Over the 12 years since its release in 2011, Dark Souls rose to become one of the most well-known games of all time. The series is one of the most influential ever released, inspiring a cascade of countless similar games. Dark Souls and its successors spawned an entire sub-genre that gamers and developers everywhere came to love, with Elden Ring's release in 2022 topping the charts. Developer FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki is the creator of Dark Souls and the driving force behind many of the company's best ideas, and owing to his games' success, it's no surprise Miyazaki takes centre stage as an important figure in gaming.

Miyazaki's influence on the series, and the genre at large, contributed to much of its success: he devised the challenging gameplay, dark themes, and macabre style of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls that wasn't seen in many other games at the time. Just like how Dark Souls inspired many games that came after it, Miyazaki too is no stranger to taking inspiration from others. Most fans are well aware of the many Berserk references in Elden Ring and Dark Souls. However, that is far from the only inspiration for Miyazaki's works, and one of his biggest inspirations may even be the grandfather of TCGs itself, Magic: The Gathering.

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Miyazaki is Purportedly a Huge MTG Fan

innistrad werewolves moonlight

The Dark Souls series, and most of Miyazaki's games, are heavily influenced by classic fantasy games -- but with a twist. Miyazaki himself is a fan of classic RPGs like Dungeon & Dragons, and several enemies and bosses derived from his love of tabletop games. For example, Quelaag, a menacing half-human, half-spider creature that's one of Dark Souls' most iconic bosses, is heavily inspired by a crag spider game piece from the tabletop game Dragon Pass. As a fan of tabletop games, it makes sense that Miyazaki also said he's big fan of Magic: The Gathering.

This probably explains why Dark Souls II features an enemy with a striking resemblance to a creature from Magic: The Gathering. The Artificial Undead appears in a variety of locations throughout Dark Souls II. It is a hulking undead enemy, with patchwork flesh wielding two sickles, that looks just like MTG's legendary creature Grimgrin: a lumbering zombie with similarly stitched flesh and a giant hook. There are more than a few similarities between the two, and since Grimgrin was introduced in the first Innistrad set in 2011, it is entirely possible to have served as inspiration for the fearsome creature in Dark Souls II.

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Everything About Bloodborne Screams Innistrad

Bloodborne opening level large group of enemies

Innistrad was one of MTG's darkest and most macabre set. Innistrad featured creatures like vampires and werewolves, and, eventually, cosmic horrors. This is extremely similar to the premise of Bloodborne, directed by Miyazaki and released in 2015. Bloodborne takes the familiar soulslike genre and thrusts it into a gothic horror setting plagued by beasts, including werewolves, cosmic horrors and deities.

There's no denying how closely matched the themes are, and Miyazaki is certain to have played with or at least seen cards from MTG's Innistrad. Interestingly, the ending of the story to MTG's 2016 set Eldritch Moon sees a cosmic creature being imprisoned in Innistrad's moon -- the opposite of what happens in Bloodborne's secret ending, where an alien creature descends from the moon.

While some of these similarities could be coincidences, MTG is one of the biggest and longest-running games ever released, so it's reasonable to assume that Hidetaka Miyazaki has played his fair share of games. MTG is packed with rich lore and interesting themes, so it makes sense that some may have served as inspiration for Miyazaki in his design of Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Plus, if Wizards of the Coast continues releasing Universes Beyond crossover sets, Miyazaki's worlds would be a great destination for Magic: The Gathering.