Power and toughness switching is unintuitive, and I think there's a better way to word it

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mosskirin
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Post by mosskirin » 4 years ago

In Magic, I feel like power/toughness switching is one situation where "Reading the card does not explain the card." The way it works is not what most players would guess, based on how it's written.

I was just playing against someone using a Tireless Tribe/Inside Out combo deck for the first time. I had a Martyr of Ashes in play. They attacked, it wasn't blocked, they pitched 5 cards to Tireless Tribe, and played Inside Out on it. I was all "OK." Before going to damage step, I activate Martyr of Ashes for 1, they try to pitch another card to Tireless Tribe to save it. I have to explain, with the Inside Out active, they can't increase it's toughness anymore. It can be a bit of a feel bad moment to inexperienced players when you have to start on, "You see, there's these things called layers..."

Currently these effects say:

"Switch target creature's power and toughness until end of turn."

The way it's worded leads many people to believe this switching is bound to a particular point in time. They think, for example, whether you activate a +0/+4 ability before or after playing Inside Out matters (it doesn't).

I feel it would be more clear if it was worded as:

"Until end of turn, target creature's power and toughness are switched."

This makes it more clear: you're applying a state to the creature which lasts until end of turn, not doing a one time action to that creature.
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

That does feel a bit better, yeah.
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Post by Henlock » 4 years ago

I like it. I used to play a Boros version of Tireless Tribe and summoning the specific ruling everytime someone had thw doubts was a bit annoying, The "are switched" does indeed convey the idea of a durative effect.

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