New Illusionary Mask oracle wording

[LordHomerCat]

Mask is getting revised.  Soon-to-be new text:

New wording
{oX}: You may choose a creature card in your hand whose mana cost could be paid by some amount of, or all of, the mana you spent on {oX}. If you do, you may cast that card face down as a 2/2 creature spell without paying its mana cost. If the creature that spell becomes as it resolves has not been turned face up and would assign or deal damage, be dealt damage, or become tapped, instead it’s turned face up and assigns or deals damage, is dealt damage, or becomes tapped. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

Of note: you are casting now, so it can be countered.  Also, you appear to have to pay the actual (colored) cost now.  It is a 2/2 instead of 0/1 (mostly irrelevant), but you also don't get to turn it over whenever you want.  You only get to do that at certain times, so if I were to Terror your face down Dark Confidant, well, sucks to be you.

Main thing: CAN BE COUNTERED.  About time.

[jester3397]

Could you give a link to the source of the new wording.

[LotusHead]

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/54b&page=2

[Phele]

Not that Mask-Nought hast been that playable in the moment, but now its even unplayable. RiP Dark Illusions 

[BruiZar]

What a bad change. Including the color requirements is just going to be one big headache and is way to prone to making genuine errors.

[BruiZar]

Main thing: CAN BE COUNTERED.  About time.

This is total crap. It is out of flavor to be able to counter it. It should have stayed like Aether Vial. Also, I don't like what they did with the flipping. If they're gonna give us 2/2's atleast let us be able to use that power/toughness instead of being forced to flip when you attack. I would have loved to play with kobold-mask.

Wizards should be much more careful with pre-revised oracle changes

[LotusHead]

Although the printed text is so small I can't really scrutinize it, I don't think it mentions 0/1's but does mention Summoning a creature (which is like Casting it).

As Morph technology was originally born of Mask technology, I don't see a problem having Illusionary Mask making 2/2's

After all, we got time vault to work as basically printed, right?

[Juggernaut GO]

there was literally nothing wrong with the original mask wording, it just took people more then 3 seconds to read it.  I have no clue why they would change this...

[reaperbong]

original text says this:

X: You can summon a creature face down so opponent doesn't know what it is. The X cost can be any amount of mana, even 0; it serves to hide the true casting cost of the creature, which you still have to spend. As soon as a face-down creature recieves damage, deals damage, or is tapped, you must turn it face up.

makes sense to me, 2/2 by today's morph standards, 'summon' as in 'cast', and true casting cost of the creature, which you still have to spend, 'true' being colors and all. 

the new wording actually makes a lot less sense and is far more complicated to understand then the original. go figure.

[Odd mutation]

Wow... Is this really serious? To change a card completely? It's nothing like it used to be. I don't understand and don't like it at all at first sight.

Robrecht

[sneakerfr3ak]

wow. they're trying to dumb down magic
what a sad day. this card does not even see play and now they're making it more unplayable by making it counterable!
so they're reference for power levels now are what is fair on cards that comes out in Standard Format.

they are missing the point of this card. oww

[The Atog Lord]

It says right on the card that you "summon" the creature face down -- indicating it can be countered. And it implies that you need to pay the true cost of the creature, plus an amount to hide it. And there's nothing on the printed card about flipping the creature over whenever you want, like if it gets hit with a Terror; it explicitly states when it may be flipped over.

The new wording seems much closer to the printed wording than before.

[reaperbong]

I must be psychic because I had 3 of these things including a beta and sold them recently along with my Dreadnaughts. nice!

[ilpeggiore]

terrible !!!!!

now it ll be legal in legacy.....  yeah !

[Tha Gunslinga]

Definitely matches the original intent, but still a pretty shitty thing to do in my opinion.  Totally awkward wording as well.  Not unexpected from the WotC that decided to ban Shahrazad.


Ah, also, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale doesn't kill Darksteel Colossus.

[Wollblad]

It says right on the card that you "summon" the creature face down -- indicating it can be countered. And it implies that you need to pay the true cost of the creature, plus an amount to hide it. And there's nothing on the printed card about flipping the creature over whenever you want, like if it gets hit with a Terror; it explicitly states when it may be flipped over.

The new wording seems much closer to the printed wording than before.

In the original functionality the creature had all of its abilities, power/toughness and so on. It just happened to be upside down. That had some weird consequences if you for example played an Enchantress upside down:
Me: I play this enchantment and then I draw a card.
Opponent: Hey, why is that?
Me: Mind your own business.
Opponent: I want to see what creature you have upside down over at your side.
Me: No you can't.
......

With the new wording, you must first attack with your enchantress to make it draw you card. Hence, the new wording is only close to the old one when it comes to creatures that want to attack. I think that they should have given the creature Morph since that in my opinion is even closer to the original functionality and as a bonus Illusionary Mask would still be playable. Now the card becomes rather useless.

[Yare]

I like the change relative to the original text, though I really wish they'd just say "this is how the old cards are going to be forever" so we can settle all these old cards once and for all.

[Razvan]

It says right on the card that you "summon" the creature face down -- indicating it can be countered. And it implies that you need to pay the true cost of the creature, plus an amount to hide it. And there's nothing on the printed card about flipping the creature over whenever you want, like if it gets hit with a Terror; it explicitly states when it may be flipped over.

The new wording seems much closer to the printed wording than before.

In the original functionality the creature had all of its abilities, power/toughness and so on. It just happened to be upside down. That had some weird consequences if you for example played an Enchantress upside down:
Me: I play this enchantment and then I draw a card.
Opponent: Hey, why is that?
Me: Mind your own business.
Opponent: I want to see what creature you have upside down over at your side.
Me: No you can't.
......

With the new wording, you must first attack with your enchantress to make it draw you card. Hence, the new wording is only close to the old one when it comes to creatures that want to attack. I think that they should have given the creature Morph since that in my opinion is even closer to the original functionality and as a bonus Illusionary Mask would still be playable. Now the card becomes rather useless.

When you say original, what do you mean? Because if you mean the functionality of what it was just before this change, I don't think what you said is right.

Then Masknaught couldn't work at all, since the sac ability still had to be paid.

[Akuma]

What a shame, now Illusionary Mask is useless  

Since when can you "counter" the activated ability of an artifact...
Opponent: activate Time Vault
Me: Mana Drain?

Although I don't think Illusionary Mask would ever have been good enough to see real Vintage play, I was hoping it would someday be Legacy legal. Now it doesn't really matter, since it is no longer playable anywhere.

[LordHomerCat]

It says right on the card that you "summon" the creature face down -- indicating it can be countered. And it implies that you need to pay the true cost of the creature, plus an amount to hide it. And there's nothing on the printed card about flipping the creature over whenever you want, like if it gets hit with a Terror; it explicitly states when it may be flipped over.

The new wording seems much closer to the printed wording than before.

Agreed completely.  Those of you complaining about how bad this wording is... have you read the card?  The (soon-to-be) previous wording, where you make 0/1 dudes, was just out of thin air.  Nothing about it matched up with how the card was printed.  they just made all these arbitrary decisions about whatever instead of making the card anything like how it is printed.

With this new wording, you could hypothetically play this card in a casual game, and have someone read it and basically understand the oracle, as opposed to before when you had to give them the Animate Dead treatment and explain how the card does something completely different from the text.

I support this change 100% and just have to say, about time.  Mike Bomholm has been mentioning this card for a long time and finally something is done about it.

[Juggernaut GO]

No, the problem is they hacked up what the card used to be able to do, and replaced it with something that is nothing like the original ability.

The entire intent of the card was to be able to use an activated ability of an artifact to summon a creature and get around counters.

To anyone confused about the 0/1 wording, It wasn't hard to interpret at all.  That wording was only there because the card had to be something when it was face down, but as soon as you did anything to the card or with it, it became what it normally is instead of a 0/1 generic creature.

Why would you support a change that makes the card fundamentally useless.  I'm sure if they put power level errata back on time vault all of you would be throwing shit fits.

[Nehptis]

Since when can you "counter" the activated ability of an artifact...
Opponent: activate Time Vault
Me: Mana Drain?

That's not the original intent of the card. Mask's ability is not to let you circumvent the summoning process (it is not Aether Vial).  It's ability is to "MASK" your summoning spell.  So, your opponent should be able to still counter your summoning spell.  He/She just has to make a decision based on limited information as to counter it or not.  Unlike an un-MASKED creature spell that the opponent knows what it is and whether or not to counter it based on knowing.

[moxpearl]

While it is a significant change to the playability of the card, I also agree it's closer to the original wording and I think it's a reasonable change.

My question is whether the original wording intended for the player to be able to tap the creature with an ability and unmorph the creature.   The wording "is tapped" could have meant the owner tapping his/her own creature with an ability.  For example, in the old days, could you flip the creature by tapping a llanwar elves for mana.  It seems that would have been in the scope of the card.  I realize it would be difficult to template the oracle wording under the current rules, but perhaps it could have been:

The creature card played by Illusionary mask gains Morph with a morph cost of any activated ability printed on the card.   When the card is turned face up, that printed activated ability is placed on the stack.

[Kiriyuu]

I can't remember the last errate before this one, was it always sorcery speed only, as it doesn't say that on the actual card.

Thanks.

[Juggernaut GO]

you could flip the card at any time without  passing priority.

[policehq]

It can still be Stifled, right? Only if you Stifle it, does that mean a Dreadnought is suddenly a spell on the stack, to come into play face-up? Or what happens?

I don't like it if it can be Stifled and countered. It's weird. And they might as well make a rule now that face-down creatures are 2/2 and not add the errata on Illusionary Mask that has nothing to do with the card.

Then, too, you can Stifle the flip effect now also right?

This is wild. I guess it's needed, but I'm glad I don't own four anymore. That was my favorite combo in the history of Magic.

[Smmenen]

Actually, Illusionary Mask never functioned coherently.



There is no way to restore Mask's original functionality, since it's original functionality was that the creature had the characteristics of itself, but was "hidden."   If your opponent cast Terror on your face down White Knight, you were seriously supposed to say "Nope, you can't do that" but didn't have to tell them why.

Illusionary Mask -- in its original functionality -- is like an unglued card.

Some fun stuff from the judges archives:

from the judge archives:

http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind9601A&L=MTG-L&P=R2722&D=1&I=-3

August, 1997

* Illusionary Mask works (or fails to work) the same way as it always
did.  If your opponent tries to make an illegal block, you must tell
them so.  If both players have Masked creatures, the game breaks; you
need a 3rd-party referee to peek at the cards and tell both players
if they're trying to do something illegal.

Date:         Wed, 3 Jan 1996 08:16:43 +0000
Reply-To:     "Magic: the Gathering" <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       "Magic: the Gathering" <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Paul Waterman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re:

    * NetRep reply #75


> ** Illusionary Mask is a weird card. If there are any decisions about target > or whatever in the casting of the creatures, as with Clone, I highly > suggest that you write them down and reveal them when the card is revealed. > You are not required to say what decisions you made when using the Mask, > but if your opponent doubts you are telling the truth, then things can > get messy. I find this to be a highly problematic ruling. Illusionary Mask allows you to hide the casting cost of the creature in question, and other information on the face of the card such as name, abilities, power and toughness, etc. BUT, the nowhere does the Illusionary Mask say that it can hide targeting. Of course, I've also found nowhere that there is an official ruling that explicitly says you MUST publicly state what the target of a spell or effect is. The ruling above could lead to this: A: "I'm casting a 12 point fireball at one target." B: "What's the target?" A: "It's written on this piece of paper. The rules never say that I have to tell you what the target is." B: "Whuhuh?!?!?" I think this partly comes back to the whole problem of Clone and Doppelganger and the many rulings reversals about whether or not it's a targeted effect. It *is* a targeted effect, and so should follow all the rules for targeted effects. And I think it should be explicitly stated that you MUST publicly announce the target of a spell or effect. Comments? Thoughts, Stephen? - Paul ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paul Waterman / [log in to unmask] / (708) 682-5085 / "Eschew obfuscation." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If encryption is outlawed, only the outlaws will uKb8 (hRepq7Eif&

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Date:         Wed, 8 May 1996 09:48:17 -0400
Reply-To:     "Magic: the Gathering" <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       "Magic: the Gathering" <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Steve Rubin <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Illusionary Mask

Kevin Jay asked: : : : If I have an Illusionary Mask in play, can I cast Spectral Cloak on : one of my creatures and have them still remain turned over? How about : Cloning or V. Doppleganger? What constitutes grounds for flipping : over Masked creatures? Everything you need to know is on the card. You must flip over the creature when it receives or deals damage, or is tapped. Casting a Spectral Cloak doesn't tap the creature or damage anything, so the creature is still face down, but the Spectral Cloak is still face up. A Clone or a Vesuvan can copy a face down creature and/or be a face down creature; the copying effect has nothing to do with damage or tapping. So, basically, it is a lot simpler than it may seem. If someone steals your creature, it is still face down (but the new owner may look at it). Also, remember the sequence for combat, so you don't flip over a card before you need to. An attacking Serra wouldn't flip until after blocking, during damage assignment Crazy Combo: Illusionary Mask + Rabid Wombat + Lure + Gaseous Form + Venom + Spectral Cloak Eventually somone will Wrath of God, just to see what it is, but it will be fun while it lasts! Steve +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Stephen Rubin | Life is a Rube Goldberg device; I just hope + + [log in to unmask] | the monkey can hold out for a while. + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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>Date:    Tue, 7 May 1996 09:30:18 EDT
>From:    Kevin Jay <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Illusionary Mask
>
>If I have an Illusionary Mask in play, can I cast Spectral Cloak on
>one of my creatures and have them still remain turned over?  How about
>Cloning or V. Doppleganger?  What constitutes grounds for flipping
>over Masked creatures?

 I love the mask.  It's a fun card.  Dealing Damage, receiving damage, and
tapping are the events which cause Masked creatures to be revealed.
So that much is pretty simple, if you can say that about a card which
makes some folks break out in a cold sweat <grin>.  Cloning or Doppling
a face-down critter is also legal.  One of the rulings for the card (at
mox.perl.com) says:

"A Clone or Doppelganger can be made of a face down creature. Your opponent
does not need to tell you anything about your creature's power/toughness or
abilities. The opponent must, however, inform you of the results of actions
you take (i.e. how much damage was done, or whether tapping the creature
allows you some special ability)." [bethmo]

 Hope this helps,

-John

John Fleming - [log in to unmask]
Editor, Vault CCG E-zine:
http://www.echo-on.net/~jelkouby/vault.html

there are like a 100 posts that mention illusionary mask

you can read through them.

go to this link

http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa.exe?A0=MTG-L&D=1&I=-3

click the top link "search through the archive" and you will see all of the posts. 



As I said, Illusionary Mask never functioned in its original terms.     It's like an unglued card.  It's Chaos Orb except you need a judge the whole time. If you thought that needing to call a judge when you flip Chaos Orb is bad, you would need a judge at your table as long as you controlled a Mask in order to make sure that the card was being represented properly.

The fundamental problem is that  the hidden information is the point of the card's original functionality.

[Phele]

It says right on the card that you "summon" the creature face down -- indicating it can be countered. And it implies that you need to pay the true cost of the creature, plus an amount to hide it. And there's nothing on the printed card about flipping the creature over whenever you want, like if it gets hit with a Terror; it explicitly states when it may be flipped over.

The new wording seems much closer to the printed wording than before.

With this new wording, you could hypothetically play this card in a casual game, ...

That is exactly the point that makes me so angry. Now it will at least randomly played in a casual game and that is it. Vintage was the only format it was somewhat worth playing the Mask. And even though it was by far not one of the most powerful cards they weakend it even more to the status of unplayable. So, who cares if it is now closer to the original card text. What they did is exiling the Mask forever in the binders. They didn't errata the text, they banned the card in all formats, that is why they did. Congratulations.

[saspook]

The opponent must, however, inform you of the results of actions
you take (i.e. how much damage was done, or whether tapping the creature
allows you some special ability)." [bethmo]

"I am going to tap my clone and target your face down creature.  Did anything happen?"

I always felt that Bethmo was a terrible rules person.

Thanks for posting these, they are fun to read.

[zeus-online]

Why would you support a change that makes the card fundamentally useless.  I'm sure if they put power level errata back on time vault all of you would be throwing shit fits.

Nah, i'd be having a party! Time vault/Key is pretty lame and stupidly powerful...

As for the change....A shame, i kinda liked MaskNought...Atleast when it was good.