Epithets

Absence of Epithets on Cards

To add onto what jdrawer01 said, I'm curious as to why the design team stopped using epithets on named cards. I always felt like those were a very distinctly Magic™ thing and enjoyed them greatly, and a lot of the named character cards feel lacking in flavor without having them. Was it a request from the properties WotC is working with on UBs, or was it an internal decision, and if the latter, why drop them?

It depends on the property. Some will use them, some won’t.

Epithets Epithets Flavor Wizards of the Coast

Critique of Flavor Words

Hey, Mark, I'm not to make another UB-related request. This isn't coming from an anti-UB place, and it's just one Goose's opinion, but I'm sure there are others who feel this way.Can we get rid of flavor words, please? I haven't seen a single upside to them presented, just downsides:

For decades, one of MtG's biggest strengths was capturing the ludonarrative. Having to spell it out makes it seem like you all have lost confidence in your ability to make card design that makes sense with the captured flavor.
If a design is intended to be funny (the Street Fighter cards come to mind), it feels like you're pointing at the "joke" and saying "See? Please laugh." As a person who has a comedy background, I'm sure you understand why killing the frog is bad.
Death of the epithet: The most minor of the criticisms, but I really think "Ian Chester, Science Teacher" reads better than "Ian Chester" and then calling his ability "science teacher." (I may be mixing up the WHO teachers, but this applies to both, luckily.) Epithets also make it easier to depict multiple "moments" of a character without giving a card up as the "definitive" version of that character.
It feels like you don't trust players to get why the card text is what it is. Telling your audience you don't expect them to be smart (or rather, literate) enough to "get" it doesn't really help. I've seen people say they add flavor to the cards, but the flavor isn't diminished by removing the flavor words (flavor is when things are fleshed out and living, not when things are spelled out). If it's for fans of the IP, then they already get it (Oh, the activated ability that grants flying is referencing this character's rocket propulsion). Non-fans of the IP aren't benefited either, as they will sus out said character has rocket propulsion or be left completely in the dark (see Cult of Skaro: These words do nothing to tell me about the ability. If you were to leave them out, I'd still be able to sus out that each ability corresponds to one of the four Daleks depicted).
Lastly, they make cards harder to read. When trying to grok a card, there should be as few words as possible I'm supposed to ignore.

I understand some people will go "I recognize the thing" and a bulb in their brain will light up, but something being easy like this doesn't mean it's better or that we actually like it more.I guess there's the potential upside that you could slot in numerals to power up my Baron von Count deck, but I don't see any real tangible upside to them. Obviously I'm missing something. Can you say what it is?
(Also, even if you don't answer it,thank you for taking the time to answer this book of an ask. These are feelings I've been sitting on since AFR and keeping an open mind on in case I changed how I felt from my initial reaction.)

Flavor words can do some things that we can’t replicate elsewhere. I agree they can be overused, and are not always used optimally, but I don’t think we want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Appreciation Baron Von Count Cult of Skaro Daleks Epithets Epithets Flavor Flavor Words Flying Frogs Humor Replicate

Diverse Player Preferences

To contrast, I liked that there was two characters with the same epithet!

An important lesson about making Magic: The players aren’t a unified force that all want the same thing.

Epithets Making Magic

Punctuation in Titles

Just saw the spoiled Kill! Maim! Burn!. I would like to request more punctuation! In titles! Please? We mostly have apostrophes for possessive's words and commas, for legendary epithets. There's a whole world of punctuation to choose from—like the em dash (which is different from a "regular" dash) and colons (which is also an important part of the human digestive system). Can I get a maybe‽

Unglued had the first card name with an exclamation point (Denied!, Incoming!, and Mine, Mine, Mine!).Unhinged had the first card name with a question mark (Question Elemental?).I’m proud to say Unfinity has the first card name with both a question mark and an exclamation point. Un-sets: Paving the Way for Magic’s Future.

Card Names Dash Denied! Elemental Epithets Epithets Human Incoming! Kill! Maim! Burn! Mine, Mine, Mine! Question Elemental? Un-sets

Legendary Name Referencing

"That’s not a new thing. Legendary creatures with a name and an epithet are sometimes just referred to by their name." To be more specific - usually firstly it refers by whole name and each consecutive one is referred by only name.

We have shortened it where there were space issues.

Creatures Epithets Legendary Creatures

Card Naming Convention

Hi Mark – I have a non-controversial boring formatting question about the The Walking Dead cards. I noticed the cards refer to themselves by first name (“Rick”) instead of the card name (“Rick, Steadfast Leader”). So far as I know, this goes against the normal Legendary/PL conventions that use the card name or creature/PL type. Is this that we could see more of in the future to save text space? IE presuming a card refers to itself unless specifically stated (any Rick, any Liliana, etc)?

That’s not a new thing. Legendary creatures with a name and an epithet are sometimes just referred to by their name.

Card Names Conventions Creatures Epithets Legendary Creatures Walking Dead

Theros Gods' Epithets

Along the innumerable things I adore about Theros, I must say how much I admire the epithets the major gods have. Deep-Dwelling Thassa. Reminds me so much of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Please give high fives to all responsible

Will do.

Epithets Epithets God High Fives Odyssey Theros

Gods' Names Rational

Hello. I noticed the new Amonkhet gods don't have epithets like most of the other gods. Was this an explicit decision? Someone else pointed out how this could have been a great opportunity to invert their previous epithets for impact but I can also see how this mirrors the 3 Hour gods which were the only ones (before today) which didn't have epithets. I'm curious what the rational (if any) was for this.

Bolas just wanted them as weapons, he didn’t feel a need to rename them,

Amonkhet Epithets Epithets God