I have two cards with the same name but different art and the card descriptions on the bottom. The card in question is Forsaken Sanctuary. It's a white/black land and I'm not sure if I can use both of them, it is the first time I've ran in to this.
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4 Answers
No, card art or any other piece of information printed on a card doesn't matter. For card identity, the only factor is the English name being equal or not.
There are several reasons why cards with the same name can look different in print. They can be translated into another language. They can have alternate art in the same set (e.g. Hymn to Tourach). They can be reprinted in a different set, potentially with new art and/or general card style. Cards from different sets can have different printed characteristics, such as differently worded abilities, or different types (see THE GRAND CREATURE TYPE UPDATE ) due to changes in the rules or general wording conventions. Very early cards can even have misprints, such as Blue Hurricane.
However, ultimately the only factor in deciding whether or not two cards are identical is their English name; on a related note, the official characteristics of a card can be found on the Oracle website
108.1. Use the Oracle card reference when determining a card’s wording. A card’s Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card database at Gatherer.Wizards.com.
201.2. A card’s name is always considered to be the English version of its name, regardless of printed language.
903.5b Other than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name.
answered Feb 5, 2019 at 8:18
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1Wow, 201.2a looks redundant. If you go so far as to define what "the same name" means, why aren't they also defining what it means for two names to be identical?– ArthurCommented Feb 5, 2019 at 14:37
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9@Arthur a) because "same name" is a key term used in card wordings so it has to be defined, whereas "their names are identical" is the common, English meaning that needs no further definition; and b) because the full definition of "same name" is a little more complicated than that. "201.2b If an object has more than one name, it has the same name as another object if there are one or more names that both objects have in common." Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 14:52
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16@Arthur It isn't redundant. Consider two different versions of the same character Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Akroma, Angel of Fury or most planeswalkers, etc. The monster's name could just be considered "Akroma". But that wouldn't stop you from having an "Akroma, Angel of Fury" and an "Akroma, Angel of Wrath" out at the same time. English is a goofy language where common practices make things more complicated in a game like Magic. So they specified so that there wouldn't be any pedantic English language arguments during games. Most rules are spelled out to the n-th degree.– BecuzzCommented Feb 5, 2019 at 14:55
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1You might like to cite commander rule 5: "With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same english name. Some cards (e.g. Relentless Rats) may have rules text that overrides this restriction." That even handles functional variants from Unstable. Commented Feb 6, 2019 at 23:31
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1@user3490 Here's the EDH rules committee response: legality is by card name, so only one of a functional variant (you can't have two Ineffable Blessings even if they're different) but one each of the Killbots because they've got different names. Commented May 15, 2019 at 9:55
The limitation on deck construction is by card name, not art or edition. So you can't run two cards named Forsaken Sanctuary. You can, however, run other cards that do the same thing but have different names. Forsaken Sanctuary has a lot of equivalent cards under different names, most of which are strictly better, such as:
108.1. Use the Oracle card reference when determining a card’s wording. A card’s Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card database at Gatherer.Wizards.com.
201.2. A card’s name is always considered to be the English version of its name, regardless of printed language.
201.2a Two objects have the same name if their names are identical.
Art doesn't matter - you can have two completely different cards altered (painted) to look exactly the same, yet as the name is different, they are different cards. (altering is quite common in commander decks)
The text below, possibly rules text or flavor text can be different on different editions. As we travel through Ravnica in the current set, we can have reprints of cards that were printed back in Theros block. As Theros was heavily God-related plane, you would have mentions to Gods in the flavor text, as opposed to Ravnica which is more about societal guilds. That is one of the reasons for the differences, yet they are the same card.
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Could you update your answer to stand alone and cite the relevant rules itself? This is a decent explanation, but it being a tack-on answer means I'm not inclined to upvote it. (Answers are at their best when they can be taken as an answer independently without needing to read others.) Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 18:33
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You can't use both but that you can do it pick up the other dual lands like shock lands or even buddy lands for the colors.
