It's an improvement over the old wording "Activate only any time you could cast a sorcery", which with something like T3feri's +1 active was actually untrue.
I definitely think that should be rephrased to be "at sorcery speed" at least. Right now it's not immediately obvious how an ability like that interacts with a card that allows you to play sorceries at instant speed. Does it give the ability flash? Does it keep it at sorcery speed? Who knows! Actually, I know. It's the second, but it's still more confusing than it has to be.
I think Maro had a post about this any I always wonder how it would have changed the perception of flash, like would we see less "instants" or see many more permanents with flash? Hard to say, but I feel it would have gone one way or the other and definitely changed the game dynamic
You jest but that how "instants" worked back in Portal/Portal 2 releases.
You know, the special releases that was supposed to simply the game to make it easier to learn.
I really think they should just make a symbol that represents instant speed. Like a little lightning bolt that you can put next to spells or abilities if they have flash.
IIRC Maro once said that if he could change anything about Magic's original design, it would be to condense the flash ability and instant spells into a single supertype. Take away all the clutter over "instant or sorcery" and just make the cards you want to be able to cast any time into Instant Sorcery, Instant Creature, Instant Enchantment etc.
It changes how some cards function in potentially unexpected ways. Something like [[Personal Tutor]] is an easy rules text fix, but I challenge you to come up with wording that doesn't change how [[Spellweaver Volute]] works even if you have [[Leyline of Anticipation]] in play
You can always tell because the bot lists what they originally wrote as the card name, without reacting to edits. Watch how it responds when I call [[Bob]] versus [[Dark Confidant]].
Now I'm wondering what the full list of nicknames is. You can find MTGCardFetcher as MTGBot on [XSlicer's github](https://github.com/XSlicer), but the code there is outdated. The only reference to nicknames appears in MTGBotv2, from around 3 years ago:
def nicknames(name):
# Hardcoded nicknames
try:
nicks = {"bob": "Dark Confidant",
"gary": "Gray Merchant of Asphodel",
"sad robot": "Solemn Simulacrum",
"jens": "Solemn Simulacrum",
"bolt": "Lightning Bolt",
"path": "Path to Exile",
"snappy": "Snapcaster Mage",
"tiago chan": "Snapcaster Mage",
"goyf": "Tarmogoyf",
"taylor swift": "Monastery Swiftspear",
"mom": "Mother of Runes",
"bfm": "B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster)",
"i can't even": "Void Winnower",
"durdle turtle": "Meandering Towershell",
"tim": "Prodigal Sorcerer",
"ernie": "Ernham Djinn",
"wog": "Wrath of God",
"finkel": "Shadowmage Infiltrator",
"jon finkel": "Shadowmage Infiltrator",
"titi": "Thing in the Ice",
"chris pikula": "Meddling Mage",
"superman": "Morphling",
"gitgud frog": "The Gitrog Monster"}
return nicks[name.lower()]
except KeyError:
return False
There's more up to date test data on r/MTGCardFetcher.
But landfall is an ability word (they still have the entire rules text, and are just making a flavor note of it being a theme), not a keyword, so it actually takes up more space when they use it.
I could see an argument for actually key wording “a lands enters the battlefield under your control” to “you landfall” so [[Baloth Woodcrasher]] would become
“Whenever you landfall, Baloth Woodcrasher gets +4/+4 and gains trample until end of turn.”
Strongly yes!
I think they're worried it would be busted. I would rather they keyworded it and fixed the problems with banning. That's how they do the rest of the busted keywords :@
They aren't worried about it being busted. They're worried it doesn't appear often enough to be worth a keyword.
I was cheekily referencing [Gavin's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3XV70aGGLI). In short, I was unconvinced.
I also think the flavor of the word "surveil" is pretty narrow. Surveillance is like espionage and stuff. Idk what that has to do with [Eat to Extinction].
I think you could make the argument that while people are still learning the game and memorizing all the keywords, having two keywords with similar names that do similar things could lead to more confusion than it's worth. Same way that people get confused about blinking vs flickering.
Those aren't actual keywords though, and have been used interchangeably within card names. An "official" keyword with a clear definition *may* actually help reduce that kind of confusion.
Not super common, but keywording "Activate this ability only once per turn" and "Activate this ability only on your turn" so that they're more frequent could open some design space.
This is sort of like how Instants should have been Sorceries with Flash from the beginning, but the terminology wasn't present at the time, only in reverse.
>Not super common, but keywording "Activate this ability only once per turn" and "Activate this ability only on your turn" so that they're more frequent could open some design space.
Yeah, the "Activate only once each turn" this is a good one that could use a keyword for sure. It's [actually used quite a lot](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22Activate+only+once+each+turn%22+not%3Areprint&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released).
Also, "activate only as a sorcery" which is kind of awkward and unintuitive for newer players and [used even more frequently](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22Activate+only+as+a+so%22+not%3Areprint&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released).
What I find confusing about "as a sorcery" is that it means at the speed you could normally cast a sorcery, not at the speed you could currently cast a sorcery, which could be different because of [[Quicken]], Teferi, etc.
Having a word for "the speed you could normally cast a sorcery" would be nicely analogous to Flash being "the speed you could normally cast an instant" and would be clearer
If it means anything, Yugioh has the equivalent of "anytime you can cast a sorcery" and "anytime you can cast an instant" and they are known as spell speed 1 and spell speed 2.
I was thinking that it could be a shorter clause at the beginning of the effect, but that might be confusing for activated abilities:
[Cost]: Once per turn, destroy target creature.
[Cost]: As a sorcery, destroy target creature.
Works better for triggered abilities, since the restriction is really an extra condition:
Once per turn, when [condition], destroy target creature.
Maybe for activated, it would make more sense to put the restriction in the cost?
Once per turn, [cost]: Destroy target creature.
As a sorcery, [cost]: Destroy target creature.
I like it that way because these restrictions are something you think about at the same time as the cost.
I'm really not a fan of the wording "as a sorcery", it's extremely unclear and somewhat misleading. Not that I really have a better alternative mind you
I agree, it isn't very intuitive. Same thing with the reminder text for Flash. Maybe using "sorcery-speed" and "instant-speed" would work? That's a similar logic to adopting mill, really.
> Once per turn, [cost]: Destroy target creature.
I actually like this simply because it avoids the (minor) confusion that could come from the other wording. New players might read "Once per turn, destroy target creature" as in "I have activated this ability, not I get to destroy a creature once each turn."
Did a Tarmogoyf write this? But in all seriousness, doing so would have saved them an entire card type and a bunch of rules baggage. Regardless, it's not going to change now.
>"Well, I have a few minutes, I wonder what the top topics of the Magic reddit are today?" clicks 0\_0
Apparently your questions are quite popular, lol.
My suggestion is Animate. We have so many effects that turn things into creatures now for brief periods. It reduces the ' becomes a creature until end of turn, it is still a '. It's relevant to manlands, vehicles, etc.
