With The Gitrog Monster coming up I have been brainstorming possible interactions with older cards. I recently came across my Lotus Vale. Some years ago I recall that both Lotus Vale and Phyrexian Dreadnought received power-level errata that made the sacrifice of the lands/creatures part of a replacement effect that allowed the card to enter the battlefield or be put into the graveyard. Dreadnought has since had that change reversed when power-level errata was decided to be a bad idea, but it seems that Lotus Vale has not.
I was wondering if anyone had any information about the reasons for this (other than a free, 5-color Dark Ritual being potentially game-breaking :p).
I doubt if this forum is the right place for this question, but both cards do what they did when they are printed. When Lotus Vale was printed, it couldn't be activated before the cost is paid, and when the rule changed the card was errata-ed accordingly. In the case of Phyrexian Dreadnought, there have been no important rule changes. The errata was purely power-level one, and therefore was reversed.
At the time these cards were printed, it wasn't possible to respond to triggered abilities like theirs. So Dreadnought's functionality is different from when it was printed. However, in its case, it was at some point decided to have its Oracle text be the same as its printed ability, like other less powerful cards, even if it had new meaning under current rules, because ideally, WotC wants cards to do what they say on them. On Lotus Vale, on the other hand, the functionality-preserving errata was maintained, because if it worked like it says on its printed text, it would be insane. It's as simple as that.
I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
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Lotus Vale
With The Gitrog Monster coming up I have been brainstorming possible interactions with older cards. I recently came across my Lotus Vale. Some years ago I recall that both Lotus Vale and Phyrexian Dreadnought received power-level errata that made the sacrifice of the lands/creatures part of a replacement effect that allowed the card to enter the battlefield or be put into the graveyard. Dreadnought has since had that change reversed when power-level errata was decided to be a bad idea, but it seems that Lotus Vale has not.
I was wondering if anyone had any information about the reasons for this (other than a free, 5-color Dark Ritual being potentially game-breaking :p).