3 ms·

OK, true believers, correct me if this anecdote is wrong in some way. So Wizards has put out a few releases of a joke set called "Unglued" where the cards are

OK, true believers, correct me if this anecdote is wrong in some way. So Wizards has put out a few releases of a joke set called "Unglued" where the cards are completely unserious in-jokes, sometimes with unplayable or really meta game mechanics. One Unglued set featured a card whose effect was derived by throwing it in the air and then seeing which other card(s) it landed on. So far so good. But apparently there was some "emergent gameplay" as we say, and players began tearing the card into small confetti so that it would touch many cards on the playing field and have an outsized effect. So the even more emergent effect here was, of course, that tearing the card into bits made intact ones even rarer than ever, and so this card, whatever it was, became one of the most valuable and sought-after cards of the whole game. Side note: One time I was so angry at an opponent that I ripped his card into two and threw it back at him; it was not one of these cards, and thankfully he did not punch me in the face.

SilasX 3y ago
That was Chaos Orb, and it was a normal card, not parody Unglued one: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=603 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive...
__s 3y ago
https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5712 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive...
tedunangst 3y ago
Intact chaos confetti runs about $0.43. https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/836/magic-unglued-chaos-confetti?Language=English https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/836/magic-unglued-chaos-co...
distortedsignal 3y ago
You might be conflating two things. One is Chaos Orb, a card in the original Magic sets. https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=603 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive... One is Chaos Confetti, a card in one of the Un- sets that you were referring to. https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5712 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive... I don't know if the Chaos Orb play is real or apocryphal. It may be that Chaos Confetti is a reaction to the story behind Chaos Orb. As a side note, neither of these cards are legal in any common tournaments anymore.
- Sniffnoy 3y ago
  Chaos Confetti is a reaction to the Chaos Orb story -- that's why the flavor text is "And you thought that was just an urban legend." Note that Chaos Confetti, being from Unglued, was never tournament legal. However, Chaos Orb was for a time, being from the original Magic set.
  - distortedsignal 3y ago
    Since Orb specifies a full rotation of the card during descent, how would the destructive play be ruled? I would imagine that there's some kind of group theory argument that if each individual piece of the card turns over, then the entire card has turned over, but it's not satisfying from a physics perspective. Do you have any rulings from the time?
    - Sniffnoy 3y ago
      Again, it's not clear that the confetti story actually happened at all, let alone in a tournament. (I mean, likely after it started spreading someone tried it in a non-tournament setting, but such a case wouldn't be the origin of the story.) If someone did try it in a tournament, it probably wouldn't be legal -- why would it be? The text of the card certainly doesn't suggest it ought to be; that's part of why it's a notable story in the first place, that it turns on such an unusual interpretation. There are a number of rulings on how to play Chaos Orb from when it was tournament legal, but I can't find any relating to ripping it up; there's not a need to rule on what's clearly illegal. I don't think most people would be misled by a humorous story, an urban legend -- generally not told about a tournament setting -- into thinking that such a play would be legal in tournament. A recent video on Rhystic Studies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dDLQkg5O1o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dDLQkg5O1o) contains one person claiming that they witnessed someone trying this in a tournament -- presumably influenced by the story rather than the origin of it -- and the person who tried it was disqualified. Whether that actually happened, I don't know, but if so it even further suggests that no, there was no need to make detailed tournament rulings of this. (Of course, the punchline of the Rhystic Studies account is that the person was disqualified not for the illegal play, but rather for the fact that, by doing so, they had reduced the number of cards in their deck to below the minimum legal size. If the Rhystic Studies story really did happen, though, I think we can infer that this reason was probably given because it was a way to avoid getting into an argument over whether ripping up the card was legal.)

SilasX 3y ago

That was Chaos Orb, and it was a normal card, not parody Unglued one: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=603 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive...

__s 3y ago

https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5712 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive...

tedunangst 3y ago

Intact chaos confetti runs about $0.43. https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/836/magic-unglued-chaos-confetti?Language=English https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/836/magic-unglued-chaos-co...

distortedsignal 3y ago

You might be conflating two things. One is Chaos Orb, a card in the original Magic sets. https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=603 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive... One is Chaos Confetti, a card in one of the Un- sets that you were referring to. https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5712 https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multive... I don't know if the Chaos Orb play is real or apocryphal. It may be that Chaos Confetti is a reaction to the story behind Chaos Orb. As a side note, neither of these cards are legal in any common tournaments anymore.

Sniffnoy 3y ago
Chaos Confetti is a reaction to the Chaos Orb story -- that's why the flavor text is "And you thought that was just an urban legend." Note that Chaos Confetti, being from Unglued, was never tournament legal. However, Chaos Orb was for a time, being from the original Magic set.
- distortedsignal 3y ago
  Since Orb specifies a full rotation of the card during descent, how would the destructive play be ruled? I would imagine that there's some kind of group theory argument that if each individual piece of the card turns over, then the entire card has turned over, but it's not satisfying from a physics perspective. Do you have any rulings from the time?
  - Sniffnoy 3y ago
    Again, it's not clear that the confetti story actually happened at all, let alone in a tournament. (I mean, likely after it started spreading someone tried it in a non-tournament setting, but such a case wouldn't be the origin of the story.) If someone did try it in a tournament, it probably wouldn't be legal -- why would it be? The text of the card certainly doesn't suggest it ought to be; that's part of why it's a notable story in the first place, that it turns on such an unusual interpretation. There are a number of rulings on how to play Chaos Orb from when it was tournament legal, but I can't find any relating to ripping it up; there's not a need to rule on what's clearly illegal. I don't think most people would be misled by a humorous story, an urban legend -- generally not told about a tournament setting -- into thinking that such a play would be legal in tournament. A recent video on Rhystic Studies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dDLQkg5O1o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dDLQkg5O1o) contains one person claiming that they witnessed someone trying this in a tournament -- presumably influenced by the story rather than the origin of it -- and the person who tried it was disqualified. Whether that actually happened, I don't know, but if so it even further suggests that no, there was no need to make detailed tournament rulings of this. (Of course, the punchline of the Rhystic Studies account is that the person was disqualified not for the illegal play, but rather for the fact that, by doing so, they had reduced the number of cards in their deck to below the minimum legal size. If the Rhystic Studies story really did happen, though, I think we can infer that this reason was probably given because it was a way to avoid getting into an argument over whether ripping up the card was legal.)