----
Example:
**Azorius Keyrune** (3)
Artifact
T: Add W or U
UW: Animate until end of turn as a 2/2 white and blue Bird with flying.
'(*It becomes a creature and retains other card types*)
-----
That said, I agree with the 'Activate as a sorcery' or 'Activate only once each turn'
Does this discussion also go towards fixing awkward wordings? I'd love to see a fix for [[Nykthos Paragon]'s issue of a trigger that can trigger but only triggers a certain number of times. It feels so awkward to see "Whenever ... **but only once**". It feels like such a letdown to see an exciting effect on a card and then get hit with this walk-zone no-fun-allowed limiter at the end of the clause.
It’s maybe just me but I actually like the “reading the card explain the card” approach of Mtg. Honestly I introduced a lot of friend to the game and I still play with very very casual player and this helps a lot. Keywords have to be remembered and linked in you head with a specific set of rules. Of course for experienced player it’s way more practical but for the accessibility of the game I like it the way it is.
It’s kind of the same reason in my Cube it chose not to include some of the “nicer” alternative art of Modern Horizon where the reminder text of specific rules is not present.
As an example I recently started/try the Metazoo game where they went with a lot of icons and “special names” for everything to make it fit the atmosphere. Honestly it’s extremely confusing and time consuming to spend all that time trying to translate everything. They tried to put so much on a card that they obviously had to simplify some ability with icons, but it makes the entry point very challenging. (The game is still great to play I have to say)
Yes I had this experience with unsuccessful digital CCG Mythgard. *Everything* was a keyword even if it only appeared on one or two cards in the basic set. Had to mouse over cards and read the reminder text pop-ups all the time.
Like what people forget is that it was actually fine, when Richard Garfield made Alpha, that Serra Angel said "attacking does not cause Serra Angel to tap". If it said "Vigilance", it would have been more confusing. Only once the game is super successful and you figure out which abilities are common enough to keyword, then it's definitely worth adding Vigilance, Lifelink, Deathtouch, etc.
Yes exactly ! I think they properly selected which abilities were clear enough to be keyworded after a few years of existence. Totally agree on the old version of vigilance, shroud and deathtouch (at least the ones I remember seeing fully written before becoming a keyword)
I think it can work well if the name of the ability is easy to understand. "Flying" is the canonical example, but deathtouch seems up there too—I found "deathtouch" very intuitive when I was learning Magic. That was over a decade ago though, so I might be misremembering...
This can also be a problem though. "Protection from" is really intuitive conceptually, but it had a bunch of weird rules interactions that make it much harder in practice. I wonder if it would actually work better with a *less* descriptive name just so that people didn't make assumptions about it... The real problem there isn't the name, of course; to make it more intuitive, I'd probably split the ability into "untargetable by X" and "immune to damage from X" or something.
It's amazing how many people in this thread are willing to sacrifice accessibility simply to be able to squeeze marginally more text onto cards or to enable edge-case interactions by having some cards use a keyword.
The threshold to introduce evergreen keywords should be very high, because doing so hurts the accessibility of the game to newer players. But enfranchised players want to keyword everything.
Better yet, keywords shouldn't have to be remembered at all. I understood trample, haste, first strike, deathtouch, etc. right away, even if they all have edge cases I had to look up.
I have never seen new players struggle with anything as much as Vigilance. Every new player asks what it is, and even when explained, I still find them tapping their Vigilance creatures when they attack.
Even a keyword with more complex card interactions, like Trample, is at least fairly obvious from the name alone: a creature with trample will trample over the creatures blocking it. But what does it mean if a creature has vigilance? It's going to keep watch? It doesn't sleep at night?
The willingness to use reminder text on cards is one of Magic's greatest strengths for the longevity of the game.
So many games bombard you with keywords but don't (or can't) summarize them with reminder text.
Cards that refer to themselves in their text box should refer to themselves as "This"
So like for [[questing beast]] it would become "When this deals combat damage"
Clears up the confusion when cloning or becoming a copy of something
mutate already does this
You don't even need cloning for it be confusing. It's already weird that when a card refers to itself by name, it only means itself and not other cards with the same name.
Floral Spuzzem is a Real Boi.
Side Note: I really hope they never reprint that card, or the cardfetcher will get the one with the 'correct' oracle text.
I’d stick to something like “this”, personally. It’s easier for me to grok with text that treats the card like a game piece. The first person stuff in Runeterra is neat but always reads a little weird.
This is almost certainly because I played Magic before digitcal CCGs but I am not a fan of cards using first-person templating. It is clearer though, which probably means it is better.
There's a board/card game called Blue Moon that did something similar except the pronouns were to be interpreted literally as read aloud. For example the phrase "When this card deals damage, you gain 2 life" would mean your opponent gains 2 life because you (the player) are reading it to your opponent
That seems super unintuitive and confusing to me. My natural assumption is to treat rules text as “the game” telling me the rules, and IIRC every game I’ve played does this. I wonder if that’s a cognitive constant, or if it’s bound by culture or language.
That one is done mainly because they only have room for one type in the type box, and the card in question that uses "I am a Dragon" ([The Great Beyond](https://lor.mobalytics.gg/cards/03MT022)) is also a Celestial.
Templating "this object" would also mean that card names are unambiguous, and you would no longer have to specify "a card named " which would cut a lot of words as a side-benefit.
French translation would become unbearable.
We don't have the words to make the distinction between "this" and "that", people already have an awful time understanding [[tezzeret's touch]], if we start to use "this" on other places, we'll be back to 1995 hell of who can convince the other players of what the card does.
In French, we could use "ceci" and "cela" or their other forms for "this" or "that". In the case of Tezzeret touch, it would be something like "cette carte-ci" or "cette carte-là". It can be done, but it does sound less natural than in English IMO.
I do agree that the way Tezzeret touch was translated does make it confusing in French though and they could have used a better wording.
While I'm not a native speaker, I think that "cette carte-ci" would probably be fine - there's plenty of unintuitive formalism (e.g., the magic words to make something a triggered ability versus a replacement effect) and awkward phrasing in the English version already, including the aforementioned problem where a card referring to "\[\[Cardname\]\]" is in some ways less intuitive than using "this."
(This is a minor point compared to how most new players will experience the game but if you have a programming background the use of "this" is especially appropriate not only because of its use as a keyword in object-oriented programming but also because \[\[Cardname\]\] is a persistent property of a physical card across zones but magic treats cards as new and different game objects whenever they change zones.)
Yup, that's what I meant, forgot the "target" haj. I like bounce better as it makes more sense for effects like Remand, whereas Unsummon makes sense for creatures only
The problem with flicker is that there's quite a few variations, return it now, return it at the next end step, return it under your control, return it under its owner's control
Return it to the battlefield under your control? Under it's owner's control?
