Stevie Delgado

While Wizards of the Coast has had their share of success and failure when it comes to representation, they have littered their lore with plenty of races, genders, and even sexualities. Sometimes these characters are subtle in who they are, exactly, and other times it’s proudly displayed for us to relate to and enjoy. The different races are easy to see, from humans to elves to orcs, Magic the Gathering has loads of characters from all kinds of backgrounds. Wizards of the Coast has also listened to their fans, taking our comments and concerns to heart and providing us with even more diversity. This inclusion also covers LGBTQIA+ characters, providing depth and life to each one and allowing many fans to see themselves represented in a game they adore. Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter A Lifecrafter Sage, Oviya Pashiri is a human artificer. She can create colorless Servo artifact creature tokens, and creates a colorless Construct artifact whose strength and health are dependent on how many creatures you control. She only costs one green mana, and can really help a ramp deck. Oviya is also a lesbian. Many different entries in the Magic the Gathering lore refer to her wife, who fell ill and unfortunately passed away. Many of these details can be found hidden in Chandra Nalarrs' background, but knowing this lovely elderly artificer is gay and had a wife she loved early is an amazing detail to know when including her in a deck. Alesha, Mardu Warlord Alesha, Who Smiles at Death costs just one red and two colorless mana. She has first strike, and when she attacks you can play any combination of two white and/or black mana; doing this lets you return a target creature card of power two or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. This creature enters tapped and attacking. RELATED: Magic The Gathering: 10 Best Goblin Cards, Ranked Alesha is also transgender, the first character in Magic the Gathering who identified as such. In Fate Reforged, they delve deeper into her lore and character, including how she earned enough glory through battle to choose her grandmother's name as her own, seeing how the Mardu clan believed names needed to be earned through glory. Will Kenrith At a cost of four colorless and two blue mana, Will Kenrith is a Planeswalker who can really amp up any blue deck. Will starts at four devotion and has abilities that cost plus two devotion, negative two devotion, and even negative eight devotion. These abilities specifically target either creatures or players, and can be a huge game-changer for any blue decks! While Will sets up a great advantage with his abilities, he is also implied as being either gay or bisexual. In the Novel Throne of Eldraine, The Wildered Quest, it's heavily hinted that Will has an attraction to men. In an excerpt, he envies two male friends riding together, and reminisces on how wrestling was easier when he was younger and before he started to feel attracted to others. Halana And Alena The Halana and Alena, Partners card cost two colorless, one red, and one green mana. They're Human Rangers who come with both reach and first strike. Another bonus, at the start of combat on your turn, put X +1/1 counters on another target creature of yours, where X is their Halana and Alena's power. That creature also gains haste until the end of turn. The two characters have also been confirmed as lesbian. While hinted at for many years, Wizards of the Coast eventually made the lore validate what everyone was waiting for; Hal and Alena are partners in more than just work, they’re life partners as well. Ral Zarek Four colorless, one blue, and one red mana will cast Ral, Caller of Storms, a Legendary Planeswalker. His base devotion is 4; adding 1 lets you draw a card, minus 2 lets him deal 3 damage divided between 1-3 targets, and minus 7 allows you to draw 7 cards as well as deal 7 damage to each creature your opponents control. To put it short, Ral’s Caller of Storms card is pretty incredible. Other than being a great asset to any blue and/or red decks, Ral is also confirmed as homosexual. He’s married to a man, Tomik Vrona, a mage from Ravnica who is known to ride a gargoyle. Niko Aris Niko Aris is a Legendary Planeswalker costing X colorless, one white, and two blue mana. When they enter the battlefield, you create X Shard Tokens, where X is how much colorless you paid into casting Niko. They have a base devotion of 3; adding 1 makes 1 target creature you control unblockable, and when this creature deals damage this turn you return it to its owner's hand. Minus one allows Niko to deal 2 damage to target tapped creature for each card you've drawn this turn. Lastly, for another minus 1, you create another Shard token. RELATED: 10 Best Games with LGBTQIA+ Representation While being a Shard-creating fiend, Niko Aris is also confirmed as non-binary. They represent an often forgotten gender of they/them, bringing more character to the Magic lore and including more aspects of the LGBTQIA+ community. Kynaios And Tiro Of Meletis The Kynaios And Tiro Of Meletis card label these two beings as a single Legendary Creature, a Human Soldier specifically. They cost one each of red, green, white, and blue mana. A 2/8 card, it lets you draw a card at the beginning of your end step. Each player also may put a land card from their hand into play, and any opponent who doesn't draws a card. The card's flavor text says "Look what we fought for. Look what we built together." The significance of this text is how directly it refers to the two men being so close, even hinting it was more than a simple partnership or friendship. Delving deeper into their lore tells exactly how they fell in love, how they fought together to save Meletis, and how they worked together, hand in hand, to rebuild things after their courageous fight. Nissa Revane Nissa Revane is a Planeswalker, and her card Nissa, Nature's Artisan is one of her best forms. It costs four colorless and two green mana and enters with 5 devotion. Adding 3 more lets you gain 3 life. Minus 4 reveals the top two cards of your library, all lands revealed go into play and anything else goes into your hand. For a hefty cost of minus 12, creatures you control +5/5 and grants them trample until the end of turn. Nissa is also either bisexual or a lesbian, as she formed a close, romantic bond with Chandra. The two had been in love, though the relationship didn't seem to pan out for a lengthy period. In many excerpts of her lore, it's clear she still has feelings for the other woman, giving hope of what the future could hold. Domri Rade Another Planeswalker, Domri, City Smasher is one of his best cards. It costs 4 colorless and one each red and green mana. He starts with a base of 4 devotion. Adding two gives your creatures +1/1 and haste until the end of the turn. Minus 3 deals 3 damage to any target. A decent cost of minus 8 lets you put 3 +1/1 on creatures you control, they also gain trample until the end of turn. A very young Planeswalker, Dormi Rade is transexual. He presents as male and is believed to have some version of top surgery. With so many images of him without much of a top to cover his chest, it’s such a relief to see another character who represents more of the community. Chandra Nalaar Chandra, Pyromaster is one of Chandra Nalaar's best cards. It costs 2 colorless and 2 red mana, and enters with 4 devotion. For a plus one, she deals 1 damage to target player and 1 damage to one creature they control, the creature can't block this turn, either. For 0 devotion, you exile the top card of your library, and you get to play it this turn, though you still have to pay its mana cost. For minus 7, exile the top 10 cards of your library, pick an instant or sorcery exiles this way and copy it three times. You can cast these copies without paying their mana costs. Chandra Nalaar is also pansexual. She has had many close, romantic bonds with various genders, her main partners being; Nissa Ravane, Gideon Jura, and the Cathar Adeline, and a teasing hint at something with Liliana Vess as well. While it could be argued she’s bisexual, Wizards of the Coast has stated previously that she identifies as pansexual, specifically. NEXT: Magic The Gathering: 10 Best Commanders For Every Color