Here's Why Magic: The Gathering Tends To Have A Lot of Humans in The Game's Worlds

Most Magic: The Gathering expansions are set in a world dominated by Humans. Many of the planeswalkers and legendary creature cards in each Magic set are Humans. Even one of the Tier-1 decks in the game's Modern format is the Humans archtype, and the latest fairy tale-themed set, Throne of Eldraine, features a lot of Human cards. Today, MTG head designer Mark Rosewater has explained why the various worlds of Magic's multiverse tend to have a lot of Humans.

Credit: Wizards of the Coast

"We've done the market research for Magic," Rosewater said on his Blogatog after a fan asked about why Wizards of the Coast rarely designs a world with no humans. "The majority of players like having Humans. The planeswalkers that resonate best are Human. The legendary creatures that resonate best are Human. That's why we tend to have a lot of Humans in the game and on most worlds."

Rosewater went on to explain why it's harder to create an MTG world without Humans. "I get there are players that prefer non-Humans," he said "That's why we make lots and lots of non-Human cards. It's why we have non-Human planeswalkers and non-Human legendary creatures. But the request for worlds with no Humans is a harder ask because Humans are so well liked by a large portion of the player base."

With the recently-revealed MTG/My Little Pony crossover product, it looks like non-human worlds in Magic would resonate as well, and MTG already featured worlds with no humans like the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block. Rosewater said the R&D team at Wizards of the Coast are not shutting down the possibility of developing another non-Human world in Magic. "That's not to say we'll never do a non-Human world again (Lorwyn/Shadowmoor has no Humans), but it will have to be because the essence of the world works better without Humans."

While many fans would like to see more MTG worlds with no Humans, Rosewater clarified that the creature type resonates well with the majority of the player base. "Not doing something overwhelmingly popular is a big ask, and not one we'll do just because I get some requests for it," he said.

Would you like to see more MTG worlds with no humans?

Throne of Eldraine is now available.

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