Vanity card

A Magic: The Gathering vanity card is a card where some creative element references someone who works on the game (or sometimes someone close to someone who works on the game).

History
Early Magic had a slew of vanity cards. R&D chose to stop doing them. The vanity rules now prevent making vanity cards of Wizards employees. The concern is that vanity cards influence how people behind the scenes make choices about cards, and make ill will among the staff. Words from existing vanity cards are grandfathered in and thus can be reprinted. Vanity cards differ from Easter Eggs because the latter reference Magic itself and not a person behind the scenes. Easter Eggs (both about Magic and about the outside world) are still allowable.

List of vanity cards

 * , and   named for Skaff Elias' friend Aditya Adarkar.
 * Barry's Land, named after Barry Reich.
 * named as a tribute to Michael G. Ryan's mother Irma and his stepfather Dale.
 * Michael S. Elliott
 * "Erhnam" is an anagram of "Herman," Richard Garfield's then brother-in-law
 * originally named "Feldon's Ice Cone", which was an anagram for "Don Felice Cone"
 * "Ifh-Bíff" was a childhood nickname for Richard Garfield's sister, Elizabeth
 * Joel L. Mick
 * J. Michael Davis
 * ,,  reference to Kyle Namvar, one of the designers of Homelands. Joven was his nickname.
 * "Leshrac" is an anagram of "Charles", a reference to the middle name of early Magic playtester Chris Page.
 * Mark Rosewater
 * and  Mijae and Ydwen are anagrams of "Jamie" and "Wendy," two of Richard Garfield's best friends who got married while he was designing the set. He was the best man.
 * Mons Johnson
 * Richard Garfield
 * named for editor Rhias Hall, who was also known at the time as "Auntie Badger"
 * Wyluli Wolf Wyluli is an anagram of Lily Wu, the maiden name of Richard Garfield's first wife
 * All Invitational Cards with the likeness of the professional player in the art
 * and  Mijae and Ydwen are anagrams of "Jamie" and "Wendy," two of Richard Garfield's best friends who got married while he was designing the set. He was the best man.
 * Mons Johnson
 * Richard Garfield
 * named for editor Rhias Hall, who was also known at the time as "Auntie Badger"
 * Wyluli Wolf Wyluli is an anagram of Lily Wu, the maiden name of Richard Garfield's first wife
 * All Invitational Cards with the likeness of the professional player in the art
 * Richard Garfield
 * named for editor Rhias Hall, who was also known at the time as "Auntie Badger"
 * Wyluli Wolf Wyluli is an anagram of Lily Wu, the maiden name of Richard Garfield's first wife
 * All Invitational Cards with the likeness of the professional player in the art
 * named for editor Rhias Hall, who was also known at the time as "Auntie Badger"
 * Wyluli Wolf Wyluli is an anagram of Lily Wu, the maiden name of Richard Garfield's first wife
 * All Invitational Cards with the likeness of the professional player in the art

Characters

 * Arna Kennerüd named after the future husband of Darla Kennerud.

In the grey area

 * Selenia, Dark Angel named after Michael Ryan's cat Selena, which itself was named after a character from a role-playing game Michael played in.
 * Timbermare Tribute to Mare Wakefield, wife of long-time Magic writer Jamie Wakefield, who was lost to cancer
 * Albert Einstein
 * Research // Development R&D
 * The employee dogs from Secret Lair Drop Series: Every Dog Has Its Day.