M14: Creatures

Magic 2014 Creatures

This is a list of all creatures in M14 broken down along the following axes:

• Flyers vs. non-flyers (defenders are listed separately, regardless of whether or not they fly).
• Must-kill vs. other. I use “must-kill” to mean that the creature needs to be dispatched if it is controlled by an opponent, otherwise you are unlikely to win the game. This helps determine the value of removal in the format, especially removal that kills/exiles creatures or turns off activated abilities. Powerful creatures that must attack in order to be problematic are usually not categorized as must-kill since they can potentially be blocked, e.g., Serra Angel and Liliana’s Reaver. Creatures with other kinds of evasion (e.g., intimidate, unblockable) are usually listed as must-kill if they have power >= 2. This is necessarily a subjective evaluation — for instance, I categorized Advocate of the Beast as must-kill, but not Warden of Evos Isle and Banisher Priest.
• Power/toughness.
• Color/rarity.

This list includes all creatures, including those that are unlikely to see play (such as a vanilla 1/1 for 1 mana), since the playability of a creature is determined in large part by the power/toughness of other creatures in the format, and by how much removal the set has and how good it is.

Some initial thoughts:

• With 2 exceptions, all common/uncommon must-kill creatures have toughness <= 3.
• 3 is the most common toughness among common flyers, but none have toughness > 3 (other than Angelic Wall, which is listed under defenders and not flyers). 2 uncommon flyers have a toughness of 4, but none have a toughness > 4.
• Among common non-flyers, the most common power is 2 and the most common toughness is 1. Among uncommon non-flyers, the most common power is 2 and the most common toughness is 3. Only 3 common/uncommon creatures have power > 4 and only 4 have toughness > 4.