Unusual Tribes 3: Crabs and Homarids

Intro

Welcome to another installment of Unusual Tribes, a series which analyses the flavour and mechanics of niche Magic the Gathering creature types. Thanks to the user ‘bristlybits’ on Reddit for suggesting crabs as a tribe. Given the small number of crabs in Magic, as a bonus, it seemed appropriate to also discuss Homarids in the same piece. Homarids are a race of vaguely humanoid crustaceans so it seemed appropriate to discuss them alongside crabs.

Starting with Giant Crab, printed in Tempest in 1997, 26 crabs have been put onto Magic the Gathering cards. A 27^th crab, Shorecomber Crab, also exists as part of Magic the Gathering Arena’s tutorial experience, but cannot be collected either physically or digitally. Crabs exist mostly in blue due to their aquatic habitat rather than any association with blue’s ideology of pursuing intellectual advancement. There is a single white/blue crab, Riptide Crab, which was created as a part of Invasion block’s multicolour theme.  There are also several crabs in green/blue, all of which are the creations of the Simic Combine, being mutants spliced together between crabs and other animals. Growth-Chamber Guardian is the only non-blue crab. His green identity reflects both his Simic allegiance, as well as the fact that he is an elf/crab hybrid. Drownyard Behemoth and Vexing Scuttler are colourless, due to being Eldrazi, but can be summoned at a lower cost by using blue mana and sacrificing a creature using their Emerge ability.

Homarids, meanwhile, were introduced three years prior to crab in 1994 with the set Fallen Empires.  Fallen Empires was an early attempt at a tribal set. Interestingly each colour featured two different tribes who were described as rivals, fighting over scarce resources in order to prepare for Dominaria’s approaching ice age. For example, whilst elves and thallids were green’s tribes, Homarids and merfolk were the feuding factions of blue. Only 7 Homarids exist, 4 of whom were printed in Fallen Empires. These 4 were followed by 3 more, sporadically introduced over the course of future sets. Viscerid Drone was printed in Alliances in 1996. Viscerids being, ‘an advanced, evolved form of Homarids’, though still bearing the same creature type.[1] Another Viscerid, Viscerid Deepwalker, was printed in Ice Age. Finally, Homarid Explorer was printed in Dominaria.

Homarid children are referred to as Camarids. Like Saprolings, no cards bearing the Camarid creature type exist. Camarid tokens can be created using either Homarid Spawning Bed or Sarpadian Empires, Vol.VII  if you have no objection to employing child soldiers by summoning literal crab babies to fight for you. A return to the Homarids’ home plane of Dominaria seems likely given the incredible success of the previous set located there, coupled with the fact that Dominaria was the first plane of the multiverse Magic ever explored. Whether we shall be seeing Homarids, Viscerids and Camarids there is less certain, however. As for crabs, they will likely be making infrequent, but consistent, appearances throughout the sets of the future.

The flavour of crabs

The flavour of crabs is often simple, but clear. Many crabs allow you to draw a card once they die.  Though typically blue cards reflect card draw as the acquisition of knowledge, or a newly gained insight into a situation, crabby card draw is a different kettle of fish. The flavour text of Purple-Crystal Crab makes this clear, ‘A precious shell without, a delicious taste within’. The card drawn, when Purple-Crystal Crab dies represents the player consuming meat from the cadaver of their crabby companion once they have died for their cause. 

The blue/white Riptide Crab, like many cards from the Invasion block, is an archetypal demonstration of what a two-colour card can do.  Its blue identity enables its card draw effect, whilst the splash of white enables Riptide Crab to possess vigilance (though the ability was not explicitly key worded on its original printing). Riptide Crab’s vigilant nature is reflected in its flavour text, ‘It sleeps with its claws open’.

Crabs typically have greater toughness than power to reflect their firm chitinous exoskeletons. Of the 26 crabs printed, 15 have greater toughness than power, often by a significant margin. For instance, Fortress Crab has only a single power, but 6 toughness. 10 crabs have equal power and toughness, and only a single crab, Shambleshark (which as its name would imply is more shark than crab), has greater power than toughness.

Horseshoe Crab is one of the most notable crabs printed in Magic. Based upon a real animal, which also bears the name horseshoe crab despite being an arthropod rather than a crab, Horseshoe Crab has been the centrepiece of combo decks ever since its original printing in Urza’s Saga. Horseshoe Crab has the ability to untap itself for a single blue mana. By equipping it with anything that allows it to ping opponents and their creatures (such as Hermetic Study) along with granting it Deathtouch (such as through Basilisk Collar) it is transformed into a crusty machine gun. Once suitably armed you can pour mana into your little gatling horseshoe to tear down the opponent’s board, and chip away at their life total. Everybody’s favourite horseshoe arthropod was paid homage in 2010 with the release of Rise of the Eldrazi. The enchantment Crab Umbra grants any creature Horseshoe Crab’s ability at a slightly higher cost.

A final point of trivia, though this is perhaps a bit of a reach, is that Thassa’s Emissary from Theros may represent Karkinos.  Karkinos is a crab from Greek mythology who attacked Heracles during his fight with the hydra, as well as the constellation which represents the star sign cancer.

