Pointed Discussion

I'm not that happy about the current orace which didn't erase this weird Serf subtype despite the Grand Creature Type Update.
They should have proceeded with them as they did with the Wireflies:
Change them to Minion tokens named Serf.

Definitely not the worst card to come out of Homelands. Actually playable in limited.

This card is bad a$$. Its four creatures for four manna atatch some equiptment to him and he's a boss. sweet and interesting card just dont rock too many of them in your deck.

Is there anything that makes Changeling tokens? Cause this would affect them...

I think this is a pretty good card when used as fodder for your Fallen Angel or your Nantuko Husk.

The great update has been schizophrenic towards tokens.

Best guess: there are some old tokens where some tribal synergy was by design (goblin, thrull, and saproling tokens), some where it is reasonable to expect an update (Boris Devilboon's "minor demon" should be a demon), and some where they're type is irrelevant, because they were never meant to be anything more than a cheap, generic token. These are those generic tokens.

I run him in my Mono-black deck with Undertaker, Xathrid Demon, and a bunch of nasty things with madness.

Serf tokens are not the best thing to sac for Xathrid if you're trying to do damage with him, but they are good for taking the brunt when you don't want to sac anything else.

Demon of Death's Gate. You gotta love alternative costs. hehe

Because, having them be creature type Serf fits the flavor of the card that puts them into play, and other creatures that put tokens into play that are specific to those cards weren't changed either, so it's doubtfully not a case of being overlooked but intentional.

A functional Homelands card?! Heresy!

Serf? Haha Demon of death's gate. Mode: I just used your link to get here and now I see you wrote another comment.

I'd like to thank Mode for being as nerdy as I am.

Smurf tokens for Gargamel. Awesome.

At first I was going to rate him a 3, which is probably closer to his real value, but then I realized that, for all the sacrificing themes in Black, there are very few other black token making cards I like this much on a flavor basis, so he got a 5. :p Demon of Death's Gate indeed. :)

Hecatomb fodder. Also keeps demons well fed for a while, though Reassembling Skeleton is better at that.

Timeless flavor. Would be quite at home in the Innistrad block.

@Volcre: Yeah, this isn't a bad card at all, but "Playable in limited" doesn't mean much. A lot cards are indeed "Playable in formats where people are only allowed to use randomly-selected Homelands cards."

"A very ugly man, and bad hygiene besides."
- Sorin Markov

@achilleselbow: Crib Swap, but it's not really big enough to be worth comboing about.

I enjoy how this provides four permanents for {3}{B}...also in the rather odd situation, it can be used to exile Changeling tokens. Also if someone decides to remove it...just respond with Shields of Velis Vel and you'll end up exiling all your opponent's creatures.

The "Serf" type is kind of awkward, but if they were to update it I'm not sure "Minion" would be the best choice. Minion tokens are 1/1 or X/X; there's no precedent there for 0/1. Minion as a non-token type is used for some powerful individuals, such as Braids and Chainer, and even Rag Man is clearly more capable than a mere 0/1 townsperson. There's the problem, I'm guessing, and the real reason they still haven't updated the type: 0/1 isn't used for anything that really makes sense (unless they want to use the serfs' livestock in the form of Goat tokens :P), and Minion doesn't seem all that close a fit flavor-wise. Likewise, Human tokens (which are probably closer in flavor) are 1/1.

If they made this make 0/1 Minion tokens, they'd be adding a third p/t standard for an already-inconsistent token. I'd rather have seen them just embrace the "serf" type and run out a set that where ability-less 0/1's could be utilized (via sac, etc...) by several cards. Unfortunately, Innistrad has now come and gone, and those Vampire-centered sets seem like they'd have fit this idea perfectly. They likely felt it would ring too similar to the Eldrazi spawn mechanic. Still, I like the idea that they might come back to this at some point. In the meantime, I'll have to just accept that your average farmer seems capable of fighting well-trained soldiers to a standstill :/

Hey, you never know, they might put this in Modern Masters with new Serf tokens. There's been two different power levels of Beasts and Dragons, and they do tokens for rares like that Gatecrash Angel and Godsire...

AWESOME against serf tribal decks!

I disagree with the errata'd "Creature- Human type. It should be "Creature- Adviser", implying that while not all of Baron Sengir's autocrats are human, they are all advisers.