Friday, August 31, 2018

Magic The Gathering Tokens - Soldiers

Rounding out the "big three" of Magic tokens, so to speak, is a key component of the evocatively-named "white weenie" strategy: the 1/1 White Soldier. Dating back to the Alliances expansion from 1996 (the same set that saw the debut of Zombie tokens, which was two years after the first Goblin token from Fallen Empires), this token has appeared in 29 different sets throughout Magic's history, with 12 different unique art printings. These little guys have represented members of the Kjeldoran army, the Mercadian security force, gladiators in the Otarian fighting pits, allies of angels in the fight for justice, Auriok nomads on the plane of Mirrodin, and Benalish standing troops, among others. And that's all before set-specific soldier tokens were included as promotional material in booster packs.



If you've been following along, you'll notice that the first four printed soldier tokens follow the same pattern as Zombies and Goblins: first in Unglued (a spiky boy illustrated by Daren Bader, top left), next as part of the Magic Player Rewards program (this one from 2002), then included in Tenth Edition boosters, and finally corresponding to specific cards in the Shards of Alara set. Interestingly enough, the middle two of these tokens both go with the card Mobilization, which originally showed up in Onslaught - the expansion symbol that shows up on the Ron Spencer Player Rewards token (top middle) - and then was reprinted in Tenth Edition - you can clearly see the artistic similarities between the figures in Carl Critchlow's card art and those in Paolo Parente's token (top right).

The first two tokens on the bottom line of the image have the distinction of both being created by an Elspeth planeswalker - Elspeth, Knight Errant and Elspeth Tirel, respectively - however, they both have different visual styles. While Alan Pollack's token from Shards of Alara has gear that clearly identifies him with the army of Bant (the Green/White/Blue faction on the plane of Alara), the Scars of Mirrodin token, illustrated by Goran Josic, is equipped like a classic medieval crusader, except with a sword that is reminiscent of Elspeth's spear. The triumphantly bloody token from Magic 2013, with art by Greg Staples (bottom right), has been reprinted the most times of any soldier in Magic's history, appearing in six sets altogether.



The soldier that goes with Precinct Captain in the Return to Ravnica expansion (top left) is the best example of diversity - in terms of both gender and ethnicity - that we've seen in these tokens so far. In a clever bit of synergy, you can see the character from the token in the art of the card that creates it (and vice versa), which are both illustrated by artist Steve Prescott. The next two soldier tokens on the list are both from the Theros expansion, making it the first set to feature multiple printings of the same type of token since zombies in Innistrad. (NOTE: I was actually incorrect when I said the Innistrad zombies were the first tokens to get the multiple printing treatment; that honor actually goes to the 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn tokens from Rise of the Eldrazi.) The Greek mythology-themed set has just three cards that create soldier tokens, but it's pretty obvious that Seb McKinnon's token (top middle) goes with the Trojan Horse-inspired Akroan Horse, as you can clearly see an army of soldiers descending from a wooden structure under the cover of night. Svetlin Velinov's soldier token, on the other hand (top right), is the third such token to be paired with an Elspeth planeswalker, this one of the Sun's Champion variety.

While the bottom left token on the above image also bears the Theros expansion symbol, like the M13 Goblin before it, the magnificently bearded Zoltan Boros-illustrated token was a prize for finishing in the top 10 of the corresponding Magic League. The token in the bottom middle was printed for the Modern Masters 2017 expansion, even though such compilation sets include only reprints. In this case, Magali Villeneuve's art featuring an epic female soldier standing alone in front of a burning sky doesn't quite fit the theme of the mild-mannered squire in the art for Attended Knight (originally from M13), but this token was also reprinted in the latest core set. Sticking with the female soldier theme, the bottom right token, illustrated by Jakub Kasper, corresponds to two Benalia-themed cards in the Dominaria expansion (as well as featuring as a character in my latest Magic fan fiction).



While soldiers are a supported "tribe" in Magic, one thing that is never explicitly stated in the type line of these generic 1/1 white soldier tokens is their race. Judging by their art and some contextual clues on the cards that create them, all but one are clearly human - the only one leaving any room for ambiguity is Goran Josic's helmeted soldier from Scars of Mirrodin. However, the only soldier token that explicitly states that fact is from Shadows over Innistrad (bottom right), which has a "humans matter" subtheme. In chronological order, the other races to receive soldier tokens are Kithkin, which are basically Magic's version of Halflings, or Hobbits. The two unique art versions represent the day-night aspects of the dual plane Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. Soldiers of the birdlike Aven race fight alongside the human soldiers of Bant in Alara Reborn. The humanoid-but-not-quite-human Kor appear on at least two planes in the multiverse, but they didn't get their own token until Zendikar. The first two tokens on the bottom line of the image (one from Born of the Gods, the other given away as a Magic League prize) might look human, but given that they're also Enchantments, you can't put them in the same category. The second set in the Theros block also introduced the tokens of the Cat Soldier type, known locally as Leonin.



There are a handful of other soldiers that appear to be human, but that have some subtle differences from the generic 1/1 white version. Worldwake, the second set in the original Zendikar block, features a Soldier that is also an Ally, a creature type unique to the adventuring party-themed plane. Two cards with the Boros watermark from Gatecrash, the second set in the dual-colored guilds-themed Return to Ravnica block, create soldier tokens that are both red and white. (There was actually a second RW Soldier token printed for Magic League, but I left it out of the above image since Scryfall doesn't let you arrange cards in groups larger than four.) In addition to the two white soldier tokens from Theros, there is a red version created by Akroan Crusader. And finally, the Conspiracy Hold the Perimeter (which we've seen before) creates not only a unique Soldier token (1/2 with defender), but a unique Goblin as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment