MTGNexus

Green has Squirrels, Black has Rats, and of Eldraine, White has Mice. But what does red have?

I put forth that red should have Guinea Pigs. Now my reason for that is quite logical. See, in nature the humble Guinea Pig dwells in the Andes Mountains of South America, thus already there associating with red via their mountainous homes. They are also highly social creatures ruled by their emotions, and as anyone who has had them as pets can attest, that if you have multiple of these social rodents, chaos will ensure. (They also have notoriously high libidos, with one particular example from the Sydney Zoo a couple of years ago giving Wilt Chamberlain a run for his money.)

Anyway, a few red rodent cards featuring Guinea Pigs.

Guinea Pig Colony 3R
Enchantment
At the beginning of your end step, create a red 0/1 Cavy token named "Guinea Pig".

Guinea Pig
• Token Creature - Cavy
0/1

Cavy Hollow R
Sorcery
Buyback 2
Create a red 0/1 Cavy token named "Guinea Pig"

Thoughts? Suggestions? Critique and Criticisms are welcome, also a suggestion for the blue rodent.

I personally would have thrown the Mice in with the Rats. If all dogs are Hounds, all rodents are Rats. Squirrels get grandfathered in, but really... tree-rats.

...

So if the creature type is Cavy, why not commit to the name Cavy? That's what they are.

Krishnath wrote: ↑

4 years ago

blue rodent

Beaver. Is that even a competition?

:3 that's really cute. Goblins have had their time and are rooted in some pretty unsavory stereotypes, whereas Guinea pigs and capybara are sweet and gregarious and have positive community vibes - it's time for a fluffier stampede of 1/1s!

My concept of red always has a little more to do with individualism, so I'd counter with the idea that leapt immediately to mind - moles! - but they ain't rodents! If I was designing moles in spite of that fact, they'd be all about messing with non-basic lands. They'd be like red's answer to green's Ouphe, a creature type with an omnipresent grudge!

Dozy Capybara 1r
Creature - Cavy (U)
Trample, bands with abilityless creatures
1/3

SecretInfiltrator wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I personally would have thrown the Mice in with the Rats. If all dogs are Hounds, all rodents are Rats. Squirrels get grandfathered in, but really... tree-rats.

...

So if the creature type is Cavy, why not commit to the name Cavy? That's what they are.

Krishnath wrote: ↑

4 years ago

blue rodent

Beaver. Is that even a competition?

Not all cavies are guinea pigs, but all guinea pigs are cavies.

As for Blue and beavers, that would be an option, if not for the little issue of Beavers primarily living in woodland areas. Otters would be more appropriate for blue, but they are mustelids, not rodents.

I thought we've established that MtG is more about half-truths than truths e. g. Krakens for the "Greek Myth" plain etc. Beavers are encoded in popular culture as the water rodents. If I was going by empirical evidence, I'd nominate the coypu, but how many people are going to agree with this or know it.

Krishnath wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Not all cavies are guinea pigs, but all guinea pigs are cavies.

Yeah, but Boggart Mob makes a Goblin Rogue token rather than a Goblin Rogue token named Boggart. Swan Song creates a Bird token, not a Bird token named Swan. And your explanation doesn't cover why a card named Cavy Hollow needs to name the tokens Guinea Pig. It's just baggage.

Beavers are semiaquatic. The only Beaver in Magic is Un- (Eager Beaver) and it's green but blue makes fine sense if we want to give every color a rodent (for whatever reason).

SecretInfiltrator wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I thought we've established that MtG is more about half-truths than truths e. g. Krakens for the "Greek Myth" plain etc. Beavers are encoded in popular culture as the water rodents. If I was going by empirical evidence, I'd nominate the coypu, but how many people are going to agree with this or know it.

Krishnath wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Not all cavies are guinea pigs, but all guinea pigs are cavies.

Yeah, but Boggart Mob makes a Goblin Rogue token rather than a Goblin Rogue token named Boggart. Swan Song creates a Bird token, not a Bird token named Swan. And your explanation doesn't cover why a card named Cavy Hollow needs to name the tokens Guinea Pig. It's just baggage.

That was more for consistency. Almost everyone knows what a Guinea Pig is, but tell me how many know what a Cavy is? As @folding_music pointed out, the Capybara is also a Cavy. There are many different groups of Rodents, just like there are many different types of mustelid. For example, both Badgers and Wolverines are mustelids, but so are Ferrets, Otters, Minks, and Sables. It is the same with rodents, there is a cognizant difference between Beavers, Rats, Cavies, Mice, Rabbits/Hares, and Squirrels. And when it came to mountain dwelling rodents, there really only was on choice, the humble Guinea Pig, because their colonies tend to be chaos incarnate. The other two prospects was either the Pika (which is mostly solitary, and unfriendly), or the Chinchilla (which is rather timid, and thus doesn't fit the "red" personality). As for the actual reason I went with cavy over guinea pig on the type line has to do with translation. I could theoretically used a dash between the Guinea and Pig parts, but that would make the Capybara's feel left out.