Dockside Extortionist: Anti-semitic depictions in Magic

It is never easy to talk about anti-Semitism, and especially not anti-Semitism in magic. Any member of a marginalised group group knows that even attempting to discuss discrimination in magic brings with it a barrage of hate from alt-right trolls and nazis. However I have finally reached my breaking point where as a Jew I can no longer remain silent; it is time to talk about Dockside Extortionist. In this article I will examine how Dockside Extortionist portrays and reinforces hateful anti-Semitic stereotypes, and how they cause real harm to members of our community. TW for the rest of the article, I will be discussing and displaying extremely hateful caricatures of the Jewish people. Below you will see a comparison between the art of Dockside Extortionist (center) and common offensive anti-Semitic caricatures of Jews.

The most striking similarity is the nose. The nose of the “goblin” in Dockside Extortionist is clearly identical to the stereotypical “hooked nose” of the Jewish stereotype. Note the identical expression on Dockside with the caricature on the left, the eyes squinting in the same manner. Dockside’s rounded glasses bear a striking similarity to the style of glasses common amongst Jewish stereotypes, as portrayed by the caricature on the right. Even the hat bears some resemblance to the “Hoiche” hats common to Orthodox Jews. Even the use of a “goblin” is in itself anti-Semitic, you only have to look as far as J.K R*wling’s depiction of goblins as greedy, hook-nosed bankers to see their connections to anti-Semitic tropes in western media.

All together, the resemblance is uncanny. If it stopped at the art, perhaps I could write this off as coincidence, but when combined with the name and effect of the card, the anti-Semitic nature is indisputable. The name “Dockside Extortionist” clearly indicates the flavor of the card is that the “goblin” is taking money against its owner’s will, and the effect of card makes treasure tokens (money/coins) based on artifacts your opponents control. Combined with the art, this creates a card showing a stereotypical greedy Jewish moneylender. The focus on money in card’s name, art, and effect clearly reinforces the anti-Semitic theme of the card, and links the stereotypical depiction in the art to a mechanical effect depicting the “goblin” charging interest, and greedily hoarding money.

It cannot be a coincidence that the card strongly resembling the stereotypical Jew mechanically and flavorfully involves taking money from others.

Now to be very clear, I am not accusing the artist of intentional anti-Semitism. I think it is likely that this is a result of the internalised unconscious anti-Semitism which is rampant in our society. But the results are indisputable. The below image quickly summarises my overall argument .

In 2022 I shouldn’t need to explain why bigoted depictions such as the above are extremely harmful, but since some people still don’t seem to get it, I will briefly detail just a few of the horrific experiences I have had with this card.

I have frequently spotted players rubbing their hands together in a manner heavily associated with Jews (see above) to signify greed, upon casting this card. Many times I have experienced players saying “Oy vey!” in response to an opponent playing this card, sometimes under their breath, sometimes out loud, to the humor of the other players. Once, after resolve a Dockside, my opponent exclaimed “Give me all your Shekels!” while doing an impression of a stereotypical Jewish accent. None of these were isolated incidents, all by different players, and these are just a few examples. There are many more. I have head similar stories from all my Magic-playing Jewish friends. Many of them are terrified of the harassment that comes with speaking out against anti-Semitism, instead choosing to stay silent, and bear the jokes and microaggressions. It does not help that dockside extortionist is an extremely popular EDH card, in nearly every red deck. With the card being played so often, and commonly flickered to reuse the etb, the sheer volume of these offensive comments becomes unbearable. Something has to change.

So what can be done? It is clear to anyone that cares about diversity and inclusion that Wizards is not interested in making real change (their hiring practices show as much). Fortunately, Commander is the one format still controlled by the players. I call upon all members of the magic community who care about diversity and equality, to lobby the commander rules committee to ban Dockside Extortionist in commander, as they have done previously with other offensive cards. We are fortunate enough to have influential members of the commander community such as Shivam, the Command Zone, any many others have who have shown they are will to stand up for what is right, and make their voices heard. Together we can make a real step towards eliminating anti-Semitism in Magic. There will be further to go, how long will it be until WotC finally prints a Jewish planeswalker, maybe a promo card celebrating Hanukkah like they do Christmas. I would even take an Israel Secret Lair. But banning Dockside Extortionist is a real step that we can take as a community to fight anti-Semitism in Magic. Make your thoughts heard to the rules committee by using the hashtag #BanDockside on twitter.

Article written by Kevin, who while working on his physics PhD at Tel Aviv University, always enjoys finding time to produce MTG articles.