NWO + Redflagging
A primer on new world order, redflagging and custom card design.
A primer on new world order, redflagging and custom card design.
Introduction
This is a primer on New World Order and Red Flagging to help inform magic players and custom card creators what these concepts are and how to apply them.
My aim is to make this guide necessary reading for any custom card creator designing commons in a custom set.
This guide may still be a little rough so feel free to ask questions, give suggestions or point out any errors.
What is New World Order?
New World Order (commonly abbreviated to NWO) is a concept used by Wizard of the Coast when designing commons to limit complexity at common.
NWO is the brain child of lead designer Mark Rosewater and was first introduced in this article from December 2011. NWO's aim is to lower the barrier of entry of Magic and make magic more fun by introducing clarity to a blocks design while decreasing comprehension and board complexity that can lead to unsatisfying gameplay experiences.
New World Order was first implemented partially in Shards of Alara block with Zendikar being the first block fully designed with NWO in mind.
NWO and red flagging is potentially crucial if you plan on making custom magic card sets as keeping a lower complexity level at common will create better gameplay and allow you to focus the complexity on what you want to showcase in your set.
Q: So how do you actually apply NWO?
A: NWO is applied through the use of Redflagging common rarity cards that have an increased complexity by following certain rules and then making sure the total number of red flagged cards are less than 20% of your total commons.
What is Redflagging?
Red flagging is used to mark that a common card is breaking NWO complexity in some way so that the designer can make sure that the card is adding to the focus of the set and thus adding unnecessary complexity.
A common card is red flagged if it breaks one or more of the follow rules that I'll go into more detail about shortly. Cards that break more than one of these rules must come under intense scrutiny and most likely moved up to uncommon in all but the most aberrant of cases.
Any card that you keep in your set that is red flagged must make an important contribution to the set's theme or limited environment.
A quick Red Flagging Rules checklist:
- Does it affect other permanents?
- Does it have four or more lines of rules text?
- Does it need to be read twice?
- Does it create card advantage?
- Does it have the potential to kill multiple card at once?
- Can it create a loop?
- Problematic in larger numbers?
- Does it use complex magic terminology.
Red Flag Rules Details
Ok so now that you've wrapped your head around what the basics of NWO and red flagging are let look in detail at each of the red flag rules and how to apply them.
1) Does it affect other permanents?
Does this common have the ability to effect other permanents? (especially creatures)
It is the most important red flag for reducing board complexity that can be extremely hard for newer (or even experienced) players to parse effectively to make decision about what they want to do. In essence if there is too many things going on in the board state it becomes to hard and you end up making mistakes which doesn't lead to fun gameplay.
This is one of the hardest red flags to understand correctly as it comes in a range of varieties and severities. So lets look at a few examples:
Kithkin Shielddare is a common from Shadowmoor before NWO way implemented and the set was known for its confusing board states with extremely high board complexity. This is remarked upon in that year's State of Design article as being a mistake made in the set.
So then what is wrong here about Kithkin Shielddare and how exactly is it adding to complexity?
Whenever I attack a player who has Kithkin Shielddare I suddenly have to do a lot more combat math to figure other if the available blocks/trades are going to be worth it. Now this by itself is fine but because this card is common what happens if I had 2 or 3 of these? Suddenly you can see how while a single Kithkin Shielddare may be able to be calculated around (And this isn't even true for new players) a board state with 2 or 3 Kithkin Shielddare's is simply too much for our brain to handle which is a bad thing for your limited environment.
Ok now lets look at another example:
Now this looks like another example of a simple common that breaks this rule right?
WRONG
Tappers don't activate this red flag.
This is because they have to be used before combat and thus actually simplify the board complexity by making less choices in attacker or blockers. This can then apply to any sorcery speed activated ability or an ability that doesn't effect the board state such as Voyaging Satyr.
Ok one last example that tripped me up initially when applying Red Flagging to the commons of my custom set Dreamscape of Noctus.
Lets look at the following common card:
This also shows us dangerous assumptions we can make about precedent based on WOTC products as I assumed Crackling Triton wasn't red flagged when in fact I later confirmed it was.
Remember that NWO says we can have 20% of our commons red flagged but they should each make an important contribution to the set's theme or limited environment.
