Magic: The Gathering is an incredibly complex game. With thousands of new cards and 10+ new mechanics released each year, this complexity is ever-increasing. Even if individual cards are rarely too complex, the litany of unique interactions and precise rulings can be incredibly overwhelming.
With this in mind, it’s definitely in Wizards of the Coast’s best interest to make Magic as simple as possible. Mechanics don’t need to be dumbed down, necessarily, but they do need to be understandable. Thankfully, reminder text can go a long way in making this happen, but this isn’t available everywhere.
On Booster Fun cards, it’s rare to see reminder text; however, thanks to a new poll, there’s a chance that might change.
A Tough Choice
Recently, MTG players were given the opportunity to increase the prevalence of rules text on Booster Fun cards. This was thanks to a new poll set up by Mark Rosewater, which asked players for their thoughts on the matter. In theory, more reminder text is definitely a good thing, especially with so many new mechanics floating around. In reality, however, things aren’t so simple.
On the surface, the lack of reminder text on Booster Fun cards is a major problem within Play Boosters. In Edge of Eternities, for example, Warp or Station isn’t explained once on any Booster Fun card, in Play Boosters. Theoretically, this could really throw unprepared players through a loop when going to their first Limited event.
Thankfully, when playing Edge of Eternities Limited, there’s a strong chance you’ll draft other default cards that do feature reminder text. While this should allow players to quickly develop the required understanding, it’s a bigger problem in other formats. In Commander, especially, there’s usually a lot of Booster Fun variants floating around, meaning reminder text is especially sparse.
Beyond Booster Fun variants appearing more, Commander also has access to a far wider pool of mechanics. Due to this, even experienced players may be caught off guard, needing a reminder or to research themselves. While doing this is hardly the end of the world, making reminder text more prevalent would solve this issue.
Given these points, you might think that Rosewater’s recent poll was completely one-sided. In reality, things couldn’t have been more different, as the results of the poll are incredibly close. With a little over a percent between each option, it seems this is a surprisingly divisive issue.
“Should Booster Fun versions of cards have reminder text?
Via: Blogatog
- Yes | 34.4%
- No | 33.1%
- Not my circus, not my monkey (I don’t care) | 32.4%”
Spoiling The View
Despite all the positive reasons for including reminder text on Booster Fun cards, it’s hard to deny that cards look better without it. Simply stating the ability name, like Station, Warp, or anything else, is clean and helps make Booster Fun variants feel special. Considering how wordy modern MTG cards can be, cutting down on text can often feel like a godsend.
Considering that looking and feeling special is the point of many Booster Fun variants, keeping this intact feels paramount. While this may come at the cost of added complexity and confusion for some players, MTG is hardly seamless elsewhere. In fact, complexity has been steadily increasing in recent sets, yet it hasn’t caused MTG to come apart at the seams.
Since MTG’s Final Fantasy crossover, Bonus Sheets no longer display their unique set symbol. Following on from this, the Viewport Lands in Edge of Eternities didn’t have a set symbol either, yet those are Standard legal. Despite these recent changes, there haven’t been constant complaints from players and widespread misunderstandings.
Due to this, it seems like MTG players can handle a fair bit of complexity while playing. Part of this will likely be thanks to helpful opponents, who are usually happy to explain mechanics when needed. On top of this, resources such as the MTG wiki, Scryfall, and Gatherer help to keep players in the know.
Ultimately, thanks to these additional resources, having reminder text on Booster Fun cards doesn’t seem to be necessary. That said, technically, the majority of players do want more reminder text, although the poll only has 860+ votes.
A Bizarre Balance
Personally, due to the size and results of this poll, I don’t expect a sudden increase in reminder text. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if this poll does inspire future questions in Wizards’ future player feedback forms. Thanks to their much wider reach, these questionnaires could have a more substantial impact, but this remains to be seen.
Whatever happens, it seems unlikely that Wizards will be putting reminder text absolutely everywhere going forward. Entirely textless and Secret Lair cards are bound to remain as chase variants, since Wizards loves collectability. If anything, I could see Wizards creating new reminder text-less variants for Collector Boosters to cater to all audiences.
At the end of the day, even if this new poll does have an impact, changes won’t happen overnight. While they do occur later in the set creation process, visual design is still set in stone long before release. Still, given that new Lorwyn Eclipsed cards don’t obscure card text anymore, it seems Wizards does keep clarity in mind.
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