Brilliant Ultimatum's Unusual Wording?

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Sporegorger_Dragon
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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

Not really a ruling question, but a question on why Brilliant Ultimatum wording is so different from other cards that let you play cards for free.

As far as I understand it, "you may play" covers both lands and spells, so I have no idea why it's Oracle text was changed from its perfectly fine printed text.

But even stranger is that I couldn't find any rationale for the change; I've dug through every Oracle update up to Alara itself and there's no mention of Brilliant Ultimatum anywhere.

So perhaps someone with a better grasp of the game than I do could explain this to me? Perhaps there are some nuances I'm overlooking here?

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by WizardMN » 3 years ago
Probably because the printed wording is confusing. "Play" creates a bunch of questions where people don't realize the spells are cast instead of "put into play" (ie, put onto the battlefield). As to why this card got errata while others haven't, it is hard to say. Personally, I would prefer this wording over "play" being inclusive of lands and spells but the rules support either template.

In reality though, your understanding is correct. The errata isn't needed from a functional standpoint. It just offers clarity on the card.
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Post by WizardMN » 3 years ago

Probably because the printed wording is confusing. "Play" creates a bunch of questions where people don't realize the spells are cast instead of "put into play" (ie, put onto the battlefield). As to why this card got errata while others haven't, it is hard to say. Personally, I would prefer this wording over "play" being inclusive of lands and spells but the rules support either template.

In reality though, your understanding is correct. The errata isn't needed from a functional standpoint. It just offers clarity on the card.

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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

The thing is, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Fallen Shinobi both came out a long time after this card, yet they use the "you may play" phrasing.

And again, I've read through every update on the official site, and there's no mention of it anywhere. I think I might be going insane.
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Post by WizardMN » 3 years ago

Interestingly Muldrotha, the Gravetide was changed the same way Ultimatum was. I don't see any reason why the change is made so haphazardly but it doesn't seem to be limited to just Ultimatum. Only Wizards will really know why not everything is changed but I am pretty sure the reason is simply clarity.

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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

Oh wow, Bolas's Citadel has the new wording, but Chandra, Heart of Fire from M21 uses "you may play".

I have no idea what going on.
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Post by peteroupc » 3 years ago

Note that although cards no longer speak of "playing" a spell (see also this thread), they can still speak of "playing" a card (C.R. 108.1) (though as you rightly note, this formulation is starting to disappear to a certain extent from the Oracle card reference). In any case, any question that asks why one wording appears on a card rather than another, especially if the latter wording is claimed to be "better", is a question that only Magic R&D can answer and is out of scope for this forum.
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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

Yeah, on a quick search, they're slowly replacing that phrasing with explicitly stating "you can play a land". We'll probably see an Oracle update where Golos and other, more recent cards will eventually get the newer phrasing.
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