If someone can look me in in the eye with a straight face and say "I thought the card that cared whether creatures in the art are smiling or not was eternal legal", I would be fairly impressed.
That's the deciding factor. If you put the card in your deck, you better read it beforehand. If you read it and see something suspcious, you better check for the acorn. Even more so: There are right now cards without acorn from non Un-sets that have no mechanics related to dexterity, verbal actions, flavor text etc. that you are not alloed to play in certain eternal formats because they may be from a set that is too old or are on a specific banlist that - considering unbannings can happen - is fairly arbitrary and none of this is noted on the card.
The acorn is just a shortcut that allows you to avoid looking up legality, but we don't know whether a random non-acorn rare will not have an unintentional interaction with an obscure card that will lead to a ban, so a non-acorn card is also not a definite guarantee for legality. If you play a format, you have stupid homework to do. Or you play casual and wing it.
There are plenty of silver border cards that could easily be black border, much of Unstable could have seen normal print. Things like Crow Storm, Amateur Auteur, Big Boa Constrictor, Animate Library, Chittering Doom, and more shows that no, not everything that could be eternal is. Any cards that mention contraptions call to a black border mechanic thanks to Steamflogger Boss.
And they might become eternal eventually. This is like the Walking Dead Secret Lair a situation of "we didn't have the right idea back then, but we won't look into retroactively aplying it until we at least have the data from our current test". It's even directly inspired by the treatment of Universes Beyond cards.
There are many black border cards that show some insane effects that would normally be silver border. One poster put many of them and I'll show another with Chaos Orb. To say that Magic doesn't have silver border effects within black border is just plain wrong.
I'm fine with calling this honorary acorn since it has the same effective legality. Actually, can we consider this legal in every format all silver-border cards are legal? There is no reason to not allow this in any game that allows the confetti variant.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
It is surprising that they managed to have less than half the cards be acorn. A quick thought experiment shows though, that it is not that hard. Counting cards by cardname (since Unstable features functionally distinct - but similar - cards that share a name e. g. Knight of the Kitchen Sink and multi-art cards like Amateur Auteur) one could make an estimation what ratio of cards of Unstable would have been eternal/acorn respectively.
Making the assumption that they would have made Augment/Host, contraptions/assemble and die rolls eternal because these seem like something the rules could handle, or at least could have been made so without major changes to the concept, white would have had 13 eternal cards and 10 acorn cards.
Of the acorn cards By Gnome Means strikes me as a card that they might have altered slightly to make it eternal. Do-It-Yourself Seraph, using the "additional text box" mechanic, is something they might have considered rules-fixing as well, but is borderline. Technically, I cannot even guarantee that it is not possible to do it in eternal/black-border, it just has additional implications in acorn/silver-border due to stealing watermarks and flavor text.
So 56% to 65% of white could have ended up not being acorn in Unstable if they had tried. And beyond the colors, I think all Contrpations would qualify, that's flat 75% of artifacts in the set, before counting Angelic Rocket, Krark's Other Thumb, Curious Killbot etc. I'm not too shocked, since Unstablefeels less over-the-top weird, but more high-variance wacky, when compared to Unglued/Unhinged - and even there we have Assquatch and similar cards that are okay once you get rid of fractions.
I feel the set's design really might not have changed all that much to arrive at these numbers.
Concerns regarding visibility of acorn stamp vs. silver border might still be valid, but in the end every format has its ban list that is not marked on the cards either, so in the end we will be able to deal with that, too.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
I might have somewhat of a idea of what might become legal in eternal
likely:
dice rolling and coin flips is the most obvious
Augment and host
Contraptions assemble and reassemble
cards worded like regular magic cards (examples killerbots infinity elemental, crow storm
Cards that have black border versions (example: the cheese stands alone to barren glory)
Most of the legendaries
The alt win condition cards B-I-N-G-O Blast from the Past B.O.B. (Bevy of Beebles)
Chicken and clam folk creatures
depends:
Artist/art related (these are easy to understand but mark might not allow it.)
Last strike and triple strike (if they allow it)
Squirrellink and Knightlifelink Baron von count (it’s hard to activate but might have a similar problem like leovold/black braids.)
