Alright, I know this is a little weird, but it seems to me that the design of magic cards is not what it used to be. Feel free to prove me wrong though, because this is just an impression and I didn't have the time to properly browse multiple blocks to go and check if it is true.
What I've been noticing is that magic cards as a whole are getting bigger and bigger text boxes with multiple effects tackled on them. This is particularly true for creatures, that seem to have more and more abilities (usually overcosted activated abilities). As an example I could quote the meld mechanic that takes more than half of a card's text box in the part that activates the "melding". Another example is the escalate modal mechanic where multiple effects get tackled on, and even when they're trivial effects they still take lots of text box. Cards with emerge like distended mindbender defy the reasonable size for printing letters in an mtg card, even though some of it is reminder text of how the ability works.
Now, to be honest, I'm not here just to say that there are more words per box, but all the effects on cards seems to have become more convoluted. Collective Brutality for instance has a mode that is target instant or sorcery spell. Couldn't it have been simply noncreature spell? Tamiyo is one of the clunkiest planeswalkers design I've ever seen, and Liliana doesn't lag too far behind. Couldn't they have made it simpler? Look at the legendary spider: it has a keyword, it has a triggerred ability dependent on delirium and an activated ability. Uff. I mean, I miss the likes of Dragonlair Spider. Simple and yet efficient.
I know there are still cards with small text box such as harmless offering and summary dismissal. However, these seem to be few and far between nowadays, and many of them are just reprints or functional reprints. Do you guys feel the same or I'm having confirmation bias? If you do, what do you think is the cause for that? Maybe mtg is finally running out of design space and now every card has to be a mish-mash of multiple abilities for specific and narrow situations tackled on them? (Please note that I'm not speaking about power levels, I think you can make powerful and weak cards that are wordy).
On a final note: one of my favorite cards from BFZ was Ob Nixilis Reignited. Do you know why? Because he looks really, really clean. Well-rounded and clean. That seems pretty hard to find (funny because new Jace is a similar version of Ob and I don't like him that much, heh).
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All the cards you named are rares and mythics. Wizards wants to keep complexity down for commons, which conversely means that the higher rarities tend to be more complex.
Not to say that cards are less complex. I think they are, because you can only do so much vanilla. However, we also never see cards like ice cauldron.
The bullet points are here to stay, folks. We will have a cycle of bullet point modal spells every set now.
Bullet Points and Prowess. Those were two of the biggest 'Eureka' moments in the last 2-3 years of Design so we'll be seeing them a lot. I kinda liked charms better when they were actually charms though but the popularity of Cryptic Command obsoleted them and led to all these bullet-point modal spells.
I do like cards like this in Multiplayer and I appreciate them, but I agree w/OP--there's definitely a bit of wading to get through them.
Believe it or not, the rules for mtg have become worse since the 90s. At that time you could have cards like Raging River and etc and the functionality was good.
Today every card is a gatherer/oracle reading/memory exercise and the comprehensive rules barely mean anything at all.
That's a pretty poor example given the context of the thread. It's a reprint of a very old card with an effect that could not be errata'd without completely rewriting what the card does.
Anyway, no, I don't believe there is word or complexity creep any more than there's ever been. New World Order has guaranteed that Commons and Uncommons generally aren't too wordy, and they make up the majority of sets. Bullet points have helped immensely. There's also a massive difference between "Instant and Sorcery" and "Noncreature spell" that changes the power level and effectiveness of a card, and that level is probably beyond what they felt comfortable with. To be honest this post really feels like it's reaching, though.
There are plenty of long-winded texts on old cards.
I know there are long-winded texts on old cards. However, I was not necessarily talking about the cards in the beggining of magic's history, but more from the invasion cycle going forward. Before people think I'm backpedalling, there is an issue with really old cards that makes them too wordy: a lot of the rules that we're now supposed to know in our heads were explained in the text box. For instance, the rule text for the original Circle of Protection cycle was: "Prevents all damage against you from one white source. If a source does damage to you more than once in a turn, you must pay 1 mana each time to prevent that damage". Nowadays the line of text after the period doesn't exist, because you're supposed to know that.
That's a pretty poor example given the context of the thread. It's a reprint of a very old card with an effect that could not be errata'd without completely rewriting what the card does.
