I don’t know much about Magic: The Gathering Lore, but I know one thing for certain: Ambitious Farmhand is totally non-binary.
Just look at this card! Ambitious Farmhand!
And on its other side, it transforms into…
It’s..
This random decent uncommon from the newest Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is something nobody is talking about. It’s good for draft, and maybe for budget human tribal decks, but it’s extremely unflashy. A small, mildly useful effect, then a transformation into a mildly useful creature. It’ll probably get used in like, 500 EDHRec decks and get reprinted in Triple Masters XXL 2025.
But I still love Ambitious Farmhand. The character is depicted (with extremely good art) as the quintessential country kid hero, then grows up to become a badass holy warrior. But they still wear that red necklace and keep to their roots. In any random fantasy story, this would be our protagonist. But in a world as gigantic in scope as Magic: The Gathering, this Ambitious Farmhand is just another measly minion.
And, of course, totally non-binary. (Me too) There’s a reason they’re “Farmhand” and not “Farm Boy” like you’d expect. They’re clearly intended to be incredibly androgynous, to be a hero above all else. And I bet you if we asked the artist Bryan Sola, he’d tell us the same thing. Not that androgynous features are what make someone non-binary, but it’s definitely one easy way to communicate it without saying it outright.
I like Ambitious Farmhand. It’s a decent card, and one I want to pack into a ton of different decks. This kid’s not that special in stats or abilities, but they’re special to my heart.
