(Originally published on 2025-05-29; last reviewed on 2025-05-29; last updated on 2025-05-29)
Somewhere between the Aetherdrift update and the Tarkir: Dragonstorm update, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) updated the Gatherer page layout for double-faced cards. This affected primarily the pages for the back faces of double-faced cards: their new layout only displayed the back face and information specific to that face, instead of both faces.
At the same time (and likely caused by the layout changes), the information displayed for those card faces changed. Some planeswalkers now showed a loyalty value which had previously been missing, while mana values (including some incorrect ones) stopped being displayed.
In my bulletin, I called that update an overall improvement, since it increased the amount of accurate information being displayed and decreased the amount of inaccurate information being displayed. Alas, all good things must come to an end.
In April, WotC reversed the layout changes and, by extension, the changes to the displayed information. Not all cards I mentioned in the previous bulletin were affected: cards with the “partner with” ability and the cards listed under “Other changes” retain their new pages (for now). A small number of back faces still sport their new pages as well (see below).
Disclaimer: While I strive for completeness and correctness, I may have missed some changes; my process for archiving and comparing Gatherer revisions is still a work in progress.1
- Loyalty removed (functional)
- Mana value added (nonfunctional)
- Letters added to collector numbers (nonfunctional)
- Irrelevant rulings added (nonfunctional)
- Pages that retain their new layout (nonfunctional)
Loyalty removed (functional)
The planeswalkers which had gained a loyalty value in the previous update are back to having no loyalty value. For these cards, judges should once again overrule the official Oracle text.
This update applies to: Gideon, Battle-Forged, Jace, Telepath Unbound, Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Chandra, Roaring Flame, Nissa, Sage Animist, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen, Arlinn, the Moon’s Fury, Urza, Planeswalker, Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir, Ajani, Nacatl Avenger, Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar, Sorin, Ravenous Neonate, Ral, Leyline Prodigy, and Grist, the Plague Swarm.
Will Kenrith and Rowan Kenrith retained their loyalty values.
Mana value added (nonfunctional)
The updated pages for back faces once again display a mana value. In the case of the modal double-faced cards from Zendikar Rising and from Modern Horizons 3, the pages show once again the incorrect mana value (that of the front face).
Letters added to collector numbers (nonfunctional)
The updated pages once again display the collector number with a letter. The pages for the two halves of B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster) retain their letter-free state.
Irrelevant rulings added (nonfunctional)
The updated pages once again display the rulings for both faces.
Pages that retain their new layout (nonfunctional)
The update was not a simple revert, though. Apart from the single-faced cards which retained all of their changes, a small number of back faces managed to retain their new layout as well. Those are Ormendahl, Profane Prince, the back faces of the ten Pathway lands, Creeping Inn, and Titania, Gaea Incarnate.
What they have in common is that the front face is a land and thus doesn’t have a mana cost; as a result, if mana values were displayed for the back faces, they would be 0.2 Thus, my theory is that this partial revert was done solely to restore the displayed mana values: if it was about displaying both faces on the same page, about letters in collector numbers, or about showing additional rulings, these pages would have been reverted to their prior appearance, too.
Choosing to display information that’s nonfunctional, trivially determined, and sometimes incorrect over displaying correct Oracle text seems a strange choice to me; then again, recent times show that WotC simply does what the overwhelming majority of players actually like. Therefore, I will conclude this update bulletin with the observation that this Gatherer update probably just isn’t for me; hopefully, the bulk of fans enjoy their loyalty-free, mana-valued flip walkers.