About The Subtype Explorer – Jan Tabaczynski

About The Subtype Explorer – Jan Tabaczynski

Introduction to Creature Subtypes

MTG Creature Subtype Explorer is a tool which allows you to explore the rich history of creature subtypes in Magic: The Gathering. As a rule, subtypes are either races or classes. Some famous races include Human, Elf, Goblin and Demon. Some classes include Wizard, Warrior and Druid.

In general, anything that comes after the separator in a creature type line is a subtype. Anything that comes before is a type, not a subtype, and is not taken into consideration for the purposes of this tool.

For example, the type line for Calix, Guided by Fate reads “Legendary Enchantment Creature — Human Druid”. Data for Calix, Guided by Fate will be included in the data summary for Human and Druid, but its status as a legend or enchantment are ignored.

Color Identity

Creature subtypes are grouped by color combinations, including monocolored, allied colors, enemy colors, wedge colors, shard colors, 4-colors, 5-colors and colorless.

There is a 10% color identity threshold - a creature subtype will be listed under a color heading if 10% or more creatures of that subtype share the listed colors. Hover your mouse over the color breakdown for the creature subtype to see exact percentages for each color. Some creature subtypes, such as Myr or Eldrazi, do not clear the 10% threshold for any colors, and are listed in the “Colorless” section instead.

How to use the page

Each creature type contains a data summary for that creature. In addition to the color bar, there is a total count of creatures sharing that subtype in the top left corner, an average converted mana cost in the top right corner, average power in the bottom left, and average toughness in the bottom right. Click the subtype name to navigate to Scryfall search results showing all creatures sharing a subtype for the selected format.

You can filter the results by colors and by format legality. The default color filter is to show all color combinations. The default format is Standard, but Vintage will show the most results. Results can be sorted by total cards, average converted mana cost, average power, or average toughness.

Since the page makes use of query parameters, you can copy the web address and share your custom search results with someone else.

Data Processing

The data processing to make this site work involves a monthly automated script which downloads card data for every card ever printed from Scryfall, once a month, which comes in at 448.5 MB as of writing (July, 2024). Then, a custom python script reads in all of the card data and outputs one JSON file per format. Currently all of these data files put together total about 1 MB, or 50 KB each on average. They contain nothing but the information essential to showing the information you see here. There is no individual card data, only totals and averages on a subtype by subtype basis. This reduces bandwidth and makes it easier to host the files myself.

Credit and Feedback

Credits and disclaimers can be found at the bottom of the Subtype Explorer page. If you have any questions or comments, send me an email.