Anyway, no, I don't believe there is word or complexity creep any more than there's ever been. New World Order has guaranteed that Commons and Uncommons generally aren't too wordy, and they make up the majority of sets. Bullet points have helped immensely. There's also a massive difference between "Instant and Sorcery" and "Noncreature spell" that changes the power level and effectiveness of a card, and that level is probably beyond what they felt comfortable with. To be honest this post really feels like it's reaching, though.
I'm not saying I'm right, but taking specific examples from the past and giving them as counterexamples is a sort of confirmation bias on its own. I didn't quote commons and uncommons because they don't stick in your memory as easily. Don't worry though, I have plenty of examples: Vildin-pack outcast, haunted dead, cryptolith fragment, enbodiment of insight, birthing hulk, etc.
To address your point: I would agree that, clearly, rares and mythics have more complex effects and more wordiness than commons and uncommons in general. However, even then cards seem to have a lot going on with them. One of the reason I enjoyed the core sets is because the cards were really well designed and, in general, not overly complex. I know they were meant to be easier sets for new players, but they gathered mostly reprints of well-rounded cards and the cards that were designed anew, even when having numerous effects, were simple to understand (thragtusk and captain of the watch come to mind). Maybe you're right and I'm reaching or exaggerating, but I've played this game for so many years now and I had the feeling that the design is not what it used to be. My example with the instant and sorcery for noncreature was not to address power level, since I don't think it is a huge change for a 2 mana discard spell to be able to take any noncreature spells, but to make the card cleaner and less specific. It often comes up with Swan Song in games that I play that people try to counter artifacts with it. It seems intuitive that, if the card counters so many stuff, it should counter artifacts too, but no. They could've written "noncreature spell" to make it easier. Would that make the card more powerful? Yes, but also more intuitive, and Maro has said numerous times that they change design when testing due to what players think the card should do, not what the designers intended them to do. It seems that many cards haven't been receiving this treatment lately though.
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Hell, used to be anyone who played chains had to have a printout on the rulings (along with a flowchart) to explain how the stupid thing worked.
I think Chains of Mephostopheles is a great example of a card that made more sense on the original wording than it does on the Oracle wording. Of course the Rules Lawyers had to screw things up. None of this Reasonable Person nonsense for those jerks.
But I digress. There are trade offs to each method of madness. A card like Chains got more difficult to process (to me anyways) because of the new rules and standardized phrasing.
A card text like Shahrazad was simplified under the new system.
Some mechanics are just going to be wordier than other mechanics. It's nice that WotC is trying to minimize the impact though I do feel we are missing out on some really cool mechanics. As a fellow player has to keep remindi g me, MtG is a game for thirteen year olds. If my teen and her friends are any indicator, they're not the brightest bulbs around.
I don't really agree. Some have to be a bit more wordy, but generally? They seem pretty simple to understand. At worst most cards seem to be wordy for templating purposes, which isn't a terribly big deal.
Yay statistics (don't know how to post a table, column names a bit off, tab delimited):
set setname setdate numcard totalwords averagewords
FUT Future Sight 05/2007 180 5339 29.6611111111111
TSP Time Spiral 09/2006 281 7985 28.4163701067616
CS Coldsnap 06/2006 150 4136 27.5733333333333
PLC Planar Chaos 01/2007 165 4477 27.1333333333333
MOR Morningtide 01/2008 150 4045 26.9666666666667
BOK Betrayers of Kamigawa 01/2005 165 4435 26.8787878787879
FRF Fate Reforged 01/2015 175 4574 26.1371428571429
AL Alliances 06/1996 199 5122 25.7386934673367
LRW Lorwyn 09/2007 281 7069 25.1565836298932
