and demons I think we deserve druids alongside them, Christian symbols have already crowded out pagan alternatives in too many places.

Druid is far less of an issue than Shaman.

Despite this, there appear to be no plans to remove angels or demons from the game.

 

[Prince Vegeta]

I bloody wish there were still practising druids! I bet the moment I sacrifice someone to help my sick aunt I get discriminated against by the evil, biased, anti-druid legal system. #justicefordruids

 

[ZazietheBeast]

Shit like this is exactly why I am content with my simple Elesh Norn white deck. MTG has become quite homosexual since 2015 when they started doing crossovers.

Say what you will about Konami but I'd rather play tier 0 kitty cat OTK than worry about ethnic representation in my trading card game.
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Funny you mention Yugioh. They definitely have a history of removing religious symbols before. Just look at shallow grave and monster reborn for starters. Along with guns and any depiction of blood and violence. Don Zaloog and Ultimate Offering come to mind.

 

[macrodegenerate]

What the heck is their argument for beholders being racist?

They have multiple eyes so they notice interesting things about certain demographics 20x faster than the average race in d&d.

 

[Heed Not]

Shit like this is exactly why I am content with my simple Elesh Norn white deck. MTG has become quite homosexual since 2015 when they started doing crossovers.


Funny you mention Yugioh. They definitely have a history of removing religious symbols before. Just look at shallow grave and monster reborn for starters. Along with guns and any depiction of blood and violence. Don Zaloog and Ultimate Offering come to mind.

Yeah they definitely aren't immune. Though it feels more like "American parents are sensitive" censorship than actual political soapboxing

 

[tehpope]

Why dont they just make a seperate game about polyamorous genderqueer wood elves trying to make it in the big city instead of messing with something that's worked for decades?

Because no one would buy that game. They're commies at the end of the day. Their goal is to subvert and transform everything.

 

[ZazietheBeast]

Yeah they definitely aren't immune. Though it feels more like "American parents are sensitive" censorship than actual political soapboxing

This is Taunt. It would have gotten your typical nigger race grifters to lose their shit. Just like Resident Evil 5 before.

 

[Agamemnon Busmalis]

The druids died out 2,000 years ago. There are no modern religions that practice Druid beliefs in any way, shape or form. Just LARPers making things up.

I bloody wish there were still practising druids! I bet the moment I sacrifice someone to help my sick aunt I get discriminated against by the evil, biased, anti-druid legal system. #justicefordruids

Imagine a religion so vile the Romans consciously wiped it out. And they tolerated weird shit like Cybele.

 

[The Ugly One]

Got bad news for you, faggots. The word "magic" comes from the Old Persian magush, and is associated with the priests of a real-world religion, Zoroastrianism, which has about 100K practitioners, which is 100K more practitioners than druidism has. Guess you'll have to delete your game and kill yourselves in real life, WotC.

 

[I'mma real anime gurl]

That won't erase sicing the Pinkertons on some guy for getting the wrong product

 

[Blasterman]

Say what you will about Konami but I'd rather play tier 0 kitty cat OTK than worry about ethnic representation in my trading card game.
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I'm going to say this: Konami is greedy. But they're not greedy faggots. Yugioh has far more fun and out there illustrations and card concepts (mechanics are another story for another time) than Magic ever did. In the case you're a TCG player, support Yugioh and ditch Magic. Make Wizards and Hasbro feel the burn of losing that sweet cash.

 

[Kheapathic]

They're doing this, and yet "white" is still the color of life, regeneration, creation and "black" is still the color of death, theft and decay. You'd think they'd go after the lowest hanging fruit first.

They're doing that with D&D; pretty much reworking the entire alignment system since "No race is born evil." While they have literal Demons and Devils and shit; but it's mainly to stave off the Orc = Black People stuff. People may associate Orcs, Drow or Duergar with darkies, and those races are naturally evil, so we gotta destroy the entire fucking alignment system.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

Say what you will about Konami but I'd rather play tier 0 kitty cat OTK than worry about ethnic representation in my trading card game.
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>Fairy
>not Winged Beast

This, Rush Duels, and no more shark decks/ an actual Dino archetype worth a shit are what is killing Yu-Gi-Oh.

 

[Heed Not]

>Fairy
>not Winged Beast

This, Rush Duels, and no more shark decks/ an actual Dino archetype worth a shit are what is killing Yu-Gi-Oh.

In this case its because it's the final stage Evo of a magical puppy-kitten-thing. A lot of beasts with wings don't qualify as winged beasts (Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast isn't winged-beast type, neither are the sphinxes). Winged beast is usually bird/bat/not-dragon more than literally beast + wings. Even Sapphire Pegasus is just beast type

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

I've been slowly sourcing and buying all the D&D source books I can find before they rewrite everything and pretend the shit was woke the moment Gygax wrote it down. I don't run any campaigns or anything, but I'm gonna have the library.

This is why Pazio and KEVIN SIMBIEDA are so fucking based.

No disgusting woke shit in RIFTS SIR. Just KEVIN DOING THINGS KEVIN WAY.

Pazio is happily making Pathfinder a BETTER D&D and they dropped a sci Fi RPG called Star finder.

Pre Wizards TSR was awesome.

Oh and while I'm RPG sperging, the "Waste World" setting is one of the nearest settings that never got fully fleshed out. Late 1990s awesomeness RIP.

Ah and don't forget Fading Suns. Neat setting as well.

Too bad the cool stuff died and the absolute trash known as modern D&D survives to allow fantasy wheelchair accessible dungeons and the like..... goddamn it

 

[Calvin Coolidge]

Fuck these bastards.

 

[The Ugly One]

This is why Pazio and KEVIN SIMBIEDA are so fucking based.

No disgusting woke shit in RIFTS SIR. Just KEVIN DOING THINGS KEVIN WAY.

Pazio is happily making Pathfinder a BETTER D&D and they dropped a sci Fi RPG called Star finder.

Pre Wizards TSR was awesome.

Oh and while I'm RPG sperging, the "Waste World" setting is one of the nearest settings that never got fully fleshed out. Late 1990s awesomeness RIP.

Ah and don't forget Fading Suns. Neat setting as well.

Too bad the cool stuff died and the absolute trash known as modern D&D survives to allow fantasy wheelchair accessible dungeons and the like..... goddamn it

If you're looking to Paizo for an alternative to woke gaming, I have some news about the last four or five years...

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

In this case its because it's the final stage Evo of a magical puppy-kitten-thing. A lot of beasts with wings don't qualify as winged beasts (Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast isn't winged-beast type, neither are the sphinxes). Winged beast is usually bird/bat/not-dragon more than literally beast + wings. Even Sapphire Pegasus is just beast type

Nigga, I get angry that shit like Reptile is an unused archetype.

Winged Beast being birds only is some horseshit.

 

[Heed Not]

Winged Beast being birds only is some horseshit.

I mean it does literally translate as bird animal

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

I mean it does literally translate as bird animal

Then why localize it as winged beast when Raptor or some shit would’ve worked.

 

[Nate Scully 025]

Then why localize it as winged beast when Raptor or some shit would’ve worked.

Because the original translations were done on a shoe string budget decades ago, and that was where almost all of the monster type names for English were established. Changing the type now would require the changing of hundreds or thousands of cards and it just frankly isn’t worth that.