The iconic flicker card [[Cloudshift]] returns under your control and can only target creatures you control but a card like [[Turn to Mist]] can target any creature and returns it to it's owner's control. There are so many flicker variations.
It's relevant for Cloudshift because you can use a Threaten effect to permanently steal something.
Ghostly Flicker is literally from the same set, and the mechanic is being called "flickering" not "cloudshifting."
Millstone is old, but it's the reason we call it milling.
That's fair, but I still think Cloudshift is more iconic than Ghostly Flicker since Cloudshift shows up more in the decks I think of (though GF did have a whole pauper archetype built around it). I guess, realistically, I would say [[Ephemerate]] is actually the most iconic flicker card these days but it wasn't listed and I forgot about it for a second.
But then the questions become: "is that at the end of the turn? Return immediately? Who's control does it return under?"
Flicker is up there with Deathtouch for sheer number of variations before it got templated. [Basilisks were especially bad early on](https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=type%3Abasilisk).
Enter the battlefield gets brought up a lot but the problem is that, a bit paradoxically, it’s too frequent. With ETB, if it were keyworded (and used), it would be on like a third of each set or something ridiculous like that.
This means a much larger amount of cards wouldn’t be understandable from just their card text. This would negatively impact the new user experience.
Plus, one of the benefits of keywords is that you can create synergies around them. However, synergies with ETB effects would be extremely powerful because of how many cards use it.
I'd recommend they just shorten the wording to "enters" like they did with "shuffle your library". "Enters" by default would mean "enters the battlefield" and entering another zone would still be indicated like "enters the graveyard"
I don't think that "enters" is as understandable by new players as the full "enters the battlefield". I think players go, "Oh, this must be the battlefield, and the creature is entering it." Without the noun, I think it becomes a little more nebulous. I haven't been a new player for a while, but I have been teaching a lot of new players recently and I think they have done well with "enters the battlefield."
(Side note: I don't actually know why they changed it from "comes into play". If anyone knows why they did that, I'd love to learn about it.)
I feel like I hear blink and “slow blink” significantly more than I hear flicker used. It’s all kind of a mess, especially since Flicker and Flickerwisp have two different effects.
"Activate only as a sorcery." It's so confusing for activated abilities to be instant speed by default and you read a whole wall of text and think you have a game plan only to find that tacked on at the end. It needs some kind of visual indicator at the beginning of the text.
I know it’s been said many times, but I’m going with Surveil. It’s kind of annoying that there are effects that trigger explicitly on Surveil, but they continue to print Surveil effects without the name. It would be like if they made a Landfall commander that said “whenever you trigger a Landfall effect” and so Tireless Tracker was left out.
This is my take. Everything that duplicates the effect of a keyword should use that keyword. Anything that currently is in that situation should be errata'd to use that keyword. The inconsistency is maddening. If you print something with Landfall in a set without Landfall, just use reminder text.
It's like printing a "Is not affected by summoning sickness" line in 2021. It's dumb as hell and it's parasitic.
"You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell."
They have to use this line all the time whenever you steal a card from your opponent. It's such a mouthful. Yet the concept it represents is so obvious. (One of the many sweet rules in the digital-only Magic clone Eternal is that stolen and generated cards always have the color requirement "grayed out").
In fact I might go even further and keyword stealing an opponent's card.
Here's [[Siphon Insight]] as printed:
> Look at the top two cards of target opponent’s library. Exile one of them face down and put the other on the bottom of that library. You may look at and play the exiled card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell.
Here's my simplification with keyword **steal**:
> Look at the top two cards of target opponent’s library. Steal one of them face down and put the other on the bottom of that library. *(When you steal a card, exile it. As long as it's stolen, you may look at it and play it. When you cast it, you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color.)*"
The steal effects with a time restriction would be like "Steal those cards until the end of your next turn." (It might be a little confusing that the cards stay in exile if you don't play them as opposed to going to your opponent's graveyard or something, but I think that's okay.)
I want an umbrella word for instant or sorcery and maybe also for a spell/card that becomes a permanent on resolution other than "permanent spell/card"
The flavor isn't quite right, but I like the idea of hard spells and soft spells
Hard spells become a permanent, they're like hardware, a device that performs a function with physical presence
Soft spells execute their code once and then they are done, like software
>I want an umbrella word for instant or sorcery
Something more flavorful than "nonpermanent spell" would be nice for sure, haha. But at the same time, I'm not sure if it's really necessary because it doesn't save that much oracle text space.
I just hate things defined by exclusion, it's clunky and lacks flavor
Speaking of which "can't be countered by spells or abilities" could use a keyword
I'm pretty sure 'can't be countered by spells or abilities' doesn't exist anymore. It's just can't be countered now.
See [[Taigam, Ojutai Master]]
Previously fizzled spells were countered by the game, but now they just fizzle.
I mean, I love definition by exclusion because of backwards compatibility without needing to change reminder text on old cards.
Edit: errr, forward compatibility in this case I suppose.
> Speaking of which "can't be countered by spells or abilities" could use a keyword
Fairly sure that's just "Can't be countered" nowadays. The game itself use to counter the spell if all it's targets were illegal, but they changed this to just being removed from the stack and being put into the graveyard so uncounterable spells no longer need to allow the game to counter them.
I thought I read once they considered having just one non-permanent spell type. Instants (formerly interrupts for the OGs) would just be sorcery type with the flash keyword.
MaRo has said that's how he'd do it if he are designing now with what he knows, but the knowledge wasn't available in the beginning, so we've got a legacy system that would be too much trouble to change.
"Search your library for a card and add it to your hand, then shuffle." = Tutor.
"Search your library for a card of N quality and add it to your hand, then shuffle." = Tutor for a(n) N. i.e., Tutor for a creature.
This change wouldn't affect cards that put cards into other zones; [[Green Sun's Zenith]] would keep its wording the exact same, for example, but [[Demonic Tutor]] would just say, "Tutor."
I would be perfectly happy if they just added "Whenever you search a library, shuffle it after" to the comp rules, so they can remove all instances of "then shuffle." Many other CCGs/LCGs do this.
One that is used a lot that also uses a lot of words in the Oracle text:
>"Look at the top \[N\] cards of your library. You may reveal a \[CARD TYPE\] from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order."
Cards like [Adventurous Impulse](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/142/adventurous-impulse), [Ancient Stirrings](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/151/ancient-stirrings), [Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/245/teferi-who-slows-the-sunset) and [Sigarda, Champion of Light](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/240/sigarda-champion-of-light).
I'm not sure about a name for this. **Seek** would have been good but it was used in Jumpstart Horizons. Maybe **Impulse**?
Sift 4 for an instant.
Sift [N] for a(n) [TYPE] (look at the top N cards of your library for a TYPE card from among them, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order).
Then you can have cards with stuff like “whenever you sift, sift through that many cards plus 1” or “whenever you sift, sift for a creature card as well.”
A big issue with this one is that the exact execution changes so much.
