Fire Elemental

Facts on Elementals

Hi MaRo. Today is my birthday! Could I have some trivia on elementals?

Elementals started as truly being creatures made of the four elements (Alpha has an Air Elemental, Earth Elementsl, Fire Elemental and Water Elemental), but over time, we’ve gotten looser and looser with what counts as an element. We now allow Elementals to be made up of just about any substance, some like time aren’t even physical. We also allow Elementals to be of any color, making them one of the tribes that shows up in the most colors.Happy Birthday!

Air Elemental Birthday Colors Creatures Elemental Fire Elemental Mark Rosewater Water Elemental

Game Design Philosophies

Do you think that if you started the game over from the begining, do you think you would make all cards share a pool of subtypes? So that Fire Elemental and Fireball are both Flame spells, for example?

I have said as such:https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/starting-over-2015-01-26
Starting Over

Elemental Fire Elemental Spells Subtype

Character Color Associations

Lots of mountains aren't actually volcanoes. (and not all volcanoes are mountains) I do personally feel that it feels odd to have humanoid characters only associated with their color by a location or element. Pyromancers are always passionate in magic because that is what the magic requires, but seafarers aren't always going to espouse any blue values.

Not all pyromancers are passionate and seafarers can have blue traits without it being about seeking perfection. Each color covers a wide variety of different qualities. Being in a color means you hit some of those qualities but not necessarily all and definitely not always the philosophical ideal of the color.A zombie represents black’s fascination with death. A treefolk shows green’s connection to nature. A fire elemental is made of fire. The colors are not one note. They are made up of lots and lots of different elements which means that the things falling under them have a wide range of qualities they can express.

Black Blue Colors Elemental Fire Elemental Green Treefolk Zombie

Wall vs Elemental Debate

How is a wall of fire any less of an animated creature than a fire elemental? They're both made out of the same stuff and doing the same thing, but one looks vaguely humanoid because it's in that form, and the other is simply a large flame that acts as a barrier. I can see a wall of insects, or a wall of plants, or a wall of bacteria "showing up" on a lifeform scanner. I always liked walls functioning like creatures. It made sense if the inferno spell destroyed somebody's wall of air or swords.

A fire elemental is an actual creature with a body and a sentience. A wall of fire is an inanimate object on fire. They’re completely different.

Creatures Elemental Fire Elemental Insect Plant Wall Wall of Air Wall of Fire

Burn Spells Logic

Why don't more burn spells say Non-Elemental creature?

Because elementals in Magic are of many different elements. Sure a Fire Elemental should laugh off a Fireball but a Wood Elemental shouldn’t.

Creatures Elemental Fire Elemental Spells Wood Elemental

Vanilla Creatures Explained

Trying to wrap my head around vanilla creatures. Could you give one or two examples? Thanks!!

A Vanilla creature is a creature with no rules text. Vanilla creatures in Magic 2013: Canyon Minotaur (3/3) Centaur Courser (3/3) Fire Elemental (5/4) Kraken Hatchling (0/4) Merfolk of the Pearl Trident (1/1) Phyrexian Hulk (5/4) Pillarfield Ox (2/4) Silvercoat Lion (2/2) Walking Corpse (2/2) Zombie Goliath (4/3)

Canyon Minotaur Centaur Centaur Courser Creatures Elemental Fire Elemental Kraken Kraken Hatchling Merfolk Merfolk of the Pearl Trident Minotaur Oxen Phyrexian Phyrexian Hulk Pillarfield Ox Rules Silvercoat Lion Vanilla Walking Corpse Zombie Zombie Goliath

Elemental Reprints Query

How come Fire Elemental, Air Elemental and Earth Elemental have all been reprinted recently but Water Elemental hasn't since Fourth Edition?

Hmm, so we’ve done earth, wind and fire. I wonder if 70’s music has anything to do with it. : )

Air Elemental Card Printing Earth Elemental Elemental Fire Elemental Fourth Edition Pop Culture Reprints Water Elemental

Portions of Marodigest are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. The literal and graphical information presented on this site about Magic: The Gathering, including card images and mana symbols, is copyright Wizards of the Coast, LLC. Marodigest is not produced by or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. All other content © 2024 Webscape Internet Engineers. All rights reserved.