Triggered abilities that only effect itself are not red flagged, this means that a card like Steppe Lynx or Midnight Guard that is triggered by other cards but that trigger only effects itself are fine at common. But remember that this effect is slightly more complex that normal as players can forget them. Thus if you have these type of triggers be consistent among a subset of commons it can reduce the overall complexity. If you are not using cohesive triggers for triggered abilities then some of your commons may fall under Red Flagging.
One last example is to show that cards don't need to have the word target on them to be red flagged under this rule.
One of my favorite examples:
Selfless Cathar in an example of a card that if a player forgets about it can lead to extremely bad situations. While it doesn't have the word "target" on it, it can still mess with the board state via its sacrifice ability. You may notice that this was a common in a core set (which try to reduce the common complexity even more than normal) but it was a role player in the white weenies limited archetype and thus WOTC felt it was worth having as part of their 20% allowance.
Finally be aware that instants and sorceries that target creatures don't fall into this category as they stay in your hand and are thus hidden information that isn't taken into account for board complexity.
2) Does it have four or more lines of rules text?
Does the card have four or more lines of non-reminder, non-flavor text.
This is by far the most common red flag, often making up for 75%+ of the total red flags in a set. Its also the red flag with the most leeway and that is most acceptable. Having a dozen wordy cards is going to happen to every set, but thats far better than having ridiculous board complexity due to having a dozen Samite Healer style cards.
It is important that when a player looks at the cards on the board and in his or her hand that they are able to understand them quickly and without getting confused. This is particularly important for younger players who may not be as strong at reading. So this red flag allows us to maintain a coherent and easily accessible game. reducing comprehension complexity and thus meaning your players can focus on the fun gameplay complexity.
Even if we assumed that all players of our set have strong reading abilities (a dangerous assumption) this restriction on wordiness prevents designers from creating cards that are mechanically too complex as we have to work within an extremely limited word limit.
The reason this only looks at lines of rules text is that a mechanics rules text only needs to read once or twice when learning that mechanic and can then be skipped while still knowing the functionality of the card.
Example:
Necrobite from M15 has a whopping 8 lines of text. (most cards in general should aim for 7 or less lines and never more than 9)
However this card doesn't actually fall under the red flag because nearly all of the card's text is reminder text that can be quickly mentally shortcutted by a player who knows what regenerate and deathtouch actually do. Be aware that red flagging doesn't take into consideration Average Words per Common which is still something to be aware of if you have lots of long reminder texts for your commons but that falls outside of the scope of this primer.
Lets look at an example of text we can't ignore:
Kinscaer Harpoonist as you can see has 4 lines of rules text and thus falls under the red flag here. However I've had designers try and argue that the flying text can be ignored due to being an evergreen mechanic. This however is not the case as the mechanic still contributes to what you have to think about when you read the card. Even if you know the mechanic, while your brain shortcut what flying means it is easy to will on a wordy card. How many times has the situation come up where your or an opponent forget that a certain creature has flying or first strike or other relevant evergreen keyword?
Counting the evegreen words in the line count helps keep the complexity down on what each common does and thus helps avoid these "feel bad" situations
One line of text that you can ignore when looking at word count is the enchant creature line on auras as this is considered part of learning the aura subtype except when given weird enchantment clauses that may fall off under certain conditions like Runner's Bane.
Ability words are the single greatest source of confusion and questions about the wordyness redflag so I'm going to expand on this a little more than in previous version of this primer.
An ability word is a word that thematically groups cards with a common functionality, but has no special meaning in the Comprehensive Rules. Examples include Battalion (Wojek Halberdiers) Landfall (Plated Geopede) or Converge (Brilliant Spectrum).
Nearly every ability word has some sort of text that is repeated across all cards that use that ability. For example nearly every landfall card has the "Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control." For the purposes of red flagging via the number of lines of text, this repeated ability word text is ignored and treated like reminder text.
Thus a card like Plated Geopede that looks like it contains 4 lines of text and thus would normally be red flagged actually only contains 3 lines and isn't red falgged once you disregard the generic landfall text.
The reason this is allowed is because of mental shortcutting. Applying a term to a specific ability means that we can gloss over the text and immediety look at what exactly the effect is without having to relearn what the card is caring about mechanically.
