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==History== Silver-bordered cards were introduced in [[1998]] for ''[[Unglued]]'', the first ''Magic'' [[supplemental set]] and the first "joke set" and became tradition for the following so-called [[#Un-sets|Un-sets]]. Certain [[promo]]s like the [[Holiday card]]s, the [[HASCON#Hascon promos|2017 HASCON promos]], and ''[[Ponies: The Galloping]]'' also used a silver border. According to [[Mark Rosewater]], the audience reaction to the silver border was somewhat of a problem for [[R&D]]. It most often didn’t get treated as “this is a different subset of ''[[Magic]]''”, but rather as “this isn’t a real ''Magic'' card”.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/644222129547706369/tournaments-for-universes-beyond-could-have-been|title=Why did yall feel it was necessary to pollute the identity of the core game rather than just spin off a "Universes Beyond" format that was Legacy + UB cards?|February 27, 2021}}</ref> Rosewater later explained that when silver border was originally dubbed "not for tournament play," that meant not for [[Vintage]], [[Legacy]], or [[Standard]], but for every other format, especially the [[casual]] ones.<ref name="And Beyond">{{DailyRef|making-magic/unfinity-and-beyond-2021-11-29|To Unfinity and Beyond|[[Mark Rosewater]]|November 29, 2021}}</ref> Over the years, silver border slowly shifted to end up meaning "not for any official format, casual or not," which contradicted what it was originally intended to do. Rosewater realized that many cards in the set would be perfectly fine to be played in black border [[Eternal (format)|Eternal sets]]. [[R&D]] then looked another way to express "silver border-ness" that didn't require a silver border and turned to [[holofoil stamp|holofoil security stamps]]. Starting with the black-bordered ''[[Unfinity]]'' set in [[2022]] an acorn security stamp means exactly what a silver border used to.<ref name="UNF"/> This is a card not meant for tournament play and should only be used in casual formats where all the players agree to its inclusion. These have been dubbed these '''"acorn" cards'''. All acorn cards, of all rarities, have an acorn holofoil stamp. If a card has an oval security stamp (or no security stamp at lower rarities), it's legal in eternal formats (which includes [[Commander (format)|Commander]], Legacy, and Vintage). These have been dubbed '''"eternal" cards'''. This security stamp technology allows R&D to let the two different types of cards commingle in the same set.<ref name="And Beyond"/> On common and uncommons the acorn stamp is printed on the card rather than embossed.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/669322549920940032/one-thing-to-clarify-about-unfinity-commons-and|title=Commons and uncommons can have the acorn stamp, right?|November 30, 2021}}</ref> With the change to acorn cards, some earlier silver-bordered cards may now be reprinted in black border.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/669240602440892416/with-unfinity-creating-legal-black-border-cards|November 29, 2021}}</ref> Most cards referencing "silver-bordered" (with the exception of <c>Border Guardian</c>) received [[errata]] to include Un-cards that don't have a silver border.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/669223909775785984/will-cards-like-underdome-that-reference-silver|November 29, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/669240467491274752/for-border-guardian-or-any-other-cards-that-care|November 29, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{DailyRef|news/oracle-changes-2022-10-18|''Unfinity'' Oracle Changes|[[Jess Dunks]]|October 18, 2022}}</ref> Player prejudice against silver borders was definitely a factor in the change to black borders.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/686967723045109760|title=Was player prejudice against silver borders a factor in making Unfinity black-bordered?|June 13, 2022}}</ref> Despite this, acorn and silver border cards remain officially illegal in common casual variants such as Commander and Oathbreaker, and see only fringe [[Commander (format)|"Rule Zero"]] play alongside the likes of [[Holiday card|Holiday cards]], [[Mystery Booster/Test cards|Mystery Booster Playtest cards]], and [[Unknown Event/Philadelphia event cards|Unknown event playtest cards]]. [[File:UNA expansion symbol.png|thumb|right|100px|Expansion symbol for acorn ''Unfinity'' cards (UNA) on [[Gatherer]].]] [[Mark Rosewater]] later concluded that the switch to acorn didn’t go over great and that players would have been happier with a silver border.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/726769226297245696|title=How was the switch from 'silver-border' to 'Acorn' received?|August 26, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/745251691277041664|title=Where do you think Unstable succeeded where Unfinity failed?|March 17, 2024}}</ref> To further differentiate the acorn cards in ''Unfinity'' from the eternal-legal cards, [[Wizards of the Coast]] quietly introduced a new set symbol and created a new set code for just the acorn cards {{-}} UNA.<ref name="UNA">Example of UNA in Gatherer on the card [https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=580775 A Real Handful].</ref> Eternal cards retained their preexisting atom [[expansion symbol]] and set code (UNF). As these changes were made post-release, they only appear on [[Gatherer]] and the set's Product Archive page, not on the cards themselves. ===Categories=== Acorn cards fall into the following categories: *Cards that don't work within the official rules *An element of "cards matter" that normal rules don't reference (flavor text, as an example) *Cards that require interacting with people [[outside the game]] *Cards that require a [[Dexterity card|physical]] or vocal component *Cards that reference a state external to the game (are they able to see something from their seat, for instance) *Cards with some effects that just don't feel right in normal games
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