Skeleton

A skeleton comprises a creature's bones. In Magic, the creature type is used for cards that depict the magically animated bones of deceased creatures.
==Description==
Skeletons are, with a few exceptions, a mono-Black aligned "race". All multicolored Skeletons are also partially black, though <c>Deathless Knight</c> can be cast for all-green. Skeletons were intertwined with the mechanical ability to keep coming back, originally closely associated with the ability Regeneration until its deprecation - now R&D tends to give them some kind of limited self reanimation.
Most often Skeletons are of Human origin, but that subtype is never added. This is shared with Zombie, Spirit, and Illusion as being both a race and a class. Known Skeletons include <c title="Dragons">Bone Dragon</c>, <c title="Dinosaurs">Dread Osseosaur</c>, <c title="Crocodiles">Skeletal Crocodile</c>, <c title="Snakes">Skeletal Snake</c>, <c title="Trolls">Golgari Grave Troll</c>, <c title="Wurms">Skeletal Wurm</c> and <c title="Walls">Wall of Bone</c>.
===Alara===
Anywhere on Grixis, you can find the animated skeletons of the dead.Doug Beyer & Jenna Helland (2008). A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 978-0786951246 The skeleton is the common foot soldier of the necromancer's army and personal retinue, but unbound skeletons can also be found. When necromancers die or finally lose their grip on sanity, their skeleton minions are freed from service and roam Grixis, motivated only by an intrinsic hatred for life. Most skeletons are human in origin, the puppeteered remains of ancient Vithians or their present-day descendants, but skeletons also exist that were once other species, such as rats, bats, wolves, viashino, ogres, minotaurs, and rarely, more massive creatures such as baloths, hellions, and dragons. Large, durable skeletons are prized on Grixis, as most skeletons on the plane do not self-reassemble, but rather continue to sustain damage until they are unable to move, rejoining the heaps of scrap corpses that litter the plane.
===Eldraine===
Undead human knights are known to patrol the outer Wilds far from the Realm.James Wyatt et al. (2023). "D&D Monstrous Compendium: Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures". Wizards of the Coast. Known as deathless riders, lich-knights, or fell horsemen, they ride skeletal warhorses or nightmares. They are said to serve the Shadow Queen, who rules from the castle Dynnistad.
In stark contrast to the knights of Eldraine, the deathless riders lack all virtue. They are few, but when mortal knights meet them in the Wilds, the encounter rarely ends well for the living. The deathless riders fight with superhuman strength, heedless of wounds, and relentless in their assault. While they understand the languages that they spoke while alive, they are no longer able to sleep.
===Theros===
On Theros, deathless soldiers called phylaskia guard the borders of The Underworld.Flavor text for 
==Altered Chinese art==
 
The People's Republic of China frowns on the public display of human or humanoid skeletons and Magic cards are no exception. For this reason, the artwork of many Chinese-language cards depicting skeletons, though not necessarily of the skeleton type, had to be altered to make it possible to sell the product. This practice was abandoned for Shards of Alara. While skeletons are still not exactly "polite," they have turned more into an unlucky symbol that the older generation reacts much more strongly to than the younger, games-playing population.
==Notable Skeletons==
==Gallery==
Drudge Skeletons.jpg|<c>Drudge Skeletons</c>
==Trivia==
*In the Sixth Edition the creature type Dead (<c>Kjeldoran Dead</c>) was obsoleted, and changed to Skeleton.
*<c>Grafted Exoskeleton</c>, <c>Endoskeleton</c> and <c>Skeleton Shard</c> are artifacts, not Skeletons.
*The manland <c>Spawning Pool</c> can become a 1/1 black Skeleton creature with ": Regenerate this creature" until end of turn.
*The horror Innistrad block was especially suited for the use of skeletons.
*There are only five nonblack Skeletons. Two are from the world of Dungeons & Dragons, which have a different mythos behind skeletons. Of the other three; one is red (<c>Viashino Skeleton</c>), one is blue (<c>Scrabbling Skullcrab</c>) and one is green (<c>Golgari Grave-Troll</c>).
**<c>Sentry of the Underworld</c> is the only white skeleton as it is part Griffin. There are no mono-white skeletons.
**<c>Gut, True Soul Zealot</c> and <c>Skeletonize</c> create black Skeleton tokens but are mono-red cards.
*<c>Eaten by Piranhas</c> transforms its target into a 1/1 Skeleton.
==Tokens==
;Heroes of the Realm
;Test cards
==References==