On Today’s Magic: The Gathering Announcement

May 16, 2016

Little-known fact—I am a fan of Magic: The Gathering.

Today’s announcement was amazing from a progressive point of view.

Wizards of the Coast is ending the name “Fat Packs” in favor of “Bundles,” which is an amazing start. Our society tends to throw the word “fat” around without knowing how it affects people dealing with body image issues, or how it seeks to reinforce sizeist marginalization. Removing the descriptor “fat” for a product is an acknowledgement that such a word is neither inviting nor empowering, and has no place in a game that is intended to be safe and welcoming for all people.

Additionally, the set after “Eldritch Moon” will be “Kaladesh,” which is described as a “diverse plane with many ethnicities – including, prominently, many humans who look Indian.” The first planeswalker revealed from this set is not only a person of color, but a woman of color, further adding to Magic’s diversity. Additionally, this is yet another new, female-identified planeswalker. For comparison, the last new, humanoid, male-identified planeswalker was Dack Fayden in 2014′s “Conspiracy” set (not counting Commander 2014). In the two years since, we’ve had three new planeswalkers introduced, who were all female-identified (Narset, Arlinn Kord, and now Saheeli Rai).

In a game that is dominated by straight, white men, increasing the diversity of figures seen in such a way not only extends the hand to a more diverse playerbase to the game, but also tells anyone who objects that they are no longer welcome. The way that Wizards of the Coast has handled Magic in the past years, from inclusion of diverse identities; to taking a zero-tolerance policy towards sex offenders as players; to openly supporting the trans and gender-nonconforming community in events; is nothing short of incredible, and exactly the kind of behavior that is necessary to defeat bigotry and toxicity.

2:19pm | URL: https://tmblr.co/ZKqU3i26Yd43c

(Notes: 6)