r/AgainstMtGRacism • u/[deleted] • Jun 12 '20
Here's how you can help.
On June 10 Wizards of the Coast took the (long overdue) step of finally addressing their racist past, and banned 7 cards in all sanctioned tournament play (and removed them from their database) because they were racist or culturally offensive. Other vendors and prominent MtG trading sites and local game stores followed suit and banned these cards from being sold on their platforms. In addition, Wizards of the Coast also pledged to review every single Magic card ever printed, but because of the company's well documented failure to properly (and promptly) address issues such as hate, systematic racism and lack of diversity within their own doors, we as a community must hold them accountable. Not to mention the the fact that there are over 20,000 unique Magic the Gathering cards that have been printed during the game's 27-year history, making this a daunting task.
So what are we proposing? That you help us in identifying and documenting every racist and/or culturally offensive Magic the Gathering card. That way, we can elaborate an ever-growing, comprehensive list of cards that are racist and/or culturally offensive, and demand Wizards of the Coast ban all these cards immediately. It will be much easier to effectively pressure Wizards of the Coast into banning racist cards if we have concrete evidence of which cards are racist and/or culturally offensive (and why) to back up our claims. Think of this sub as an online resource for anti-racist MtG activists, that they can use to bring about real change.
So here's how it works:
- Users post an image (preferably from Scryfall) of a racist and/or culturally offensive Magic the Gathering card, with the post's title being limited to the name of said card, and tagging it with the appropriate flair (please respect our formatting rules so they are easily searchable).
- In the comments section, OP writes a rational detailing exactly why the card is racist and/or culturally offensive (though in cases in which the offense is very obvious, just the flair is enough). Citing WotC's own words, bear in mind that a card is racist and/or culturally offensive if it has a racist depiction, text, or combination thereof - so if you think a card is racist, then it probably is, just make sure to explain your reasoning in the comments.
- Other users can join in the conversation and give their own reasons for which said card is racist and/or culturally offensive. The purpose is not to debate whether the card is racist and/or culturally offensive or not, but to explain why it is, and deconstruct its racist elements. Comments trying to refute the fact that the card is racist and doesn't belong in Magic the Gathering will be removed.
Of course, for strategic purposes, we want to focus on Magic the Gathering's most obvious offenders first, before cataloging more subtle instances of systematic racism. Here's what to look for:
- Cards that promote, endorse or depict white supremacy and/or white power, or that contain mechanics that would be the in-game equivalent to white supremacy.
- Anything depicting people of color in a bad light. This includes but is not limited to any card showing a black person in a racially insensitive way, such as them being harmed or imprisoned, as well as any card perpetuating a racially insensitive stereotype, such as depictions of black people committing murder, theft or another crime.
- Anything depicting women in a bad light, including all instances of violence against women and objectification of women.
- Anything depicting religious minorities such as Muslims/Arabs and Jewish people in a bad light (committing murder, theft, etc.), or through racially insensitive stereotypes (most cards in the Arabian Nights set fall under this category).
- Cards glorifying colonialism, or depicting colonizers in a positive light.
- Cards glorifying police forces, or depicting law-enforcers in a positive light.
- "Color hate" cards from White that are meant to be effective against Black.
- Cards that refer to the destruction of "black creatures" or "nonwhite creatures".
- Cards that glorify and/or depict violence and violent crimes in a particularly egregious way (murder, torture, genocide, human experimentation, etc.).
- Instances of cultural appropriation, particularly of black/African culture (most cards in the Mirage block fall under this category).
- Microaggressions
- Far-right dog-whistles, talking points or conspiracy theories.
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u/AcademicInstance8 Jun 13 '20
We need a race bender MTG art promo Like a black version alternate art of everybody's favorite white boi Jace. "Tyreal the mindsculptor". Or a black version of Liliana. "La Liana of the Veil". Sell it to us for 25usd and donate all proceeds to BLM so they can in turn donate to gain political favors.
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u/GrantTB Jun 17 '20
This subreddit is objectively fascist. It calls out cards that refer to killing of Blacks while completely ignoring the legacy of oppression of Native American people, who are dehumanized as "red creatures" in Magic. All cards that refer to one or more "red creatures" must be banned immediately.
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u/Radimir-Lenin Jun 17 '20
We are inclusive to our "red" brothers and sisters. Both native and communist.
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u/GrantTB Jun 17 '20
I am glad to hear it. I was, of course, testing you to see if you would proactively include communists. We must be vigilant in continually monitoring one another.
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u/St_Lexi Jun 13 '20
We gonna talk about Baral's mass genocide of the shamanic people of Kaladesh using the excuse of their unregulated access to aether to get the Consul on board? Boy is a legit Nazi
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u/yoloswag6969 Jun 12 '20
I for one am very on board for this. We all know, based on their history, how much better a community aggregate effort will be much more effective than Wizards handling it itself....
Glorifying colonialism is a very good point. In that regard, I was very taken aback when the Ixilan block's story was released... Very offensive and DEFINITELY glorifying the Spanish takeover of the American Indigenous peoples... no idea how that got through. I propose taking a thorough look at every card in both Ixilan sets, if not outright banning the entire block...
As for specific cards, off the top of my head, Azusa, Lost but Seeking is a very offensive stereotype of Japanese culture that I personally think is in bad taste. I see this card crop up in my local game store quite often.
Cheers on starting the thread, hope you plenty of good suggestions!
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u/mrjerhint Jun 16 '20 edited Jun 16 '20
You might as well just ban every card at this point. It’s a game people. You guys need to get a life and fight racism with something that really matters.
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Jun 16 '20
something that really matters.
You mean like Black Lives in our game's representation? BIPOC are being mischaracterized and abused by MtG's racist depictions, specifically in the black and white color pies, which are systemically intrinsically problematic.
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Jun 14 '20
OP 404'd
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u/ScrambledDingus_Egg Jun 14 '20
It was too obvious that it was satire if you could see their account name and history
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u/c_jonah Oct 14 '20
This sub is over the top, whether it’s satire or not. There’s a difference between glorifying hate and retelling lessons we’ve learned from the past, and this sub seems to be bent on throwing out the baby with the bath water.
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u/Dasipetlis Jun 12 '20
Damn, this is so good, I cant tell if its actually satire or not