Topic: Oracle and Rules Text Issues

I've recently noticed a couple of issues while logging my collection.

1. At least some Oracle Text seems to be out of date. For instance, creatures with the type "Hound" have had errata to "Dog". IIRC, this happened back with Core 2021. I haven't researched any further, so unsure if there may be other discrepancies.

2. The OG dual lands have no Rules Text. So, if you were to search for Lands with Rules Text "{g} or {w}" to find lands for a Selesnya deck, Savannah will not show up in the results.

Re: Oracle and Rules Text Issues

MMJuno wrote:

1. At least some Oracle Text seems to be out of date. For instance, creatures with the type "Hound" have had errata to "Dog". IIRC, this happened back with Core 2021. I haven't researched any further, so unsure if there may be other discrepancies.

There are definitely many instances of inaccurate oracle text I've come across over time. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe Sebi imports the oracle text for cards when he initially adds them to the database, and potentially not any time after that. (I'm not sure if he ever runs any sort of periodic process to mass-update all cards.) If my hunch is correct, then the oracle text displayed on Deckbox will be what was accurate at the time of the set's release (evident by the dog vs hound discrepancy). The exception to this would probably be reprints -- since all versions of a card share a card info page, a reprint may update outdated oracle text. But even that isn't 100% true. Take Lightning Bolt. It still has the M11-era wording (target creature or player), even though a more recent printing (Mystical Archives) has the updated wording (any target).


MMJuno wrote:

2. The OG dual lands have no Rules Text. So, if you were to search for Lands with Rules Text "{g} or {w}" to find lands for a Selesnya deck, Savannah will not show up in the results.

This is accurate. They do NOT have rules text, only reminder text, and should not be searchable with that criteria. You'll encounter the same "issue" on even an advanced search engine like Scryfall, as well as with any other land that has types, such as battle lands (Canopy Vista), cycling lands (Scattered Groves), and shock lands (Temple Garden). You just have to perform two searches -- one for rules text, one for land types. (Though on Scryfall, you can find them all in one search by using "t:land id=gw".)

Re: Oracle and Rules Text Issues

meldon44 wrote:

There are definitely many instances of inaccurate oracle text I've come across over time. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe Sebi imports the oracle text for cards when he initially adds them to the database, and potentially not any time after that. (I'm not sure if he ever runs any sort of periodic process to mass-update all cards.) If my hunch is correct, then the oracle text displayed on Deckbox will be what was accurate at the time of the set's release (evident by the dog vs hound discrepancy). The exception to this would probably be reprints -- since all versions of a card share a card info page, a reprint may update outdated oracle text. But even that isn't 100% true. Take Lightning Bolt. It still has the M11-era wording (target creature or player), even though a more recent printing (Mystical Archives) has the updated wording (any target).

Hmm... So, I wonder if it's possible to rescan Oracle Text? Obviously, this would probably be a large undertaking given the number of cards, but it would be helpful to have current creature types to search for people building tribal decks (for example). Maybe something that's only rescanned once every 6 months to a year or something... or when we know there's a mass errata like what happened with Hound --> Dog?

meldon44 wrote:

This is accurate. They do NOT have rules text, only reminder text, and should not be searchable with that criteria. You'll encounter the same "issue" on even an advanced search engine like Scryfall, as well as with any other land that has types, such as battle lands (Canopy Vista), cycling lands (Scattered Groves), and shock lands (Temple Garden). You just have to perform two searches -- one for rules text, one for land types. (Though on Scryfall, you can find them all in one search by using "t:land id=gw".)

OK, this makes sense. Kind of annoying when doing searches, but I get it.