BNG Born of the Gods 02/2014 165 4138 25.0787878787879
DTK Dragons of Tarkir 03/2015 249 6204 24.9156626506024
IA Ice Age 06/1995 363 8852 24.3856749311295
FE Fallen Empires 10/1994 187 4526 24.2032085561497
DIS Dissension 04/2006 180 4353 24.1833333333333
ORI Magic Origins 07/2015 273 6476 23.7216117216117
ZEN Zendikar 09/2009 229 5418 23.6593886462882
SC Scourge 05/2003 143 3379 23.6293706293706
EVE Eventide 07/2008 180 4244 23.5777777777778
BFZ Battle for Zendikar 10/2015 249 5859 23.5301204819277
THS Theros 09/2013 229 5381 23.4978165938865
VI Visions 02/1997 167 3923 23.4910179640719
WWK Worldwake 01/2010 145 3372 23.2551724137931
SOK Saviors of Kamigawa 05/2005 165 3814 23.1151515151515
NPH New Phyrexia 05/2011 165 3812 23.1030303030303
JOU Journey into Nyx 05/2014 165 3801 23.0363636363636
SOI Shadows over Innistrad 04/2016 315 7240 22.984126984127
ARB Alara Reborn 04/2009 145 3329 22.9586206896552
TO Torment 01/2002 143 3276 22.9090909090909
AQ Antiquities 04/1994 100 2289 22.89
OGW Oath of the Gatewatch 01/2016 182 4151 22.8076923076923
JU Judgment 05/2002 143 3235 22.6223776223776
MI Mirage 10/1996 330 7408 22.4484848484848
PS Planeshift 01/2001 146 3260 22.3287671232877
TSB "Time Spiral ""Timeshifted""" 09/2006 121 2695 22.2727272727273
DKA Dark Ascension 02/2012 171 3804 22.2456140350877
CHK Champions of Kamigawa 09/2004 287 6379 22.2264808362369
NE Nemesis 02/2000 143 3169 22.1608391608392
DGM Dragon's Maze 05/2013 156 3426 21.9615384615385
RAV Ravnica: City of Guilds 09/2005 286 6250 21.8531468531469
AP Apocalypse 05/2001 143 3098 21.6643356643357
M15 Magic 2015 Core Set 07/2014 264 5709 21.625
CH Chronicles 07/1995 125 2690 21.52
LE Legions 01/2003 145 3119 21.5103448275862
DS Darksteel 01/2004 165 3546 21.4909090909091
GTC Gatecrash 01/2013 249 5348 21.4779116465863
FD Fifth Dawn 05/2004 165 3467 21.0121212121212
KTK Khans of Tarkir 09/2014 249 5224 20.9799196787149
AN Arabian Nights 12/1993 91 1902 20.9010989010989
ON Onslaught 09/2002 330 6891 20.8818181818182
GP Guildpact 01/2006 165 3443 20.8666666666667
WL Weatherlight 05/1997 167 3458 20.7065868263473
LG Legends 06/1994 310 6401 20.6483870967742
AVR Avacyn Restored 05/2012 229 4719 20.6069868995633
ROE Rise of the Eldrazi 04/2010 228 4681 20.530701754386
SOM Scars of Mirrodin 09/2010 229 4668 20.3842794759825
SHM Shadowmoor 04/2008 281 5680 20.2135231316726
RTR Return to Ravnica 10/2012 249 4990 20.0401606425703
EX Exodus 06/1998 143 2829 19.7832167832168
MBS Mirrodin Besieged 01/2011 145 2852 19.6689655172414
CFX Conflux 01/2009 145 2815 19.4137931034483
IN Invasion 09/2000 330 6352 19.2484848484849
ALA Shards of Alara 09/2008 229 4390 19.1703056768559
OD Odyssey 09/2001 330 6229 18.8757575757576
ISD Innistrad 09/2011 269 5073 18.8587360594796
DK The Dark 08/1994 119 2238 18.8067226890756
MR Mirrodin 09/2003 286 5365 18.7587412587413
UL Urza's Legacy 02/1999 143 2682 18.7552447552448
HL Homelands 10/1995 140 2603 18.5928571428571
SH Stronghold 02/1998 143 2597 18.1608391608392
4E Fourth Edition 04/1995 363 6431 17.7162534435262
5E Fifth Edition 03/1997 429 7592 17.6969696969697
M13 Magic 2013 07/2012 229 4031 17.6026200873362
M14 Magic 2014 Core Set 07/2013 229 4003 17.4803493449782
PY Prophecy 05/2000 143 2497 17.4615384615385
A Limited Edition Alpha 08/1993 285 4955 17.3859649122807
US Urza's Saga 10/1998 330 5737 17.3848484848485
U Unlimited Edition 12/1993 287 4979 17.3484320557491
B Limited Edition Beta 10/1993 287 4979 17.3484320557491
M12 Magic 2012 07/2011 229 3935 17.1834061135371
TE Tempest 10/1997 330 5591 16.9424242424242
UD Urza's Destiny 05/1999 143 2418 16.9090909090909
R Revised Edition 04/1994 291 4881 16.7731958762887
MM Mercadian Masques 09/1999 330 5427 16.4454545454545
M11 Magic 2011 07/2010 229 3667 16.0131004366812
10E Tenth Edition 07/2007 363 5673 15.6280991735537
M10 Magic 2010 07/2009 229 3400 14.8471615720524
9E Ninth Edition 07/2005 330 4528 13.7212121212121
6E Classic Sixth Edition 04/1999 330 4245 12.8636363636364
8E Eighth Edition 07/2003 330 4070 12.3333333333333
7E Seventh Edition 04/2001 330 3716 11.2606060606061
Source: Gatherer Extractor
Regex: \b[A-z]{2,}\b
Searches "ability" column for all words with 2 or more characters (excludes mana symbol text) but does include reminder text (could be a significant factor). I also excluded basic lands.
Overall, Future Sight and Time Spiral are the most wordy sets by a good margin, possibly due to lots of reminder text.
Ice Age has the most words in the set by almost 900 or about 10% more than Time Spiral but also has 82 (about 30%) more cards. Shadows over Innistrad has the 5th most words of any set.
Small sets tend to be more wordy than large sets. Core sets are generally the least wordy.
Yay statistics (don't know how to post a table, column names a bit off, tab delimited):
set setname setdate numcard totalwords averagewords
FUT Future Sight 05/2007 180 5339 29.6611111111111
TSP Time Spiral 09/2006 281 7985 28.4163701067616
CS Coldsnap 06/2006 150 4136 27.5733333333333
PLC Planar Chaos 01/2007 165 4477 27.1333333333333
MOR Morningtide 01/2008 150 4045 26.9666666666667
BOK Betrayers of Kamigawa 01/2005 165 4435 26.8787878787879
FRF Fate Reforged 01/2015 175 4574 26.1371428571429
AL Alliances 06/1996 199 5122 25.7386934673367
LRW Lorwyn 09/2007 281 7069 25.1565836298932
BNG Born of the Gods 02/2014 165 4138 25.0787878787879
DTK Dragons of Tarkir 03/2015 249 6204 24.9156626506024
IA Ice Age 06/1995 363 8852 24.3856749311295
FE Fallen Empires 10/1994 187 4526 24.2032085561497
DIS Dissension 04/2006 180 4353 24.1833333333333
ORI Magic Origins 07/2015 273 6476 23.7216117216117
ZEN Zendikar 09/2009 229 5418 23.6593886462882
SC Scourge 05/2003 143 3379 23.6293706293706
EVE Eventide 07/2008 180 4244 23.5777777777778
BFZ Battle for Zendikar 10/2015 249 5859 23.5301204819277
THS Theros 09/2013 229 5381 23.4978165938865
VI Visions 02/1997 167 3923 23.4910179640719
WWK Worldwake 01/2010 145 3372 23.2551724137931
SOK Saviors of Kamigawa 05/2005 165 3814 23.1151515151515
NPH New Phyrexia 05/2011 165 3812 23.1030303030303
JOU Journey into Nyx 05/2014 165 3801 23.0363636363636
SOI Shadows over Innistrad 04/2016 315 7240 22.984126984127
ARB Alara Reborn 04/2009 145 3329 22.9586206896552
TO Torment 01/2002 143 3276 22.9090909090909
AQ Antiquities 04/1994 100 2289 22.89
OGW Oath of the Gatewatch 01/2016 182 4151 22.8076923076923
JU Judgment 05/2002 143 3235 22.6223776223776
MI Mirage 10/1996 330 7408 22.4484848484848
PS Planeshift 01/2001 146 3260 22.3287671232877
TSB "Time Spiral ""Timeshifted""" 09/2006 121 2695 22.2727272727273
DKA Dark Ascension 02/2012 171 3804 22.2456140350877
CHK Champions of Kamigawa 09/2004 287 6379 22.2264808362369
NE Nemesis 02/2000 143 3169 22.1608391608392
DGM Dragon's Maze 05/2013 156 3426 21.9615384615385
RAV Ravnica: City of Guilds 09/2005 286 6250 21.8531468531469
AP Apocalypse 05/2001 143 3098 21.6643356643357
M15 Magic 2015 Core Set 07/2014 264 5709 21.625
CH Chronicles 07/1995 125 2690 21.52
LE Legions 01/2003 145 3119 21.5103448275862
DS Darksteel 01/2004 165 3546 21.4909090909091
GTC Gatecrash 01/2013 249 5348 21.4779116465863
FD Fifth Dawn 05/2004 165 3467 21.0121212121212
KTK Khans of Tarkir 09/2014 249 5224 20.9799196787149
AN Arabian Nights 12/1993 91 1902 20.9010989010989
ON Onslaught 09/2002 330 6891 20.8818181818182
GP Guildpact 01/2006 165 3443 20.8666666666667
WL Weatherlight 05/1997 167 3458 20.7065868263473
