Split Cards Individual Side Submissions: Should They Be Removed or No?
TappedOut forum
Posted on Jan. 22, 2019, 4:07 p.m. by Femme_Fatale
This is a question open to the community on whether or not the site should keep each individual submission of all the split cards in our database. Things like Alive from Alive / Well and Market from Farm / Market .
I personally do not think they should be kept for the reasons as follows:
- As a card, split cards are no longer 2 different cmcs, but rather a sum of both sides. So numerous effects that care about a card's cmc, types colour, etc. rely on that sum information.
- There's only one wizards ID for a split card, as the database only allows for one ID on any given submission, two of the three submissions will not be allowed to be editable, and there will be no gatherer link for two of them, and it is more likely to be on the card that you are not using.
- Most other import and export sites will be using double slashes and not single slashes, so the common user will be less frustrated if we kept with the status quo, as some are unlikely to understand why their card isn't being accepted.
- At the present moment the cmcs for split cards are all broken because the system requires the data entered to be double slashes. However doing so results in the cards not linking properly in decklists as it only registers a single side entry when entered. (However, this does also require that the comment function that is somewhere on this site (don't know where) to be removed. If someone uses this function let me know as I don't know where it is as it doesn't persist in saving on decklists.)
However I do understand others may have the opposite concern for perhaps these reasons:
- As a spell, each split card is two different cards with different cmcs, types and colours. So any card that cares about a spell being cast, it only cares about one side of that split card.
- Many split cards have different supertypes on each side, which means the side that matters to you may not be the side that it is sorted in the decklist. As such some people may want to only have one side in their decklist as to not mess up the graphs. (Typically however, when I do the submissions I mark their supertype as their first type and sorted by their second. It works nicer for when I'm typing out the card text as that way I can put the second supertype in the description box so that it looks like there's two entries on the card page. Aftermath cards are an exception here, as the second side requires being in the graveyard, making them less likely to be desired sorted by the second type.)
So this is perhaps, both a poll of which side of this question the community prefers, and if there are any other reasons not listed above to be mentioned.
Femme_Fatale says... #3
The import and export function is an interesting note, I shall add it to the list. Thanks skoobysnackz.
January 22, 2019 5:26 p.m.
I would prefer that they are removed. Needless confusion and issues with deck building, and especially now that WOTC updated the rules for double cards, keeping just the one card in the database is preferable.
January 22, 2019 6:17 p.m.
I also do not think having each individual half be its own entry is necessary, for the reasons you have outlined. Personally, I always link to the full card, even if I am only discussing one half - [ [Alive / Well|Alive] ]
There is one advantage to having individual entries--someone might design a deck where they only ever intend to cast one half of the card, and thus do not want the combined cost messing with their deckbuilding analytics.
However, there is an easy fix--the "Alternate Values" tab when deckbuilding. I think it might be helpful to add an option for alternate card type, so you can specify if you want your split cards to display as instant or sorcery; or your Bestow creatures to display as an enchantment; or to pretend Wizards did not revert All Hallow's Eve to a sorcery after its brief stint as an enchantment.
skoobysnackz says... #2
After reading over all the reasons for and against, I personally think they should not be kept. The reasons for not keeping them seem like this would resolve issues that a typical user can't resolve on their own whereas the problems with not keeping them can be fixed pretty easily. I don't think the problem with card types is a big one because a lot of people use custom categories now anyways. Yes it takes more time, but it is relatively simple to do. The issue with the cmc is a little more problematic, but if there is one side you use considerably more, then I believe there is an alternate cmc function in the deck editor. I've never used it, so I don't know how reliable it is, but it can be done. I also wanted to point out that getting rid of the individual submissions and going back to using the // format makes it easier to import decklists from other sources, since most of them use // and not /.
January 22, 2019 5:08 p.m. Edited.