Heroes of the Realm

Heroes of the Realm are a series of Magic: The Gathering celebration cards created by Chris Cocks to recognize internal Wizards of the Coast teams and individuals who have "had a tremendous impact on the business". They form part of the company employee recognition program and are awarded for work done during the year.
==Description==
Heroes of the Realm cards have black-bordered front faces and a special "Heroes of the Realm" card back. Each card includes the name of the employee who received it in the bottom right-hand corner, above the legal text. Since these cards don't have the regular Magic card back, they aren't legal in any format but the Commander Rules Committee had made an exception for Commander if the person playing the card is the person whose name is on that card.
The Wizards of the Coast executive team chooses the teams they believe have gone above and beyond during the year and the winners design the cards (sometimes, but not always, with a little help from R&D). Mark Rosewater notes that Heroes of the Realm cards don't go through the normal design processes, so they aren't always representative of what R&D might actually do on a printed card. The result are cards primarily designed to be read, rather than played. Heroes of the Realm cards are not limited to teams working on Magic: The Gathering products, but can be awarded to any team or individual across any the entire company.
An oversized version of each card hangs in the Hall of Heroes at the Wizards of the Coast headquarters. Underneath the card is a list of that card's recipients.
==Awarded cards==
This section lists the known Heroes of the Realm cards. The cards are listed under the year they were awarded but due to the production process (i.e. card design, art commission, printing), employees may not receive their physical card until the following year. Cards have the legal text for the year they are printed.
Information in this section is based on Wizards of the Coast employees sharing their cards and what they were awarded for on various social media channels. The cards are not publicly released by Wizards of the Coast itself.
===2016===
There were only four copies of each card created for this year.
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Article(s)
<c>Chandra, Gremlin Wrangler</c>	001 	Planeswalker Decks team	Kaladesh/Planeswalker decks. 	2017-09-20	Chandra
<c>Dungeon Master</c> 	002 	Dungeons & Dragons team	Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.	2017-09-20	Dungeon Master, Fighter
<c>Nira, Hellkite Duelist</c> 	003 	Duel Masters team 	 	2017-09-20	Nira (Duel Masters)
===2017===
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Article(s)
<c>Diabolical Salvation</c> 	001 	WotC strike team 	Dealing with quick, fast-moving projects.	2019-03-08	
<c>Inzerva, Master of Insights</c>	002 	Consumer Insights team	 	2019-03-08	Inzerva
<c>M'Odo, the Gnarled Oracle</c> 	003 	Magic Online team 	 	2018-08-11	M'Odo
===2018===
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Article(s)
<c>Kharis & the Beholder</c> 	001 	Influencer projects team 	Magic and D&D influencer events. 	2019-11-26	Kharis, Beholder
<c>Optimus Prime, Inspiring Leader</c>	002 	Transformers trading card game (TCG) team	 	2019-12-04	Autobot
<c>Sol, Advocate Eternal</c> 	003 	Game Support and Customer Service team 	 	2019-12-02	Sol
<c>The Legend of Arena</c> 	004 	Magic: The Gathering Arena team 	Launch of Magic: The Gathering Arena.	2019-12-07	
====Notes====
 This card is a triple-faced card usable in both Magic: The Gathering and Transformers TCG games.
 There are two versions of this card, each with different art. One is by Noah Bradley and the other by Olena Richards. Both have the same collector number.
===2019===
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Article(s)
<c>Collectigull</c> 	001 	Booster Fun crew 	The start of Booster Fun treatments in Eldraine. 	2021-04-09	
<c>Keeper of the Secret Lair</c> 	002 	Secret Lair crew 	 	2021-04-09	Keeper of the Secret Lair
<c>War of the Spark</c> 	003 	War of the Spark teams 	Culmination and release of the War of the Spark event. 	2021-04-09	War of the Spark
<c>Champions of Archery</c> 	004 	Throne of Eldraine team	 	2021-04-09	Champions of Archery
<c>Myntasha, Honored One</c> 	005 	Modern Horizons team 	 	2021-04-09	Myntasha
<c>The Cinematic Phoenix</c> 	006 	Cinematics crew 	War of the Spark trailer and Throne of Eldraine trailer.	2021-07-29	Cinematic Phoenix
<c>Fabled Path of Searo Point</c>	007 	Operations crew 	 	2021-04-26	
===2020===
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Articles(s)
<c>Euroakus</c> 	001 	European crew 	Promotion of Magic and D&D across Europe.	2021-10-05	Euroakus
<c>Mountain Mover</c> 	002 	 	 	 	
<c>The Secret Lair</c>	003 	Secret Lair crew	 	2021-09-23	
===2021===
The collector numbers were changed for the 2021 cards; from the traditional three-digit in-set number (e.g. 001/003) to a single four-digit number (0001).