LG Legends 06/1994 310 6401 20.6483870967742
AVR Avacyn Restored 05/2012 229 4719 20.6069868995633
ROE Rise of the Eldrazi 04/2010 228 4681 20.530701754386
SOM Scars of Mirrodin 09/2010 229 4668 20.3842794759825
SHM Shadowmoor 04/2008 281 5680 20.2135231316726
RTR Return to Ravnica 10/2012 249 4990 20.0401606425703
EX Exodus 06/1998 143 2829 19.7832167832168
MBS Mirrodin Besieged 01/2011 145 2852 19.6689655172414
CFX Conflux 01/2009 145 2815 19.4137931034483
IN Invasion 09/2000 330 6352 19.2484848484849
ALA Shards of Alara 09/2008 229 4390 19.1703056768559
OD Odyssey 09/2001 330 6229 18.8757575757576
ISD Innistrad 09/2011 269 5073 18.8587360594796
DK The Dark 08/1994 119 2238 18.8067226890756
MR Mirrodin 09/2003 286 5365 18.7587412587413
UL Urza's Legacy 02/1999 143 2682 18.7552447552448
HL Homelands 10/1995 140 2603 18.5928571428571
SH Stronghold 02/1998 143 2597 18.1608391608392
4E Fourth Edition 04/1995 363 6431 17.7162534435262
5E Fifth Edition 03/1997 429 7592 17.6969696969697
M13 Magic 2013 07/2012 229 4031 17.6026200873362
M14 Magic 2014 Core Set 07/2013 229 4003 17.4803493449782
PY Prophecy 05/2000 143 2497 17.4615384615385
A Limited Edition Alpha 08/1993 285 4955 17.3859649122807
US Urza's Saga 10/1998 330 5737 17.3848484848485
U Unlimited Edition 12/1993 287 4979 17.3484320557491
B Limited Edition Beta 10/1993 287 4979 17.3484320557491
M12 Magic 2012 07/2011 229 3935 17.1834061135371
TE Tempest 10/1997 330 5591 16.9424242424242
UD Urza's Destiny 05/1999 143 2418 16.9090909090909
R Revised Edition 04/1994 291 4881 16.7731958762887
MM Mercadian Masques 09/1999 330 5427 16.4454545454545
M11 Magic 2011 07/2010 229 3667 16.0131004366812
10E Tenth Edition 07/2007 363 5673 15.6280991735537
M10 Magic 2010 07/2009 229 3400 14.8471615720524
9E Ninth Edition 07/2005 330 4528 13.7212121212121
6E Classic Sixth Edition 04/1999 330 4245 12.8636363636364
8E Eighth Edition 07/2003 330 4070 12.3333333333333
7E Seventh Edition 04/2001 330 3716 11.2606060606061
Source: Gatherer Extractor
Regex: \b[A-z]{2,}\b
Searches "ability" column for all words with 2 or more characters (excludes mana symbol text) but does include reminder text (could be a significant factor). I also excluded basic lands.
Overall, Future Sight and Time Spiral are the most wordy sets by a good margin, possibly due to lots of reminder text.
Ice Age has the most words in the set by almost 900 or about 10% more than Time Spiral but also has 82 (about 30%) more cards. Shadows over Innistrad has the 5th most words of any set.
Small sets tend to be more wordy than large sets. Core sets are generally the least wordy.
Thank you for that man, very very helpful. It is hard to see a pattern, but it appears to me that if you slash this table in half the 'upper-half' (more wordy sets) has considerably more sets from recent years than the bottom half. Maybe not. I guess the correct way to do this is to plot in a graph of "sets per chronological release" in the x axis and "average words" in the y axis and see if there is some sort of increasing trend.
EDIT: it would be interesting to get this data without the reminder text as well.
