I just noticed that Gravitic Punch is a burn spell that deals damage to players, but not planeswalkers! I thought the whole point of the Dominaria planeswalker damage rule change was that spells like Lava Axe now target planeswalkers. So now they're printing new cards that only target players? I get the appeal of this template, it's much simpler, and maybe you don't want it to be able to hit planeswalkers for strategic reasons.
But in the past, that was just a game rule that burn spells that target players could always hit their planeswalkers. I can just imagine explaining to a new player that my M15 Lava Axe can target their planeswalker, but Gravitic Punch can't, and the only way to tell is to look online. I'm generally fine with oracle changes, but this is a really weird one in that two cards could have the exact same text but do different things.
I thought the whole point of the Dominaria planeswalker damage rule change was that spells like Lava Axe now target players.
No, the point of the rule change is to make all new cards printed from that point forward be able to target exactly who they say they target, and not have a secret invisible 'anything that hurts players can hurt their planeswalkers instead' as had been the case before. The point of the rules change was *exactly* so they could design cards like this. Before the rule change they couldn't design cards that specifically were meant to be able to hit players and not planeswalkers (without adding clunky restriction text). Now they can.
I agree that it makes things confusing but as time goes on, the ability for burn spells to be more "direct" is probably a good thing. And, as we see more and more cards using the new template, there will be less confusion over whether the printed card matches Oracle. It will take a long time for that to happen though so it is frustrating for now. I guess it just adds another condition that anything printed before Dominaria can be assumed based on the printed wording and anything after just has the correct printed wording.
Also, worth pointing out, this is not even the first card to do this. They changed the rule in Dominaria and then the Buy a Box promo for that set was worded to not hit Planeswalkers: Firesong and Sunspeaker
I thought the whole point of the Dominaria planeswalker damage rule change was that spells like Lava Axe now target players.
No, the point of the rule change is to make all new cards printed from that point forward be able to target exactly who they say they target, and not have a secret invisible 'anything that hurts players can hurt their planeswalkers instead' as had been the case before. The point of the rules change was *exactly* so they could design cards like this. Before the rule change they couldn't design cards that specifically were meant to be able to hit players and not planeswalkers (without adding clunky restriction text). Now they can.
Whoops, that should have read "spells like Lava Axe now target planeswalkers", but I think you interpreted my point correctly. I guess that makes sense, but it's weird that they conditioned us to think that anything that could target a player can hit a planeswalker, and now that's not true.
Whoops, that should have read "spells like Lava Axe now target planeswalkers", but I think you interpreted my point correctly. I guess that makes sense, but it's weird that they conditioned us to think that anything that could target a player can hit a planeswalker, and now that's not true.
Such is the way of functional errata. It's the reason why the kind of wide-scale stuff like the planeswalker redirection change isn't very common.
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But in the past, that was just a game rule that burn spells that target players could always hit their planeswalkers. I can just imagine explaining to a new player that my M15 Lava Axe can target their planeswalker, but Gravitic Punch can't, and the only way to tell is to look online. I'm generally fine with oracle changes, but this is a really weird one in that two cards could have the exact same text but do different things.
No, the point of the rule change is to make all new cards printed from that point forward be able to target exactly who they say they target, and not have a secret invisible 'anything that hurts players can hurt their planeswalkers instead' as had been the case before. The point of the rules change was *exactly* so they could design cards like this. Before the rule change they couldn't design cards that specifically were meant to be able to hit players and not planeswalkers (without adding clunky restriction text). Now they can.
Also, worth pointing out, this is not even the first card to do this. They changed the rule in Dominaria and then the Buy a Box promo for that set was worded to not hit Planeswalkers: Firesong and Sunspeaker
Whoops, that should have read "spells like Lava Axe now target planeswalkers", but I think you interpreted my point correctly. I guess that makes sense, but it's weird that they conditioned us to think that anything that could target a player can hit a planeswalker, and now that's not true.
Such is the way of functional errata. It's the reason why the kind of wide-scale stuff like the planeswalker redirection change isn't very common.