Thanks to their propensity to cause confusion, it’s rare that Wizards of the Coast will errata an MTG card. Typically, it’s only reserved for mistakes that fell through the cracks of development or sweeping overhauls to creature types. In either case, there’s always the balance of confusion versus reward, which prevents Wizards from just errata-ing everything.
Judging by a new statement from MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, we may soon see a rather unorthodox errata. Due to a new precedent set by Reality Fracture, legendary creatures now read slightly differently than they used to. Since this pronouns-based change may also be applied to past cards, there could be sweeping, albeit simple, changes.
The Language of Legendaries
As the spoiler season for Reality Fracture has progressed, MTG players have started noticing a slight wording change on legendary creatures. For years, Universes Within cards like
Juri, master of the Revue
Juri, master of the Revue
Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Juri.
When Juri dies, it deals damage equal to its power to any target.
have used “it” or repeated card names to refer to themselves. Now, however, as cards like
Fblthp, Impossibly Lost
Fblthp, Impossibly Lost
When one or more of your opponents are dealt combat damage during your turn, draw two cards. If your library has no cards in it, you win the game. Fblthp's owner shuffles him into their library. (If you draw from an empty library this way, you still win the game.)
show, Wizards is now using a character’s pronouns to refer to the card.
Notably, while several cards use this new templating, like Edgar, Ancient Bloodlord and
Ruric Thar, Magecrusher
Ruric Thar, Magecrusher
This spell can't be countered.
Reach, vigilance, trample
Ruric Thar has hexproof as long as they haven't dealt combat damage yet. (They can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
, it’s not that common. Cards like
Gideon the Oathless
Gideon the Oathless
Ward—Discard a card.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls enters, Gideon deals 1 damage to that player.
Whenever an opponent activates a loyalty ability, Gideon deals 1 damage to that player.
use their names across abilities, rather than immediately switching to pronouns. While this will stop this change from feeling like a sudden 0 to 100, realistically, it’s seamless and barely noticeable.
Beyond improving card readability in many cases, this tweak is a small but welcome flavor addition. Previously, you usually had to go digging into a set’s story or “Legends Of” article to find a character’s pronouns. Now, however, it can easily be shown on the card, even when there’s no flavor text.
With this in mind, it’s no wonder that MTG Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, has confirmed this pronoun change is the new normal. On Blogatog, Rosewater confirmed that, going forward, “we will template all legendary creatures in in-Multiverse sets with pronouns.” Notably, this isn’t even some bold new step for MTG, as Universes Beyond sets have already been doing this for some time.
Thanks to this, on social media, player reaction has been rather positive, with players praising the increased consistency. That said, praise hasn’t been universal, and it’s not just the usual anti-pronoun crowd creeping from the woodwork. Some players note that since cards have usually been referred to as cards, rather than characters, this change can feel less natural.
New Errata Coming Soon?
Regardless of how you feel about it, according to Mark Rosewater, this change is here to stay. Hell, as some players spotted, this change actually happened already, as Mystery Booster: Commander Edition’s
Tresserhorn’s Lord, Returned
Tresserhorn’s Lord, Returned
Trample, indestructible
When Tresserhorn's Lord enters, sacrifice him unless you sacrifice three creatures, pay 3 life, and have target opponent draw three cards.
Whenever you sacrifice a creature, draw a card.
uses “him.” Given this card flew under the radar with seemingly no fuss, it being here to stay shouldn’t be surprising.
“I assume the old cards will get errata, but I don’t know for certain.”
Mark Rosewater | Via: Blogatog
Beyond just having a new template to use going forward, according to Mark Rosewater, there may be an errata soon. While this isn’t set in stone, presumably it’d change all the cards that use “it” to have their correct pronouns instead. Currently, there’s no announced time scale for this hypothetical errata, but usually Update Bulletins happen a few days before a set’s release.
Even if this errata does happen sooner rather than later, it’s unclear just how many cards it’ll affect. Technically, there are over 2,000 non-Universes Beyond legendaries in MTG, but not all of them need this update. Realistically, this errata may only change a few hundred cards, if that, and any changes will be purely for flavor, not function.
Ultimately, with no official word from Rosewater himself, we can only really wait and see what happens regarding this errata. Even if it doesn’t happen, this is still a welcome change going forward, even if it’s not on every card.
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