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Article(s)
<c>Andrios, Roaming Explorer</c>	0001	Arena mobile team 	 	2022-12-09	Andrios
<c>Arteeoh, Dread Scavenger</c> 	0002	Various teams 	Return-to-office effort post pandemic.	2023-01-06	Arteeoh
<c>Byode, Inverse Sun</c> 	0003	Universes Beyond crew	 	2022-12-09	Byode, Universewalker
<c>Ersta, Friend to All</c> 	0004	Human Resources team 	 	2022-12-07	Ersta
===2022===
Card 	HTR#	Awarded to 	Awarded for 	Posted 	Related Article(s)
<c>Treizeci, Sun of Serra</c> 	0001	30th Anniversary celebration team (Treizeci is Romanian for "thirty") 	30th Anniversary promos 	2024-02-16	Treizeci, Serra, Nostalgic
<c>Elusen, the Giving</c> 	0002	Staff members who supported Wizards' philanthropic work in 2022. (Elusen is Welsh for "charity").	"Extra Life" 	2023-12-19	Elusen
<c>Heroes of Kamigawa</c> 	0003	Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty's Design and Development team. 	Top-selling product of the year. 	2023-12-19	Kaito Shizuki, The Wanderer
<c>Svega, the Unconventional</c>	0004	Community and outreach staff. 	Support work at conventions, primarily Magic 30 at Las Vegas.	2023-12-20	Svega
<c>Wizard from Beyond</c> 	0005	D&D Beyond team. 	Hasbro acquired D&D Beyond in 2022. 	2023-12-20	Background
===2023===
Card	HTR#	Awarded to	Awarded for	Posted	Related Article(s)
TBA 	0001	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	
==Card types==
Universewalker is a card type only used on <c>Byode, Inverse Sun</c>. It is a Planeswalker variant reference to Universes Beyond.
Byode, Dungeon Master, Ersta, Inzerva, and Svega are Planeswalker types that are specific to Heroes of the Realm. Although The Wanderer is a canon character, the Wanderer planeswalker type is also unique to Heroes of the Realm as none of her official cards have any planeswalker types.
Fighter is a token-specific creature class that is only mentioned in <c>Dungeon Master</c> as a D&D reference. The other three standard D&D classes (Cleric, Rogue, Wizard) already existed in Magic. Attendee is the second token-specific creature class unique to Heroes of the Realm cards. It's a reference to the players and guest who attend MagicCons and other conventions.
==Tokens==
==Gallery==
File:Wall of Heroes.jpg|The Wall of Heroes
File:Chandra, Gremlin Wrangler.jpg|<c>Chandra, Gremlin Wrangler</c>
File:Dungeon Master.jpg|<c>Dungeon Master</c>
File:Nira, Hellkite Duelist.jpg|<c>Nira, Hellkite Duelist</c>
File:Inzerva.jpg|<c>Inzerva, Master of Insights</c>
File:Modo.jpg|<c>M'Odo, the Gnarled Oracle</c>
File:Kharis.jpg|<c>Kharis & the Beholder</c>
File:Optimus Prime 2.jpg|Second side of Optimus Prime
File:Optimus Prime 3.jpg|Oversized third side of Optimus Prime
File:Sol.jpg|<c>Sol, Advocate Eternal</c>
File:ArenaBradley.jpg|<c>The Legend of Arena</c> (Noah Bradley variant)
File:ArenaRichards.png|<c>The Legend of Arena</c> (Olena Richards variant)
File:Collectigull.jpg|<c>Collectigull</c>
File:Keeper.jpg|<c>Keeper of the Secret Lair</c>
File:War of the Spark art.jpg|<c>War of the Spark</c>
File:Archery.jpg|<c>Champions of Archery</c>
File:Myntasha.jpg|<c>Myntasha, Honored One</c>
File:Cinematic.jpg|<c>The Cinematic Phoenix</c>
File:SecretLair.jpg|<c>The Secret Lair</c>
==References==
Category:Celebration cards
Category:Unofficial cards