-> 
Finally it is worth mentioning that sometimes you get "invisible mechanics" which are basically ability words with repeated text that don't have the italicized ability word text for whatever reason. Some examples of these are Eldrazi spawn/scions from ROE or BFZ, the Naya "5 power or greater" mechanic from Shards of Alara or the Processors from BFZ.
Basically if you asked most players what some of the mechanics of the set where, they will include these despite not having an associated ability word.
So when it comes to NWO Red Flagging we treat the repeated text of an "invisible mechanic" as exactly like as if it had an ability word, thus ignoring the repeated text.
3) Does it need to be read twice?
Is this card hard to parse or understand due to mechanical complexity or weird wording?
This is one of the rarer and more intuitive red flagging rules that looks at if players have the ability to work out quickly what the card does. An example of cards that do weird things that can fall under this category is the conspiracy cards. These can be more difficult to understand by newer players and thus should usually be moved to uncommon. In the case of the conspiracies they actually had a conspiracy or "draft matters" card as a separate slot in the booster pack to avoid them flooding the commons and breaking the spirit of NWO.
4) Does it create card advantage
Does this card means I end up with a total net gain on cards compared to my opponent?
This Red Flag is another major one after number 1 and 2 but is slightly less about design and more about developing a fun and balanced limited environment.
Examples of cards that fall under this catagory are creatures with enter the battlefield effects that can destroy something on board such as Cultbrand Cinder.
Be aware that cards that do straight card advantage without affecting the board such as Divination or Mind Rot don't fall under this category.
5) Does it have the potential to kill multiple card at once?
Can this card be used to reasonably create on board card advantage via killing two or more cards an opponent has.
This Red Flag is similar to the one above except it is more to do with how a card can be used to create advantages of how many creatures a player has. Since creatures are the core of most limited environments this is another red flag that is more to do with development than design concerns.
The most obvious example of this is something like Boulderfall which can easily kill two or more creatures. Even though the card was horrible in limited due to its high cost this card would of still bee red flagged due to its potential to turn a game around more than nearly any other common.
Another source of multiple kills in limited are combat tricks. If a creature you control is double blocked and you cast Giant Growth you can kill both of their creatures with a single card. However this doesn't fall under this red flag as combat tricks (and enchantment - auras) all have the inherent possibility of card disadvantage build into them if in response to your Giant Growth your creature gets targeted by a Doom Blade.
However some combat tricks can affect multiple permanents and thus do fall under this red flag such as Martial Glory or Break of Day as suddenly the two creatures you blocked with can now survive thus killing two of you opponent's creature with a single common spell.
6) Can it create a loop?
Does this card have the potential to create looping or repetitive gameplay?
Another rarer Red Flag is that it is dangerous to have cards that can create gameplay loops by themselves at common.
A gameplay loop is where an action can be repeated every turn without additional cards thus potentially not only creating card advantage but also making for an unfun enviorment for players.
The main aspect that is important about these loops is that they are uninteractive which is why cipher cards are not considered as they require you to fulfill the requirements of combat damage against your opponent.
The ability for cards such as Gravedigger to create a loop when played with another copy of gravedigger is why this card is now printed at uncommon. This loop creates card advantage it you block any opponent 2 toughness creatures and is very uninteractive for your opponent as even if they have removal it doesn't matter unless it exiles.
However the worst offenders of this red flag are cards that create gameplay loops all by themselves such as Sprout Swarm. This card is considered a mistake by R&D and should not be at common.
Be careful of your set mechanics as if you had a mechanic like Forecast or Buyback it is going to eat up a lot of your complexity by falling into this gameplay loop Red Flag.
7) Problematic in larger numbers?
Does this card become abusive if I have 5+ of them in a limited deck?
This is another narrow red flag rule that you should be aware of when creating cards that scale with the number of copies such as Kindle or that are free like Memnite.In a 3 pack draft you can potentially have 24 or a single common with an average of seeing 2.4 of that common. However as this is an average you don't want an above average amount of that common to ruin the draft. For example in Scars of Mirrodin playtesting originally Memnite was a common but was moved to uncommon when a play got 7-8 of them in a draft and proceeded to have ridiculous draws. The deck still wasn't even good but it creates a negative drafting experience that you don't want from your commons.
8) Does it mention uncommon magic terms?
Does this card use terminology that is hard to parse for newer players?
Common cards in magic form the bulk of cards seen by a newer player and are used as a learning tool when playing. However certain magic terms are not commonly used or essential to learn right away. To avoid overloading a new player on terminology certain words should be restricted to uncommon or greater or fall under this Red Flag.
List of magic terms that are Red Flagged:
- Converted Mana Cost
- X as a Cost
- Planeswalker
- Emblem
- Non-Standard counters - eg: Briber's Purse.
Time to test your knowledge!
In the following section I'm going to show you a variety of common custom cards and you should guess which Red Flags (if any) the card is breaking.
Mireburn Gnoll
Creature - Gnoll Shaman (C)
Swampwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls a Swamp.)
Whenever Mireburn Gnoll attacks, if you control three or more Gnolls, you may have Mireburn Gnoll deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Gnoll magic is the worst spawn of hate and blood.
2/2
RED FLAGGED
This card would be red flagged for a having 5 lines of rules text as well as being red flagged for its ability to potentially kill multiple creatures.
Finally this also targets during combat as the opponent has not idea which creature you are going to Shock, thus making predicting combat very difficult.
This card would be red flagged for a having 5 lines of rules text as well as being red flagged for its ability to potentially kill multiple creatures.
Finally this also targets during combat as the opponent has not idea which creature you are going to Shock, thus making predicting combat very difficult.
Irridan Communer
Creature - Elf Druid (C)
: Untap up to one target Forest. You gain 1 life.
"The voice of the land cries out to me. At first it cried in agony and now it cries in anger."
1/1
RED FLAGGED
This card doesn't break any targeting red flag as lands don't affect the board complexity at common. However the "up to one" wording is non-standard wording that has nearly never been used at common. Thus this falls under the "does it have to be read twice" Red Flag. This card could be easily fixed by changing the wording to "untap target forest" similar to Arbor Elf.
This card doesn't break any targeting red flag as lands don't affect the board complexity at common. However the "up to one" wording is non-standard wording that has nearly never been used at common. Thus this falls under the "does it have to be read twice" Red Flag. This card could be easily fixed by changing the wording to "untap target forest" similar to Arbor Elf.
Shadow of Mistrust
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "This creature gets -1/-1 for each other creature you control."
Rumors spread about the court wizard and before he knew it his closest friends plotted his downfall.
NOT RED FLAGGED
While it looks like the card is 4 lines or greater the enchant X line on auras is usually not included unless it is a weird condition (In which case it probably shouldn't be at common regardless)
However the constantly changing nature of the -1/-1 effect means this can be hard to keep track of and should probably be red flagged for board complexity.
While it looks like the card is 4 lines or greater the enchant X line on auras is usually not included unless it is a weird condition (In which case it probably shouldn't be at common regardless)
However the constantly changing nature of the -1/-1 effect means this can be hard to keep track of and should probably be red flagged for board complexity.
Fantasy Surge
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
RED FLAGGED
This card would seemingly be red flagged for its rules text length but the wording here is broken into two lines actually makes it easier to read, thus following the spirit of the rules. However its ability to potentially create a double kill if it is used when two separate trades were going to occur in combat
This card would seemingly be red flagged for its rules text length but the wording here is broken into two lines actually makes it easier to read, thus following the spirit of the rules. However its ability to potentially create a double kill if it is used when two separate trades were going to occur in combat
Caravan Sentry
Creature - Human Scout (C)
: Untap another target creature.
Caravans are the lifeblood of trade on Mercalis. Each city maintaining vast guilds of drivers, horsemen and most importantly, guards.
1/1
RED FLAGGED
This card breaks the targeting restriction Red Flag as unlike a tapper this can mess with combat math as your opponent has no idea which card you may untap.
This card breaks the targeting restriction Red Flag as unlike a tapper this can mess with combat math as your opponent has no idea which card you may untap.
Light of Binding
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack.
At the beginning your upkeep, you may gain 1 life.
RED FLAGGED
This card doesn't break any of the text length or card advantage rules but upkeep triggers are not usually seen at common and would fall under the uncommon magic terms rule. Newer players especially forget that upkeep triggers come before you draw a card which is especially important to keep in mind. Be aware that cards like Parasitic Infestation can ignore this rule as they sacrifice themselves after a single turn, thus not maintaining the complexity over a number of turns.
This card doesn't break any of the text length or card advantage rules but upkeep triggers are not usually seen at common and would fall under the uncommon magic terms rule. Newer players especially forget that upkeep triggers come before you draw a card which is especially important to keep in mind. Be aware that cards like Parasitic Infestation can ignore this rule as they sacrifice themselves after a single turn, thus not maintaining the complexity over a number of turns.
Desolate
Sorcery (C)
Target player sacrifices a creature. Target player sacrifices a land.
"Dust is the legacy of the Eldrazi, and the future of this world."
RED FLAGGED
This card breaks card advantage and the multiple card kill rules. This is slightly offset by one of the permanents destroyed being a land but even a bad two for one can create imbalances in the commons and increase complexity of a set.
This card breaks card advantage and the multiple card kill rules. This is slightly offset by one of the permanents destroyed being a land but even a bad two for one can create imbalances in the commons and increase complexity of a set.
Emeria's Faithful
Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Whenever an Angel enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Emeria Faithful.
I see the face of Emeria not in the monsters that hunt us, but in the angels that guide us.
1/3
NOT RED FLAGGED
Triggered abilities that only effect itself are not red flagged, this card doesn't make every angel you control suddenly break NWO. However this is certainly slightly more complex and can be forgotten which can lead to feel bads, thus make your triggers like this consistent like Landfall. This card doesn't break any of the red flag rules and really helps lead players towards a subtheme of the set. If players see this at common then they are going to assume you have an angel subtheme so making sure you meet that expectation is important.
Triggered abilities that only effect itself are not red flagged, this card doesn't make every angel you control suddenly break NWO. However this is certainly slightly more complex and can be forgotten which can lead to feel bads, thus make your triggers like this consistent like Landfall. This card doesn't break any of the red flag rules and really helps lead players towards a subtheme of the set. If players see this at common then they are going to assume you have an angel subtheme so making sure you meet that expectation is important.
Kor Reinforcements
Creature - Kor Soldier (C)
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, another target creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Survival is not their goal. They delay the broods so others may enjoy life a few days longer, giving meaning to their struggle.
2/2
NOT RED FLAGGED
This card has 4 or more lines of text but a large portion of this is the landfall repeated ability word text. Once this is removed from our evaluation, similar to the Plated Geopede examplein this primer then this card meets all the requirements of a non-redflagged card. Note that this also targets your creatures but land drops are only at sorcery speed the vast majority of the time which makes this unable to be used as an on-board trick.
This card has 4 or more lines of text but a large portion of this is the landfall repeated ability word text. Once this is removed from our evaluation, similar to the Plated Geopede examplein this primer then this card meets all the requirements of a non-redflagged card. Note that this also targets your creatures but land drops are only at sorcery speed the vast majority of the time which makes this unable to be used as an on-board trick.
Rabid Sparkweaver
Creature - Human Shaman (U)
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, target creature gains haste until end of turn.
2/1
NOT RED FLAGGED
The main issue with this card is that it is an uncommon. NWO red flags only applies to common cards. However even if this was an uncommon it would be red flagged for having 4 lines of text despite it being fairly simple. Note that one change would be to have an Elusive Spellfist style trigger to cut down on the total word count by not repeating the noncreature casting trigger.
The main issue with this card is that it is an uncommon. NWO red flags only applies to common cards. However even if this was an uncommon it would be red flagged for having 4 lines of text despite it being fairly simple. Note that one change would be to have an Elusive Spellfist style trigger to cut down on the total word count by not repeating the noncreature casting trigger.
Nightmarish Choice
Sorcery (C)
Trance — Target player reveals X cards from his or her hand, where X is the number of tapped creatures you control. You choose one of them and that player discards that card.
RED FLAGGED
Here trance is an ability word that cares about the number of tapped creatures you control which means for NWO we can disregard the "where X is the number of tapped creatures you control." text when assessing line count. Howevereven with nearly two lines of text removed this card is still too wordy, showing that you can't completely take for granted that cards with ability words won't go over the word limit for NWO. Thus this would end up red flagged.
Here trance is an ability word that cares about the number of tapped creatures you control which means for NWO we can disregard the "where X is the number of tapped creatures you control." text when assessing line count. Howevereven with nearly two lines of text removed this card is still too wordy, showing that you can't completely take for granted that cards with ability words won't go over the word limit for NWO. Thus this would end up red flagged.
Summary
- New world order is designed to reduce complexity at common
- Red Flagging is a system of rules to keep complexity at common in check
- No more than 20% of the commons in your set should be red flagged
- Red flagged cards should each make an important contribution to your set's themes or archetypes
If you have any questions/comments post them below, PM me or you can contact me on twitter at @reubencovington.
Extra Reading / Listening
New World Order - DailyMTG
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/172
Understanding Complexity - Gathering Magic
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/natasha-lewis-harrington-editorial-psychology-03282013-understanding-complexity/
New World Order and Complexity Creep - Starcity Games
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/23228_New-World-Order-And--Complexity-Creep-.html
Red Flagging - Drive to work Podcast by Mark Rosewater
http://podbay.fm/show/580709168/e/1406909700?autostart=1 (Podcast)
http://dtwtranscripts.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/8114-episode-144-redflagging.html (Transcript)
1
Yeah, but won't you have better things to do with you 6 points of evasive power?
It's really awkward how the Angels are just to small to saddle this individually, but also so big that you waste a lot of additional power if you use them.
I cannot believe how after day-log discussions about how players cannot comprehend nonflying Birds we get this art of a Unicorn with indicated cloud-wings and it doesn't gain flying when saddled. I have a feeling this art got commissioned before a mechanical change to the card.
1
To be fair: Even if they weren't blue, they'd still be Rogues so they can be outlaws. You'd need to accumulate new tokens regardless of the color choice. And given that, adding blue for Skaabs totally fits. I suspect it also signals that this might be a blue-black theme.
I'm always happy to see new iterations on tokens. Seeing blue Zombie tokens on Innistrad would be totally cool, too. I guess, you should be happy they only changed the color when they had to add a creature type anyway.
1
I expect no one has a problem with Marchesa wanting her slice of the fortune, but she's both a monarch an has been shown to use a group of capable agents since before becoming a monarch. Given that, she ought to delegate.
I don't think, her being mentioned in the flavor text as the employer of another character filling this slot would be a problem and could still serve a purpose without ripping every single character from their home plane.
2
That's bad design. If it gains deathtouch that's your incentive to not block. Then taking away the choice makes things less interesting. Also the colors would lend itself more towards deathtouch + Lure anyway.
1
Did they market the set as a villain set or is that just something MaRo (who has previously fed false hopes/expectations through unfortunate word choices that actually don't appear in any "proper" marketing i. e. anything that doesn'toriginate from blogatog) stated? there is a >50% chance you can trace misdirected hype back to blogatog from what I have observed whenever I actually research where it originates (this includes, btw, Ikoria - though the special Godzilla-themed card versions didn't help).
So far the only mention of "villain" in proper OTJ marketing material I have found specifically speaksonly about Kellan's story arc and makes no sweeping statements about the set as a whole - the same article talks about outlaws at least four times outside of the set's name and mentions crimes at least twice, so maybe "they" didn't market OTJ as a set full of villains, but "he" used that word/framing and "we" got stuck with it and mentally insert it where "outlaw" and "criminal" is used instead.
Selvala isn't a villain, but she has been imprisoned for murder of a person she actually has killed, and has been a fugitive from the law. Also she's known to live in the wilds and wear a cool hat. She's a good fit as an "outlaw"/"criminal"/person who lives at the frontier of civilization wearing a cool hat. And maybe we should stop thinking of this set as a villain set and calibrate or expectations on what we actually see.
Nashi? Not a villain, but a gang member, so not unlikely to bet into trouble with the law etc.
1
1
2
2
It's "Whenever A or B", but it is "Whenever A and whenever B". In the first case you say that either one event is sufficient to fulfill the condition; in the second case you say that both conditions (each fulfilled by a different event) are triggers for the resulting effect.
They use this unusual wording since the ETB and face-up trigger use slightly different subject groups ("CARDNAME or another Detective" vs. "a Detective you control" i. e. unmorphing permanents don't become new objects).
tl;dr: Repeating the "whenever" changes the grammar/template.
1
He had chosen desk duty, but he would take to the streets one last time before retirement.
You probably identified the internal playtest flavor text.