Hello everyone! My name is Jonathan and today's article is going to be peculiar, to say the least. In fact, we're moving outside the common boundaries of MTG to answer a pretty weird question: What if some historic figures had their own Magic card?

To be completely honest, this isn't anything new. In fact, we've recently seen this very idea applied to actual cards; in particular the Assassin's Creed set gave us Sokrates, Athenian TeacherSokrates, Athenian Teacher, Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci and Cleopatra, Exiled PharaohCleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh.

Still, we could expand on this trope a bit. So today I present you five cards based on real life people!

Napoleon Bonaparte

The first historical figure we're covering is Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general and later emperor.

Napoleon Bonaparte, General

Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
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Haste, first strike

Whenever Napoleon attacks, you may exile a creature card from your graveyard. If you do, Napoleon gets +x/+x until end of turn, where x is the exiled creature's power.

Whenever Napoleon deals combat damage to a player or destroys a creature in combat, put a conquer counter on it. Then, if it has three or more conquer counters, transform it.

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2/1

To represent the two extremely important phases of his life, I think Napoleon's card should have two sides.

On the front, it's a very aggressive white-and-red creature, representing his military prowess. Haste and first strike are two keywords that allow him both to battle as soon as possible and to likely have the upper hand on defenders when doing so.

His first triggered ability uses creatures in the graveyard to power up his attacks, just like Napoleon learnt from the ancient Romans and replicated their battlefield techniques to overcome his enemies. Additionally, this further deepens the connection with the white-red color identity, for Strixhaven taught us that the Lorehold scholars are the ones that want to Wake the PastWake the Past.

The second ability clearly refers to his successes during military campaigns and how they led to his crowning as an emperor. Of course, to reach this status, Napoleon has to strike his enemies and defeat their armies multiple times.

Once he's shown his abilities as a leader, he'll become worthy of wearing a crown.

Napoleon I, Emperor

Legendary Creature - Human Noble

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Indestructible, fading 5
When Napoleon I, Emperor enters, for each opponent, gain control of a creature they control.

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4/4

When thinking about how to represent Napoleon as an emperor, I wasn't really sure about which of his life's events to highlight. In the end, I've decided to keep it as simple as possible, hinting at two crucial moments of his reign: its beginning and its end.

The very first moments of his life as an emperor are represented by its triggered ability upon entering the battlefield. In fact, Napoleon's crowning went down in history as a crucial passage in the relationship between the Church and sovereigns; by putting the crown on his head himself (not allowing the Pope to do so), Napoleon remarked how his power only derived from himself, and not from any exterior influence.

To represent it on a Magic card, I imagine its effect as a Mind ControlMind Control, simply stripping your opponents of one of their creatures.

On the other hand, the two keywords were used to depict his time as an emperor and the end of his reign. First, he is indestructible, a sovereign the world had never seen before; like every rising ruler in history, nothing seems able to stop him. And yet, Napoleon too will Fade into AntiquityFade into Antiquity eventually.

Fading is particularly adequate as an ability for this card to have, since he, who once was the icon and representative of true power, will die alone on a remote island, watching from afar while the world forgets his name.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie

Next is a woman whose groundbreaking discoveries in physics and chemistry were awarded with two Nobel Prizes: Maria Skłodowska-Curie.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Herald of a New Age

Legendary Creature - Human Scientist

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Shroud
Creatures you control get +1/+1 for each -1/-1 counter on Maria Skłodowska-Curie.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a -1/-1 counter on this creature. If you do, you draw a card, gain 2 life and create a Treasure token.
When Maria Skłodowska-Curie dies, if she had five or more -1/-1 counters on her, you get an emblem with "Creatures you control have hexproof" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control"

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0/5

Maria Skłodowska-Curie's life is truly inspiring. In a male-dominated scientific world, her sheer abilities as a researcher granted her a place among the most famous and important scientists of all times.

Not only this, her efforts on understanding radiations and their possible applications in medicine brought about a new scientific age, revolutionizing how medicine was practiced.

For these reasons, I imagined her as a blue-red-green card, with the first two colors representing the tendency to innovation and discovery, while green stands for the philanthropic ends of her efforts.

The textbox of the card wants to showcase how her studies aimed at a better future for all of humanity. As time (aka, turns) passes, other creatures grow stronger and stronger thanks to her efforts, while also granting prosperity to the player in the form of cards, life points, and mana.

One key feature I kept in mind when designing the card was that I wanted it to put into Magic terms how she died because of her activity as a scientist. In fact, at the time, the risks of radioactive substances were not known and it's extremely probable that Maria Skłodowska-Curie's fatal illness was a consequence of these materials.

For this reason, she has shroud protecting her from outside interactions, but still slowly depletes herself to help others.

In the end, if she's able to complete her studies in this alternative universe as well, her legacy will live on, protecting and empowering our creatures through an emblem that is a testament to her lifelong efforts for a better world.

