Zimone, Quandrix ProdigyZimone, Quandrix Prodigy | Art by Ryan Pancoast

One of things that attracts me to Magic: The Gathering is how incredibly inclusive and diverse the representation of characters are. I feel like there are many characters that look like me, think like me, feel like me. So today I want to walk through some of the representations in Magic that speak a lot to me.

WOTC's Struggle to Inclusion

First, let's talk about some things Mark Rosewater said about diversity: "Exposure to variety is a positive. It allows you to learn about things you didn’t know, experience things you’ve never experienced, and get a better sense of understanding of your friends and neighbors." It's nice to see someone white understand how diversity works. It's not an agenda. It's not something that is being "pushed."

He goes on to say, "Even the term 'pushing' implies that it’s unnaturally here, that we’re forcing something that naturally shouldn’t be. But why? That thing exists naturally in the real world, and it doesn’t make the real world any less. Maybe you’re less aware of it, but is making you aware of how others live their life 'pushing' something on you?"

Diversity is a gift to everyone, including those with privilege. It gives access to everyone.

In Magic, it's hugely well received due to its diversity in IP, flavor, and themes. A lot of these things comes from involvement with different cultures. This has always been a point of tension. I remember reading Shivam Bhatt's blog post about the set Kaladesh. I was touched deeply by this this article. It shows the raw and deep gnaw of wanting to be understood and depicted correctly in media.

Shivam stated about being excited for Kaladesh, "And I was totally wrong. Turns out it was the geegaw in her hand that mattered. And all that weird circus stuff in the background. That she was brown like my mom and in a gorgeous blue sari like my wife’s favorite? Window dressing." At this point, WOTC had some type of consultation on culture, but like many things like this, it shows that none of them had Shivam's experience when making decisions. The process of consultants wasn't as strict and formal as what it is today.

I bring up this hiccup and mistake in WOTC's depiction because I want to point out how a company that cares goes about making mistakes and correcting them. That shows the real journey of real people with diversity. It's all about how much experience any of us have, learning the way to do this diversity thing correctly is about experience.

We have to learn from our mistakes and I think WOTC tries to.

Rosewater said, "That’s what misrepresenting people does. It not only makes them feel not seen, it falsely represents them, spreading lies, often stereotypes, making people believe things about them that aren’t true. Our move towards diversity is just us trying to better reflect the world and the people in it. We’re trying to do to everyone else what a certain portion of people get every day without ever having to think about it."

Here is the growth: changing the name of the plane to Avishkar after many people spoke out about it. This is some growth.

Articles like More than Crusades & Jihads; I was a Disruptive Student by Amanda Stevens demonstrate some of the depictions and mistakes WOTC had made throughout the course of Magic: The Gathering. WOTC has an article, though brief, called Depictions of Racism in Magic. It simply states the mistakes and steps they'll take to correct some of these mistakes. I love this; it creates a context for my article. I want to make it a little personal too. I want to talk about some elements of diversity that I share with Magic characters, how they were handled, how they succeeded, and the mistakes that were made.

We can call it Top 4 Times Magic Learned To Be Inclusive.

Womanhood

I recently learned about Ghazbán OgressGhazbán Ogress from Unglued in 1998. I felt mortified. It was a card referencing the fact that this big Magic player had dated two other big Magic players in the space. The joke is that she changes from one controller to the next. This was supposed to be a cute joke like, all other Un-set cards. It showed me how backwards and horrible women were depicted by a game dominated by men.

Cathy Nicoloff had to deal with such humiliation and took it with grace. She signed her own cards despite feeling disgusted by them to be a good sport, to be a "cool girl." There is a shocking interview about this situation, showing the story directly from her. "What was I going to do? This was Mark Rosewater," is a chilling statement on how trapped she felt. He'd made this mistake and later apologized for it, but that is the world all women in Magic lived in and to some degree still live in.

I felt the depiction of women in Magic was always diverse in personalities and drives when I started playing in 2016, but not necessarily race. At least not the popular ones. I remember the first time I saw Sisay. Captain SisayCaptain Sisay from Invasion in 2000. Everyone kept showing me this card. I supposed they wanted me to feel included as one the only woman playing Magic in my community and also being the only Black person. At first, everyone was tiptoeing around why they were showing me the card. I couldn't understand it. It was a very tan lady on the card, maybe Latina. This is what I thought. I looked at her hair, her nose, and her lips and thought this might be some other minority. I support Latinas so I was glad for them.

Someone told me that Sisay was a Black woman much later. I felt a little awkward. It's not that I couldn't squint a little and think that. Her nose is slightly wider than all the white Magic: The Gathering girlies like Liliana, but similar to Shivam, I didn't feel like she looked like most Black women. Maybe some very white washed and Eurocentric looking Black women? But I didn't want to be unfair. They were trying. She was powerful, a leader, a captain. She had dark skin. They wanted her to be Black. Many people didn't want anyone to be Black, especially women. I felt this way for a long time. I felt grateful of anything.

Then I saw Zimone, Quandrix ProdigyZimone, Quandrix Prodigy in Strixhaven: School of Mages in 2021. My god. It was like lightning striking the tree in Jane Eyre. It was an omen - a good one in this case. Her unapologetic, unmistakable black skin. Her nose and lips and eyes. Her cheeks. Her palms, just slightly lighter than the rest of her. Her HAIR! So many times in all kinds of media they depict Black women with Eurocentric hair style, pushing them toward social acceptability to beauty, but there was Zimone! She was curly, poofy, coily. She had 4C hair. I teared up. She was smart, young, unsexualized. She was perfect. This is what I should have been given all along, not Sisay.

Queerness

When I came out to my mother, I was 16. My mom was a Black, immigrant, and Christian woman. It would be a miracle if this went well. My mother didn't shun me, but she tried to explain away all the things I felt. She tried to normalize me, to protect me. I struggled a lot with gender identity and sexuality. I didn't even know gender was a form of expression until 2022. I'm not kidding. I was a really late bloomer. I remember buying my first precon in 2016. Picked up the one that everyone called the Group Hug deck. I saw that it was a the cheapest deck and I was broke.

Everyone would giggle when I played the deck. I couldn't understand why. They would call them the gay couple. I looked at the card, and saw too men in Roman/Greek looking outfits and thought "Oh, this is a joke." A joke I didn't like, but a joke.

I read a lot of queer books to satiate my closetedness. I'd read Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller in 2011, so to see Kynaios and Tiro of MeletisKynaios and Tiro of Meletis from Commander 2016 was heartwarming. Even though everyone was joking about it, I felt happy to call them my gay couple. I wish they were in the forefront though, wanted people to know more about them, read stories about them. I didn't know until years later that they were canonly gay.

I was overjoyed, but not nearly as overjoyed as I was reading Nissa and Chandra, the Gruulfriends, kiss in Aetherdrift. I hadn't known about all the controversy in their relationship at the time, but I loved seeing two women love each other finally after being denied it for so long. This is growth. This is showing main characters as queer.

Alesha, Who Smiles at DeathAlesha, Who Smiles at Death in Fate Reforged in 2015 being an openly trans character gave me so much hope with trans representation in the game moving forward. Jay Annelli did a Bluesky post depicting a bunch of queer Magic characters. It is so good to see characters like Niko playing more than a background role!

Disability/Neurodivergency

I got diagnosed with a serious mental illness that is categorized as a disability in 2019. My life got different in a lot of ways. I started to think that my illness was a reason for prejudice against myself. I judged my illness so harshly. I'd lost so many opportunities because of my illness and I blamed myself for it. If only I was better. If only I was different. I felt a lot of shame. It was so important in adjusting to my disability that I learn to accept myself, find myself worthy, stop blaming myself for something out of my control.

Even when there was a before that I could miss, the new was as much a part of my life as any other change. It took a long time for me to accept this.

Seeing Jay Anneli's Bluesky post about characters with disabilities in Magic, helped heal a stubborn part of myself. My disability is depicted negatively in the media a lot. Sadly, from what I know Magic hasn't depicted someone like me, but seeing other types of disabilities depicted healthily, like Daretti, Rocketeer EngineerDaretti, Rocketeer Engineer and Teysa KarlovTeysa Karlov, made me feel like there is hope for me.

Neurodivergent characters like Helga and Narset gave me even more hope. Maybe there will be a character with Schizophrenia and/or Bipolar in Magic canon who is harmless. I can hope for that because of how much trust I have in WOTC to grow.

Blackness

I can remember the exact moment I realized I was Black. I had taken a picture for school. It was the 1st grade. My mom was showing me the picture of whole class. I noticed one kid that was different from the rest and pointed to them. I asked my mom why that one different. She told me that was me. She told me that I was Black. I hadn't realized before that. I didn't notice a difference before then. Ever since I've known intimately what it felt like to be Black. From overtly racist comments and actions to microaggressions that led to me losing jobs, I couldn't forget the difference between me and other people.

There is a weird effect about Blackness in the US. There is a lot of depiction of Blackness in media, but often it isn't the kind of depiction we want. We aren't heroes or damsels in distress. Aren't the main character, the graceful and noble. We are the side character if we're good at all, broken antiheroes, or dubious heroes most of the time. We don't get to be in period pieces. Don't get to be human in the sci-fi movies. We're green instead of brown. We're monsters instead of humans.

Magic wasn't much different. Teferi, the most iconic Black Magic character, was horribly tortured by his circumstances. He couldn't just be happy. He was noble to a fault, but his choices caught up with him. Now, I don't dislike this depiction of Teferi. He's a good, well rounded character, but I want whimsy too. I want characters to be everything our white counterparts get to be. I want joy and nobility. Abundance that allows for shallowness. I've always thought this. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it always bothered me. Have enough characters like to me to have variety, you know?

When The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth in 2023 came out, I nearly cried. Galadriel of LothlórienGaladriel of Lothlórien, Boromir, Warden of the TowerBoromir, Warden of the Tower, Éowyn, Fearless KnightÉowyn, Fearless Knight, and Aragorn, King of GondorAragorn, King of Gondor. All Black. They didn't need to do this. They had reasons to not do this. This is not how the characters were depicted. It was a risk. It was a huge risk, and I felt seen and heard. Seeing all these beloved characters reimagined like me, made me so unbearably happy. This is inclusion. This is diversity. Growth.

Conclusion

I'm sure you've learned a lot about little ol' me. I don't have a fancy thing to say to close us out. I'm happy with this Magic. I'm happy with how it's grown and am eager for it to grow more, because it can. Main characters transitioning and/or being neurodivergent could be a start!

I'll leave you with one last thing Mark Rosewater said: "But why are we 'making it the forefront of their character?' We’re not. We’re making it a part of their character. But in a world where you’re not used to ever seeing it, it feels louder than it is. Things that are a natural part of the world that you’re used to feel like the background of the story because you understand the context to it." I hope I gave you all some context.

Let me know your thoughts, your experiences. I'm @strixhavendropout on Bluesky.