Cards involving words or numbers (Now I Know My ABC's dodges this bullet) By Gnome Means (first ability is black it just depends if the counter part is possibly)
The cards with same art with different abilities Flock of rabid sheep (the type of token is the only problem it’s just coin flips for X tokens)
Cards involving age Grusilda, Monster Masher we're okay with this one mark may not
Reminder/flavor text
Involving sets (symbols) or watermarks
not happening:
Everything else but we will give most obvious
Gotcha cards
Wacky stunts
Player cards (acception is Timmy, Power Gamer that card is literally a creature Quicksilver Amulet no tap required)
Any thing involving booster packs
Body part/clothe related The Countdown Is at One
The 1/2 power creatures/donkeys
Players outside the game
Throwing cards in the air Flavor Judge Rules Lawyer Gleemax (impossible to loose with that out)
Not sure but the mini game cards are probably out (example Head to Head) Keeper of the sacred word (there’s no way in hell they will let this easy infinite +3/+3 creature)
You really didn't put much thought into this, did you. You are basically missing out on one fundamental rule: (Outside acorn-rules) Every printing of a card has to be functionally the same. This means anything that can change on a reprint (illustration, flavor text, set symbol) should be automatically in the red section.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Dropping the ball on Water Gun Balloon Game's Holostamp in the article that introduces the Holostamp tech and explains how they use it... is just such an avoidable issue. I was really weirded out by that one.
Definitely an inferior art just functionally. I'm super happy Un-sets now can now contain eternal-legal cards if they are fine by the rules. Goodbye silver borders! You have served well.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Isn't Unstable already that, just without an implementation that makes eternal cards viable?
That's the deciding factor. If you put the card in your deck, you better read it beforehand. If you read it and see something suspcious, you better check for the acorn. Even more so: There are right now cards without acorn from non Un-sets that have no mechanics related to dexterity, verbal actions, flavor text etc. that you are not alloed to play in certain eternal formats because they may be from a set that is too old or are on a specific banlist that - considering unbannings can happen - is fairly arbitrary and none of this is noted on the card.
The acorn is just a shortcut that allows you to avoid looking up legality, but we don't know whether a random non-acorn rare will not have an unintentional interaction with an obscure card that will lead to a ban, so a non-acorn card is also not a definite guarantee for legality. If you play a format, you have stupid homework to do. Or you play casual and wing it.
And they might become eternal eventually. This is like the Walking Dead Secret Lair a situation of "we didn't have the right idea back then, but we won't look into retroactively aplying it until we at least have the data from our current test". It's even directly inspired by the treatment of Universes Beyond cards.
I'm fine with calling this honorary acorn since it has the same effective legality. Actually, can we consider this legal in every format all silver-border cards are legal? There is no reason to not allow this in any game that allows the confetti variant.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
It is surprising that they managed to have less than half the cards be acorn. A quick thought experiment shows though, that it is not that hard. Counting cards by cardname (since Unstable features functionally distinct - but similar - cards that share a name e. g. Knight of the Kitchen Sink and multi-art cards like Amateur Auteur) one could make an estimation what ratio of cards of Unstable would have been eternal/acorn respectively.
Making the assumption that they would have made Augment/Host, contraptions/assemble and die rolls eternal because these seem like something the rules could handle, or at least could have been made so without major changes to the concept, white would have had 13 eternal cards and 10 acorn cards.
Of the acorn cards By Gnome Means strikes me as a card that they might have altered slightly to make it eternal. Do-It-Yourself Seraph, using the "additional text box" mechanic, is something they might have considered rules-fixing as well, but is borderline. Technically, I cannot even guarantee that it is not possible to do it in eternal/black-border, it just has additional implications in acorn/silver-border due to stealing watermarks and flavor text.
So 56% to 65% of white could have ended up not being acorn in Unstable if they had tried. And beyond the colors, I think all Contrpations would qualify, that's flat 75% of artifacts in the set, before counting Angelic Rocket, Krark's Other Thumb, Curious Killbot etc. I'm not too shocked, since Unstable feels less over-the-top weird, but more high-variance wacky, when compared to Unglued/Unhinged - and even there we have Assquatch and similar cards that are okay once you get rid of fractions.
I feel the set's design really might not have changed all that much to arrive at these numbers.
Concerns regarding visibility of acorn stamp vs. silver border might still be valid, but in the end every format has its ban list that is not marked on the cards either, so in the end we will be able to deal with that, too.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I don't think, Un-sets are Universes Beyond.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
You really didn't put much thought into this, did you. You are basically missing out on one fundamental rule: (Outside acorn-rules) Every printing of a card has to be functionally the same. This means anything that can change on a reprint (illustration, flavor text, set symbol) should be automatically in the red section.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Definitely an inferior art just functionally. I'm super happy Un-sets now can now contain eternal-legal cards if they are fine by the rules. Goodbye silver borders! You have served well.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO