Name That Card: Recent Activity
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Recent updates to Name That Card: (Generated at 2025-09-07 06:58:26)
| Name That Card: Cardlist | Visual spoiler | Export | Booster | Comments | Search | Recent activity |
Recent updates to Name That Card: (Generated at 2025-09-07 06:58:26)
Rote Spellcrafting.
Art:
Rows of apprentice Wizards sitting on an assembly line.
Flavour text:
"Now make another 3,942 like that. Then maybe you'll be ready to try something original" --Vargus the Grey, last words.
I figure ravnica is perhaps one of the most factory appropriate planes, even more than the steampunk ones which tend to emphasise individual artificers.
I considered a pun like "Rote of replication" but decided that wouldn't help :)
Gift of Nyx.
Taking cues from theros seems sensible. Gift either referring to facility with enchantments or this specific enchantment
Huh. Well, it got the name because Copy Artifact. But the creature version was of course Clone, the advanced version of that was Vesuvan Doppelganger - and the land version honours that with Vesuva. And... huh. I don't think we ever got a copy-planeswalker. We got a variety of things named 'mirror' though. Artifact eventually got a better name with Sculpting Steel. Vesuvian X is kinda out of it, if it's to be a new or Ravinica set, rather than a dominarian set.
And... that train of thought appears to have tootled back to the station and parked there. No derailments, not even any sparks. Darn it.
Let's try a different direction. What kind of set would a new enchantment copying go in? An enchantment-matters one. That would be Theros, then? Where enchantments are... well; constellation. They are literally stars in the sky. So... doubling star? That feels like it should be something a lot more impressive. And it doesn't look like there's a word for a star splitting in half because it doesn't happen. There are double stars - Epsilon Lyrae; but that doesn't seem useful? Well, gravitational lensing is a thing; but not a magic-sounding thing. "Lens" seems like a word-root I can make use of though. And I do need a verb because this is one of those 'secretly a sorcery' enchantments.
Oh! I can actually be sneaky there. "Epsilon" is the usual maths term for "Minimal difference". So that can kinda be used for indication of a copy. Ugh. My best effort then is Epsilon Lens. Which does at least sound like it could be a spell. Skies of Arcadia agrees. (And that would be another possible name, but I don't think it's much better. Still - at least we can steal the flavour text: Moons, protect me! - I guess this makes this a moonfolk tribal. On Theros. Ah whatever.)
Yes, this is Copy Enchantment. There's a post on r/MagicTCG that asks the community what the worst card name is. And while that post has zero karma with only 40% upvote, it still picked up 42 comments. Reddit is weird like that (I think a number of people were downvoting OPs choice of Epic Confrontation, and not so much the question itself.)
With 8 points, Copy Enchantment took the prize. Which is a pretty good choice. Even the goofiest of names is bound to be defended by somebody. Copy Enchantment sounds like a playtest name that was never switched out. Personally speaking, I first thought it was from Tempest, and was startled to find it made its way into Ravnica: City of Guilds (I was thinking of Steal Enchantment.) Someone evidently decided to name Copy Enchantment after Copy Artifact, and nobody spoke up to remind everyone that this wasn't 1993, and that making a clone of an artifact may capture some flavor, but 'cloning an enchantment' didn't sound very magical.
So now the job falls on us. Find a new name for Copy Enchantment. You are welcome to imagine this card as either a replacement for the card name in Ravnica: City of Guilds, or as a functional reprint in an upcoming Magic set. Have at it!
There are no perfect answers for this one. The flavor text submissions are good... but choosing names based on flavor text doesn't seem right. I kind of like Dance of Rivals. Red needs more cards that highlight its passionate side.
In the end, however, I figured Switch Horses made the most sense. Alex is right that it depends on the set. Khans perhaps. Or a setting with magic mounts with a will of their own (Tribal Artifact - Horse Vehicle?) But given the proper setting and artwork, it could make for some good flavor.
See you good people again in (((NTC #021)))!
Bad Trade. Flavour text: "Just sign the transfer papers. There's no way you can come out behind."
Brainstorming other ideas I end up too close to Twist Allegiance and Shifting Loyalties, both other cards with similar effects. "Loyalty Exchange", that kind of thing. There might be a set in which "Switch Horses" has the right flavour to fit.
References to Orcish Artillery's flavour text are always a good thing, so I have to approve of the Goblin Snafu flavour text.
I also like Jack's "Personality Swap" a lot, except it's a bit similar to the flavour of... ah, Role Reversal, which is a rather similar card.
Something with the word "Exchange" or "Swap" seems most likely. Though the simple name "Trade Places" hasn't been used so far, so that's one idea.
Prisoner exchange.
Personality Swap.
