Why Does WotC Not Use Smaller Fonts on Cards When Necessary?
General forum
Posted on Feb. 16, 2017, 11:35 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
There have been numerous instances where employees of WotC have stated that certain lines of text (including creature types) could not be printed on cards because there was not enough room on the cards for them, but why could WotC not simply use a smaller font for those cards? Why is it a rule that all cards must use the same size font for their text?
You mean like Ice Cauldron? Not only does it take you longer to understand it, but you have to squint too.
February 16, 2017 12:12 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #4
Because Yugiyo cards look horrendous.
shots fired
February 16, 2017 12:12 p.m.
Dark Intimations is a good example of the most recent set that uses a lot smaller font size than say, Wind Drake.
February 16, 2017 12:30 p.m.
Old people play Magic too.
I bought my mother-in-law a 20-sided dice the size of an apple.
February 16, 2017 12:37 p.m.
TheVectornaut says... #7
I bet consistency is also a component of the decision. The game looks more professionally done if font size is uniform across cards.
February 16, 2017 12:42 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #8
Is this the Sen Triplets vs Breya, Etherium Shaper question? Why do the triplets get to be wizards but not Breya?
Maro has given a couple of reasons for this on his blog thing. I don't know that he's ever done an article about it. The main reason he's given seems to be because they need to conserve space to make translating into non-English languages easier. Most other languages are less concise.
Example: Gore-House Chainwalker has the French name Marcheur de chanes de la Halle aux viscres
Some links to Maro talking about it:
printing limitations
type line
sen triplets
February 16, 2017 12:47 p.m.
I've actually never noticed except when it comes to common mechanics that don't really need continued explaination in some cases.
Huh. :o
February 16, 2017 6:06 p.m.
I think it's just because it's such a small number of cards that would use it that it just gets over looked
February 16, 2017 7:34 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
nobu_the_bard, yes, Breya is one of the cards to which I am referring, but also Sram from Aether Revolt, whom WotC said that they wanted to make both an advisor and an artificer, but did not have room to do so.
Also, if I worked for WotC, I would not care about giving the cards rooms for non-English translations; M:tG's primary audience is English speakers, so I would seek to appeal to them before anyone else, and, if translating a card into a foreign language left so little room that the font needed to be made smaller, that would be the translator's problem, not mine.
February 16, 2017 11:35 p.m.
@DemonDragonJ wow man, that's a pretty rough mindset...
February 17, 2017 12:26 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
GearNoir, perhaps it is, but I believe that it is better than making an English name shorter than it could be simply to allow a translator to have more room for translating the name of the card; the domestic market must be given higher priority than foreign markets.
February 17, 2017 9:51 a.m.
Um, no.
Believe it or not a lot of people who don't have English as their first language play Magic.
Those people often play with others who use English cards.
Everyone needs to be able to see that their cards have similar names and do similar things.
If you think that Wizards could afford to overlook their Non-English speaking markets then you obviously haven't travelled to many countries like Japan and European countries, where the market for Magic is YUGE.
trav1405 says... #2
Sen Triplets...
February 16, 2017 11:42 a.m.