One thing that has really bothered me when cubing is that most players are not necessarily familiar with the latest oracle text on a card. How is the average Magic player supposed to know that Waterfront Bouncer is a merfolk, or that Walking Atlas is actually an artifact creature, or whether or not Winter Orb works as printed, or that you can't activate Marath, Will of the Wild for zero?
How do you clearly indicate which cards have functional errata, without giving away information during the draft?
I always try to get the latest copy of a card if possible, as long as it's not horribly ugly, but sometimes that is not good enough. I have considered maybe putting a small dot inside the sleeve for cards with functional oracle text changes, or physically writing on the card/sleeve, or even printing off proxied cards or text boxes.
We play casually enough that things like that aren't too much of an issue for us.
When possible we use the latest version of a card. I still have the old Mother of Runes and Human is a common enough interaction that I'll probably replace it soon. (Makes me sad, as I have a big soft spot for Urza block, but clarity is probably preferable to sentimentality here, and at least the Commander version still has the original art and flavor text.)
This is something I try hard to be mindful of, as players drafting my cube for the first time are often also playing with a lot of the older cards in cube for the very first time. Cube draft has a pretty steep learning curve, so I think it's a good idea to to do the best you can to have your cards have wording printed on them that says what they do, and have that wording be as clear as possible. Usually having the most recent wording will get the job done, although the Oracle text on a lot of aura-based reanimation spells like Animate Dead is just atrocious, so sometimes an older version is actually more intuitively worded (I prefer the 4th Edition version of Animate Dead). Similarly, if you're running Black Vise the Revised wording makes a lot more sense than the Oracle text.
There are a lot of creature cards with outdated type lines that are worth being aware of, and quite a few of them have tribal interactions that can matter. Here's a post I wrote about a year ago that lists most of the commonly cubed cards you'll want to be aware of that have one or more versions with obsolete type lines, as well as the most common relevant tribal interactions. Because I run Stromkirk Noble, I've made a point of making sure every single Human I run is a version that says it's a Human in the type line. In my Peasant cube, I avoid all Human tribal interactions so this doesn't have to be a factor.
There are quite a few cards where I've changed versions over the years because of misplays that have happened because of wording problems, or just confusion from newer players:
I refuse to try running Parallax Wave until they print a version with reminder text explaining what Fading means.
In spite of problems I've had with older versions of mana dorks, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that countermagic with "Interrupt" in the type line is intuitive enough for players who've never heard of that spell type before, so I can run older versions of Arcane Denial and Counterspell.
There are a few cards from Portal like Fire Imp and Jungle Lion whose wording doesn't match their Oracle text, but short of taking a Sharpie to your cards, there's nothing you can do until WoTC decides to reprint them.
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I play with a bunch of old cards despite them not matching the errata text. It's legal in tournament and it's not the end of the world if Nekrataal blocks Stromkirk Noble and nobody realized it.
I can see this being an issue if you're playing with very young players though.
My group consists of fairly experienced players, so not having oracle text hasn't been that big of a deal. There are times when something worth questioning comes up, but at that point, we just look up the card to get the latest wording.
I plan to have a one pager of reminder texts, like Fading (Parallax Wave) or Suspend (Greater Gargadon), but also confusing ones like Fear, Intimidate and Menace, which are not explained in Rare cards. Protection and Regenerate maybe. This will also include a list of relevant types, like Human, but Humans are obvious from the art anyway. We also have to watch out for Karmic Guide and Restoration Angel, but I have removed the former so it is not relevant now.
For minor terminology like mana source, battlefield/play, bury, I decided to ignore these, as they do not cause misplays. My playgroup is old anyway, and are familiar with the archaic terms. Battlefield is the confusing one actually, because some think of it as the zone "where a creature attacks"
For functional changes like Winter Orb or Impulse, I decided to go with latest versions available.
I have a two-sided printout listing all Humans and Morphs, providing one-sentence blurbs describing Mono-Artifacts, Interrupts, RftG, Protection, Regenerate and Mana Sources and containing the full rules entry of Morph because all have been hassles of their own.
Similarly, I no longer run Impulse or Fire Imp because their cards lie. Edit: or the cool Winter Orb because the new one explains its interaction with Tappers.
Similarly, I no longer run Impulse or Fire Imp because their cards lie. Edit: or the cool Winter Orb because the new one explains its interaction with Tappers.
I get why you might cut Fire Imp until it's reprinted, but there are updated versions of Impulse available....
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I'm sorry I'm not confused if book burning text says unless a player has book burning deal 6 damage to him or her, out the top 6 cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard but the Oracle text says Any player may have Book Burning deal 6 damage to them. If no one does, target player puts the top six cards of their library into their graveyard which do I follow
I don't know if this is what DadOfGideon is referring to, but there's a wrong interpretation of the printed text of Book Burning that reads it like "(Unless a player has Book Burning) deal 6 damage to him or her [and] put the top six cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard."
