Bolt Bend
Oracle Text
This spell costs
less to cast if you control a creature with power 4 or greater.Change the target of target spell or ability with a single target
This spell costs
less to cast if you control a creature with power 4 or greater.Change the target of target spell or ability with a single target
Man, the fiction for Amonkhet was definitely a downer. Rhonas, especially, it's hard not to feel bad for him. He gives the Scorpion God everything he's got—and then some, literally fighting even after he was dead.
A keyword is a standalone piece of game mechanic that has an actual function within the rules. They have an implied effect. Conversely, ability words don't have any mechanical function. They're just fancy names to show that certain abilities are similar.
Regardless, most set-specific words don't move from set to set. It keeps them distinct. Rarely, set-specific keywords become evergreen keywords, like Scry, but ability words never do, since they don't serve any purpose other than flavor.
OK, fine. It's an ability word, not a keyword. There's little actual difference.
Fine, it's an implied effect, not a mechanical function. Technical difference, not functionally different.
First Strike is a keyword. Ferocious is an ability word. Both First Strike and Ferocious mean the same thing each time they're used. First Strike uses [(reminder text)] while Ferocious uses [- reminder text]. Functionally, they mean the same thing.
The only difference is that the rules team decided to officially categorize one as a keyword because they intend to use it frequently and the other they left as an ability word because they don't plan to use it again. It's an arbitrary difference. If they decide they want Ferocious to be an evergreen keyword, all they have to do is declare it has changed and put the reminder text in (italics). And what has changed functionally about Ferocious? Nothing.
But, I'll accept your criticism and slightly change my statement while maintaining my point:
Cards (and their text) should maintain consistency from one set to the next.
If a card is first printed in Khans and given the ability word Ferocious, it should still have the ability word Ferocious when reprinted a few sets later (unless there's a functional reason to change that).
You could mitigate that by printing reminder text in most of the more complex, or less often used, ability words, but then you've used up even more real estate on the card than if you used no ability word at all, for no real benefit except to call back to that one set that used the mechanic 6 years ago or whatever.
I think they have the right idea on how they handle keywords vs ability words, personally.