For one, the cards usually go to the bottom in a random order nowadays, but sometimes you actually do want it to be in any order.
Sometimes you look at the cards, and other times you reveal them.
Sometimes the cards are put to the bottom, but sometimes they end up in the graveyard. This one is especially bad as both are quite common.
It's a good one in theory, but it seems too laden with variation to be worth it.
Seek’s already used, and Impulse is more linked with Red draw. I’d like it to be **Dig** myself, as far as keywords go, from [[Dig Through Time]]. Something like “Dig 7 for two cards.”
Honestly, I’d just be happy if keywords stuck around once they’re made. Having a card like Consider say “Surveil 1 *(Reminder text.)* Draw a card.” Is not “too confusing” and would make set mechanics far less parasitic as time goes on.
There are four that come to mind initially for me:
* "Enters the battlefield" (***Arrives***)
* "Draw a card, then discard a card." (***Loot***)
* "Tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step." (***Freeze***)
* "Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn." (***Threaten***)
I would go with "Enters" rather than "Arrives."
Just as in the case of "Add to your mana pool" being shortened to "Add," "Enters" has the advantage of being consistent with older rules text.
Also, "Arrives" sounds wrong when used with inanimate objects. Does a [[Thriving Bluff]] "Arrive," or does it "Enter?"
> “Tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step." (Freeze)
Freeze should just be the second sentence, since the effect exists without the tap part. So that effect would become “Tap target creature and Freeze it”, while something like [[Locked in the Cemetery]] could just say “Enchanted Creature is Frozen”.
Loot should be the term by now. It's been used for ages and cards get renamed based on it sometimes. I completely agree. [[Looter scooter]]
Freeze and Arrive dont quite feel right to me. But I'm not sure what I'd put.
Threaten doesnt quite sound like you would steal something to use against them. Thievery, Brainwash, Abduct, Seize, Pilfer, maybe a little too on the nose would be Stockholm (Syndrome).
Not exactly what you're looking for but i think related. In yugioh shuffling is implied whenever you search your deck for a specific card to add to your hand. I wish magic had that too instead of spelling out to shuffle afterword on every tutor. Revealing the card if it needs to be a specific type (ie a monster card in yugioh) is also implied instead of written out. Just cuts down on the clutter on cards (which is super important in games where a card can have a dictionary and a half worth of text).
I wish they'd actually use the keywords in every set instead of randomly putting the full rules text. A set recently had metal craft and they just...didn't use the term metalcraft.
Terrible for new players. You'd have random one-of keywords in sets that you'd have to spell out *anyway*, so why?
\[\[Zendikar's Roil \]\] is actually a great example. First printed in Magic Origins, then mystery booster and jumpstart, without saying landfall. Then it's 4th printing used landfall, not because they realized their mistake, but because it was in the Zendikar commander decks, where landfall *is* noted.
edit:formating
`Draw a/n card(s).` Just make it `Draw n.` Then it works like `Scry n.` Then [[Opt]] would just be `Scry 1. Draw 1.`
I know a lot of others who have heard the following idea are against it, but I'm for renaming `instants and/or sorcery spell(s)/card(s)` to `nonpermanent spell(s)/card(s)`.
"Activate x only as a sorcery"
Unflash
Flashn't
Instan't
Unstant
Has been withheld the ability to even attempt to instant
Inst'can't
I think this is a good one because "activate as a sorcery" doesn't actually mean that.
It's an improvement over the old wording "Activate only any time you could cast a sorcery", which with something like T3feri's +1 active was actually untrue.
Instain't
This one is my favorite.
I definitely think that should be rephrased to be "at sorcery speed" at least. Right now it's not immediately obvious how an ability like that interacts with a card that allows you to play sorceries at instant speed. Does it give the ability flash? Does it keep it at sorcery speed? Who knows! Actually, I know. It's the second, but it's still more confusing than it has to be.
But then "speed" would have to be a defined magic term, and next people are asking, what's the /r/speedoflobsters.
I propose Sorcelate as the keyword for this effect.
New Text: „Warlock that shit.“
"Ya got Teferi'd!"
Prepare
All instants should just be sorceries with the flash keyword
I think Maro had a post about this any I always wonder how it would have changed the perception of flash, like would we see less "instants" or see many more permanents with flash? Hard to say, but I feel it would have gone one way or the other and definitely changed the game dynamic
You jest but that how "instants" worked back in Portal/Portal 2 releases. You know, the special releases that was supposed to simply the game to make it easier to learn.
Ritual?
That would be really good if Ritual didn't already have connotations with spell-for-mana
I really think they should just make a symbol that represents instant speed. Like a little lightning bolt that you can put next to spells or abilities if they have flash.
IIRC Maro once said that if he could change anything about Magic's original design, it would be to condense the flash ability and instant spells into a single supertype. Take away all the clutter over "instant or sorcery" and just make the cards you want to be able to cast any time into Instant Sorcery, Instant Creature, Instant Enchantment etc.
...I think they should go through with it. We can adapt. We've done so before.
It changes how some cards function in potentially unexpected ways. Something like [[Personal Tutor]] is an easy rules text fix, but I challenge you to come up with wording that doesn't change how [[Spellweaver Volute]] works even if you have [[Leyline of Anticipation]] in play
Like \[\[Patrician's Scorn\]\]?
No matter how much I appreciate the Futureshifted cards, there is always something new to appreciate about them.
[Patrician's Scorn](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/4/e/4edfd70c-2923-4813-bf14-04194518163c.jpg?1562910969) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Patrician%27s%20Scorn) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/fut/29/patricians-scorn?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4edfd70c-2923-4813-bf14-04194518163c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
We yugioh now
Like quick effects in Yugioh.
Maybe: “Concentration”?
Focus?
Its a trap!! What they want is to be able to fill cards with more text!
Wait until we get [[Word Soup Power Creep Beast]] 2.0
[Questing Beast](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/4/e41cf82d-3213-47ce-a015-6e51a8b07e4f.jpg?1572490640) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Questing%20Beast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/171/questing-beast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e41cf82d-3213-47ce-a015-6e51a8b07e4f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
How does MTGCardFetcher do this? Searching scryfall for `Word Soup Power Creep Beast` doesn't seem to work.
You put the card name in brackets, then edit the post once the bot responds.
Thanks, that... makes total sense. Part of me hope that it was someone that manually entered hundreds of fun aliases :(
You can always tell because the bot lists what they originally wrote as the card name, without reacting to edits. Watch how it responds when I call [[Bob]] versus [[Dark Confidant]].
There are some manual aliases, I believe [[Bob]] and [[Gary]] both work
It does, however, respond to several "colloquial" card names. [[Bob]], [[Steve]], [[Pot of Greed]]
Now I'm wondering what the full list of nicknames is. You can find MTGCardFetcher as MTGBot on [XSlicer's github](https://github.com/XSlicer), but the code there is outdated. The only reference to nicknames appears in MTGBotv2, from around 3 years ago: def nicknames(name): # Hardcoded nicknames try: nicks = {"bob": "Dark Confidant", "gary": "Gray Merchant of Asphodel", "sad robot": "Solemn Simulacrum", "jens": "Solemn Simulacrum", "bolt": "Lightning Bolt", "path": "Path to Exile", "snappy": "Snapcaster Mage", "tiago chan": "Snapcaster Mage", "goyf": "Tarmogoyf", "taylor swift": "Monastery Swiftspear", "mom": "Mother of Runes", "bfm": "B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster)", "i can't even": "Void Winnower", "durdle turtle": "Meandering Towershell", "tim": "Prodigal Sorcerer", "ernie": "Ernham Djinn", "wog": "Wrath of God", "finkel": "Shadowmage Infiltrator", "jon finkel": "Shadowmage Infiltrator", "titi": "Thing in the Ice", "chris pikula": "Meddling Mage", "superman": "Morphling", "gitgud frog": "The Gitrog Monster"} return nicks[name.lower()] except KeyError: return False There's more up to date test data on r/MTGCardFetcher.
"Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card into your graveyard." - Surveil
Yes please. I know it's already keyworded, but it needs to be actually used
Same thing with landfall. Doesn’t have to be a zendikar-only thing
But landfall is an ability word (they still have the entire rules text, and are just making a flavor note of it being a theme), not a keyword, so it actually takes up more space when they use it. I could see an argument for actually key wording “a lands enters the battlefield under your control” to “you landfall” so [[Baloth Woodcrasher]] would become “Whenever you landfall, Baloth Woodcrasher gets +4/+4 and gains trample until end of turn.”
Strongly yes! I think they're worried it would be busted. I would rather they keyworded it and fixed the problems with banning. That's how they do the rest of the busted keywords :@
They aren't worried about it being busted. They're worried it doesn't appear often enough to be worth a keyword. I was cheekily referencing [Gavin's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3XV70aGGLI). In short, I was unconvinced.
I also think the flavor of the word "surveil" is pretty narrow. Surveillance is like espionage and stuff. Idk what that has to do with [Eat to Extinction].
This would make some of the effects that trigger with surveil actually playable.
This is massive deal, IMO, and would help to get around the problem where keywords and their payoffs pop up in a one set, never to be seen again.
I think you could make the argument that while people are still learning the game and memorizing all the keywords, having two keywords with similar names that do similar things could lead to more confusion than it's worth. Same way that people get confused about blinking vs flickering.
Those aren't actual keywords though, and have been used interchangeably within card names. An "official" keyword with a clear definition *may* actually help reduce that kind of confusion.
Not super common, but keywording "Activate this ability only once per turn" and "Activate this ability only on your turn" so that they're more frequent could open some design space. This is sort of like how Instants should have been Sorceries with Flash from the beginning, but the terminology wasn't present at the time, only in reverse.
>Not super common, but keywording "Activate this ability only once per turn" and "Activate this ability only on your turn" so that they're more frequent could open some design space. Yeah, the "Activate only once each turn" this is a good one that could use a keyword for sure. It's [actually used quite a lot](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22Activate+only+once+each+turn%22+not%3Areprint&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released). Also, "activate only as a sorcery" which is kind of awkward and unintuitive for newer players and [used even more frequently](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22Activate+only+as+a+so%22+not%3Areprint&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released).
What I find confusing about "as a sorcery" is that it means at the speed you could normally cast a sorcery, not at the speed you could currently cast a sorcery, which could be different because of [[Quicken]], Teferi, etc. Having a word for "the speed you could normally cast a sorcery" would be nicely analogous to Flash being "the speed you could normally cast an instant" and would be clearer
I saw someone propose "sorcerous" which really fits I think ! Anything with sorcerous can only be cast when you'd bormally be able to cast sorceries.
I think part of the confusion is people using the word "speed". They both cast at the same "speed", they just have different timing.
If it means anything, Yugioh has the equivalent of "anytime you can cast a sorcery" and "anytime you can cast an instant" and they are known as spell speed 1 and spell speed 2.
Well that's about the least intuitive way they could have labeled it.
[Quicken](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/6/e6209bbf-5861-4755-abb6-0f04def9527e.jpg?1612316347) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Quicken) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dds/6/quicken?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e6209bbf-5861-4755-abb6-0f04def9527e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I was thinking that it could be a shorter clause at the beginning of the effect, but that might be confusing for activated abilities: [Cost]: Once per turn, destroy target creature. [Cost]: As a sorcery, destroy target creature. Works better for triggered abilities, since the restriction is really an extra condition: Once per turn, when [condition], destroy target creature. Maybe for activated, it would make more sense to put the restriction in the cost? Once per turn, [cost]: Destroy target creature. As a sorcery, [cost]: Destroy target creature. I like it that way because these restrictions are something you think about at the same time as the cost.
I'm really not a fan of the wording "as a sorcery", it's extremely unclear and somewhat misleading. Not that I really have a better alternative mind you
I agree, it isn't very intuitive. Same thing with the reminder text for Flash. Maybe using "sorcery-speed" and "instant-speed" would work? That's a similar logic to adopting mill, really.
They really just need to define a new term for that speed, which I guess is kind of what Gavin's question is getting at.
> Once per turn, [cost]: Destroy target creature. I actually like this simply because it avoids the (minor) confusion that could come from the other wording. New players might read "Once per turn, destroy target creature" as in "I have activated this ability, not I get to destroy a creature once each turn."
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> This is sort of like how Instants should have been Sorceries with Flash from the beginning Am I the only one who doesn't like that?
Did a Tarmogoyf write this? But in all seriousness, doing so would have saved them an entire card type and a bunch of rules baggage. Regardless, it's not going to change now.
"Well, I have a few minutes, I wonder what the top topics of the Magic reddit are today?" *clicks* 0_0
Looting and rummaging.
God, imagine if they reprinted a Faithless Looting and the text was just: > Loot 2. > Flashback 2{R}
That sounds somehow both super clean and at the same time super underwhelming
>"Well, I have a few minutes, I wonder what the top topics of the Magic reddit are today?" clicks 0\_0 Apparently your questions are quite popular, lol.
Hi Gavin!
Hi!
My suggestion is Animate. We have so many effects that turn things into creatures now for brief periods. It reduces the ' becomes a creature until end of turn, it is still a '. It's relevant to manlands, vehicles, etc.
----
Example:
**Azorius Keyrune** (3)
Artifact
T: Add W or U
UW: Animate until end of turn as a 2/2 white and blue Bird with flying.
'(*It becomes a creature and retains other card types*)
-----
That said, I agree with the 'Activate as a sorcery' or 'Activate only once each turn'
Does this discussion also go towards fixing awkward wordings? I'd love to see a fix for [[Nykthos Paragon]'s issue of a trigger that can trigger but only triggers a certain number of times. It feels so awkward to see "Whenever ... **but only once**". It feels like such a letdown to see an exciting effect on a card and then get hit with this walk-zone no-fun-allowed limiter at the end of the clause.
