There’s no denying that Unfinity jumped one hell of a shark for Magic: The Gathering. For the first time, instead of the typical silver border used for un-sets, all cards in this set were black-bordered, with non-eternal legal cards receiving the Acorn stamp. Unfortunately, due to issues with physical play and Stickers not sticking, this didn’t go down well.
Despite the problems it caused, however, the idea of black-bordered Un-set cards isn’t inherently terrible. Playability has always been an issue for these cards, and Wizards was understandably looking to solve that. For better or worse, it appears that Wizards of the Coast hasn’t given up on this endeavor.
Judging by a new post on Blogatog by MTG’s Head Designer, more Un-set cards may soon become playable. Bafflingly, from the sounds of things, these new old cards might even be coming to Standard in the future. While there’s not much concrete information right now, it seems MTG players are already excited about the possibilities.
Silver-Bordered Cards in Standard?
“If we made a Standard-legal black border version of a silver-bordered/acorn card, which versions should be legal in a tournament?”
Mark Rosewater
Yesterday, Mark Rosewater set up a new poll on Blogatog to see what MTG players think about silver-bordered cards becoming Standard legal. Curiously, Rosewater’s post wasn’t asking if players would want such a thing, but about the playability of old cards, instead. This makes it seem like such reprints are inevitable rather than something just up for consideration.
That being said, while the wording here is definitely unorthodox, it’s hard to see this as much more than a fact-finding mission. The all-important “If” at the start of the poll could easily mean this will amount to nothing, after all. Even then, however, we’ve still got to wonder why Rosewater brought this up now, unprompted.
Regardless of why this topic was suddenly brought up, MTG players have been more than happy to share their support. Responding en masse to Rosewater’s poll, the “All copies regardless of border” option is currently winning by a landslide. Commanding 77% of the vote so far, it really feels like a done deal already.
Notably, while MTG players are seemingly happy with getting silver-bordered reprints into Standard, there is an alternative solution. If Wizards wanted, they could just make new cards that are functionally identical to old silver-bordered MTG cards. While this is technically an option, it feels like the least fun solution, so hopefully Wizards won’t do this.
Surprisingly Safe Reprints
Between Rosewater’s random poll and the player support behind it, silver-bordered reprints in Standard do feel inevitable. If, or rather when these do happen, there’s actually a surprisingly large number of safe reprints. The vast majority of these are the dice-themed cards, since this mechanic already became black-bordered in 2021.
Thanks to Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, cards like GO TO JAIL, Hydradoodle, and The Big Idea all seem totally above board. The same is also true for Krark’s Other Thumb, which MTG players have long wanted reprinted. Alongside these, As Luck Would Have It, Chicken à la King, and Goblin Tutor all work in Magic’s current rules.
On top of this, Crow Storm, which was another popular request from players, could totally be reprinted nowadays. While it might be a bit much for Standard, it’d undeniably be a fun card to play with. Technically, the same is also true for Form of the Squirrel, but this card is dubiously playable at best.
Realistically, with no shortage of reprint options, it feels a lot more like a question of when, rather than if. Sadly, even if silver-bordered reprints in Standard are guaranteed, we might be waiting a very long time.
Don’t Hold Your Breath
Unless Mark Rosewater set up this poll as a sneaky tease at what’s to come, we could be waiting years for these reprints. Currently, MTG sets spend roughly three years in the development pipeline, so we might not see anything until 2029. While this long wait is already annoying, it’s especially frustrating considering Reality Fracture is right around the corner.
As a set themed around multiverse-bending shenanigans, it feels like the perfect place for silver-bordered reprints to appear. Technically, there is a chance of this happening, but that chance is pretty damn close to zero. As a result, I certainly wouldn’t recommend holding your breath until this becomes reality.
Thankfully, even if we never end up getting standard legal silver-bordered reprints, they could become Commander playable. The Silver-Bordered Project from the old Commander Rules Committee could return, for instance, to accomplish the same goal in Commander. Failing that, MTG players can always use Rule Zero to play with the cards they want before Wizards changes anything.
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