Lizard

Lizard
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Statistics	175 cards 0.6% 2.3% 5.7% 52.6% 16% 5.7% 1.7% 2.9% 2.3% 1.1% 3.4% 4.6% 1.1% 7 Lizard creation cards 14.3% 14.3% 42.9% 14.3% 14.3% as of Alchemy: Duskmourn
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type:"Lizard" art:"Lizard"

Lizard is a predominantly red and green creature type used for any land-based reptiles with limbs and external ears (snakes lack both these characteristics).

History

The first creature to bear the type was Leaping Lizard in Homelands (though the Pygmy Allosaurus from Ice Age was later issued errata to become Lizard instead of a Dinosaur).

For gaming reasons Dinosaurs were included in this subtype before they became a supported creature type again with the Ixalan block. The related humanoid race of Viashino was given errata to be lizards with the release of Modern Horizons 3.^[1][2] This was done just before Bloomburrow would feature a Lizard typal theme.^[3][4]

Examples

Regular lizards

• Canal Monitor
• Gila Courser
• Hissing Iguanar
• Basking Rootwalla
• Obstinate Familiar
• Sigiled Skink
• Thorned Moloch

Dinosaurs

Storyline

Alara

On Jund, Viashino thrashes keep iguanars as hunting companions, giving them wounded captives as playthings.

The spiky thrinaxes have responded to Jund's ferocious food chains by adapting to reproduce by being eaten.^[5][6]

Bloomburrow

Lizards are one of the animalfolk of Bloomburrow, known for their fire magic. The lizardfolk are a culture of expressive artists, encouraging artistic expression from a young age, primarily through metalwork, but also with fabrics and paints.^[7][8] They know that art is meant to inspire awe and wonder. They value creation and destruction in equal measure. As soon as they feel bored by their art, they will destroy it and use the pieces to create something new.^[9]

Lizardfolk are at their element when thick in the fray as either fiery shamans or sneaky assassins. Lizardfolk also find work as blacksmiths and artisans, passing those skills down to other animalfolk. At their best, lizardfolk are passionate, resilient, and direct. At their worst, lizardfolk are moody, aggressive, and cruel.

Lizardfolk are the only animalfolk that are not native to Valley.^[8] Many seasons before the Omenpath Era, lizardfolk populated Valley's few shaley hills and rocky ravines, which best resemble the habitats of their homelands.

Lizards have a spiritual attachment to fire.^[8] As cold-blooded creatures, they rely on the heat of flame when sunbathing is not an option. Every lizardfolk community has a central fire source, whether it is a village hearth, a mystical ember, or a forge. Rituals, like dancing, singing, or just basking in front of their community furnace or the one in their home, are part of everyday lizardfolk spiritual life. They worship the Ever-Burning Oak, considering it a symbol of the cycle of creation and destruction.^[10] Young lizardfolk journey to the tree, collecting a smoldering ember from its center with their bare hands. Blacksmiths use these embers to fuel their forges, and assassins keep their embers with them in uniquely crafted ceramic, metal, or glass containers. Though the heat eventually fades, an ember's powerful magic lasts nearly a lizardfolk's whole life; when their ember goes out, a lizardfolk knows they will die soon. They are also known to make pilgrimages to the Forest of Iron. Lizardfolk magic typically revolves around the use of fire. Some lizardfolk arts even allow them to channel venom into their flames.

One of their kin, Gev, assisted Mabel in her quest to stop the Calamity Beasts.^[11]

Ulgrotha

Leapers are giant, mud-colored lizards on Ulgrotha that can jump many feet into the air. They are generally dumb but smart enough to catch vermin to eat and dig holes in winter. Some in An-Havva believe that they were once humans, transformed into lizards by Autumn Willow.

Zendikar

A large lizard species known as the lagac has developed from the earliest forms of life on Zendikar and withstood both the Eldrazi invasion and the rise of the civilized races.^[12] They are large red- or green-scaled lizards with tusks, spines, and beady eyes.^[13] Some are used as mounts,^[14] while others can breathe fire.^[15]

Rath

Rootwallas, lizards with orange bodies, tails, and blue heads and legs resemble real-life chuckwallas. Many specimens, but not all, possess neck frills similar to those of real-life frill-necked lizards. Some are covered in armored plates.^[16] Following the Rathi Overlay, rootwallas were encountered in Dominaria during the Mirari crisis^[17] and the Second Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria.^[18]

Ravnica

On Ravnica, in the Undercity, the Golgari Swarm devkarin keep monitor lizards as pack animals and crocodiles as hunting companions.

Notable Lizards

Notable Viashino

Tokens

Test cards

Trivia

• Though humanoid, Lizard Warrior never was a Viashino in the first place.
• Ludevic's Test Subject is a Lizard egg.
• Rampart Crawler gained the subtype Lizard solely based on its artwork.
• Weldfast Monitor is the only black bordered Artifact Lizard.
  • Scissors Lizard also became an Artifact Lizard in the Unglued Gatherer update.
• Thrinaxes are named after a type of prehistoric Earth therapsids.^[22]
• The name of the Hall Monitor of Strixhaven: School of Mages is wordplay referring to Monitor lizards.
• Because they are not native to Valley, Bloomburrow's lizardfolk are based on species not native to the Eastern United States.^[23][24]

Gallery

• 
  Bloomburrow lizardfolk concepts.^[24]

References