The Hardy Hides of Homarids and Amassing an Army in Artwork

As only 7 Homarids exist there aren’t really enough of them to have a truly developed identity. Nevertheless, there is consistency binding the design of several Homarids. Homarid Warrior and Deep Spawn possess an early take on the ability Shroud, becoming untargetable at the cost of a single blue mana and tapping themselves down for several turns. This reflects the Homarid’s protecting themselves using their exoskeleton in order to avoid danger. [2] An improved version of this ability, which no longer required self-tapping, would later find its way onto Magic’s first crab, Giant Crab. King Crab, printed in Urza’s Legacy, would also take inspiration from its Homarid predecessors. Being a green hoser, just like Homarid Shaman had been before it.

A final point worth noting about Homarids is why the cards Homarid and Homarid Warrior possess several pieces of alternate artwork. Fallen Empires featured only 102 cards with which to tell the story of a fight between 10 distinct factions. As such several cards from each of the factions in the set received alternate pieces of artwork. This manages to communicate how Homarids, and their counterparts, are populous and diverse tribes despite the limited number of cards available to portray them in their debut set.

Deckbuilding

Regrettably neither crabs nor Homarids have received much in the way of tribal support. Neither tribe has a lord, excluding the Mystery Booster Playtest card Khod, Etlan Shiis Envoy which is unfortunately illegal in every format.

Due to many crabs having high toughness, one possible means of brewing a deck with them is to make use of cards such as Assault Formation or High Alert to switch their power and toughness and transform them into aggressive threats. Such a deck would, however, be more of a ‘high-toughness matters’ themed deck than a crab themed one.

As mentioned above, it is perfectly possible to build a functional combo deck around Horseshoe Crab. Hedron Crab, printed in Worldwake, is also a highly effective mill card which can be combined with Scapeshift to chuck huge swathes of your opponent’s deck into the graveyard in a single swing, as well as gradually through their library as the game progresses. Putting Magic the Gathering’s other two milling crustaceans Iceberg Cancrix and Homarid Explorer in such a deck, though an excellent show of solidarity between Magic’s two crabfolk tribes, is far from recommended.

Arbitrary Grades

Crabs

Flavour: C

The flavour of crab cards is clear, yet never particularly complex. They are sturdy, and thus have high toughness. Their meat is tasty, thus enabling card draw when they die. Mechanics such as Evolve and Adapt also reflect how the crabs of the Simic Combine are constantly undergoing mutations. The effects of crabs are perhaps unexciting, but they are consistent and it is generally apparent what they are trying to convey

Viability: C-

Though viable decks can be built featuring crabs, such as the aforementioned Horseshoe Crab and Hedron Crab engines, actually building a crab tribal deck is, at least at present, a challenging task. Given that bears recently received a lord in Ayula, Queen Among Bears perhaps the day is not so far off that crabs will receive the same treatment and become more usable collectively, even if only marginally.

Best and worst cards:

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that they have already been praised several times throughout this article, Horseshoe Crab and Hedron Crab are possibly the best and most played members of the tribe. Growth-Chamber Guardian is also worthy of a mention. Its low cost, coupled with its ability to buff itself, whilst fetching more Growth-Chamber Guardians from the library, makes it an intimidating threat whether it is brought out in the early or late game. Armored Cancrix is possibly the weakest crab. It is strictly worse than Wishcoin Crab, costing one extra mana for the same stats, yet it isn’t remarkably bad, being merely an overcosted vanilla creature.

Homarids

Flavour: D

Given the incredibly small number of Homarids in the game, assigning any rating here is even more arbitrary than usual. The use of a shroud-like effect to demonstrate their tough exoskeletons is innovative for its time. It is slightly uncertain why Homarid Explorer mills cards from the opponent’s library. Perhaps it reflects how the flavour text describes the explorer ‘raiding coastal settlements for supplies’. With this exception most Homarids have clear, if simple, effects. They would have qualified for at least a C were it not for one complaint. The splitting of the tribe into Homarids, Viscerids and Camarids seems unnecessary. In what way have Viscerid ‘evolved’ from their predecessors? Why do young Homarid’s need to have a different creature type from their elders? This keeps the tribe at a D, though this low rating is handed out with an almost heavy heart. The idea of a tribe of ‘crabfolk’ is conceptually interesting, and it would be nice to see them receive greater focus in the future.

Viability: F

Don’t build a Homarid tribal deck!  The fact that there are only 7 of them makes the task essentially impossible even in freeform formats like Commander. Furthermore, none of the 7 cards have any real synergy when played together, nor are any of them individually powerful.

Best and worst cards: The card Homarid itself is possibly the worst of its tribe. A 3 mana 2/2, which enters play as a 1/1 and briefly buffs itself into becoming a 3/3 several turns later. Viscerid Drone is possibly the best of its kind, for as much as that is worth. At the cost of sacrificing a swamp and another creature, Viscerid Drone destroys a single creature.  A bad removal effect to be sure, but a removal effect nonetheless.

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[1] https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/homarid-armor-2002-04-18
[2] Reddit user 'sanctaphrax' pointed out how Homarid untargetability could instead represent them submerging themselves beneath the waves to avoid danger. This interpretation makes a lot of sense, Dive Down from Ixalan grants hexproof, which also links diving deep underwater to becoming untargetable. My thanks to sanctaphrax for sharing this interpretation, and I felt I should mention it here.