In the vein of "players thought it was a keyword but it actually wasn't, so we just decided to make it a keyword" that indestructible had, I present to you the "players thought it was subject to the 'legend rule' but it actually wasn't, so [I] just decided to make it subject to the 'legend rule'" mindset.
What this would mean is that elements in the name of a legendary permanent object after the comma or that are a title would be moved down to what I call the "caption" (or "subname" or "label" or what have you), so that effectively, cards that represent the same character will be subject to the legend rule.
So, instead of
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius2UURR Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever ~ deals damage to a player, you may draw a card. UR: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
5/5
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind2UURR Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player. T: Draw a card.
4/4
...we have:
Niv-Mizzet2UURR Dracogenius Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever ~ deals damage to a player, you may draw a card. UR: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
5/5
Niv-Mizzet2UURR The Firemind Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player. T: Draw a card.
4/4
If both Dracogenius and Firemind were on the battlefield, then the "legend rule" would check for the name portion, see that two legendary permanents have the same name, and force one of them to be put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action.
Other remarks:
- Abilities that ask you to name a card only take into account the name characteristic and don't take into account the caption characteristic (so that naming "Niv-Mizzet" would count toward both Dracogenius and Firemind). This applies for things like Surgical Extraction and protection from chosen names.
- The rule would cross between legendary non-planeswalker permanents and planeswalker permanents as well. So naming "Xenagos" with Runed Halo would give protection from both Xenagos, God of Revels and Xenagos, the Reveler. This also means that if both were on the field and controlled by the same player, one of the two would have to be put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action.
- If a legendary permanent gains ineffable, spells and abilities treat that permanent as though it didn't have a name, but it still has a caption. Any hypothetical cards that care about captions would still affect that permanent.
- Any characteristic-defining abilities that define the name characteristic would not define the caption characteristic unless it specifically says that it also copies caption. Likewise, CDA's that define the caption characteristic would not define the name characteristic unless specified.
(An alternative method to this "caption" characteristic approach would be to have an implicit characteristic called "character identity" or whatever that would be errata'd into Oracle text on Gatherer, and that would be obviously discernable just from the name. The "legend/planeswalker" rule would then apply to permanents with the same character identity. Not quite sure which implementation I like better.)
I now ask my usual question: Are there any weird rules interactions that would prevent this functional change from working?
How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
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What this would mean is that elements in the name of a legendary permanent object after the comma or that are a title would be moved down to what I call the "caption" (or "subname" or "label" or what have you), so that effectively, cards that represent the same character will be subject to the legend rule.
So, instead of
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius 2UURR
Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever ~ deals damage to a player, you may draw a card.
UR: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
5/5
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 2UURR
Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
T: Draw a card.
4/4
...we have:
Niv-Mizzet 2UURR
Dracogenius
Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever ~ deals damage to a player, you may draw a card.
UR: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
5/5
Niv-Mizzet 2UURR
The Firemind
Legendary Creature - Dragon Wizard {M}
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
T: Draw a card.
4/4
If both Dracogenius and Firemind were on the battlefield, then the "legend rule" would check for the name portion, see that two legendary permanents have the same name, and force one of them to be put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action.
Other remarks:
- Abilities that ask you to name a card only take into account the name characteristic and don't take into account the caption characteristic (so that naming "Niv-Mizzet" would count toward both Dracogenius and Firemind). This applies for things like Surgical Extraction and protection from chosen names.
- The rule would cross between legendary non-planeswalker permanents and planeswalker permanents as well. So naming "Xenagos" with Runed Halo would give protection from both Xenagos, God of Revels and Xenagos, the Reveler. This also means that if both were on the field and controlled by the same player, one of the two would have to be put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action.
- If a legendary permanent gains ineffable, spells and abilities treat that permanent as though it didn't have a name, but it still has a caption. Any hypothetical cards that care about captions would still affect that permanent.
- Any characteristic-defining abilities that define the name characteristic would not define the caption characteristic unless it specifically says that it also copies caption. Likewise, CDA's that define the caption characteristic would not define the name characteristic unless specified.
(An alternative method to this "caption" characteristic approach would be to have an implicit characteristic called "character identity" or whatever that would be errata'd into Oracle text on Gatherer, and that would be obviously discernable just from the name. The "legend/planeswalker" rule would then apply to permanents with the same character identity. Not quite sure which implementation I like better.)
I now ask my usual question: Are there any weird rules interactions that would prevent this functional change from working?
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall