I am super hesitant to touch this topic because I've seen it go poorly in many different online contexts. But at least it's more Modern-specific in that Hermit is Modern-legal, so I'll give it a chance.
The cleanest answer to this is that Deranged Hermit and Deep Forest Hermit are not functionally identical because they don't have the same abilities. They don't have the same abilities either in the literal sense, in that Vanishing replaces Echo, and in the practical sense, in that Vanishing and Echo present distinct upsides and downsides between one another. Echo requires a 5 mana investment the turn later, but then you keep DH for good. This gives players the option to keep DH on the battlefield, which I know many players exercised back when Urza's block was around. If you don't pay the Echo cost, you lose the DH the turn after you play it. We can envision a scenario where a player wants to Overrun with DH/squirrels on the board but can't because they need to pay DH's Echo cost. Contrast this with Vanishing which allows you two turns of swinging with the 2/2 x4 team, but then you lose DFH no matter how much mana you're willing to invest.
So no, Wizards has not broken the rules of the policy. Wizards is free to reprint versions of RL cards with changed abilities. They can change colors and even make better versions of cards. Look at *****ty Mirage Canopy Dragon and compare to Hellkite Tyrant. Or Archon of Valor's Reach. Or Roalesk, Apex Hybrid. Unless you're wedded to Mono G or facing a lot of Crushing Canopy or something similar, these other cards are generally just going to be WAY better Canopy Dragons. Or compare garbage Aku Djinn to big man Doom Whisperer. Unless you're playing a strategy that tries to grow opposing creatures, Djinn tribal, facing Baneslayer Angel, or fighting all those Crushing Canopies, Whisperer is also just way better. There are tons of examples where Wizards prints virtually upgraded RL cards or RL reskins with different abilities. This doesn't violate RL policy any more than DH vs. DFH.
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The cleanest answer to this is that Deranged Hermit and Deep Forest Hermit are not functionally identical because they don't have the same abilities. They don't have the same abilities either in the literal sense, in that Vanishing replaces Echo, and in the practical sense, in that Vanishing and Echo present distinct upsides and downsides between one another. Echo requires a 5 mana investment the turn later, but then you keep DH for good. This gives players the option to keep DH on the battlefield, which I know many players exercised back when Urza's block was around. If you don't pay the Echo cost, you lose the DH the turn after you play it. We can envision a scenario where a player wants to Overrun with DH/squirrels on the board but can't because they need to pay DH's Echo cost. Contrast this with Vanishing which allows you two turns of swinging with the 2/2 x4 team, but then you lose DFH no matter how much mana you're willing to invest.
So no, Wizards has not broken the rules of the policy. Wizards is free to reprint versions of RL cards with changed abilities. They can change colors and even make better versions of cards. Look at *****ty Mirage Canopy Dragon and compare to Hellkite Tyrant. Or Archon of Valor's Reach. Or Roalesk, Apex Hybrid. Unless you're wedded to Mono G or facing a lot of Crushing Canopy or something similar, these other cards are generally just going to be WAY better Canopy Dragons. Or compare garbage Aku Djinn to big man Doom Whisperer. Unless you're playing a strategy that tries to grow opposing creatures, Djinn tribal, facing Baneslayer Angel, or fighting all those Crushing Canopies, Whisperer is also just way better. There are tons of examples where Wizards prints virtually upgraded RL cards or RL reskins with different abilities. This doesn't violate RL policy any more than DH vs. DFH.