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On a recent promo called Archfiend of Ifnir, there is an ability that states:

Whenever you cycle or discard another card ...

Why does it say “cycle or discard”? Since cycling involves discarding, wouldn't it be sufficient if it said “whenever you discard another card”?

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    Note that when you cycle a card, you both cycle and discard a card, but since there's only one event, the ability only triggers once.
    – ikegami
    Mar 31, 2017 at 17:27
  • In addition to diego's answer, it future-proofs against replacement effects ("if you would discard a card, exile that card instead" would still work with cycling cards) or against future forms of cycling that don't rely on discard (e.g. "gravecycling <cost>" means "<cost, exile this card from your graveyard: draw a card; this counts as cycling").
    – Samthere
    Apr 6, 2017 at 14:13
  • I'm wrong about the first one; "cycling" triggers trigger on the discard part of the cost.
    – Samthere
    Apr 6, 2017 at 14:16

1 Answer 1

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With the current card pool, and under current rules the 'cycle or' part is unnecessary. It is most likely there as a reminder so that players don't need to remember that cycling involves discarding (for the cards that don't have reminder text for it). (It is possible for it to matter, if for example something replaces the discard, but there are no cards that do that currently)

I am unable to find a quote at the moment but I know people at Wizards have stated that they don't always try to make the shortest rules text they can. They are willing to make it longer if it improves clarity.

And now we have the Amonkhet Release Notes which state (emphasis added):

An ability that triggers whenever you "cycle or discard" a card triggers only once if you cycle a card. The ability "Whenever you discard a card" is functionally identical to this ability; cycling is mentioned for clarity.

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    Another example is on the very same card; why does it say "another card"? Archfiend's ability will never be active while he's eligible to be cycled. It's for simplicity.
    – monoRed
    Mar 31, 2017 at 15:48
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    A recent example of Wizards valuing clear rules text (even when it might be functionally redundant) is the Fate Reforged Oracle text update to Ashcloud Phoenix, where they added a phrase that the rules already enforce. It's the first change on the list. Mar 31, 2017 at 16:43
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    The CompRules themselves are full of redundancies, much for the same reason, readability.
    – Hackworth
    Mar 31, 2017 at 17:05
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    Let's say a card exists that says "If a player would discard a card, exile that card instead" I guess then it would matter because cycling would still trigger it. So I wouldn't say "Under the current rules the 'cycle or' part is unnecessary". The current pool of all cards also matters
    – Ivo
    Apr 3, 2017 at 11:51
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    @IvoBeckers I highly doubt they would print a card that does that, instead they would use a Madness like template with "If a player would discard this card, that player discards it, but exiles it instead of putting it into his or her graveyard" rather than replacing the discard itself. However you are technically correct so I updated my answer.
    – diego
    Apr 3, 2017 at 12:50

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