From my own Facebook. I’ve been catching hate for running Magic: the Gathering events in the new state I’ve moved to. I’ve been part of it for around 5 years here, now. Since day one, around half the players have outright hated me. As time went by and they spread the hate around, it turned into 75%. I don’t play at shops anymore, now. I’ve been pushed out. And I feel like all of this is due to either my autism traits, being a woman, or a combination of both.
So, after my glorious nerdgasm over Kyniaos and Tiro popping up on my dash the other day (you can find that post here), I had someone message me (the awesome @hyperazraphael) and ask me about other queer representation in MtG. As I mentioned, Wizards still has a long way to go, but I went ahead and looked up all the characters that are Queer, believed to be Queer, and in one case, there is a fuckton of Queerbaiting.
As a friendly reminder, the couple who started it all off:
Kynaios and Tiro
(Art by Will Murai)
Goddess, I cannot get enough of these two beautiful men. The lore behind them, the fact that the Story Lore is that their actual History is forgotten, and people thought them enemies when they were lovers. The new art (above) showing the statues below being built? Ugh. So beautiful.
(Art by Magali Villenuvue)
But my previous post was about them, so let’s move on to the next.
Alesha
(Art by Anastasia Ovchinnikova)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death caused such an uproar when she was printed. She is the first official Transgender character in MtG lore. Her story is very simple. Born male, when she earned the right to name herself, she picked Alesha, and it was accepted by the Khan of her tribe, no questions asked. She even rises to power to lead the Mardu tribe. Her story is beautiful and can be read here: The Truth of Names.
Hallar
(Art by Bram Sels)
Sorry, wish I had more lore on this awesome character. Their card is fun to play though.
Ashiok
(Art by Karla Ortiz)
Let me tell you about my Homeslice Ashiok. First and foremost, “Every nightmare is a caged bird that yearns to be set free.” Holy shit, you may think me insane, but that line is beautiful. As is this agender/non-binary character. While the art portrays them as somewhat masculine (I’ll forgive it), in lore Ashiok has been described as extremely androgynous. People who were attacked by Ashiok could not determine their gender. They do fall into the trope of the Villainous Queer, at least that seems where WotC is going with them, but I love them so much!
Yahenni, Gonti and the Aetherborn Race
(Yahenni, Art by Lius Lasahido)
(Gonti, Art by Daarken)
This race literally has no gender. Confirmed. Just listing the two heavy hitters for you here.
Oviya
(Art by Magali Villaneuve)
One of the saddest stories of the plane of Kaladesh. Oviya Pashiri was a revered Lifecrafter. She lost her wife, and “stopped working.” And by stopping her work, we mean she started working in secret to overthrow the goddamned Consulate, cause they’re fucking assholes. Seriously. They make the Empire look like saints. Also, boo to killing Lesbians. Bad Wizards. Bad.
Xantcha
(Art by Mark Winters)
Xantcha has been around forever, first appearing as a Vanguard. She’s Phyrexian, which means at birth, she is born genderless. She’s also unlike other Phyrexians in which she can think against the hivemindish thing they have. Some people think that she should get the title as the first Transgender character, as she went from having no gender to being female, but I will leave that up to the masses.
Lazav (and - fight me - other Shapeshifters)
(Art by David Rapoza)
Meet this regal looking badass. They’re the Guild Master of House Dimir. And Non-Binary. Lazav has pretty much been confirmed as such, so I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that all Shapeshifters are Enbies. They can take on the form of any person, regardless of gender, race, sexuality... Fight me.
Hal and Alena
This is an MtG example in which I don’t have an art or a card, but a story.
Under the Silver Moon
While it’s not 100% confirmed, it’s along the lines of Destiel. Read between the damn lines.
Warning on the next one. This is the one that I read as Queerbaiting.
Chandra and Nissa
(Card: Deadlock Trap, Art: Jason Rainville)
As a reminder, Queerbaiting is the practice of hinting at, but then not actually depicting, a same-sex romantic relationship between characters in a work of fiction, mainly in film or television. The potential romance may be ignored, explicitly rejected or made fun of.
Really, I don’t want to get into this one. This one is not Canon. I honestly don’t even think there is enough support. If you read stories starting in the Kaladesh storyline, they imply that Chandra has unexplained feelings and attraction or something growing between these two ladies. But it’s never confirmed. And Nissa, who has been Miss “I hate every other race that isn’t elves” is starting to see Chandra as someone she can talk to, but maybe something more too if you squint and cross your eyes.
Look, I’m cool if you ship these two. And if WotC does actually put them in a relationship together, awesome, there’s more LGBT visibility. But we don’t know if they’re Lesbians or bi or pan or demi or whatever. Their sexualities have never even been discussed. But we get fed this:
Chandra shifted awkwardly. "So . . . friendship?"
Nissa blinked. Chandra worked very hard not to stare.
"Yes," Nissa smiled.
Nissa closed her eyes, and took another deep breath, her headache receding. It felt good to confess insecurities. She smiled and looked Chandra in the eye.
"I am thankful for your companionship. You have taught me much about what it means to be a friend, Chandra. It means much to me."
"Right. Yeah." A soft smile returned to Chandra's face. "I want to be a good friend to you."
(From The Writing on the Wall by Alison Luhr)
That’s from an official MtG Story. How do you read that? Serious question. Do you need more context? Nissa asked Chandra and only Chandra to go on a walk through Naktamun with her. And Chandra is having the weird fluffy feelings again. Now how does that read? Any different?
Again, if WotC wants them to go Canon, awesome. Let’s hope they both survive War of Spark.