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Thank you for that man, very very helpful. It is hard to see a pattern, but it appears to me that if you slash this table in half the 'upper-half' (more wordy sets) has considerably more sets from recent years than the bottom half. Maybe not. I guess the correct way to do this is to plot in a graph of "sets per chronological release" in the x axis and "average words" in the y axis and see if there is some sort of increasing trend.
EDIT: it would be interesting to get this data without the reminder text as well.
Eyeballing it isn't useful in the slightest. You need to plot the values over time.
As you can see from the attached, there isn't really any trend. In fact, a linear trend line is pretty close to flat, especially on the average graph.
Eyeballing it isn't useful in the slightest. You need to plot the values over time.
As you can see from the attached, there isn't really any trend. In fact, a linear trend line is pretty close to flat, especially on the average graph.
I was giving my guess, but I agree with you. That is why I said "maybe not" and why I suggested the graph that you did. Thanks for doing it! I guess that settles it!
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Most games have some kind of complexity creep over time and MTG is no different. These days Storm Crow becomes Mist Intruder and thousands of hours are collectively lost trying to read a bunch of nonsense. As someone who has played for 20+ years i think the past year or two have been especially wordy and complicated to the point where i avoid drafting because i find it sucks the fun out of the game reading a whole bunch of text for not much payoff. I think the worst example of this is flip cards where you have to read a bunch of text but also pay close attention to the various clauses on the cards. This new set looks especially wordy which will probably keep me off the draft table. But i'll be enjoy the simple yet strategically deep Geier Reach Sanitarium when it comes out.
Most magic card text is something you read 1 time and then never again, as the cards mechanic becomes clear to you (especially if you played with it, or seen it played).
The problematic cards are effects that allmost do something and have some "catch" words that change the effect, and which you have to parse the text to make sure, as cards in the very same set are different.
Zombie Tokens are a good example. Some enter tapped, some not.
As its not consistent, it becomes annoying, and cards that have much text that simply becomes "put token into play" suddenly has the pitfall text "tapped" in it, so you have to look out for it, which makes playing these cards much more troublesome.
Very wordy effects like Ingest / Werwolf Transform abilities are fine, if you used the mechanic, its the same for all the cards, which is CONSISTENT and that saves you from reading the cards over and over, you simply know what it reads and what it does, done.
Trivial effects like "Devoid" are something that is also expressed by the cards border color, the card literally is "devoid" of colors and its an easy concept and reading that ability is pointless (so you dont).
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Planeswalkers are notoriously wordy.
But in the end, you just need to know the + and the - ability , the wordy Ultimate is in allmost any case completly irrelevant.
For Planeswalkers being wordy is kinda part of the "fascinating" moment to open one. A new player will have a lot to learn about them anyway and with that much text they look and feel much more "important" and gimmicky.
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Artwork is also a trap. If something really looks like it has flying, it should damn well have flying, so you dont need to read it has flying somewhere on the card, you just know it has (and the cards that dont, are piss poor done).
If its a huge dragon, it better has flying. If its an Angel it better has flying.
Good old "firebreath" was kinda wordy, but if an activated ability was R on a creature, you could allmost guarantee its the classic +1/+0 until end of turn without the need to read it, at least that stuff stands out.
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Other mechanics are also easy to grasp as the concept is intuitive. Mechanics that arent untuitive and do specific hidden things get more problematic (Suspend is really complicated as it does so much, triggers, grants haste, cast for free, time counters, etc. etc.).
Here again consistency is important. Even if a mechanic is fairly complex, it should not try to be different on every card that uses the mechanic, as that would force the player to read word by word every card.
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For a new set its much more important to get a grasp of what a card is actually trying to do and it should be important to have a consistency at least in a set and avoid "tricking" players so they have to read the cards and look out for "hidden" important words that dont stand out.
Last bunch of sets arent particularly bad in the "intuitive" department but the consistency suffers from time to time, and they dont really seem to put much effort into keeping a level of consistency of card effects that are quite similiar, so thats a real issue.
Are you guys pulling that data from Oracle wording or actual printed card wording?
The data is oracle text. So some of the older cards that had keyword abilities spelled out (ie Vigilance) would have less words now than originally printed.
