Akroan Horse

Artifacts vs Constructs

Artifact Creature vs. Construct ReduxThe comments in my previous ask about the relevance of "Construct" tell me I could have been more clear. Cards on the table, obvious as they are, I believe the creature type was a mistake. I'm well aware that I'm in the minority, and that even if it were possible to reverse course my opinion wouldn't hold any weight."Beast" is often mentioned as a 'catchall' type similar to Construct. However it isn't just a catchall -- it adds its own flavor. When I say it refers to a subset of "wild animal" that isn't a negative -- that tells the player something.Now, what does "Construct" tell us? It would tell us that the creature was artificial -- except we already know that due to the Artifact type. This makes "Construct" redundant unless it servers another purpose. To paraphrase a favorite saying of yours, anything not serving the set should be cut.The heavy overlap between Artifact Creature and Construct results in a not-quite-parasitic environment where caring about Constructs means you inherently want to care about Artifacts; and caring about Artifact Creatures is going to push you into trying to make Construct work. This limits players' creative agency.So does it serve the set? The other explanation I see given is that it serves as a catchall because every creature needs a creature type. The implication being that there's no possible way Design could create the same number of Artifact Creatures without having that stopgap...

I call bull; even if the bar wasn't as low as Akroan Horse being a Horse, I have more faith in Magic Design than that. More Artifact Creatures that are Soldiers, Fish, or any other type wouldn't hurt their presentation as Artifacts -- but it would allow them to see play in non-Construct focused decks. And if it does provide a relevant Design challenge? Well, to quote a designer a greatly respect:Restrictions breed creativity.

Let me explain the creation of the Construct creature type. When Magic first came out, artifact creatures didn’t have creature types. I felt that was wrong, so I campaigned to get them added. I was successful and we added the “every creature needs to have at least one creature type” rule to artifact creatures. Some artifact creatures had simple solutions. They could have clear artifact unique creature types. Golems could be Golems and Gnomes could be Gnomes. Other creatures felt close enough to existing creature types that we could use those. Yotian Soldier could be a Soldier and Clockwork Avian could be a Bird.There was a group of artifact creatures that didn’t have a clear creature type. For example, what exactly is a Su-Chi? We chose to pick a general creature type as a catch-all. It had to be pretty vague though because it has to work for any artifact creature that we couldn’t otherwise identify. What you see as a bug is actually a feature of Construct. It needs to be vague, so that it can be flexible. If an artifact creature can have a better option, it won’t be a Construct.

Akroan Horse Artifacts Beast Bird Clockwork Avian Construct Creatures Fish Flavor Gnome Golem Horse Rules Soldier Su-Chi Yotian Soldier

Token Flavor Decision

Regarding the Enchanted Carriage tokens, do you think making them something other than mice would have cause a similar issues to the Akroan Horse(Lion) problem from Theros?

The picture of the pumpkin carriage would have sold the flavor, but the white mice is just a matter of making it better than just “good enough”.

Akroan Horse Enchanted Carriage Flavor Horse Mouse Theros Tokens White

Theros Creative Change

from today's article, " A classic example of this was in Theros when the Creative team took our top-down Trojan Horse and changed it to Akroan Horse." I thought the issue was they went from "Trojan Horse" to "Akroan Lion", and it was improved when they backed it up to "Akroan Horse"?

It should have said Akroan Lion.

Akroan Horse Horse Theros Top Down

Akroan Horse Typing

In your opinion, should Akroan Horse be a horse? Ever since I noticed its type line it's bugged me; "Horse Construct" I could sort-of get behind, but flavor-wise, there's nothing horsey about it besides shape, and I can't think of any other constructs/golems in magic that inherit the type of what they're modeled on.

We tend to use a creature type of it appears in the name. I admit this one’s a bit fuzzy.

Akroan Horse Construct Creatures Flavor Golem Horse

Design Space Exploration

How much design space do you think there is with cards like Sleeper Agent and Akroan Horse?

A little but not tons.

Akroan Horse Design Space Horse Sleeper Agent

Akroan Horse Critique

RE: "How do all of you feel when we do obvious takes on real world sources?" Overall, I think you did a great job in making Theros feel like Magic instead of Ancient Greece. The only card that irks me is Akroan Horse. You could have made it any other creature type in the Multiverse and people would have still gotten the reference. A Dragon, Sphinx, even an Ox (or Squirrel...) would've been cool. Horse is just too obvious. (Btw, I actually like Horses. I just dislike it on Akroan Horse.)

It turns out that isn’t true. For a while it was a different animal. It was a lion. And the note we kept getting was either “Why isn’t this a horse” or “I don’t get it. What is this card referencing?”.

Akroan Horse Creatures Dragon Horse Oxen Sphinx Squirrel Theros

Akroan Horse Discovery

So I had thought that Akroan Horse had little value aside from the (really cool) flavor, and then I picked one up during a draft because it went late. Then I decided to run it in my deck and it performed way better than I expected. I may be a mediocre player for not realising its potential earlier, but I certainly love these moments of discovery that keep happening even after years of playing. Thanks for making them possible!

I’ve always said that Magic is at its core a game of discovery. I’m glad you enjoy that aspect.

Akroan Horse Flavor Horse Limited

Akroan Horse Query

Doesn't Akroan Horse have the same problem as Wall of Stone? The horse itself is just a piece of wood, so by your standards it should be a noncreature artifact. Of course, mechanically it works much better as a creature.

If all walls were artifacts, I would feel a little better as they are often constructs by nature.

Akroan Horse Artifacts Construct Horse Non-creatures Wall Wall of Stone

Akroan Horse Mechanics

I appear to be the minority here, but I dislike how Akroan horse gives you tokens over time instead of all of at once like a proper surprise attack.

The card would have to cost a lot more if you got them all at once.

Akroan Horse Horse Tokens

Akroan Horse Mechanics

Why aren't the tokens Akroan Horse makes unblockable? At least while the horse is in play. Currently it's as if the soldiers climbing out of the horse sneak back out of the city to their own army camp, and then when they attack the horse itself can actually block them.

Well, I guess not everyone can love the card. As I often explain, good gameplay will often trump matching flavor 100%. I feel the current card captures the flavor but leads to a more interactive game state.

Akroan Horse Army Flavor Game Play Horse Soldier Tokens