So unless you "have" a copy of Book Burning, you take 6 damage and mill 6. This requires several weird interpretations of English grammar, including reading the comma as though it meant "and".
has anyone tried using a sharpie on inner sleeves? My group is casual enough that we usually don't care if we miss an interaction. If you know the oracle text and it benefits you great. If you don't and your opponent misses it as well, that's great to. Except for Icy manipulator. That card we play as the Card text on the Beta Version
maybe I am just an idiot in my understanding, but beta text says 1: Tap target artifact, creature, or land. There is no tapping icy as part of the cost?
maybe I am just an idiot in my understanding, but beta text says 1: Tap target artifact, creature, or land. There is no tapping icy as part of the cost?
Mono artifacts are required to tap as part of their activation costs. It does the exact same thing now as it always has.
Mono artifact is still a confusing templating that you wouldn't know unless you were pretty old-school.
I see this as a slightly bigger problem now than it's been before because of the burn wording. I really can't blame someone for being confused as to whether or not Staggershock can hit a planeswalker if they are comparing it to a newer burn, or for thinking they can redirect the damage from Legion Guildmage to a planeswalker. I've personally never wanted to add Hostage Taker because the wording is wrong.
I really don't like the knowledge gap where (for example) I know what the Monarch means, but other players don't, and it's something I keep aware of. When it's just a missing creature type, or something like Fire Imp targeting, I'm usually not worried.
How do you clearly indicate which cards have functional errata, without giving away information during the draft?
I always try to get the latest copy of a card if possible, as long as it's not horribly ugly, but sometimes that is not good enough. I have considered maybe putting a small dot inside the sleeve for cards with functional oracle text changes, or physically writing on the card/sleeve, or even printing off proxied cards or text boxes.
How do you handle it?
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When possible we use the latest version of a card. I still have the old Mother of Runes and Human is a common enough interaction that I'll probably replace it soon. (Makes me sad, as I have a big soft spot for Urza block, but clarity is probably preferable to sentimentality here, and at least the Commander version still has the original art and flavor text.)
There are a lot of creature cards with outdated type lines that are worth being aware of, and quite a few of them have tribal interactions that can matter. Here's a post I wrote about a year ago that lists most of the commonly cubed cards you'll want to be aware of that have one or more versions with obsolete type lines, as well as the most common relevant tribal interactions. Because I run Stromkirk Noble, I've made a point of making sure every single Human I run is a version that says it's a Human in the type line. In my Peasant cube, I avoid all Human tribal interactions so this doesn't have to be a factor.
There are quite a few cards where I've changed versions over the years because of misplays that have happened because of wording problems, or just confusion from newer players:
In spite of problems I've had with older versions of mana dorks, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that countermagic with "Interrupt" in the type line is intuitive enough for players who've never heard of that spell type before, so I can run older versions of Arcane Denial and Counterspell.
There are a few cards from Portal like Fire Imp and Jungle Lion whose wording doesn't match their Oracle text, but short of taking a Sharpie to your cards, there's nothing you can do until WoTC decides to reprint them.
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I can see this being an issue if you're playing with very young players though.
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For minor terminology like mana source, battlefield/play, bury, I decided to ignore these, as they do not cause misplays. My playgroup is old anyway, and are familiar with the archaic terms. Battlefield is the confusing one actually, because some think of it as the zone "where a creature attacks"
For functional changes like Winter Orb or Impulse, I decided to go with latest versions available.
To be clear, I agree, but I couldn't resist to find some "obvious" humans:
Daru Stinger
Daru Warchief
and my favorite human:
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Yeah there will be exceptions of course. But I can speak for myself that in my cube at least there are no non-obvious humans.
Similarly, I no longer run Impulse or Fire Imp because their cards lie. Edit: or the cool Winter Orb because the new one explains its interaction with Tappers.
I get why you might cut Fire Imp until it's reprinted, but there are updated versions of Impulse available....
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But Book Burning has never had a functional change in how it works. Punisher cards just got different sentence syntax. So I'm not sure what you mean.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
So unless you "have" a copy of Book Burning, you take 6 damage and mill 6. This requires several weird interpretations of English grammar, including reading the comma as though it meant "and".
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http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
Mono artifacts are required to tap as part of their activation costs. It does the exact same thing now as it always has.
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I see this as a slightly bigger problem now than it's been before because of the burn wording. I really can't blame someone for being confused as to whether or not Staggershock can hit a planeswalker if they are comparing it to a newer burn, or for thinking they can redirect the damage from Legion Guildmage to a planeswalker. I've personally never wanted to add Hostage Taker because the wording is wrong.
I really don't like the knowledge gap where (for example) I know what the Monarch means, but other players don't, and it's something I keep aware of. When it's just a missing creature type, or something like Fire Imp targeting, I'm usually not worried.
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