Power Level Errata: They're removing it!

[jro]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/345

Wow, is all I can say.

[Moxlotus]

To all the people who said "our bitching never does anything", well, it did something.  I can't believe Time Vault is on that list

I am happy.  Now I know why my emails regarding that went unanswered.

I didn't even know Intuition had an errata.  Take that multiplayer!

[Methuselahn]

For now we just wanted to get the word out there, so for a more involved discussion on the reasoning behind the move and what it means make sure to read Aaron Forsythe's column this coming Friday. In the meantime, here are the most prominent cards Monday's Oracle update will attempt to restore to their printed wording (though note that some of the cards on this list didn't originally get the errata for power reasons).

Palinchron
Treachery
Great Whale
Cloud of Faeries
Priest of Gix
Peregrine Drake
Iridescent Drake
Karmic Guide
Basalt Monolith
Time Vault
Intuition
Enduring Renewal
Balance
Drop of Honey
Goblin Snowman
Celestial Dawn  

Simply Fantastic!!  There's not much more to the blurb than that,  Friday should be more revealing.

[Roxas]

I'm curious as to how exactly some of those cards like Balance and Drop of Honey will change. 

Also, oh man, casting Animate Dead on Iridescent Drake in Skittles is suddenly awesome! 

[Juggernaut GO]

I hope that they keep the wording on time vault that you can only untap it during the upkeep, but I get the feeling that they will remove the whole time counter thing, which is cool.

[Methuselahn]

I'm curious as to how exactly some of those cards like Balance and Drop of Honey will change. 

Also, oh man, casting Animate Dead on Iridescent Drake in Skittles is suddenly awesome! 

Hmm, it looks like Drop of Honey doesn't use 'target.'  Same with Intuition.  Goblin Snowmen gets worse by being able to cancel out its own ability!?  Priest of Gix will probably get a whole lot better.  Time Vault is the Micheal Jackson of MtG.  Who knows what's going to happen there.

[jro]

I'm curious as to how exactly some of those cards like Balance and Drop of Honey will change.

With Balance, the errata has a different order for processing the three effects than as written (as written, it's cards then creatures, as errata'd it's creatures than cards).  This can change things in terms of what creatures you might choose to sacrifice / cards to discard based on what your opponent does.

[Yare]

If Time Vault gets errata'd to what the original wording is, I'm going to be pretty much amazed.

But the real question is: is this Gottlieb's doing or did someone TELL him that this was going to happen?

[Godder]

MaGo stated last time that he wanted to get as many cards as possible to play as close as possible to their printed form. This would be a continuation of that policy.

[Juggernaut GO]

If time vault gets allowed to be untapped with voltaic key, they may as well ban it now.

[zeus-online]

Was really surprised to see this...and mostly, as others have noted, that balance and intuition gets changed? Didnt even know that they had errata!
Jeez, now i need a new Judge foil with the new wording -_-

/Zeus

[Smmenen]

To everyone who said that my articles were a waste of time falling on deaf ears....I think not.
For a reminder:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11926.html

Good to hear that Wizards responds to intelligent feedback.

[Vegeta2711]

To everyone who said that my articles were a waste of time falling on deaf ears....I think not.
For a reminder:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11926.html

I was waiting for you to make some useless post bragging about this. It's even funnier than Shay wrote almost that entire article.

[Smmenen]

Can you blame me?  After all the crazy shit people said about what a foolish quixotic quest I was on?  I was working against the odds man.  My teammates told me it was stupid and silly and that I was ruining my good name on a foolish endeavor.   So I thikn I have a right to take a little bit of pride in this. 

I asked Rich if he wanted to help me write it - the idea was mine - writing an article asking them to remove power errata.  I could have just written it myself, but since I already wrote the whole Why Time Vault Errata was bad, I thought it would be better to have another voice in the article.  I asked Rich if he wanted to help me write it, we talked about what we would say for an hour or so, talked about an outline for the article, he drafted it, I made a few changes and we submitted it.   Rich deserves a mention for sure - his tight prose definately was an asset.  I'm just glad that they apparently listened to reason. 

[Vegeta2711]

Eh fair. Now that I think about it, you had a lot more shit talked about you than I remembered. In retrospect who am I to judge anyway? I talk wayyyy more shit anyway.

[dicemanx]

Steve has every right to that post. He worked very hard to bring about the changes, and was rightfully rewarded for it despite the fact that the discussion threads were buried under an inordinate amount of bullshit and lack of sense.

I'm glad that WotC is on the side of reason and logic, and are willing to take action in making even the smallest subset of magic players happy. I suppose that the people that will be "unhappy" by this decision will be those who are bitter that their paltry arguments carried no weight.

[Shock Wave]

Can you blame me?  After all the crazy shit people said about what a foolish quixotic quest I was on?  I was working against the odds man.  My teammates told me it was stupid and silly and that I was ruining my good name on a foolish endeavor.   So I thikn I have a right to take a little bit of pride in this. 

I asked Rich if he wanted to help me write it - the idea was mine - writing an article asking them to remove power errata.  I could have just written it myself, but since I already wrote the whole Why Time Vault Errata was bad, I thought it would be better to have another voice in the article.  I asked Rich if he wanted to help me write it, we talked about what we would say for an hour or so, talked about an outline for the article, he drafted it, I made a few changes and we submitted it.   Rich deserves a mention for sure - his tight prose definately was an asset.  I'm just glad that they apparently listened to reason. 

Yeah I'm going to have to agree here. If nobody is going to recognize the efforts you and Rich and whomever else put into bringing about this unlikely reversal, then go ahead and blow your own horn. You all deserve it.

[Smmenen]

Note: Scott Johns also articulated a new boundary for errata: he identified "error" errata - the example of Impulse comes to mind.   Before, this type of errata was not officially recognized.  Remember, the example of Rancor being miscosted. 

Also, in Forsythe's last article, it was interesting that a huge number of respondants noted that they play without errata.

[ChemEng]

I think the errata changed the mana ability to only trigger if PoG came into play from your hand. So I suppose removing it would allow PoG to generate mana from any zone he comes into play from.

[Matt]

Note: Scott Johns also articulated a new boundary for errata: he identified "error" errata - the example of Impulse comes to mind.   Before, this type of errata was not officially recognized.  Remember, the example of Rancor being miscosted. 

Also, in Forsythe's last article, it was interesting that a huge number of respondants noted that they play without errata.

There's also errata like Grip of Chaos, where the card literally does not work (the original wording caused the game to stall in an infinite triggering loop). This is an "error" but not the same as Impulse, where the card works perfectly fine but doesn't do what intended.

I don't think error errata was "not officially recognized." I recall this being brought up numerous times.

[The Atog Lord]

This is a good day for Magic. New deck concepts and new decktypes may emerge from this shake-up, and old cards which have not seen play in recent times will be re-evaluated. Moreover, the need to remember which cards work as written and which cards do not has been diminished. This is good for both Magic as a game and us as the Type One community. I applaud Wizard's acting in so reasonable and rational a way.

[Norm4eva]

See, I'm a little kid, so I care about exactly one card.
Waylay.
Ball Lightning, cometh to me now.
Sure the Time Vault thing is cool and all but... Time Vault doesn't combo with Crusade.  No sir.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Kinda surprising that they didn't mention Waylay, then.

[Nastaboi]

Maybe that falls into "6th edition rules change" errata, like Lotus Vale.

[Anusien]

It's suddenly occurring to me to wonder what caused these changes.  Did they look at the hubub over Time Vault and decide to re-evaluate their errata policy?  This is possible, but I also wonder if this move wasn't coming anyway.  It's possible this was part of a gradual change to look at every card in Oracle and make sure it works the way it is supposed to.  MaGo or someone sitting back and looking at the Time Vault wording, frowning, and says "That works, but it's not ideal."  Pity this means there won't be any Legacy tournaments between now and the B/R announcement, because if they remove the time counters from Time Vault, it will be banned in Legacy.  If Twiddle = Time Walk, bye bye Time Vault.  I think this is interesting, but you have to know it's gone.  Also, if they do that, I have to amaze at the flexibility of the card that can both skip turns and generate them.

[chump]

Debt of Loyalty becomes a whole lot better (especially in legacy)  if they remove the errata.

Debt of Loyalty
1WW
Instant
Regenerate target creature.  Gain control of that creature.

[Implacable]

Debt of Loyalty becomes a whole lot better (especially in legacy)  if they remove the errata.

Debt of Loyalty
1WW
Instant
Regenerate target creature.  Gain control of that creature.

Heh.  I think it becomes powerful period.  3 for an undestroyable (unlike Control Magic) creature steal?  Sum good.

[Smmenen]

It's suddenly occurring to me to wonder what caused these changes.  Did they look at the hubub over Time Vault and decide to re-evaluate their errata policy?  This is possible, but I also wonder if this move wasn't coming anyway.  It's possible this was part of a gradual change to look at every card in Oracle and make sure it works the way it is supposed to.  MaGo or someone sitting back and looking at the Time Vault wording, frowning, and says "That works, but it's not ideal."  Pity this means there won't be any Legacy tournaments between now and the B/R announcement, because if they remove the time counters from Time Vault, it will be banned in Legacy.  If Twiddle = Time Walk, bye bye Time Vault.  I think this is interesting, but you have to know it's gone.  Also, if they do that, I have to amaze at the flexibility of the card that can both skip turns and generate them.

IF this was coming, then they wouldn't have errated time vault in the last cycle the way they did. 

[Mr. Nightmare]

It's worth noting:  Prices on Time Vault have re-skyrocketed since this morning.

[jcb193]

For now we just wanted to get the word out there, so for a more involved discussion on the reasoning behind the move and what it means make sure to read Aaron Forsythe's column this coming Friday. In the meantime, here are the most prominent cards Monday's Oracle update will attempt to restore to their printed wording (though note that some of the cards on this list didn't originally get the errata for power reasons).

Palinchron
Treachery
Great Whale
Cloud of Faeries
Priest of Gix
Peregrine Drake
Iridescent Drake
Karmic Guide
Basalt Monolith
Time Vault
Intuition
Enduring Renewal
Balance
Drop of Honey
Goblin Snowman
Celestial Dawn  

Simply Fantastic!!  There's not much more to the blurb than that,  Friday should be more revealing.

/Mourns the final death shot to the Drop of Honey/Deadly Insect deck.....And grats to everyone for bringing this topic to prominence, though I think it a little naive to proclaim it a singular Steven M victory.