Ouphe
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Beeble Scale	9[1]
Statistics	17 cards 5.9% 82.4% 5.9% 5.9% as of Wilds of Eldraine
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type:"Ouphe"

Ouphe is a creature type used for cards that depict annoying little humanoids, often collecting treasures or tinkering with artifacts.

Description

Ouphes are often associated with the (green) natural world, and are related to faeries and possibly gremlins. All ouphes tend to be small in stature (about the size of a dwarf or kithkin) with pointed ears, but otherwise vary widely in appearance, including the human-like brownies and pyknites, and the animalistic brown ouphes. The first creature to bear the type was Brown Ouphe in Ice Age (though the Shelkin Brownie from Legends and Niall Silvain from The Dark were retroactively issued errata to become Ouphes as well).^[2]

Most ouphes are asocial, and many are hostile toward artifice. They have a reputation for being extremely annoying.

Ouphes inhabit numerous different planes, including Dominaria (where they thrived during the Ice Age), Shadowmoor, Mirrodin, and Eldraine.

Eldraine

Ouphes are found throughout the Wilds of Eldraine.^[3] They are magically connected to the natural world and know more about the secret lives of trees, mushrooms, and moss than most mortals. While ouphes are related to Eldraine's faeries, the faeries act embarrassed by them and treat them like distant cousins.

Notable Ouphes

Dominaria

• Niall Silvain

Trivia

• "Ouphe" is an old Germanic word, possibly Old English or Icelandic, meaning "elf child" or "one left by the faeries." ^[4]
• In the Grand Creature Type Update the creature types Brownie, Niall-Silvain and Pyknite were all changed into Ouphe. In the The Grand Creature Type Update Update Gremlin was dropped in favor of Ouphe (Phyrexian Gremlins), but this was reversed in Mirrodin Besieged.
• The subtype Ouphe is preferred over Faerie when the creatures aren't little humanoids with wings. It took a while before this distinction became clear. For example Shelkin Brownie used to be a Faerie, while Fyndhorn Brownie used to be a Brownie. Now, both are Ouphes. In 2018, Mark Rosewater was arguing that the Ouphe type might get consolidated^[5] with green Faeries.^[6] However, three more Ouphes have been printed since then, in Modern Horizons, Throne of Eldraine and Modern Horizons 2, so it appears they've decided to maintain the subtype.
• Kitchen Finks is arguably the most well-known Ouphe, due to its infinite life combo with Melira, Sylvok Outcast. They're styled after the dust bunnies from Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro.
• Gilder Bairn appears in many casual decks, because of the unique counter-doubling ability.^[7]
• Collector Ouphe is frequently featured in competitive lists as sideboard hate for artifact strategies.

Gallery

• 
  Gilder Bairn

References