For better or worse, it’s no secret that Universes Beyond has vastly changed the visual identity of MTG. While sets like Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna did push the boat out, Universes Beyond just hits different. Curiously, while many MTG players have come to accept this change, Wizards is surprisingly blaming it for causing confusion.
This confusion was supposedly the reason for a new copy change on MTG Arena. Not only is the reasoning rather odd here, but MTG players aren’t happy about the change either. With no say in the matter, some pet effects and decks have just been made a whole lot less interesting.
A Curious Copy Change
Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast announced a new change to copy effects on MTG Arena. Previously, the art on the source of the copy effect, like Mockingbird, would dictate the art of the new variant. This meant that if you were using the card’s showcase frame, then whatever you copied would also have its showcase frame.
Now, the copy target will dictate the appearance of the copy card, or the token it creates. At the very least, this is a hugely disappointing change to cards like Mockingbird that don’t showcase their own art much. Now, you just have to hope that your opponent is using showcase frames for what you want to copy.
Universes Beyond Is to Blame?
According to Wizards, this change was implemented in order to “improve clarity around dramatically different card styles.” On the surface, this makes sense, as when you put a card’s default and showcase frame side by side, they can look completely different. This is especially true for any reskinned reprints, like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Hero of Light.
Specifically, in their announcement, Wizards blamed Mina Harker for causing issues. As a reskin of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, it’s definitely possible to get these cards confused. At worst, this could change how you approach attacking or blocking, potentially causing a game loss.
Realistically, though, Mina Harker appearing when you’re expecting Thalia is just a little bit confusing, most of the time. As such, it’s likely to only slow down game speed slightly while you hover over the card and figure out what happened. While this isn’t the end of the world, admittedly, it could still cause confusion, which evidently Wizards doesn’t want.
Locking onto this line of thinking, it’s easy to see why Wizards made this change. Should you take a step back, however, this argument falls apart incredibly quickly. Not only have players been dealing with Mina Harker for five years, but there are plenty more confusing things in MTG.
Between nearly unreadable rules text, unusual creature types, and countless post-printing errata, MTG players have proven they can handle a lot. Hell, reprints with different arts and skins entirely are everywhere nowadays, yet paper players aren’t constantly scratching their heads. As such, it feels incredibly weird that Wizards felt the need to suddenly step in here.
Immediate Upset
Curiously, in their announcement, Wizards acknowledged that this change would upset some players. Some players use alternative art copy effects to deliberately make the tokens they want to see, after all. While these players were acknowledged, their upset was seemingly dismissed in favor of those who dislike the mismatch between original cards and copy effects.
Unsurprisingly, these upset players quickly voiced their opinions on social media. Players like KolarinTehMage were especially frustrated, as they have decks built around using the ichor variant of Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer to make thematic tokens. Now, this simply isn’t possible, and there’s no toggle to bring back the old ways.
Curiously, if Wizards’ goal is to reduce confusion by alternative art styles, that problem has already been solved. Buried within MTG Arena’s options is a setting to outright disable alternate card styles, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Realistically, though, pointing players toward this opinion would mitigate the appeal of buying alternative styles, so it’s understandably not much talked about.
Ultimately, for now, MTG players aren’t loving this change one bit. Hopefully, the current backlash will prompt Wizards to make this a toggleable option, but that seems unlikely given their reasoning. For better or worse, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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