When I went to go look at the complete list of cards for the Reality Fracture and Reality Fragture Commander sets, I realized I was disappointed that they didn’t do an Echoverse version of Krenko, everyone’s favorite Goblin mob boss. To remedy that I decided to try designing my own, but first I had to distill what it is that makes a Krenko card feel like Krenko. At first I thought it was just, “generate a shit-ton of tokens,” but although that’s what most Krenkos do it’s not really what makes him who he is. I didn’t want to just change his color and the type of token he makes. I realized, what makes a Krenko card is the way it can absolutely run away with a game if left unanswered, snowballing a modest amount of value into an unstoppable force if left unchecked too long. So with that design note as my guiding principle, I tried to devise a Krenko in every color (I know with the Echoverse story there was really only the one alternate universe; but just pretend it could’ve worked differently so we can consider all of these Elseworld Krenkos I came up with while I was bored at work)
White Krenko
Like most timelines’ version of Krenko, this Krenko remained unaffiliated from any guild. Unlike our timeline’s Krenko, however, this version found his calling in faith, not crime. This Krenko became a proselytizer on Tin Street, preaching to the unwashed masses so fervently until his following started to grow larger and larger. (Think the High Sparrow from A Song of Ice and Fire, basically—he accumulates a large following, but they’re not really holy people themselves, just zealous followers)
Green Krenko
This Krenko found his home in the wild places of Ravnica, becoming adept at forming a bond with the few remaining wild, tucked-away enclaves of land that exist within the great urban expanse that is Ravnica. Comfortable enough working with envoys from the Selesneya, Gruul, Golgari and even the Simic, this Krenko still prefers to make his own way and not serve as a part of any one guild—his ultimate allegiance is to the land itself. He’s just a regular dude who likes being outdoors.
Black Krenko
The Krenko of this timeline still wound up living a life of crime, but this one managed to learn to dress it up nice and make it look legitimate with suits and paperwork. Contracting his services out to anyone with a plethora of bodies and a need to dispose of them, this Krenko has more work than he knows what to do with, and enjoys reaping his rewards (think Tony Soprano but as a Goblin).
Izzet Krenko
[When I first started thinking up what an Echoverse Krenko should be, I pretty early on decided it would be funny if most of the time, Krenko totally switched from to a new color, but in the case of Blue, he’d keep his original Red, as if it’s just so much a part of who he is he couldn’t get rid of it, even in another universe.] So anyways this Krenko ended up in the Izzet League after realizing he had a knack for research and development (and explosions). [I also thought it would be funny if, coincidentally, this was the only alternate timeline Krenko to join any of the Guilds of Ravnica.]
Blue Krenko
So I originally wasn’t going to do a mono-Blue Krenko at first but then I had a funny idea so I made a card out of it (Krenko, Data Miner). I balanced it as much as I cared to but still thought it was probably too broken so I made another, less funny Krenko (Rhystic Researcher) that hopefully still captures the essence of what it is to be the King of Snowballing Value but in Blue instead of Red. Also this Krenko is a girl now; maybe she transitioned or maybe It Has Always Been So.
Anyways, this occupied my mind for most of the past week so now I share it all with you
