Planar Chaos rare. Part of a five card cycle that included Planeswalkers Scorn, Favor, Fury, and Mischief, Planewalkers Mirth featured a mechanic referred to in R&D as fish. The idea was that the mechanic represented a player fishing his or her opponents hand for a reward.
Ice Age rare. The original wording of Snowblind no longer functions correctly, and the card has been re-worded to give an enchanted creature X/Y. When not attacking, X equals the number of snow lands the creatures controller has in play. Y is then equal to X or the enchanted creatures toughness minus 1, whichever is smaller.
The Dark common. Not counting creatures with abilities like changeling there are eight cards with the creature type Leech in all of Magic. Land Leeches was the very first and the only that refers to more than one Leech in its card name. Can you name the others?
Unglued common. When the US Postal Service decided to put Elvis Presley on a stamp in 1992, they held a nationwide poll to decide what image they should use. The two choices were referred to as “Young Elvis” and “Old Elvis” (even though it was based on a picture of Elvis when he was only 38). The second one was also widely referred to as “Fat Elvis”, which is why Elvish Impersonators has random Power and Toughness: you never know how big your Impersonator is going to be.
Portal Three Kingdoms rare. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zuo Ci displays a startling array of magical powers. At one point, when his face is put on a wanted poster, hundreds of men who look exactly like him are arrested. After they’re all executed, their necks emit a black cloud that coalesces into the real Zuo Ci. On the card, as in the story, he looks harmless but is practically untouchable.
Tempest rare. For such a complicated card, it’s kind of surprising how little its Oracle wording differs from the printed text. Aside from rearranging a sentence or two and employing the “Haste” keyword, the only difference is that the card as printed required a “target opponent”, while the Oracle just says “an” opponent.
Legends common. In case you’re curious, the actual Barbary Ape is a Macaque, and it’s the only primate (other than humans) that lives wild in Europe. They live in Gibraltar and occasionally harass local towns, which sounds incredibly cute. Annoying to the people that live there, sure, but from thousands of miles away, it’s adorable!
Unhinged rare. So far this week, we’ve had a thumb, an index, a little, and a ring. Wondering where the middle finger is? Take a close look at what the Assquatch is doing!
Mirrodin rare. Krark’s Thumb is legendary because, in Randy Buehler’s words, “Mirrodin has a card that we turned into a legend mostly just because we couldn’t figure out what would happen if there were two of them in play at the same time.”