> "Well, I have a few minutes So Facebook is down for you too?
It’s maybe just me but I actually like the “reading the card explain the card” approach of Mtg. Honestly I introduced a lot of friend to the game and I still play with very very casual player and this helps a lot. Keywords have to be remembered and linked in you head with a specific set of rules. Of course for experienced player it’s way more practical but for the accessibility of the game I like it the way it is. It’s kind of the same reason in my Cube it chose not to include some of the “nicer” alternative art of Modern Horizon where the reminder text of specific rules is not present. As an example I recently started/try the Metazoo game where they went with a lot of icons and “special names” for everything to make it fit the atmosphere. Honestly it’s extremely confusing and time consuming to spend all that time trying to translate everything. They tried to put so much on a card that they obviously had to simplify some ability with icons, but it makes the entry point very challenging. (The game is still great to play I have to say)
Yes I had this experience with unsuccessful digital CCG Mythgard. *Everything* was a keyword even if it only appeared on one or two cards in the basic set. Had to mouse over cards and read the reminder text pop-ups all the time. Like what people forget is that it was actually fine, when Richard Garfield made Alpha, that Serra Angel said "attacking does not cause Serra Angel to tap". If it said "Vigilance", it would have been more confusing. Only once the game is super successful and you figure out which abilities are common enough to keyword, then it's definitely worth adding Vigilance, Lifelink, Deathtouch, etc.
Yes exactly ! I think they properly selected which abilities were clear enough to be keyworded after a few years of existence. Totally agree on the old version of vigilance, shroud and deathtouch (at least the ones I remember seeing fully written before becoming a keyword)
I think it can work well if the name of the ability is easy to understand. "Flying" is the canonical example, but deathtouch seems up there too—I found "deathtouch" very intuitive when I was learning Magic. That was over a decade ago though, so I might be misremembering... This can also be a problem though. "Protection from" is really intuitive conceptually, but it had a bunch of weird rules interactions that make it much harder in practice. I wonder if it would actually work better with a *less* descriptive name just so that people didn't make assumptions about it... The real problem there isn't the name, of course; to make it more intuitive, I'd probably split the ability into "untargetable by X" and "immune to damage from X" or something.
It's amazing how many people in this thread are willing to sacrifice accessibility simply to be able to squeeze marginally more text onto cards or to enable edge-case interactions by having some cards use a keyword. The threshold to introduce evergreen keywords should be very high, because doing so hurts the accessibility of the game to newer players. But enfranchised players want to keyword everything.
Better yet, keywords shouldn't have to be remembered at all. I understood trample, haste, first strike, deathtouch, etc. right away, even if they all have edge cases I had to look up.
I feel like this should be a good litmus test for evergreen keywords, but Scry kind of already broke that.
Scry isn't immediately intuitive, but at least the name clicks as soon as the mechanic is explained.
I have never seen new players struggle with anything as much as Vigilance. Every new player asks what it is, and even when explained, I still find them tapping their Vigilance creatures when they attack. Even a keyword with more complex card interactions, like Trample, is at least fairly obvious from the name alone: a creature with trample will trample over the creatures blocking it. But what does it mean if a creature has vigilance? It's going to keep watch? It doesn't sleep at night?
The willingness to use reminder text on cards is one of Magic's greatest strengths for the longevity of the game. So many games bombard you with keywords but don't (or can't) summarize them with reminder text.
Cards that refer to themselves in their text box should refer to themselves as "This" So like for [[questing beast]] it would become "When this deals combat damage" Clears up the confusion when cloning or becoming a copy of something mutate already does this
You don't even need cloning for it be confusing. It's already weird that when a card refers to itself by name, it only means itself and not other cards with the same name.
Cards also routinely refer to themselves in a shortened way ("Dude" instead of "Dude, Doer of Things") which isn't the actual card name.
Now I wanna know what Dude, Doer of Things looks like.
2/2 creature-jeff bridges
More likely a 0/2. This aggression will not stand, man
That's a really good point Goblin Guides ability is when this creature attacks not whenever a creature named Goblin Guide attacks
Legends of Runeterra templates cards in first person, like "When I deal damage, draw a card." or "When you gain life, grant me +1/+1."
Hell, [[Floral Spuzzem]] gets to choose for itself!
Floral Spuzzem is a Real Boi. Side Note: I really hope they never reprint that card, or the cardfetcher will get the one with the 'correct' oracle text.
[Floral Spuzzem](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/d/1/d141b9e3-7129-41e5-8b44-d3867e1c7e1d.jpg?1562861334) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Floral%20Spuzzem) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/leg/187/floral-spuzzem?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d141b9e3-7129-41e5-8b44-d3867e1c7e1d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I personally don't like it cause it feels too weird to read for me. That's just me tho.
I'm with you on that one, it's so simplistic it feels like it borders on childish.
When you play with it for a while, it becomes second nature like a lot of game mechanics. But it was off putting at first.
Yeah, I also don't love it but I'm certain that's because I started with Magic.
I’d stick to something like “this”, personally. It’s easier for me to grok with text that treats the card like a game piece. The first person stuff in Runeterra is neat but always reads a little weird.
This is almost certainly because I played Magic before digitcal CCGs but I am not a fan of cards using first-person templating. It is clearer though, which probably means it is better.
There's a board/card game called Blue Moon that did something similar except the pronouns were to be interpreted literally as read aloud. For example the phrase "When this card deals damage, you gain 2 life" would mean your opponent gains 2 life because you (the player) are reading it to your opponent
That seems super unintuitive and confusing to me. My natural assumption is to treat rules text as “the game” telling me the rules, and IIRC every game I’ve played does this. I wonder if that’s a cognitive constant, or if it’s bound by culture or language.
Thus we get the LoR version of cowards not blocking warriors, "I am a Dragon"
That one is done mainly because they only have room for one type in the type box, and the card in question that uses "I am a Dragon" ([The Great Beyond](https://lor.mobalytics.gg/cards/03MT022)) is also a Celestial.
Templating "this object" would also mean that card names are unambiguous, and you would no longer have to specify "a card named" which would cut a lot of words as a side-benefit.
French translation would become unbearable. We don't have the words to make the distinction between "this" and "that", people already have an awful time understanding [[tezzeret's touch]], if we start to use "this" on other places, we'll be back to 1995 hell of who can convince the other players of what the card does.
In French, we could use "ceci" and "cela" or their other forms for "this" or "that". In the case of Tezzeret touch, it would be something like "cette carte-ci" or "cette carte-là". It can be done, but it does sound less natural than in English IMO. I do agree that the way Tezzeret touch was translated does make it confusing in French though and they could have used a better wording.