Dance of Rivals.
Snafu and Mukup sound like the Goblin Highlights versions of Goofus and Gallant. Or Goofus and Alsogoofus, I guess.
Thank you! I really wasn't sure how obvious to make the ambiguity :) I'm giggling to myself each time I reread it :)
Took me a sec, but that's amazing flavor text
Oh yes, that would be perfect. How about:
Goblin Snafu
Flavour text:
Snafu: The chief says, if their army gets too close to our encampment, attack it.
Mukup: Whatever the chief says.
Hmm. Maybe "snafu" isn't fantasy enough. Goblin Mix-up?
Shame that Confusion in the Ranks is taken
This week's entry is what happens when Switcheroo meets Act of Treason. 'Act of Switcheroo' if you will. Now that I've provide the bad playtest name, what's a good flavorful name for this card?
Ah... this is why one should read the footnotes. But the fact that the Pinniped footnote also says that "In science ['seal'] is sometimes restricted to the "true" seals of the family Phocidae" gives an indication that the term 'seal' is a moving target based upon a scientist or writer's needs.
I don't think anyone who saw a deck full of walruses, sea lions, and harbor seals would think 'this can't be a tribe', though. I agree that 'seal' isn't the best name for walruses. But I think it's the best name for the clade of pinnipeds. Unfortunately, this is one of those problems that's going to come down to preference.
Thank you!
I'm confused what the terminology is. Wikipedia says "commonly referred to as seals" but the footnote says "walruses are usually excluded in vernacular and scientific uses". So, commonly by who? So they mean, other languages use the equivalent word for seal to include walruses? That seems likely, but then what it says isn't really right. I certainly couldn't find any of the top ten "what is a Walrus" pages calling it a seal.
However, now you wrote it, that's clearly correct in magic taxonomy. It makes more sense than some of magic's other groupings, and is closer to the natural or scientific uses than English is.
Fwiw, I did discover magic has Pale Bears which are clearly polar bears, but on a snow block they are in green. And the spirit bear looks polar bear ish and is in white.
There are only two creatures with the bear type outside of green: a bear illusion, Phantasmal Bear, and a spirit bear,Ursine Glyja. In both cases the other creature type is heavily associated with the card's color. The likelihood a creature type would be moved to match a color, with no story or flavor justification seems low. In terms of a polar's nature, is it any more green and less blue than the grizzly bear? In an environment where one could have a polar bear, why would that bear be green over blue? I think that is a strong argument against using bear as the creature type.
Yeah; fair comment. Introducing a whole new tribal to justify a new bear seems like a good option to me. I approve of this walrus.
Check out "The bear that never was." Colorshifted frame (Planar Chaos) for that is 👌
I like the idea of baby sphinxes, but I agree that this isn't the place for them. The point behind using Sphinxes as Blue's iconic creature is that they're complicated and make you think. Baby sphinxes don't need to make you think hard, but they should pose some sort of question (Scry 1 perhaps.)
I also rather like Polar Bear. On the surface it's a strong contender. But I see two arguments against it:
1.) It's highly associated with arctic regions, meaning the iconic card wouldn't be usable in certain settings (for example Jamuraa, or Innistrad.)
2.) It reminds people that Blue is finally as good as Green was in 1993. Which, all things considered, I think it would be best if Blue did it's own thing. Blue can always make Polar Bears later, when the right set appears.
Which is fine, because Jack wins anyways with Bristling Walrus. I agree that Magic doesn't have enough seals. It, in fact, has zero. Technically, walruses are also arctic creatures, but I don't envision them with snow around them as often as I think of mud and rocks... so I think they could get away with making an appearance in a set like Innistrad, where a polar bear would look out of place.
That said, I did change Jack's 'pinniped' to 'seal', since Wikipedia told me that seal is the common name of the clade. Now if we could just get the creature type Elk to use the common family name 'Deer'...
(((NTC #020))) in a few days!
I can't help but give the silver-bordered answer for Jack's maritime flightless bird problem: "Dire Dodo"
@Jack V- Fwiw, penguins are flightless birds that stick near the ocean. Unfortunately, despite species living in Argentina and New Zealand (I think South Africa and Australia too, but I'm not 100% on those) penguins are too-much associated with Antarctica to be considered fauna for places that wouldn't be snow planes. There are a few other water-associated birds that lost the ability to fly, but they're small (they'd be very silly as 2;2s) and are mostly unique species that lost flight within their larger groups. Moa-nalo could fit too, but they're a bit obscure.
Or: Tidal Ostringo. Creature - bird. Picture shows a dangerous two legged flightless bird charging you through surf on a beach.
I wanted something bird, or sea, but without flying. No existing birds fit, but some seemed close.