Magic Cards That Should Have Reach but Don't

Nylea, God of the Hunt by Chris Rahn

Statistically speaking, I'm tall. I'm often sought out to grab things from top shelves. I have to duck in my own basement. I have to wait longer than most people for the garage door to open. 

Being tall obviously has a lot of benefits, but it's not all rarified air and feeling like a godzilla. Sometimes there are downsides. Airplanes are not enjoyable. It's hard to find jeans that fit well. 

In Magic, being tall usually comes with its own keyword in reach. It's simply a fact of tall life that you're going to be called upon to reach things that those of an average height are unable to reach.

Ravager Wurm

At first you might assume at a cursory glance that Ravager Wurm does have reach, but that's actually riot, a keyword that didn't exactly catch on when it appeared in Ravnica Allegiance. But why should Ravager Wurm have reach? Well, just look at the damn thing.

Svetlin Velinov's take on the Ravnican noodle boy clearly shows the Wurm able to chomp a flying Griffin out of the sky. That's textbook reach, in basketball terms and in Magic terms. What isn't in the art, however, is any visual cue to represent the Wurm's ability to blow up lands.  

The real question is exactly which Griffin is the Wurm trying to eat? There are eight distinct Griffins that reside on Ravnica. My money's on Senate Griffin, which would make one think that it should have been able to scry itself out of being eaten by a ground-based Wurm.

Myojin of Night's Reach

This may seem like low-hanging fruit (and thus does not require reach to grasp), but a creature called Myojin of Night's REACH probably ought to have reach based on that fact alone, and that's not even factoring in the art, which appears to depict the legendary Spirit in question aloft in the air in some fashion. One could argue that it should have had flying, but if not flying, than definitely reach.

Look at all those hands.

This Myojin was also referenced on the back of a transforming Saga when we returned to Kamigawa more recently with Neon Dynasty, and that version still didn't have reach. Instead, it had menace. Such a missed opportunity. 

Nylea, God of the Hunt

It's well-established in Magic parlance that if a creature is wielding a bow in the art, it'll have reach. At least, that's what we all assume, but in reality that's simply not true, as we'll get into more later. 

When it comes to Nylea, though, not only does she have a bow (with her own name on it), she's also a deity that stands 100 feet tall. It seems very unlikely that she wouldn't be able to at least make a solid attempt at grounding a flying creature. 

Yet, no version of Nylea has reach. Neither the original version, God of the Hunt, nor Theros Beyond Death's Nylea, Keen-Eyed. In fact, nothing that bears her name features reach in any capacity, not even the Centaur Archer Nylea's Disciple. And speaking of Archers...

Ranger en-Vec

We'll use the magnificently mustachioed Ranger en-Vec as a placeholder to discuss Archers in general. As you can see below the mustache, the Ranger began its life as a Soldier, but has since been errata'd to Archer instead. That's because he's got a bow. Makes sense, right?

That errata was pretty common, as other creatures like Samite Archer, Skyshroud Archer, Tor Wauki, Tetsuo Umezawa, Elvish Hunter, and Bounty Hunter have all been updated to Archers. And universally, they were updated as such because the art showed them carrying a bow. That's literally as complicated as it got. And it's Lady Caleria who provided the theme of Archers tapping to deal damage to attackers and blockers that's carried through to this day.

In total, there are 104 creatures in Magic with the creature type "Archer", and it's true that many of those have reach, as that keyword is a bit of a calling card for Archers. But it only seems like all Archers have reach. In truth, a touch fewer than half actually do. There are 51 Archers with reach and 53 that do not. Some are more egregious than others. We can clearly see Matsu-Tribe Sniper and Ruthless Sniper aiming upward, and many of them have abilities that screw with flyers yet don't actually have reach, like Femeref Archers or Daybreak Ranger.

So what's the deal? Why do some Archers have reach and others don't? There seems to be no rhyme nor reason. Maybe it's a skill issue.

Rowan Treefolk

Archers aren't the only creature types in Magic that we associate with reach. Nearly every Spider in the game has reach, and it makes sense which ones don't. Giant Trap Door Spider probably doesn't need to grab stuff out of the air when it can just Postmates dinner right to its stoop. Root Spider is the same way. And the other four Spiders are from Warhammer 40,000 (Canoptek Spyder flies and isn't really a Spider) and Lord of the Rings, and I don't know enough about the lore about Shelob to know whether it should have reach or not.

Then there are Treefolk. Friends, they're literal trees. Birds live in them. And a sentient tree could theoretically pop those birds like bubble wrap. They should all have reach. And I bet there are some of you out there that assume most Treefolk do indeed have reach. In your mind you're conjuring images of Six or Nemata, Primeval Warden and thinking that "of course ambulatory tree people have the ability to fight flying creatures." Well, joke's on you. 

Of the 103 Treefolk in Magic, only 11 have reach. Yeah, you read that right.

Should Gaea's Avenger have reach? He's taller than all the trees around him and he has a sword. Should Redwood Treefolk beat the snot out of birds like it does to fish people?

And remember when a weird stat line was enough to justify printing a creature with zero keywords at rare? How times have changed.

Really, it boils down to the nebulous definition of what constitutes reach. If we can't assume trees wouldn't have reach, then I don't understand the world we're living in.

Questing Beast

I mean, it might as well have reach, right?

Bearer of the Heavens

Perhaps it isn't simply the height of a character that provides reach. Perhaps it's also agility. While I am tall, I usually can't punch birds mid-flight, try as I might. And most birds don't deserve to be punched, outside of geese. 

Take Bearer of the Heavens, for example. This Giant is so immense, it's literally holding up reality. It's a titanic responsibility, some might say, so it seems likely that among those heavens would be angels, and Bearer of the Heavens could punch them, should it so choose. Would that not justify reach? 

Unless, as I said, it's not just about altitude, but attitude as well. What if Bearer of the Heavens is so devoted to his task that it simply cannot remove a hand from the Heavens it Bears in order to swat a flying thing? That further requirement for reach extends to its giant brethren, as of the 220 creatures with a Giant subtype, only eight actually have reach. And there are two more, Hundred-Handed One and Crystalline Giant, who can be given reach with an ability built into the card itself.

The other 210 Giants do not have reach at all. Not even Brion Stoutarm, who is really good not only at being tall, but throwing things as well. I'm beginning to wonder if I understand what reach really means.

Progenitus

Sure, we could talk about Eldrazi or certain other gigantic monsters of Magic, but really, anything that can be said about them can also be said about Progenitus. From a templating standpoint, it sure is nice to simply have "protection from everything" and nothing else, but from a thematic standpoint, you can't tell me Progenitus can't kill a damn bird. 

And the other two arts of Progenitus are similarly titanic:

In lore, Progenitus is the literal, physical embodiment of the soul of Alara, and out of sheer boredom, Progenitus unleashed unto the plane five cataclysms, including, I should point out, a Windstorm. Even the Keeper of Progenitus hangs out in a damn tree, and we can clearly see Progenitus in the background of Mayael's Aria being very capable of tearing a Dragon in half should the opportunity present itself.

If it has wings, shoot it; if it doesn't, shoot it anyway

In the history of Magic up to this point, there are a total of 290 creatures that have reach or can give themselves reach. Compare that to the 2,674 that have flying, or the 796 that have trample. Reach just isn't as common of an evergreen keyword as the others. It's an underdog, and we should be happy to see it whenever it appears. For an ability that used to be several words long (this creature can intercept as though it had flying), it's really come a long way from Rashka the Slayer (who is an Archer now, by the way).

And fun fact: there are only two mono-black creatures in the history of Magic that have reach: Drider and Doom Weaver.

Where do you land on reach? Any creatures you can think of that absolutely, definitely should have reach but don't? Let me know in the comments, and feel free to suggest the next keyword we should look at through this lens. And don't say "the ring tempts you."