Dwarves are an archetypal fantasy race. Short in stature,
and often shorter in temper, dwarves are defined by their bushy beards, as well
as their love of carousing and gold. Originally from Nordic mythology, Dwarves were
described as renowned weapon smiths often credited for forging Gugnir (the
spear of Odin) and Mjolnir (the hammer of Thor). Modern perceptions of
Dwarves, like so many other fantasy races, are informed by their appearance in
the works of Tolkien.
Dwarves are present in just about every High Fantasy setting: from Warcraft to Dragon Age
to Heroes of Might and Magic. Despite this, Dwarves are rather
underrepresented in Magic the Gathering. The, relative, dearth of Dwarves is
especially apparent when compared to the plentiful presence of other common
fantasy races such as Goblins and Elves. Being outdone by elves in this manner
would undoubtedly make Gimli furious. Today’s article shall analyse the Dwarves
of Magic, whether they collectively convey a sense of ‘dwarven identity’ and
how viable a Dwarf tribal deck can be.
There are 67 cards in Magic bearing the creature type
‘dwarf’. Dwarves are printed primarily in red but also frequently appear in white,
especially in recent years as Wizard’s seems to be trying to align dwarves with
the Boros colour pair. 35 mono red dwarves exist, along with 23 mono white dwarves.
All of Magic’s mono white dwarves were printed in 2016 or later. In addition,
there are 6 dwarves which are both red and white. There are also two black
Dwarves, and a single blue Dwarf (all of whom are legendary creatures). Not a
single Dwarf has ever been printed in green. This absence makes sense considering
that dwarves are typically portrayed as miners, inventors, pilots or artificers.
All of these roles are antithetical to Green’s pro-nature and anti-technology ideology.
Digging Deep Into Dwarven History
Dwarves are another tribe which have been with Magic since
the beginning.
Dwarven
Warriors and
Dwarven Demolition Team were both printed in Alpha. Dwarves were printed with
reasonable frequency in Magic’s earlier days, especially in
Odyssey block
which features 16 of them. After
Eventide Dwarves
disappeared for a long time. From
Shards of Alara’s release in October
2008 until the release of
Kaladesh in 2016 not a single new dwarf would
appear. Mark Rosewater sheds some light on
Wizards of the Coast’s
typical reluctance to print dwarves in a 2002 article justifying their
inclusion in
Odyssey. Maro writes that goblins and dwarves, ‘fill a
similar void – small red creatures’ and that typically Magic’s Design team
chooses to print goblins rather than dwarves as, ‘goblins have a better PR
agent than the dwarves’.
In other words, Goblins are considered a more iconic and recognisable red tribe
than the unfortunately lovably gruff Dwarves. Although it cannot be said with certainty that
the same logic motivated Dwarves 8 yearlong exclusion from Magic such a decision
would make sense. Since returning in
Kaladesh block, Dwarves have been
present in both the 2018 and 2019 Core sets,
Battlebond and
Throne of
Eldraine. Hopefully this means that they are back to stay.
When discussing Dwarven identity, in the piece quoted above,
Mark Rosewater stated that primarily Dwarves ‘seem to have some hatred of
non-basic land’.
This can be seen in the cards
Dwarven
Miner and
Dwarven
Blastminer both of which destroy non-basic lands. It is not only non-basic
lands which Magic’s early Dwarves destroy.
Many old dwarf cards depict them blowing
things up.
Bomb
Squad blows up creatures,
Dwarven
Demolition Team blows up walls and
Mine
Layer generates Mine Tokens which then blow up lands.
Even spell cards depicting dwarves, such as
Ember
Shot and
Shower
of Coals, frequently depict them causing fiery mayhem.
This affinity for explosions may explain
dwarves red colour identity. This is furthered by their appreciation for ale
and carousing which fits with Red’s love of reckless fun beyond. There is thus a lot that is red about dwarves, beyond merely the fact
that they live in mountains.
