Modern Horizons 3, the new card set from Magic: The Gathering, is coming soon. Previews of cards and the breakdown of what to expect from the set as a whole have emerged over the last couple of weeks. One of the new items is a change in terms on the cards. Magic used to use the term “tribal” on their cards. This was briefly dropped for “typal” in the Lord of the Rings set. Now with the new set arriving, it has been changed again for the word “kindred”. And that’s a good thing.
The word “tribal” on the cards referred to a card that affected a single type of creature such as Goblins or Merfolk. However, the choice came across as confusing and ended up with poor connotations. A “tribe” is used to refer to a group of people that share common a common culture, belief, land, and ancestry. Other words like “clan”, “house” or “family” have a similar meaning.
The lore of Magic: The Gathering expands across realms, across time, and across cities, continents, cultures, and faiths. To say that one Elf card is tribal and affects all other Elf cards is confusing within their own lore. After all, the Elves of Zendikar would not share a common culture or land with Ravnican Elves. To contrast, Elves in Zendikar live in treetop homes, practice mysticism, and have their own three insular tribes. Whereas Silhana Ravnican Elves are part of the Selesnya Conclave. They even have their own subgroup of Elves of the Deep Shadow who were made outcasts and joined the Golgari. There’s your Magic lore lesson today.
When Magic switched to “typal” for Lord of the Rings it still didn’t resonate right. It sounds more like an object than a group of people. At last, the word “kindred” gives a clearer understanding. Kindred means “similar in kind” which makes more sense for a racial connotation as opposed to tribal, which is more of a social connotation.
Capitalize on all the kindred cards you want to when Modern Horizons 3 releases on June 14th.
