The idea is to change just one word or add one word or remove one word to the oracle wording of a card to make that card more, or less, fair, fun to play, to fix function, whatever. Just one word.
So... thinking about this, I guess no mana or tap symbols as they're not words. There are a ton of cards that probably need adjustments on their mana costs. But I suppose plain numbers might count so I guess you can tweak at least one of Oko's costs....
So some examples....
Because WotC does... ya'know... errata on their own cards let's look at the current Oracle text of our first card. The current Oracle text on Kormus Bell reads:
All Swamps are 1/1 black creatures that are still lands.
I've always had a beef with the modern text because the original Alpha printing reads as such:
Treat all swamps in play as 1/1 creatures. Now they can be enchanted, killed, and so forth, and they can be tapped for mana or to attack. Swamps have no color; they are not considered black cards.
Notably, lands don't have a color to begin with and Kormus Bell originally didn't assign one. This change changed corner case strategies involving things like Fear and Plaguebearer. Of course, if you played Eradicate in EDH, you might not have many friends aftwerwards.
So the fix might read something like:
All Swamps are 1/1 colorless creatures that are still lands.
Another example some old players might remember is from 1994 with The Dark set is Whippoorwill. Whose text reads:
GGt : Target creature can’t be regenerated this turn. Damage that would be dealt to that creature this turn can’t be prevented or dealt instead to another permanent or player. When the creature dies this turn, exile the creature.
The change would read:
Flying
GGt : Target creature can’t be regenerated this turn. Damage that would be dealt to that creature this turn can’t be prevented or dealt instead to another permanent or player. When the creature dies this turn, exile the creature.
I suppose a more recent example might be Field of the Dead by changing its type line from:
Land
to read:
Legendary - Land
Though I doubt it would be enough to squelch how annoying that card ends up being
By the same token, not making Piper of the Swarm a Legendary was a missed opportunity for a EDH rats deck. But then again, maybe not when there are Rat cards with no card limits.
Of course, who am I to say you can't get all loopy? Sick of seeing Persistent Petitioners with this text?
T : Target player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.
Tap four untapped Advisors you control: Target player puts the top twelve cards of their library into their graveyard.
A deck can have any number of cards named Persistent Petitioners.
T : Target player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.
Tap four untapped Advisors you control: Target player puts the top twelve cards of their library into their graveyard.
A deck can't have any number of cards named Persistent Petitioners.
I'm sick of seeing this silly card so I'm OK with that change. Of course, the card sucks worse now but there's always Research but who's going to put 15 Petitioners in their sideboard?
Good idea for a thread. I assume it didn't take off for lack of ideas. I'd recommend " All Swamps are 1/1 creatures that are still lands (Lands are colorless. Swamps retain all abilities.)" for Kormus Bell.
I was going to post a serious reply to the rest of that but I don't think you meant it that way.
Edit: I was looking through the Urza's Saga spoiler and found an old-timey mechanic that could use an improvement in errata. Oppression
A lot of cards used to say "successfully casts", which has been errata'd into just "casts". A good one-word replacement would be changing casts to resolves.
A lot of cards used to say "successfully casts", which has been errata'd into just "casts". A good one-word replacement would be changing casts to resolves.
"Successfully casts" has always meant the same thing that "casts" means today. Failing to cast a spell doesn't mean it got countered, it means you were unable to cast it in the first place; for example, if you cast a spell relying on the mana obtained from Selvala, Explorer Returned's mana ability and didn't get the requisite mana to finish casting.
The idea is to change just one word or add one word or remove one word to the oracle wording of a card to make that card more, or less, fair, fun to play, to fix function, whatever. Just one word.
So... thinking about this, I guess no mana or tap symbols as they're not words. There are a ton of cards that probably need adjustments on their mana costs. But I suppose plain numbers might count so I guess you can tweak at least one of Oko's costs....
So some examples....
Because WotC does... ya'know... errata on their own cards let's look at the current Oracle text of our first card. The current Oracle text on Kormus Bell reads:
I've always had a beef with the modern text because the original Alpha printing reads as such:
Notably, lands don't have a color to begin with and Kormus Bell originally didn't assign one. This change changed corner case strategies involving things like Fear and Plaguebearer. Of course, if you played Eradicate in EDH, you might not have many friends aftwerwards.
So the fix might read something like:
Another example some old players might remember is from 1994 with The Dark set is Whippoorwill. Whose text reads:
The change would read:
I suppose a more recent example might be Field of the Dead by changing its type line from:
to read:
Though I doubt it would be enough to squelch how annoying that card ends up being
By the same token, not making Piper of the Swarm a Legendary was a missed opportunity for a EDH rats deck. But then again, maybe not when there are Rat cards with no card limits.
Of course, who am I to say you can't get all loopy? Sick of seeing Persistent Petitioners with this text?
Let's make them wish for Petitioners instead.
I'm sick of seeing this silly card so I'm OK with that change. Of course, the card sucks worse now but there's always Research but who's going to put 15 Petitioners in their sideboard?
I was going to post a serious reply to the rest of that but I don't think you meant it that way.
Edit: I was looking through the Urza's Saga spoiler and found an old-timey mechanic that could use an improvement in errata.
Oppression
A lot of cards used to say "successfully casts", which has been errata'd into just "casts". A good one-word replacement would be changing casts to resolves.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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