Edgar Allan Poe

Moving on, let's talk about one of the most influential writers of the 19th century: Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe, Writer

Legendary Creature - Human

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When Edgar Allan Poe enters or attacks, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
, Sacrifice another creature: Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. If it is double-faced, return it to the battlefield transformed instead.

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3/3

Poe has always been equated with gloomy atmospheres and death-ridden settings. Many also say that his style of writing was influenced by his childhood, which he spent living near a cemetery.

To represent these features of his works, he enters with an additional Zombie token, the utmost death-related creature, which he also creates when he attacks, as if they were to come alive to incarnate the dread present in his stories.

The second half of the card hints at his pioneering relevance in the creation of the short story genre. This style of writing is characterized, you guessed it, by its brevity, as opposed to novels' length and abundance of descriptions.

Short stories can eliminate superfluous details to keep the word count as low as possible; nonetheless, these narratives are far from being devoid of meaning or messages. Quite the opposite; given the reduced operating space, every single word has to be evocative and charged with meaning, in order to create a sub-text right beneath the actual story.

This fascinating and intricate web of thoughts and concealed meanings is represented by Poe's activated ability: giving up on one creature, you can access a different one which could also have one additional side to show. Just like looking below the literal meaning in one of his stories, you could find more and more meanings lingering.

Amelia Earhart

Next, there's one of most famous explorers of all times: Amelia Earhart.

Amelia Earhart, Trailblazer

Legendary Creature - Human Pilot

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Flying
When Amelia attacks, create two Map tokens.
If this creature would explore, it explores twice instead.
If Amelia would be put in a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.
: Amelia can't be blocked this turn

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2/3

Amelia's life can be perfectly defined with the word "explorer." She was able to venture further than anyone during her time, finishing flying routes that few or none had done before.

Of course, she'll have flying, considering how her life was devoted to soaring through the skies. I also thought about making her come into play alongside a Vehicle token of some sort, but I think she simply cannot be separated from her plane.

Clearly, explore is a mechanic tailor-made for this card and Map tokens fit her even better. Her voyages led her through uncharted routes and got her to explore the most remote corners of the world map. She truly is the epitome of exploration and the first two triggered abilities precisely want to represent this.

Her activated ability is another testament to her achievements. In fact, she set the record for the maximum altitude ever reached by a female pilot; for this reason, even though se can always only be blocked by a limited number of creatures, I wanted her to be able to rise even further above them.

Lastly, her third triggered ability represents the mysterious circumstances of her death. In fact, she disappeared during her third attempt at a trip around the globe, and to this day we still don't know what happened to her. Hence, in the game, she fades into exile, for wherever she might have been, she simply disappeared.

William Shakespeare

Last, but definitely not least, let's talk about the greatest playwright of all times: William Shakespeare. But this time, we're representing our historical figure as a planeswalker.

William Shakespeare, the Greatest Poet

Legendary Planeswalker - Shakespeare

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As long as an opponent controls more creatures than you, your creatures can't be blocked by creatures that opponent controls.

+1: Sacrifice two creatures. Create an x/x Actor token that is all colors, where x is the total power of the creatures sacrificed this way.

-2: Each opponent creates a 1/1 colorless Villain token with "This creature can't attack or block" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life."

-7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature enters under your control, sacrifice up to two creatures to put x +1/+1 counters on a creature you control, where x is the total power of creatures sacrificed this way".

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Loyalty: 5

I've decided to go full WUBRG for this card's color identity because I simply couldn't limit Shakespeare's persona to just a combination of them. There is so much depth, thought, and variety of themes in his works that it's impossible to remove any of them. His writings cover the whole spectrum of human emotions, thus, I wanted it to be reflected in its casting cost.

My main focus when designing this (extremely verbose, I know) card was one trope that is present in each and every one of Shakespeare's plays: the society against the individual.

This idea is perfectly represented by the static ability of this planeswalker, which gives your creatures a substantial power-up if they're outnumbered.

To help shape this scenario, we can count on a risky-but-rewarding +1 ability. We can get rid of two our creatures, perhaps the biggest ones, in order to merge them into one bigger body. This move does expose us to removals but, if we manage to make the Actor token stick around, then we're in for a lot of unblockable damage.

Additionally, the -2 ability actively grows our opponents' ranks, by giving harming creatures. Not only will they not be able to do anything during combat, but they'll also slowly deal damage if they aren't able to remove them. Of course, the added bonus of this plan is making our creatures unblockable, thus adding to the constant damage other players are taking.

Lastly, the ultimate for this planeswalker. The -7 ability is a twist on the +1, but with a lot of added flexibility. We can get rid of our useless creatures (perhaps with some sacrifice synergy) to grow one of our attackers. Additionally, if the game drags on enough, we can start creating multiple threatening attackers.

This is all from me for now. What do you think? Would you have changed anything about these cards? What other historical figures do you think would fit on a Magic card? Let me know in the comments!