EDHrec Officially Using "Typal" instead Of Tribal Now
If you've not heard, there's been a recent buzz about using "tribal" in Magic: The Gathering to refer to decks built around a specific creature type. In an article about what he learned designing certain sets, Mark Rosewater mentioned that they no longer use the term tribal in design and instead use Typal, saying that the original term had negative connotations. This was, of course, met with somewhat mixed reviews, with the consensus being that the original word was acceptable. You can find my original article with all the details here - The Term "Tribal" Is Being Replaced By "Typal" In Magic: The Gathering.
In general, the change was met with pushback from the community, and most players opted to simply keep using the original term. It is, after all, a personal choice more so than the official game term. While that's still true, popular MTG sites seem to adopt the more "politically correct" term. I just realized EDHrec is saying typal.
EDHRec Changes From Tribal To Typal
EDHrec is the go-to site for all things commander related for most players. You can view the top played commanders, what cards people are playing with a given commander broken up into several categories, including - High synergy cards, top played cards, creatures, instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, lands, and more.
You can also view commanders and cards based on strategies or themes, with included tribal decks. Or what used to be referred to as tribal decks anyways. Now, it says typal. Check this out; this is the drop-down bar in the themes tab:
This used to say "tribes" and referred to the most popular tribes in EDH. I noticed the change just a few minutes ago, dove deeper into the expanded page for decks built around a particular creature type, and found more of the same. Here is your homepage for "Zombie Typal."
As I stated in my original article (and many others have on social media and in the comments), it's more or less up to you which term you use. In the context of MTG, I think the original term makes the most sense, sounds better, and is pretty innocuous. This change on a significant site like EDHrec makes me wonder if the term will be pushed onto players slightly more than we initially thought it would. It certainly seems that way.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you can still say tribal, no matter how many big sites or WOTC employees say typal. These massive corporations and websites will likely adopt the new term to keep with the times and be seen as progressive. Respecting your fellow humans is something you should 100% do. That said, (I always stand ready to be corrected, so feel free to comment), I don't think anyone is genuinely offended by the term tribal in the context of Magic: The Gathering. As always, let me know what you think about this change and your opinion on the matter.