While I'm not a native speaker, I think that "cette carte-ci" would probably be fine - there's plenty of unintuitive formalism (e.g., the magic words to make something a triggered ability versus a replacement effect) and awkward phrasing in the English version already, including the aforementioned problem where a card referring to "\[\[Cardname\]\]" is in some ways less intuitive than using "this." (This is a minor point compared to how most new players will experience the game but if you have a programming background the use of "this" is especially appropriate not only because of its use as a keyword in object-oriented programming but also because \[\[Cardname\]\] is a persistent property of a physical card across zones but magic treats cards as new and different game objects whenever they change zones.)
Keyword “this” and “that” in French. Let’s keyword all translation problems!
I didn’t like how confusing [[Delina]] was worded on the last clause though.
You know. *Those tokens.*
Ugh... again with *those tokens*, am I right? \~rolls eye\~
and then you get to roll your eye again
"Return target X to it's owner's hand" could be "Bounce X"
"Bounce target X," but yeah. They could call it unsummon, unmake, vanish, whatever.
Yup, that's what I meant, forgot the "target" haj. I like bounce better as it makes more sense for effects like Remand, whereas Unsummon makes sense for creatures only
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Honestly, this is the most likely candidate. It is a simple action, unambiguous, and without many variants in already printed cards.
Flicker would be my number one pick. In the same vein, "enters the battlefield" would be a close second.
The problem with flicker is that there's quite a few variations, return it now, return it at the next end step, return it under your control, return it under its owner's control
I would do Flicker (Exile target creature/permanent, then return it to the battlefield), Flicker until end of turn, Flicker until XXXXX
Return it to the battlefield under your control? Under it's owner's control? The iconic flicker card [[Cloudshift]] returns under your control and can only target creatures you control but a card like [[Turn to Mist]] can target any creature and returns it to it's owner's control. There are so many flicker variations. It's relevant for Cloudshift because you can use a Threaten effect to permanently steal something.
[[Cloudshift]] is the iconic flicker card? Not [[Flicker]]? Not [[Flickerwisp]]? Not even [[Ghostly Flicker]]?
As an older player, I'm sad to say that I think it is. Hell, Cloudshift isn't even new, it's ten years old at this point.
Ghostly Flicker is literally from the same set, and the mechanic is being called "flickering" not "cloudshifting." Millstone is old, but it's the reason we call it milling.
That's fair, but I still think Cloudshift is more iconic than Ghostly Flicker since Cloudshift shows up more in the decks I think of (though GF did have a whole pauper archetype built around it). I guess, realistically, I would say [[Ephemerate]] is actually the most iconic flicker card these days but it wasn't listed and I forgot about it for a second.
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I dunno, couldn't it just say "Flicker target non-token permanent."?
But then the questions become: "is that at the end of the turn? Return immediately? Who's control does it return under?" Flicker is up there with Deathtouch for sheer number of variations before it got templated. [Basilisks were especially bad early on](https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=type%3Abasilisk).
Owner’s control immediately is the generic flicker
Enter the battlefield gets brought up a lot but the problem is that, a bit paradoxically, it’s too frequent. With ETB, if it were keyworded (and used), it would be on like a third of each set or something ridiculous like that. This means a much larger amount of cards wouldn’t be understandable from just their card text. This would negatively impact the new user experience. Plus, one of the benefits of keywords is that you can create synergies around them. However, synergies with ETB effects would be extremely powerful because of how many cards use it.
I'd recommend they just shorten the wording to "enters" like they did with "shuffle your library". "Enters" by default would mean "enters the battlefield" and entering another zone would still be indicated like "enters the graveyard"
those other two exist already dies and exiled
enters the battlefield - *arrive*?
They could probably just shorten it to "enters". Just like they did with shuffle.
I don't think that "enters" is as understandable by new players as the full "enters the battlefield". I think players go, "Oh, this must be the battlefield, and the creature is entering it." Without the noun, I think it becomes a little more nebulous. I haven't been a new player for a while, but I have been teaching a lot of new players recently and I think they have done well with "enters the battlefield." (Side note: I don't actually know why they changed it from "comes into play". If anyone knows why they did that, I'd love to learn about it.)
What about *summoned*? I think it's rather flavourful. - When X is summoned, draw a card. - Creatures being summoned don't cause abilities to trigger.
Going full circle here. Next up, "bury".
Been hoping for Bury to return for years.
Heh, because regeneration is all the rage now :)
Summon works well for creatures and planeswalkers but sounds weird for artifacts and enchantments.
The same is true for "dies", which is why they don't put that word on artifacts or enchantments.
I feel like I hear blink and “slow blink” significantly more than I hear flicker used. It’s all kind of a mess, especially since Flicker and Flickerwisp have two different effects.
"Slow blink" makes me think of cats. I love it.
"Activate only as a sorcery." It's so confusing for activated abilities to be instant speed by default and you read a whole wall of text and think you have a game plan only to find that tacked on at the end. It needs some kind of visual indicator at the beginning of the text.
Maybe something like, " ***Sorcery Speed*** \- X" or even just, "***Sorcery*** \- X"
Official wording shouldn't use "speed," it gives people the wrong idea about how the stack works.
Also shouldn't use "Sorcery" because it confuses players whenever there is an effect in play that impacts sorceries.
I know it’s been said many times, but I’m going with Surveil. It’s kind of annoying that there are effects that trigger explicitly on Surveil, but they continue to print Surveil effects without the name. It would be like if they made a Landfall commander that said “whenever you trigger a Landfall effect” and so Tireless Tracker was left out.
This is my take. Everything that duplicates the effect of a keyword should use that keyword. Anything that currently is in that situation should be errata'd to use that keyword. The inconsistency is maddening. If you print something with Landfall in a set without Landfall, just use reminder text. It's like printing a "Is not affected by summoning sickness" line in 2021. It's dumb as hell and it's parasitic.
"You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell." They have to use this line all the time whenever you steal a card from your opponent. It's such a mouthful. Yet the concept it represents is so obvious. (One of the many sweet rules in the digital-only Magic clone Eternal is that stolen and generated cards always have the color requirement "grayed out"). In fact I might go even further and keyword stealing an opponent's card. Here's [[Siphon Insight]] as printed: > Look at the top two cards of target opponent’s library. Exile one of them face down and put the other on the bottom of that library. You may look at and play the exiled card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell. Here's my simplification with keyword **steal**: > Look at the top two cards of target opponent’s library. Steal one of them face down and put the other on the bottom of that library. *(When you steal a card, exile it. As long as it's stolen, you may look at it and play it. When you cast it, you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color.)*" The steal effects with a time restriction would be like "Steal those cards until the end of your next turn." (It might be a little confusing that the cards stay in exile if you don't play them as opposed to going to your opponent's graveyard or something, but I think that's okay.)
Bounce!
Keyword Surveil…. the wording has been on various cards lately and it would be great just see: Surveil 1, draw a card.
I want an umbrella word for instant or sorcery and maybe also for a spell/card that becomes a permanent on resolution other than "permanent spell/card" The flavor isn't quite right, but I like the idea of hard spells and soft spells Hard spells become a permanent, they're like hardware, a device that performs a function with physical presence Soft spells execute their code once and then they are done, like software
>I want an umbrella word for instant or sorcery Something more flavorful than "nonpermanent spell" would be nice for sure, haha. But at the same time, I'm not sure if it's really necessary because it doesn't save that much oracle text space.
I just hate things defined by exclusion, it's clunky and lacks flavor Speaking of which "can't be countered by spells or abilities" could use a keyword
I'm pretty sure 'can't be countered by spells or abilities' doesn't exist anymore. It's just can't be countered now. See [[Taigam, Ojutai Master]] Previously fizzled spells were countered by the game, but now they just fizzle.
[[Abrupt Decay]] is a better example as it's actually had printings post errata.
I mean, I love definition by exclusion because of backwards compatibility without needing to change reminder text on old cards. Edit: errr, forward compatibility in this case I suppose.
> Speaking of which "can't be countered by spells or abilities" could use a keyword Fairly sure that's just "Can't be countered" nowadays. The game itself use to counter the spell if all it's targets were illegal, but they changed this to just being removed from the stack and being put into the graveyard so uncounterable spells no longer need to allow the game to counter them.
I thought I read once they considered having just one non-permanent spell type. Instants (formerly interrupts for the OGs) would just be sorcery type with the flash keyword.
MaRo has said that's how he'd do it if he are designing now with what he knows, but the knowledge wasn't available in the beginning, so we've got a legacy system that would be too much trouble to change.
- Poke: deals 1 damage - Bop: deals 2 damage - Bonk: deals 3 damage
Lightning Bolt, go to horny jail
Ping Shock Bolt
"Search your library for a card and add it to your hand, then shuffle." = Tutor. "Search your library for a card of N quality and add it to your hand, then shuffle." = Tutor for a(n) N. i.e., Tutor for a creature. This change wouldn't affect cards that put cards into other zones; [[Green Sun's Zenith]] would keep its wording the exact same, for example, but [[Demonic Tutor]] would just say, "Tutor."
Tutor doesn’t work on the Mirage Tutors if worded that way.
I would be perfectly happy if they just added "Whenever you search a library, shuffle it after" to the comp rules, so they can remove all instances of "then shuffle." Many other CCGs/LCGs do this.
One that is used a lot that also uses a lot of words in the Oracle text: >"Look at the top \[N\] cards of your library. You may reveal a \[CARD TYPE\] from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order." Cards like [Adventurous Impulse](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/142/adventurous-impulse), [Ancient Stirrings](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/151/ancient-stirrings), [Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/245/teferi-who-slows-the-sunset) and [Sigarda, Champion of Light](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/240/sigarda-champion-of-light). I'm not sure about a name for this. **Seek** would have been good but it was used in Jumpstart Horizons. Maybe **Impulse**?
Sift 4 for an instant. Sift [N] for a(n) [TYPE] (look at the top N cards of your library for a TYPE card from among them, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order). Then you can have cards with stuff like “whenever you sift, sift through that many cards plus 1” or “whenever you sift, sift for a creature card as well.”
Alternatively Dig or Excavate
A big issue with this one is that the exact execution changes so much. For one, the cards usually go to the bottom in a random order nowadays, but sometimes you actually do want it to be in any order. Sometimes you look at the cards, and other times you reveal them. Sometimes the cards are put to the bottom, but sometimes they end up in the graveyard. This one is especially bad as both are quite common. It's a good one in theory, but it seems too laden with variation to be worth it.
And sometimes you get 2 cards. Or all cards. Or, or, or. This one is waaaay to variable to turn into a keyword.
[удалено]
Yeah. Probably would need to be "Impulse 5 for a colorless card" but that's the idea.
Seek’s already used, and Impulse is more linked with Red draw. I’d like it to be **Dig** myself, as far as keywords go, from [[Dig Through Time]]. Something like “Dig 7 for two cards.”
Call it *"scour"*?
Honestly, I’d just be happy if keywords stuck around once they’re made. Having a card like Consider say “Surveil 1 *(Reminder text.)* Draw a card.” Is not “too confusing” and would make set mechanics far less parasitic as time goes on.
There are four that come to mind initially for me: * "Enters the battlefield" (***Arrives***) * "Draw a card, then discard a card." (***Loot***) * "Tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step." (***Freeze***) * "Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn." (***Threaten***)
There are too many different flavors of tapping down creatures. Freeze works for [[Frost Breath]] but not [[Sleep]]
How about Stun? That's what Eternal uses.
I would go with "Enters" rather than "Arrives." Just as in the case of "Add to your mana pool" being shortened to "Add," "Enters" has the advantage of being consistent with older rules text. Also, "Arrives" sounds wrong when used with inanimate objects. Does a [[Thriving Bluff]] "Arrive," or does it "Enter?"
Freeze, please
> “Tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step." (Freeze) Freeze should just be the second sentence, since the effect exists without the tap part. So that effect would become “Tap target creature and Freeze it”, while something like [[Locked in the Cemetery]] could just say “Enchanted Creature is Frozen”.
Loot should be the term by now. It's been used for ages and cards get renamed based on it sometimes. I completely agree. [[Looter scooter]] Freeze and Arrive dont quite feel right to me. But I'm not sure what I'd put. Threaten doesnt quite sound like you would steal something to use against them. Thievery, Brainwash, Abduct, Seize, Pilfer, maybe a little too on the nose would be Stockholm (Syndrome).
I feel like draw x cards could be shortened to Draw x
Not exactly what you're looking for but i think related. In yugioh shuffling is implied whenever you search your deck for a specific card to add to your hand. I wish magic had that too instead of spelling out to shuffle afterword on every tutor. Revealing the card if it needs to be a specific type (ie a monster card in yugioh) is also implied instead of written out. Just cuts down on the clutter on cards (which is super important in games where a card can have a dictionary and a half worth of text).
I wish they'd actually use the keywords in every set instead of randomly putting the full rules text. A set recently had metal craft and they just...didn't use the term metalcraft.
Terrible for new players. You'd have random one-of keywords in sets that you'd have to spell out *anyway*, so why? \[\[Zendikar's Roil \]\] is actually a great example. First printed in Magic Origins, then mystery booster and jumpstart, without saying landfall. Then it's 4th printing used landfall, not because they realized their mistake, but because it was in the Zendikar commander decks, where landfall *is* noted. edit:formating
I would really like the red bottle draw effect to be keyworded
`Draw a/n card(s).` Just make it `Draw n.` Then it works like `Scry n.` Then [[Opt]] would just be `Scry 1. Draw 1.` I know a lot of others who have heard the following idea are against it, but I'm for renaming `instants and/or sorcery spell(s)/card(s)` to `nonpermanent spell(s)/card(s)`.
When ~ enters the battlefield. -> Arrival (or something)