Why wasn’t Aladdin (or any named important creature from Arabian nights) changed to a legendary creature?

It’s functional errata.

Btw i asked ages ago for an Aladdin reprint, he was in Chronicles so he isn’t reserved.

I can pass the request along. It probably needs to be in a supplemental set as not the easiest character to work into an existing world.

My birthday question must have, uh, gotten lost or something, so here's a question about the most overcosted card in Magic's history, Aladdin's Lamp. If a card that did the same thing as Aladdin's Lamp were printed today, what would it cost?

A lot less than 10. : )5 maybe.

People have been talking about mechanical errata recently in regards to potentially changing rampage, and have been talking about the mass Errata that phyrexians got in regards to legends with that errata, so now seems like the perfect time to ask my question:You’ve said in the past that things like the mass errata to make things phyrexian is ok as functional errata because they were always phyrexian in flavor. That being the case, would legendary errata be acceptable for proper nouns from ABUR, Arabian Nights, and Antiquities, since they are from before “legendary” was even a thing? Aladdin, Ali from Cairo, King Suleiman, Bazaar of Baghdad, and Library of Alexandria are all proper nouns. 4 of those 5 reference people/places from the real world, which we know from the portal sets do constitute the “legendary” super type. You could argue that Bazaar and Library see to much play in extended formats to get such major functional errata, but the “phyrexian” errata to glistener elf and blighted agent turned infect from a fringe deck to basically unplayable in modern. I know you guys avoid mechanical errata if ever possible because it confuses new players, but I’d be willing to bet new players would be more confused hearing “Aladdin is not considered a proper noun. Nor is Baghdad” than they would be hearing “that card from 25+ years ago has been changed” especially considering many other old cards from around that time have had serious errata to their printed text that changes some of them SEVERELY. I guess my question is just: why is the mass errata of phyrexian acceptable, when it is changing things that were always phyrexians in flavor to be so mechanically, but an errata of proper nouns to be legendary from ABUR, Arabian nights, and antiquities not acceptable, when it would be changing things that were always proper nouns in flavor to be so mechanically?

Making a creature Phyrexian does impact how other cards interact with it, but it doesn’t change how the card functions in a vacuum. Adding legendary to a card does, and pretty severely in any 4-of format.

If the legend baggage rule were to be removed, and a Unique indicator of sorts were to be implemented for cards needing an in-play restriction, can you forsee a Legendary update of sorts for things like Valakut, Aladdin, and such? Surely that would be only slightly more rules changing than creature type updates.

The sad truth (for me, at least) is I’m charging at windmills. Legendary isn’t ever going to change. We’ll just do all we can on the backside to minimize its negative impact.

Hey there Mark, since you guys seemed to have changed your stance of late on creature errata (22 cards becoming nobles, 1 card become a warlock, 6 cards becoming sharks, 75 cards becoming dogs just since last year) what are the chances of you revisiting the errata of making Norin a Coward and making the creatures with proper names into legendary creatures (King Suleimon, Old Man of the Sea, Ali of Cairo, Frankenstein, Niall Silvain, Ali Baba, Abu Jafar, Aladdin)... It only seems fitting.

The former is a possibility. Making something legendary is adding a drawback and thus functional errata.

FYI: Aladdin is not on the reserved list. In fact, he was reprinted in Chronicles.

FYI

The card Aladdin was made in Arabian Nights before legendary was a thing, but why hasn't it been errata'd since then to be legendary?

Because we don’t errata things to be legendary. There are some Nephilim fans that can fill you in. : )

How powerful is aladdin?

With or without his genie? : )

If I have R&D's Secret Lair and an Arabian Nights copy of Aladdin's Ring in play, will the Ring's converted mana cost be 55?

No, a mana bubble with a 5 in it costs 5 generic mana. Aladdin’s Ring has two of them so it cost 10. EDIT: As pointed out in the notes, the card in question is Aladdin’s Lamp.