In Magic, the majority of elements in the game are represented by cards in your deck. But, as I will explore today and in the coming weeks, sometimes you need to represent a permanent with something other than the cards in your decks. You can do this with tokens, which are permanents that are often represented by something other than a card from your deck. For this series, I'm going to walk through the history of tokens and explain the evolution of token design. I should stress that while tokens appear in almost every set, I'm not necessarily going to reference every time they appear but rather when we start doing something new with them.
Limited Edition (Alpha)
Tokens go all the way back to the beginning of the game. In Alpha, Richard Garfield explored the design space of Magic by creating a lot of one-off cards that tested potential future design space. One of those cards was The Hive. The core idea that Richard explored involved having a card capable of creating more than one creature. To do this, he tapped into his knowledge of other board games. There were many games Richard played where a tangible element of the game was represented by something non-descript, such as a glass bead. Sometimes those items came with the game, and other times you provided them.
The Hive did a bunch of hand waving. It told you to use a token but did very little to define what that meant. The Hive defined the token by explaining that it was a 1/1 artifact creature with flying. It did clarify three important things. One, you had to be able to tell if the creature was tapped. Two, it explained what happened if the creature died (it went away and didn't go to your graveyard, since doing so would be logistically complicated as it wasn't a card). Three, it defined that the token could exist separately from the card that made it. It's interesting to note that the very first token was not the simplest version of the idea.
The Hive would go on to be a wildly popular card, partly because players loved tokens. While it might look weak by modern standards, the ability to consistently create small fliers was powerful in Magic's early casual metagame.
Arabian Nights
Richard continued experimenting with tokens in the game's first expansion. Rukh Egg used a creature token as a means of representing transformation. You could cast an Egg, and that Egg had the potential to hatch. When it did, you needed a token to represent the new creature, in this case, a Rukh, a 4/4 red flying creature. Bottle of Suleiman's design explored different space: randomness. Richard liked the idea that a single card had two different potential outcomes. It could punish you or reward you. Since the flavor he wanted was that of a bottle of a genie, the reward was a 5/5 flying Djinn, color undefined.
Interestingly, while Richard defined the 1/1 Wasps from The Hive as "tokens," in Arabian Nights, he talked about representing these creatures as "counters." Cyclopean Tomb from Alpha was the opposite, a card using counters that referred to them as "tokens." The difference between counters and tokens wasn't quite cemented yet. The cards were a bit loose with what exactly it meant to make a token, although it did reinforce that tokens never go to other zones.
Rukh Egg was pretty popular and was actually banned at one point (mostly due to quirks of the rules that were clarified in later releases). Bottle of Suleiman was a polarizing card as it costs , has an activated ability that costs , and has such disparate outcomes (either dealing 5 damage to you or making a 5/5 flyer).
Antiquities
Magic's next token-making card would appear in its next expansion, Antiquities. It was the first token card to also interact with counters. Alpha had a number of cards that used counters but didn't have any one card that made use of both counters and tokens. Tetravus is an interesting design. It's a 1/1 flying creature that comes into play with three +1/+1 counters. During your upkeep, you can convert the counters into 1/1 flying artifact creature tokens or turn the tokens back into +1/+1 counters.
Aside from the ability to convert the tokens into counters, it was also the first token creature to have an ability other than flying; it couldn't be enchanted. I'm not sure why they made this restriction, but my guess is they didn't want to have to spend the time explaining what happened to the Aura if you turned the token back into a counter. Again, the card explains that tokens that die are permanently gone. They also clarify that enchanting Tetravus doesn't have any impact on the tokens.
Tetravus went on to be one of the most popular cards from Antiquities. You can see two important trends with tokens: they are generally popular with players, and they allow for some innovative designs.
Legends
Legends was the set that formalized a lot of modern token rules. For starters, it cemented the word "token" as the terminology to define the extra game pieces. We also baked the token rules into the basic rules at that time. That is, the cards no longer had to tell you what happens to tokens when they leave the battlefield. Finally, the set began embracing the variety of effects that players could do.
Master of the Hunt creates tokens that have a non-evergreen ability, bands with others. Boris Devilboon makes the first multicolor tokens. Hazezon Tamar ties the tokens' existence to the card that makes them. That is, if you get rid of Hazezon Tamar, you answer all the Sand Warriors he's created. Hazezon was also the first token-maker to make a number of tokens based on a variable (in this case, the number of lands under your control). Stangg uses tokens to create a second copy of himself. Like Hazezon Tamar, the token's existence is tied to the creature being on the battlefield.
Serpent Generator was probably the boldest token card of the set. Another card in the set, Pit Scorpion, also gave your opponent poison counters. But Serpent Generator's ability to constantly make Snakes that give poison counters turned this card into one of the first cards that could realistically win the game all by itself. Okay, it was pretty hard to do, but its potential was exciting. It began my years-long love of poison.
The fact that tokens were baked into the rules tells me that R&D understood the potential of tokens, both in design space and popularity.
The Dark
The Dark only had one token-creating card, but it was an important one. Dance of Many demonstrated that you could make tokens that were copies of another card. This technology would be the source of whole mechanics.
Fallen Empires
Punch-Out Counters and Tokens
The Duelist, March 1995
Up until this point, tokens were just a design tool used on specific cards. Fallen Empires was the first set to make tokens (and counters) a mechanical focus of a set. While there's not a specific named token mechanic (those are still to come), each color has a way to create its own tokens. The gameplay of a battlefield full of tokens became a defining quality of the set. So much so, that The Duelist published the very first token aid: a punch-out sheet of cardboard squares used to represent tokens and counters.
There were a few innovations from the set. The Thallid mechanic, while unnamed, was the first token mechanic put on multiple cards. It allowed you to turn time, in this case spore counters, into tokens. Night Soil experimented with using other resources—in this case, cards in graveyard—to make tokens. Goblin Warrens used sacrificing creatures to turn two creatures into three. Breeding Pit was the first token-making card with an upkeep cost. It was also the first to create 0/1 tokens. Those 0/1 creature tokens are interesting because they force you to value them in some way other than attacking, and sacrificing them is a good use. Homarid Spawning Bed makes a variable number of tokens, caring about the mana value of the sacrificed creature. And Icatian Town was the first sorcery that makes multiple tokens.
Ice Age
Ice Age only had one token-creating card. Caribou Range was the first Aura to create tokens.
Homelands
Broken Visage was the first removal spell that creates a token. You, the caster of the spell, create a black Spirit creature token that gets sacrificed at the end of the turn. Sengir Autocrat was the first creature to generate multiple tokens upon entering.
Alliances
The designers of Alliancesexperimented quite a bit with tokens. Errand of Duty was the first instant to create a creature token. It is what I would consider the first instant or sorcery that's essentially a creature in spell form. Its only outcome is a single creature token, but it isn't a creature card, meaning it allows for different interactions that a creature card couldn't do. This would become a frequent tool.
Balduvian Dead was the first creature token-creating card that creates a token with haste that goes away at end of turn. This allows creature tokens to be used as pseudo-direct damage. Feast or Famine's ability to create a token makes it basically a split card; you have the choice between a removal spell or creating a creature token.
Splintering Wind makes creature tokens that serve a secondary function. They have cumulative upkeep and damage you and your creatures when they go away. This is showing how creature tokens can have a multi-layered design where they continue impacting things after they're created. Phelddagrif (along with Phantasmal Sphere and Varchild's War-Riders) creates tokens for your opponent as a drawback. Kjeldoran Outpost wasn't the first card to create multiple tokens, but it was the first one to have a strong tournament presence. For quite a while, token making was more for casual play. Kjeldoran Outpost showed that at the right power level, token making could be a top-tier strategy.
Mirage
Afterlife was the first creature removal card that gives a token to the opponent. This will become a core element of white's section of the color pie. Tidal Wave was the first card to make a defensive temporary token. The token it makes gets sacrificed at end of turn, meaning that the creature token created has a specific defensive function for just one turn, such as the 5/5 Wall blocking an attacker. Carrion was the first spell that allowed you to turn one creature into multiple tokens, in this case based on the power of the sacrificed creature. Tombstone Stairwell was the first card to make creature tokens for multiple players.
Jungle Patrol creates a creature token that the card can trade for different resources. That card also shows the value of flavor. You make Wood tokens that you can "burn" and turn into red mana.
Basalt Golem was the first card to use a token to show that you're changing a creature your opponent controls. In this case, Basalt Golem turns the blocking creature into a 0/2 Wall. Walls at the time had defender built in, so you were keeping it from being able to attack.
Visions
Rukh Egg showed a creature changing as it hatched, but Giant Caterpillar took it to the next logical conclusion. It's a creature with a second stage, gated by mana that you can control. It was both flavorful and allowed two things to happen: the creature gained necessary evasion (the token is smaller but flies), and, as a response to something that would remove Giant Caterpillar, you could sacrifice it to lessen the loss of the creature. The idea of a token as a second-stage transformation would see a lot of use later.
Weatherlight
While there had been token-makers that allowed a player to spend mana to create multiple tokens over time, Liege of the Hollows was the first token-maker that builds the mana payment into a one-time triggered ability, allowing you to make as many tokens as you have mana to spend. It was sort of the first spell to make tokens.
Tempest
Field of Souls was the first card to create tokens for creatures as they die. This would prove to be a valuable design space. Spirit Mirror is a very odd design. My goal at the time was to make a creature that died to enchantment removal, but not creature removal. My novel solution was to create an enchantment that could continually create creature tokens, but only if it wasn't already on the battlefield. Also, I think Spirit Mirror may be the only card that allows you to destroy the creature token it makes for free. That was done to get around things like Pacifism.
Sarcomancy was another novel design of mine, this time to create a one mana 2/2 Zombie. I needed the creature to have a drawback and came up with the idea of making it an enchantment that created a Zombie creature token. That way if the Zombie died, Sarcomancy would punish you. Both Spirit Mirror and Sarcomancy demonstrate how tokens as a tool allow for a lot of creative problem solving in design.
Stronghold
Mogg Infestation was the first to combine "turn my opponent's creatures into smaller creature tokens" and "use creature tokens and sacrifice as a means to turn my creatures into a larger number of creatures" effects on the same card. Volrath's Laboratory was the first token-maker to allow you to choose both the color and the creature type of the token being made. I made it as a tool to give players access to creature token generation for various typal strategies, especially ones that didn't have any options available.
Unglued
Unglued came about because Bill Rose and Joel Mick had come up with the idea of an expansion that wasn't tournament legal. They handed the assignment to me, and I decided to add an element of humor and tap into design space that I knew we didn't necessarily want to do (or couldn't do) in normal Magic. One of the influences for my designs was a deck of cards from my days of being a magician (I used to perform magic at children's parties). The deck was full of weird cards like a black ten of diamonds and a seven and a half of hearts, the idea being these were odd cards that you, the magician, could use in interesting ways. It got me thinking about things we could include on a Magic card other than normal game pieces.
This, in turn, made me think back to my first trip to Japan for one of the earliest Grands Prix, where I saw players using trading cards from elsewhere to represent creature tokens. Magic had a bunch of cards that create tokens. What if we made cards that represented those tokens? To make them as useful as possible, I just put art on the card, and didn't name them or list any stats. Is that a Soldier, a Citizen, a Warrior? It could be any of those things. The token cards ended up being very popular and would pave the way for us to later start putting token cards in more booster packs.
Urza's Saga
Metrognome uses creature tokens as a discard hoser. Phyrexian Processor is the first to use life as a variable to determine creature token size. This card was famously part of a mirror match in the finals of a World Championship in 2000 between Hall of Famers Jon Finkel and Bob Maher, Jr.
Urza's Legacy
Deranged Hermit premiered a cool design. It creates tokens that it then enhances. If you destroy the Deranged Hermit, the creature tokens don't go away, but they do shrink. Deranged Hermit was the key card of the deck that helped Aaron Forsythe become of a member of the United States National team, which would go on to win the World Team Competition in 2000.
Mercadian Masques
Saber Ants was the first card to create creature tokens based on the amount of damage it took. This would be a design space we'd revisit quite often. Snake Pit was the first creature token-maker that creates tokens with a triggered ability (if your opponent plays blue or black spells) and was one of the first token-making cards that's a color hoser.
Nemesis
Angelic Favor and Mogg Alarm were the first two cards that allow you to create a creature token without paying any mana for it. Both have an alternative mana cost. Angelic Favor allows you to an untapped creature you control, and Mogg Alarm allows you to sacrifice Mountains.
Prophecy
Dual Nature was the first non-blue, non-artifact card to create token copies. Green was allowed access to copying in its share of the color pie, but only on its own creatures.
That's all the time we have for today. We made it to the year 2000. I hope you're enjoying this look back at token design evolution. As always, I'm eager for any feedback, be it on today's article or any of the cards I've discussed. You can email me or contact me through my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok).
Join me next week for part two.
Until then, may you have as much fun playing token cards as we do making them.
