CardName: Imperial Arbitrage
Cost: 3W
Type: Instant
Pow/Tgh: /
Rules Text: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt by nonwhite
creatures this turn.
Flavour Text:
Set/Rarity: Melody Common
Imperial Arbitrage
C
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt by nonwhite creatures this turn.
Oh, it's to stop the White Lightning effect. As originally printed, if you cast this in your opponent's end-of-turn step, they'd stick around until the next turn, and they'd lose summoning sickness. People nicknamed the card White Lightning as a reference to Ball Lightning: 6 points of attacking power for 1 turn for 3 mana. For a while the wording was horrible and involved substance. The new wording absolutely prevents them sticking around beyond the turn it's cast, because even if you cast this in a cleanup step, there will be more cleanup steps until nothing happens in one. The same has happened to the other cards which used to use substance, such as Armor of Thorns.
Too much common token creation, altered this for flavor purposes.
Name change to fit the "ambush" theme of similar previous cards like Gilt-Leaf Ambush, Elephant Ambush, and Ambush itself.
The name seems awkward. It might sound better if it were ordered like the other Ambushes you mentioned: "Captains' Ambush."
It's supposed to be humorously so, as it's also an awkward way of reimagining Rebuke and the like.
But I guess that's a weird sort of meta-design humor...
Why hello thar, Waylay. Not seen you for a while - how ya doin? Last time I saw you you were playing with some Thunderheads.
Oh man, Waylay! What is up with with that wording? (I mean the Oracle text.)
Oh, it's to stop the White Lightning effect. As originally printed, if you cast this in your opponent's end-of-turn step, they'd stick around until the next turn, and they'd lose summoning sickness. People nicknamed the card White Lightning as a reference to Ball Lightning: 6 points of attacking power for 1 turn for 3 mana. For a while the wording was horrible and involved substance. The new wording absolutely prevents them sticking around beyond the turn it's cast, because even if you cast this in a cleanup step, there will be more cleanup steps until nothing happens in one. The same has happened to the other cards which used to use substance, such as Armor of Thorns.
Totally different now! Crap-fog is goooooo!