Acorn

For the counter of the same name, see Acorn counter.

Acorn-shaped holofoil stamp

Acorn cards, which heavily overlap with discontinued silver-bordered cards, are Magic: The Gathering cards that are not tournament-legal and are not covered by the comprehensive rules.

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. Certain promos like the Holiday cards, the 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”.

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. 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 sets. R&D then looked another way to express "silver border-ness" that didn't require a silver border and turned to holofoil security stamps.

Starting with the black-bordered Unfinity set in 2022 an acorn security stamp means exactly what a silver border used to. 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, 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. On common and uncommons the acorn stamp is printed on the card rather than embossed.

With the change to acorn cards, some earlier silver-bordered cards may now be reprinted in black border. Most cards referencing "silver-bordered" (with the exception of Border Guardian) get errata. Player prejudice against silver borders was definitely a factor in the change to black borders.

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 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

Un-sets

Silver-bordered card from Unhinged

Un-sets are light-hearted supplemental sets intended for fun casual play. These sets seek to break the tradition of other Magic sets, drawing on successful mechanical strengths and pushing them to the extreme — often using an outrageously humorous angle. Their common naming pattern gave rise to their slang collective name "un-sets", although they're also referred to as "silver-bordered sets", "humorous sets", etc.

Silver-bordered

Sets

• Unglued
• Unhinged
• Unstable
• Unsanctioned

Promos

• Holiday cards
• HASCON promos
• Ponies: The Galloping

Acorn-stamped

• Unfinity
  • Uses black borders; a fraction of the set is legal in Eternal formats as the cards are mechanically acceptable but flavorfully more bizarre.

Un-games

Any card that previously referred to a "silver-bordered game" now refers to an "Un-game." It is any game in which at least one player is playing acorn cards or older silver-bordered cards from Un-sets or things like holiday promos.

Mechanics

They feature mechanics that would be impossible to print in a normal expansion.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Silver-Bordered

Cards in certain sets and certain promotional cards are printed with a silver border. Silver-bordered cards are intended for casual play and may have features and text that aren’t covered by these rules.

Tokens

Tokens created by silver-bordered and acorn cards.

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Ape	Green	Creature — Ape	1/1		Uktabi Kong
	Green	Creature — Ape	3/3		Side to Side
Beeble	Blue	Creature — Beeble	1/1		B.O.B. (Bevy of Beebles)
Contortionist	Blue	Creature — Octopus Performer	4/4	At the beginning of your upkeep, you may fold this token in half. (It becomes 2/2, then 1/1, ½ / ½, and so on.)	Octo Opus
Brainiac	Red	Creature — Brainiac	1/1		The Big Idea
Chicken	Red	Creature — Chicken	4/4		Chicken Egg
Construct	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Construct	X/X		Rapid Prototyper
Die	Green	Creature — Die	X/X		Pippa, Duchess of Dice
Dragon	Gold	Creature — Dragon	4/4	Flying	Sword of Dungeons & Dragons
Expansion-Symbol	Colorless	Creature — Expansion-Symbol	1/1		Symbol Status
Faerie Spy	Blue	Creature — Faerie Spy	1/1	Flying, haste Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.	Faerie Aerie
Giant Teddy Bear	Pink	Creature — Giant Teddy Bear	5/5		Water Gun Balloon Game
Teddy Bear	Pink	Creature — Teddy Bear	2/2		Dart Throw Gift Shop Push Your Luck
Gnome	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Gnome	1/1		By Gnome Means Gnome-Ball Machine Gnome-Made Engine Very Cryptic Command
Goat	White	Creature — Goat	0/1		Everythingamajig
Goblin	Red	Creature — Goblin	1/1		Blast from the Past Box of Free-Range Goblins Garbage Elemental Gift Horse
Homunculus	Colorless	Creature — Homunculus	2/2		Handy Dandy Clone Machine
Rogue	Black	Creature — Rogue	2/2	Menace	Dispatch Dispensary Very Cryptic Command
Sheep	Green	Creature — Sheep	2/2		Flock of Rabid Sheep
Sketch	Colorless	Creature — Sketch	4/4	This creature has flying if it has wings in its art. The same is true for first strike and a sword, vigilance and a shield, menace and mean eyes, trample and horns, deathtouch and claws, lifelink and fangs, and haste and footwear.	D00-DL, Caricaturist
Squirrel	Green	Creature — Squirrel	1/1		Chittering Doom Earl of Squirrel Form of the Squirrel Squirrel Dealer Squirrel Farm Squirrel Stack Trendy Circus Pirate
Zombie Employee	Black	Creature — Zombie Employee	2/2		Night Shift of the Living Dead
A	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
E	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
I	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
O	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
U	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist