The rulings are that any card with the scimitar on it, is affected by City in a Bottle. This means Chronicles and Arabian Nights are affected by City in a Bottle, but JSS, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th arenīt.
This original discussion came out of a conversation over vintage pimping. I explained how I like beta and original set cards with the sole exception of City of Brass because it is strictly worst than the JSS one. I don't want to let my pimpness affect my game in a negative way.
As I explained on IRC, City of Brass with the Scimitar (Arabian Nights and Chronicles) are strictly worst than City of Brass without the Scimitar (JSS Foil, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th). The opinion of Marske is that he would rather have City in a Bottle boarded in against him (attacking his mana base / draw engine) instead of cards that disrupt his deckīs strategy (the way null rod prevents vault key, and tormodīs crypt prevents dread return). My opinion is that there is no good reason to run a strictly inferior card, opening yourself up for a larger pool of hate cards.
To me, it feels like Marske is defending his Arabian Night set and this is affecting his ability to make well-reasoned and optimal decisions. City in a Bottle is somewhat comparable to Super Secret Tech. If Super Secret Tech was a vintage legal card, foils would be strictly better than non foil cards. The same is true for non-arabian night cards versus reprints without the scimitar. This discussion is not about the viability of City in a Bottle, it is a discussion about whether or not arabian nights City of Brass is worst than non-scimitar City of Brass.