What I've been noticing is that magic cards as a whole are getting bigger and bigger text boxes with multiple effects tackled on them. This is particularly true for creatures, that seem to have more and more abilities (usually overcosted activated abilities). As an example I could quote the meld mechanic that takes more than half of a card's text box in the part that activates the "melding". Another example is the escalate modal mechanic where multiple effects get tackled on, and even when they're trivial effects they still take lots of text box. Cards with emerge like distended mindbender defy the reasonable size for printing letters in an mtg card, even though some of it is reminder text of how the ability works.
Now, to be honest, I'm not here just to say that there are more words per box, but all the effects on cards seems to have become more convoluted. Collective Brutality for instance has a mode that is target instant or sorcery spell. Couldn't it have been simply noncreature spell? Tamiyo is one of the clunkiest planeswalkers design I've ever seen, and Liliana doesn't lag too far behind. Couldn't they have made it simpler? Look at the legendary spider: it has a keyword, it has a triggerred ability dependent on delirium and an activated ability. Uff. I mean, I miss the likes of Dragonlair Spider. Simple and yet efficient.
I know there are still cards with small text box such as harmless offering and summary dismissal. However, these seem to be few and far between nowadays, and many of them are just reprints or functional reprints. Do you guys feel the same or I'm having confirmation bias? If you do, what do you think is the cause for that? Maybe mtg is finally running out of design space and now every card has to be a mish-mash of multiple abilities for specific and narrow situations tackled on them? (Please note that I'm not speaking about power levels, I think you can make powerful and weak cards that are wordy).
On a final note: one of my favorite cards from BFZ was Ob Nixilis Reignited. Do you know why? Because he looks really, really clean. Well-rounded and clean. That seems pretty hard to find (funny because new Jace is a similar version of Ob and I don't like him that much, heh).
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
All the cards you named are rares and mythics. Wizards wants to keep complexity down for commons, which conversely means that the higher rarities tend to be more complex.
Not to say that cards are less complex. I think they are, because you can only do so much vanilla. However, we also never see cards like ice cauldron.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
- Camouflage
- Raging River
- Ice Cauldron
- Chains of Mephistopheles
- Balduvian Warlord
- Mammoth Harness
There are plenty of long-winded texts on old cards.Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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Hell, used to be anyone who played chains had to have a printout on the rulings (along with a flowchart) to explain how the stupid thing worked.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Bullet Points and Prowess. Those were two of the biggest 'Eureka' moments in the last 2-3 years of Design so we'll be seeing them a lot. I kinda liked charms better when they were actually charms though but the popularity of Cryptic Command obsoleted them and led to all these bullet-point modal spells.
I do like cards like this in Multiplayer and I appreciate them, but I agree w/OP--there's definitely a bit of wading to get through them.
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Today every card is a gatherer/oracle reading/memory exercise and the comprehensive rules barely mean anything at all.
Could you point out the most recently printed card that has Oracle text different from its printed text?
As to the comprehensive rules, I'm not sure what to say. The fact that you have difficulty with them does not make them meaningless.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
That's a pretty poor example given the context of the thread. It's a reprint of a very old card with an effect that could not be errata'd without completely rewriting what the card does.
Anyway, no, I don't believe there is word or complexity creep any more than there's ever been. New World Order has guaranteed that Commons and Uncommons generally aren't too wordy, and they make up the majority of sets. Bullet points have helped immensely. There's also a massive difference between "Instant and Sorcery" and "Noncreature spell" that changes the power level and effectiveness of a card, and that level is probably beyond what they felt comfortable with. To be honest this post really feels like it's reaching, though.
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To address your point: I would agree that, clearly, rares and mythics have more complex effects and more wordiness than commons and uncommons in general. However, even then cards seem to have a lot going on with them. One of the reason I enjoyed the core sets is because the cards were really well designed and, in general, not overly complex. I know they were meant to be easier sets for new players, but they gathered mostly reprints of well-rounded cards and the cards that were designed anew, even when having numerous effects, were simple to understand (thragtusk and captain of the watch come to mind). Maybe you're right and I'm reaching or exaggerating, but I've played this game for so many years now and I had the feeling that the design is not what it used to be. My example with the instant and sorcery for noncreature was not to address power level, since I don't think it is a huge change for a 2 mana discard spell to be able to take any noncreature spells, but to make the card cleaner and less specific. It often comes up with Swan Song in games that I play that people try to counter artifacts with it. It seems intuitive that, if the card counters so many stuff, it should counter artifacts too, but no. They could've written "noncreature spell" to make it easier. Would that make the card more powerful? Yes, but also more intuitive, and Maro has said numerous times that they change design when testing due to what players think the card should do, not what the designers intended them to do. It seems that many cards haven't been receiving this treatment lately though.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
I think Chains of Mephostopheles is a great example of a card that made more sense on the original wording than it does on the Oracle wording. Of course the Rules Lawyers had to screw things up. None of this Reasonable Person nonsense for those jerks.