The dwarves of Shadowmoor are some of the most unique in the
multiverse. Known as Duergar ( a term derived from Dvergar the old Norse word
for dwarf) the dwarves of Shadowmoor are printed as red/white hybrid cards. All
four of them were printed in
Eventide, they have bulbous noses and
notable hunches. The Duergar are subterranean creatures, as demonstrated by the
flavour text of
Duergar
Assailant which states that they ‘dismiss
the world above as a fable’.
Duergar
Mine-Captain is a somewhat unique card,
being 1 of only 16 cards in the game to possess an untap symbol.
Duergar
Hedge-Mage was reprinted in
Conspiracy, which may seem to imply that
Duergar exist on Fiora. Though, sadly, this is not conclusive evidence as many
cards in cards in
Conspiracy very clearly depict characters who do not
live on the set’s plane, such as
Heartless
Hidetsugu an ogre warlord from Kamigawa. Beyond all being Red/White hybrid
cards, there is little which mechanically unifies the Duergar. Their artwork,
like much of the artwork from
Shadowmoor block, conveys the dark fae-touched
nature of the plane.
Dwarves moved more heavily into White starting with
Kaladesh.
The Kaladesh plane profile on Wizards of The Coast’s website describes the
plane’s Dwarves thusly, ‘these meticulous artisans have an unparalleled work
ethic. They rely on proven tools and methods, and they relish in the physical
process of construction’.
This explains their shift into White, as it reflects both their fondness for
tradition, making use of ‘proven tools and methods’, and reflects their
capacity for hard work.
A further aspect of Dwarves, which was brought
to the forefront in
Kaladesh and
Aether Revolt is their affinity for
artifacts, especially vehicles. Several of the plane’s dwarves are artificers
such as
Master
Trinketeer. This brings artifact
interaction into Dwarves’ toolkit as well as the ability to generate or buff
Servo and Thopter tokens. Other Kadaladeshi Dwarves are pilots, who
typically interact with vehicles, such as
Veteran
Motorist.
3 new monowhite dwarves were present in
Battlebond and
the 2019 core set.
Aethershield
Artificer, furthers the theme of Dwarven artifact interaction introduced in
Kaladesh by granting a targeted artifact creature +2/+2 and
indestructible until the end of turn. Both
Dwarven
Lightsmith and
Dwarven
Priest are clerics, an archetypal white tribe. They both do fairly generic
white things, providing a +1/+1 buff to allied creatures and healing life
respectively. Though none of these creatures do anything exciting or
ground-breaking, they represent a continuation of the effort, started in
Kaladesh
block, to flavour Dwarves as both red and white. This partially resolves
the issue, encountered earlier, of Dwarves simply being low cost red creatures
which were perceived as a less popular alternative to goblins.
Finally, several dwarves were printed in
Throne of
Eldraine which is, at present, the most recently released set. Eldraine’s
dwarves are monored, once again, and exist alongside goblins on the plane.
Seven
Dwarves is an interesting card both to build decks around and to attempt to
collect in drafts. It is also such an incredibly overt Snow White reference,
that I feel I probably didn’t need to point that fact out.
Rimrock
Knight demonstrates an attempt to create a combat trick which does not set its
caster back a card. It can buff another creature, and then later enter play
itself.
Torbran,
Thane of Red Fell is both a powerful
Dwarven card, and one with lore significance. He is the lord of one of
Eldraine’s five courts, and the lord of Castle
Embereth.
Balthor and Depala
There are two more Dwarves who deserve a quick mention,
before the arbitrary grades are distributed…
Depala,
Pilot Exemplar is a lord who provides a +1/+1 bonus not only to Dwarves,
but also to vehicles. Whenever
Depala
is tapped she also lets you pay X mana to search reveal the top X cards of your
library and put any dwarves or vehicles uncovered this way into your hand.
Depala
is legendary, a fact which is both a blessing and a curse. This means that she
can be used as your Commander to build a neat dwarf/vehicle deck. Though it
also means that, in other formats, it is not possible to have multiple Depala’s
on the field at once providing several sets of +1/+1 bonuses.
Balthor Rockfist is represented on two cards
Balthor
the Stout in
Torment and
Balthor
the Defiled in
Judgment. Balthor was the mentor of Kamahl and Jeska,
two of the main characters of Magic’s storyline from
Odyssey until
Scourge.
The sinister cabal, the antagonists of the story during this period, slew
Balthor and raised him from the dead transforming him from
Balthor
the Stout into
Balthor
the Defiled. The undead Balthor was later slain again, as an act of mercy,
by his protegee Kamahl.
Both iterations of Balthor are lords, although neither of
them buff Dwarves.
Balthor
the Stout grants all of his controller’s other barbarian creatures +1/+1
and Firebreathing, whilst
Balthor
the Defiled instead provides +1/+1 to all cards with the ‘Minion’ creature
type in play. This represents Balthor’s shift in allegiance from the barbarian
tribes he was previously aligned with to the Cabal.
Balthor
the Defiled buffs minions
as most characters aligned with the Cabal bear the ‘minion’
creature type, for example
Braids,
Cabal Minion and
Cabal
Torturer. As neither Balthor buffs dwarves, they don’t really have a place
in a dwarf tribal deck. Anybody wishing to brew barbarian or minion tribal,
however, is in luck.
Arbitrary Grades
Flavour: B
The flavour of Dwarves has continually evolved throughout
their time in Magic. Initially dwarves were portrayed as volatile firebrands
who blew up walls and lands. In Eventide the 4 subterranean Duergar possessed
a very clear visual identity, but were not unified mechanically. In Kaladesh
Dwarves were brought into white and began to work with artifacts, rather than
blowing them up, and to pilot vehicles. White dwarves were present in several
later sets, until Throne of Eldraine returned Dwarves to red. The land destroying dwarves of the past and
the artificer dwarves of today, highlight very
different aspects of Dwarven identity. All the same, at each stage of the tribe’s
development their identity was clearly presented and executed. They have
certainly stepped out of the shadow of Goblins.
Viability: C
It is certainly possible to build fun decks featuring
Dwarves.
Depala,
Pilot Exemplar, as well as many of the Dwarves of Kaladesh, open up the
possibility of building decks which feature both Dwarves and Artifacts.
Entertaining
though such a deck may be, it has limited viability. The artifact subtheme in
Kaladesh is not effective enough to construct an entire deck around in
high-power formats such as Modern. Furthermore,
the
recent banning of
Smuggler’s
Copter in Pioneer, which is essentially the best vehicle,
ensures
that such a Dwarf/Vehicle deck is essentially non-viable in that format either.
Building a Dwarf tribal deck in Commander is very much
possible, however. The ability many dwarves possess to destroy non-basic lands
is also at its most useful in Commander, where such lands are practically
universal.
If more red and white Dwarves that interact
with artifacts and vehicles are printed, perhaps in the event of a return to
Kaladesh, Dwarf tribal decks will grow increasingly synergistic and enjoyable
to use.
In Commander Dwarves also possess a somewhat unique gimmick.
Dwarven commanders can be used to lead tribal decks
built around other creature types.
As
mentioned above,
Balthor
the Defiled can be
incorporated into a Minion based deck, whilst Balthor
the Stout can be used to buff barbarians, although Lovisa
Coldeyes also competes for this role.
Best and Worst Dwarves:
Torbran,
Thane of Red Fell is one of the most impressive Dwaves, being both an
interesting selection for a Commander and a useful component of Aggro decks in
the current standard.
Tobran’s
effect causes all red damage sources to deal an additional 2 damage. This a
strictly better version of a prior effect printed on
Jaya,
Venerated Firemage and
Embermaw
Hellion. Such is
Tobran’s
potential that some consider him a viable candidate even in, relatively, high
powered cubes.
Sram,
Senior Edificer is another excellent dwarf. An effective draw engine in
decks which run Auras, equipment and/or vehicles, which is also attached to a
relevant body for its cost.
Finally,
Toolcraft
Exemplar is an excellent one drop in White aggro decks which run a high
number of artifacts. This also makes the
Exemplar
synergise effectively with both
Sram
and
Depala.