But I digress. There are trade offs to each method of madness. A card like Chains got more difficult to process (to me anyways) because of the new rules and standardized phrasing.
A card text like Shahrazad was simplified under the new system.
Some mechanics are just going to be wordier than other mechanics. It's nice that WotC is trying to minimize the impact though I do feel we are missing out on some really cool mechanics. As a fellow player has to keep remindi g me, MtG is a game for thirteen year olds. If my teen and her friends are any indicator, they're not the brightest bulbs around.
all of the cards noted are pretty sweet
we still have a long way to go.
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Source: Gatherer Extractor
Regex: \b[A-z]{2,}\b
Searches "ability" column for all words with 2 or more characters (excludes mana symbol text) but does include reminder text (could be a significant factor). I also excluded basic lands.
Overall, Future Sight and Time Spiral are the most wordy sets by a good margin, possibly due to lots of reminder text.
Ice Age has the most words in the set by almost 900 or about 10% more than Time Spiral but also has 82 (about 30%) more cards. Shadows over Innistrad has the 5th most words of any set.
Small sets tend to be more wordy than large sets. Core sets are generally the least wordy.
EDIT: it would be interesting to get this data without the reminder text as well.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
As you can see from the attached, there isn't really any trend. In fact, a linear trend line is pretty close to flat, especially on the average graph.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
In Progress
GBIshkanah, Grafwidow ~ BWGRTymna the Weaver & Tana, the Bloodsower ~ UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ~ RGAtarka, World Render
The problematic cards are effects that allmost do something and have some "catch" words that change the effect, and which you have to parse the text to make sure, as cards in the very same set are different.
Zombie Tokens are a good example. Some enter tapped, some not.
As its not consistent, it becomes annoying, and cards that have much text that simply becomes "put token into play" suddenly has the pitfall text "tapped" in it, so you have to look out for it, which makes playing these cards much more troublesome.
Very wordy effects like Ingest / Werwolf Transform abilities are fine, if you used the mechanic, its the same for all the cards, which is CONSISTENT and that saves you from reading the cards over and over, you simply know what it reads and what it does, done.
Trivial effects like "Devoid" are something that is also expressed by the cards border color, the card literally is "devoid" of colors and its an easy concept and reading that ability is pointless (so you dont).
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Planeswalkers are notoriously wordy.
But in the end, you just need to know the + and the - ability , the wordy Ultimate is in allmost any case completly irrelevant.
For Planeswalkers being wordy is kinda part of the "fascinating" moment to open one. A new player will have a lot to learn about them anyway and with that much text they look and feel much more "important" and gimmicky.
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Artwork is also a trap. If something really looks like it has flying, it should damn well have flying, so you dont need to read it has flying somewhere on the card, you just know it has (and the cards that dont, are piss poor done).
If its a huge dragon, it better has flying. If its an Angel it better has flying.
Good old "firebreath" was kinda wordy, but if an activated ability was R on a creature, you could allmost guarantee its the classic +1/+0 until end of turn without the need to read it, at least that stuff stands out.
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Other mechanics are also easy to grasp as the concept is intuitive. Mechanics that arent untuitive and do specific hidden things get more problematic (Suspend is really complicated as it does so much, triggers, grants haste, cast for free, time counters, etc. etc.).
Here again consistency is important. Even if a mechanic is fairly complex, it should not try to be different on every card that uses the mechanic, as that would force the player to read word by word every card.
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For a new set its much more important to get a grasp of what a card is actually trying to do and it should be important to have a consistency at least in a set and avoid "tricking" players so they have to read the cards and look out for "hidden" important words that dont stand out.
Last bunch of sets arent particularly bad in the "intuitive" department but the consistency suffers from time to time, and they dont really seem to put much effort into keeping a level of consistency of card effects that are quite similiar, so thats a real issue.
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The data is oracle text. So some of the older cards that had keyword abilities spelled out (ie Vigilance) would have less words now than originally printed.
Some cards can be so easily explained tho...